Yorkswood Primary School

Yorkswood Primary School Kingshurst Way, Kingshurst, Birmingham, B37 6DF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Children get a good start to school life in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Progress is improving and most pupils, including the more-able, now make good progress. Standards are rising in English and mathematics and are on target to be above average in this year’s tests.  Disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs and those for whom the school receives extra government funding, receive good support and progress well.  Teaching is good across all key stages and, at times, it is outstanding. Pupils learn well because lessons are interesting and fun.  The behaviour of pupils is good. They are keen to get on and listen carefully to what their teachers tell them.  The school is good at keeping its pupils safe and secure.  Pupils’ attendance has risen and is now average. More pupils arrive on time to school.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well through their

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

lessons, assemblies and extra activities.  Leaders offer staff good quality training and check to ensure that teaching is at least good. As a result, teaching and achievement have improved.  Governors are highly committed to the school. They challenge leaders effectively and check the school’s work systematically through regular visits.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching is almost always good but not enough is outstanding.  Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to write in different ways or to practise and extend their mathematical skills in subjects other than English and mathematics.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 17 parts of lessons taught by 16 teachers. Eight lessons were observed jointly with senior leaders. In addition, inspectors made shorter visits to a number of lessons and listened to pupils read. They visited the playground at break time and lunchtime. Inspectors also attended an assembly.  Inspectors met two groups of pupils and talked to other pupils in lessons, in the playground and as they moved around the school.  Inspectors saw pupils’ written work during lessons and, with school leaders, looked in greater depth at a selection of pupils’ books.  Meetings were held with the acting headteacher, the executive headteacher, other school leaders and staff, and with three members of the governing body. Inspectors considered the responses to the questionnaires completed by 25 members of staff. They met a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors considered the views given in the 16 responses to the online survey (Parent View).

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Information about this inspection

They took account of the school’s own questionnaires to parents. Inspectors also spoke informally to parents at the end of the school day.  Inspectors looked at a number of documents, including the school’s checks on how well it is doing and its plans for improvement. They checked the school’s information about pupils’ progress over time, and looked at records about the quality of teaching and minutes of governing body meetings. Inspectors scrutinised how the school keeps its pupils safe and looked at records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Elizabeth Cooper, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Margaret Dutton Additional Inspector Mark Cadwallader Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Yorkswood Primary School is a larger-than-average primary school. It provides for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage through a Nursery as well as Reception classes. Around half the children who enter the school in Reception come from Yorkswood Nursery, with the remainder coming from other local nurseries.  Most pupils come from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils who join partway through their primary school education is higher than average.  The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium (additional government funding that in this school applies to pupils who are looked after and those known to be eligible for free school meals) is well above the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported by school action is below the national average. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is much higher than the national average.

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Information about this school

