Erdington Hall Primary School

Erdington Hall Primary School Ryland Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 8JJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress in Years 3 to 6.  The most able pupils in all year groups do not always have work that is hard enough to ensure their achievement is good.  Staff do not insist that pupils use their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills consistently well in all of their writing.  Pupils are not given enough opportunities to apply their literacy and numeracy skills and their handwriting and presentation skills require improvement.  Marking does not give pupils sufficient guidance about how to improve their work.  Pupils’ behaviour and safety requires improvement. Staff who are supervising pupils’ play at lunchtime do not always take pupils’ concerns seriously.  Leadership and management have not yet ensured that teaching and achievement are consistently good.  Leaders do not rigorously check the effect teaching has on pupils’ written work and on their progress in books in all subjects. Written

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

feedback is not given often enough to staff about their teaching and the following of school policies.  Improvement plans, although covering the right priorities, do not identify precisely enough the actions to take, how success will be measured, or when actions should be completed.  The Academy Council members are not active enough in checking for themselves the effectiveness of the school. Website information is not always accurate.

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The school has the following strengths

 Children make good progress in the Nursery and Reception classes.  In 2013 attainment overall was well above average by the end of Year 2.  Actions to improve reading are effective, and standards are rising in all year groups.  Attendance has improved this year to average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors evaluated teaching in all classrooms. Three classrooms were visited with the Principal and one with the vice principal. Pupils’ work was scrutinised in all year groups to evaluate teaching over time.  Meetings were conducted with senior and subject leaders and members of staff. In addition, meetings were held with the Chair of the Academy Council and a representative of the Ninestiles Academy Trust.  Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons and around school. They also held meetings with six groups of pupils in Years 3 to 6 and conducted a survey of their views on behaviour, safety and bullying in the school.  Information from the scrutiny of a range of documentation was used to help form inspection judgments. These documents included the school self-evaluation, improvement planning, a record of the management of teachers’ performance, monitoring documentation, assessment information, minutes of meetings and information relating to safeguarding and attendance.

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Information about this inspection

 The views of parents were gathered by talking to parents, analysing questionnaires given out by the school, and the 11 parental responses to Parent View (the online questionnaire for parents). Emails from parents were also considered. An analysis of the 14 responses to the staff questionnaire, along with discussions with staff during the inspection, gave inspectors an insight into their views.

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Inspection team

Lois Furness, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Patricia Hardy Additional Inspector David West Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Erdington Hall Primary School is a sponsored academy, which opened in June 2012. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was given a notice to improve.  The school is a much larger than average multi-ethnic primary school. Although the majority of pupils are from a Pakistani background, 14 other ethnicities are represented. An above average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for pupil-premium funding is well-above average. This funding is additional government funding provided for pupils in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs who are supported through school action is broadly average. However, the proportion supported at school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs is below average.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of pupils who join or leave the school at times other than the usual points is much higher than average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which sets the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  Since the academy opened, five new teachers have been appointed, and the new Principal of the academy will take up her post in June 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching especially in Years 3 to 6 to consistently good or better by:  making sure the most able pupils have work that makes them think hard  providing regular opportunities for pupils to use and apply their literacy and numeracy skills  raising teachers’ expectations of the quality of pupils’ work including presentation and handwriting  marking providing pupils with focused guidance on how to improve the quality of their work including their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by:  ensuring that all leaders check more often that pupils’ work is of a high quality and providing teachers with regular written feedback about their impact on pupils’ progress  identifying more clearly in improvement plans the actions to be taken, how success can be measured and then tight timeframes by when actions will be completed  all lunchtime staff fully understand their responsibilities regarding their response to pupils’ concerns regarding behaviour and safety  developing the skills of members of the Academy Council in finding out for themselves about school effectiveness, and holding leaders to account for school performance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress across year groups in a range of subjects, including English and mathematics, is not consistently good enough for pupils to reach the levels they are capable of. The work in pupils’ books confirms this pattern of variable progress. The most able pupils in Years 1 to 6 do not achieve as well as they should as work is often too easy, or repeats what they know already.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 By the end of Year 6 in 2013, attainment overall was well below average but most pupils made expected progress in writing and mathematics. Too few made expected progress in reading, or made better than expected progress in all three subjects. Current Year 6 assessment information shows that more pupils are making expected or better than expected progress than last year, especially in reading.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2013