 The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There have been several staffing changes since the previous inspection. There were a number of temporary appointments during 2012/13.  The executive headteacher has been seconded from the school to work on other projects for the local authority and a group of schools in North Solihull for four days each week. The deputy headteacher has been made acting headteacher for the term of this secondment.  The school is a member of UNITY, a formal collaborative with 19 other schools.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that more is outstanding and progress continues to accelerate.  Provide more opportunities for pupils to develop more varied styles of writing and to apply their mathematical skills across all subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the Nursery and Reception classes with skills that are usually well below those typically seen at their age, especially in language and communication and in their social skills. They make good progress during the Early Years Foundation Stage because teachers and other adults plan enjoyable indoor and outdoor activities which help children develop a wide range of skills. Most pupils join Year 1 with a level of development which is still below that expected for their age, although they still make good progress from their start at school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 dipped overall in 2013, despite the school’s efforts to support pupils during a period of frequent changes in staffing. However, many of the pupils made good progress from the end of Reception to the end of Year 2, including higher-attaining pupils.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The results for the Year 1 check in phonics (the sounds that letters make) were above the national average in 2012 and 2013. Boys did better than girls in the Year 1 and the Year 2 phonics checks in 2013. Girls are now just as confident as boys in showing how well they know their letters and sounds, including those appearing in new words they have only just learnt.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards at the end of Key Stage 2 are broadly average. In 2013, pupils made the progress they were expected to make. Fewer made good progress from the end of Key Stage 1. However, pupils in the current Year 6 are making good progress, and a few pupils are working at Level 6 in writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 This year, most pupils in all years are making good progress, due to consistently good teaching in reading, writing and mathematics. Their books show good progress, with examples of striking improvements being made during the course of the year. More-able pupils do well because they are given demanding work. They relish challenges such as membership of the mathematics masterclass.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils who join the school other than at the usual start time catch up quickly and achieve as well as classmates who have been at the school since the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The attainment of pupils supported through the pupil premium is good. The extra funding has been used well to provide more support to pupils in all years, as well as paying towards school trips. In 2013, the gap of three months in writing between pupils entitled to the funding and their classmates closed completely. In mathematics they were ahead by nine months. The gap widened from three to six months in reading, but has already reduced this year to two months. The school’s ‘Reading Champion’ has helped younger pupils improve and become keen readers.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Reading is taught well and pupils quickly develop an enjoyment of books. They know how to link letters to sounds. Pupils can retell the plot of a story accurately.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics because teachers and other adults give them good support in class as well as in ‘catch-up’ sessions in small groups. However, pupils do not always have the chance to show how well they can cope on their own without the help of an adult.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good, and some is outstanding. The work in books shows that pupils right across the school make good progress because of the good teaching they now receive. Parents who completed the online questionnaire and the school’s own survey agree that teaching is good.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils are ready to learn from the start of the lesson. Teachers’ good subject knowledge, coupled with their enthusiasm, leads to pupils being fully involved in their learning. In a Year 2 history lesson, the teacher’s good use of technology increased pupils’ interest in the activity to design a poster about the first expeditions to the South Pole.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers mark pupils’ books every day. They often write detailed comments about pupils’ work and set pupils extra practice in spellings or additional questions in mathematics, which pupils are given time to complete. This has helped improve their progress considerably.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is consistently at least good and some is outstanding. In the Nursery class, children excitedly shared their many ideas for activities and drew up a menu for a birthday party. Teaching prepared them exceptionally well for the next stage of the planned activity, which was to put together a party list.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and other adults work well as teams, circulating to help pupils of different abilities to develop good understanding and to ensure pupils persevere when the work is more demanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Where pupils make the best progress, this is because teaching gets them thinking deeply. In a Year 5 English lesson, the pupils were bursting with ideas to alter the story, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow. Their sentences showed imaginative language, with one pupil describing the ‘majestic mystery’ of Sherwood Forest. However, not all teaching helps pupils to make such outstanding progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ English books show teachers plan activities that offer opportunities for pupils to write in different ways, including stories, descriptions, poetry and instructions. Equally, in their mathematics books, the work pupils are set contains a balanced mix of calculations and activities that encourage them to use their basic skills to solve problems. However, in their other subjects, pupils have fewer opportunities to write in a variety of different styles or to use their mathematical skills.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons, pupils show respect towards each other and towards staff. They can be relied upon to work well with each other in the classroom. In a Year 2 mathematics lesson, a pupil readily offered some extra cubes to help a classmate work out some fractions, saying: ‘You can use mine.’ In the Reception class, children said they were ‘carers, sharers, problem-solvers and good thinkers’ when they worked together in their groups.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy their lessons and are keen to learn. Any lapses in concentration are occasional and quickly spotted by teachers, who make sure that pupils understand the learning and have work at the right level. Pupils’ books often show their pride in their work, with pupils almost always presenting it clearly and neatly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 When they are not in lessons, pupils are well-behaved, moving sensibly around the site and opening doors for adults. The lunchtime is calm and activities are well-supervised. Younger pupils appreciate the ‘buddy busters’ who play with any pupils left on their own.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy coming to school and wear the Yorkswood uniform with pride. They feel that any suggestions for improvements in the school will be listened to by their school council and the acting headteacher. They are keen to earn the ‘golden time’ awarded for good behaviour. Parents and staff say that behaviour is well managed. Staff are skilled at working with pupils who find it harder to settle comfortably into school life and routines.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Parents and staff responding to questionnaires agree that the school is safe. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe and know how to use the internet safely, and consistently follow the school’s ‘zip it, block it, flag it’ code.  Pupils understand what bullying means, including cyber-bullying. Pupils told inspectors that there is occasional bullying and name-calling, but they are confident that adults will sort out any concerns they have.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance has risen since the last inspection and is now in line with the national average. The school’s strategy of keeping in close contact with parents to make sure they send their children to school has boosted attendance and punctuality. In the whole-school assembly, excitement mounted as pupils helped to put class attendance percentages in number order, with a burst of applause when the acting deputy headteacher finally revealed the highest-attending class.

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The leadership and management are good

 The acting headteacher and senior leaders are committed to ensuring that all pupils are given every opportunity to succeed. The values of ‘Achievement, Inclusion, Commitment, Enjoyment’ (AICE) are shared by all who work at the school, and pupils know that AICE stands for helping everyone to do well.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors and school leaders have used the aims and actions of the school’s improvement plan to help the school move forward quickly. As a result, the school has successfully tackled all the areas for improvement from the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders and the teachers in charge of subjects have an accurate view about the quality of teaching because they check teachers’ planning of work, visit lessons regularly and go through pupils’ books to find out whether or not pupils are making good progress. Leaders have not hesitated to tackle any weaker teaching, and therefore teaching is now only rarely less than good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers are set clear targets, drawn from the school improvement plan. Teachers are held to account for pupils’ progress, in line with the national standards. Leaders make sure that teachers receive extra responsibilities or pay only where their teaching is consistently good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers value the training offered by the school, speaking of the difference it has made in helping them use data to track pupils’ progress, prepare questions which make pupils think hard, and plan for the new National Curriculum. They use visits to schools in North Solihull to check each other’s marking of pupils’ tests. As a result, pupils’ work at the end of Key Stage 1 is assessed more accurately than in the past. Several teachers, including the Early Years Foundation Stage leader and the English leader, lead specialist training in other schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 A local authority adviser has provided good support to the school by helping to check the accuracy of senior leaders’ judgements, but knows that the school no longer needs more intensive support. The local authority values the executive headteacher’s work in helping other schools to improve. The acting headteacher has shared with other schools how the pupil premium has been spent to help raise the attainment of pupils who are entitled to the funding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school teaches subjects through interesting themes. Pupils therefore benefit from a broad and balanced curriculum. The Year 4 pupils’ display of Indian elephant mosaics and their lively compositions in drumming contribute to their spiritual and cultural development. In their personal, social and health education lessons, pupils discuss attitudes towards others, developing social and moral understanding. Visits including a Year 5 trip to a planetarium inspire pupils’ learning in science.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works hard to reach all parents and parents are highly positive about the care their children receive. The school builds in opportunities for parents to work alongside their children, as in the ‘Big Bang’ project. The school’s Black History Month was introduced in response to suggestions from parents. Parent governors have helped to improve security in the buildings and around the site.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school sports funding has been used to fund specialist teaching in gymnastics and dance, as well paying for staff training. The new leader for physical education (PE) has trained staff in using the newly-purchased PE equipment safely. Pupils in the sports council prepared questionnaires to find out what clubs would appeal to others, with older pupils taking the lead in these activities. A pupil was congratulated in assembly for ‘an outstanding warm-up idea in PE and teaching other pupils.’ The extra funding is making a difference to pupils’ health and fitness.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leadership in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. The new leader has lost no time in planning new topics to make children’s learning more exciting and enjoyable. Staff now work more closely with the other local nurseries to check the progress children have made before they enter the Reception Year. The Early Years Foundation Stage leader has introduced book bags for children to take home to encourage pupils to read at home. Parents now see a regular record of their children’s progress at school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors come into the school frequently to find out at first-hand about teaching. They go into lessons, look at pupils’ books and talk to pupils about their learning. In a recent visit, for example, governors checked whether teaching helped pupils of all abilities to make enough progress  Governors compare the performance of the school against that of similar schools nationally. They dig beneath the headline results, making sure that pupils’ performance is checked thoroughly. This makes them confident that pupils’ results reflect good progress over time  Governors keep a close eye on the school’s finances. They know that the pupil premium has helped to raise attendance and to close the gaps in writing and mathematics. They have used the primary school sport funding for staff training in physical education and dance  Governors make good use of training from the local authority and UNITY. They have a keen

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The leadership and management are good

sense of responsibility. One governor explained: ‘Our work can’t be good, unless things happen in the school.’ Governors go through the school plan regularly, asking searching questions about progress. They ensure that challenging targets, linked with the plan and pupils’ progress, are set for the headteacher and staff. They check that teachers are rewarded only if their teaching is consistently good and pupils do well  Governors make sure that safeguarding procedures meet national requirements.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 104077 Local authority Solihull Inspection number 431512

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 382 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carol Cable Acting Headteacher Andy Tunstall Date of previous school inspection 9 June 2009 Telephone number 0121 770 3144 Fax number 0121 770 1139 Email address office@yorkswood.solihull.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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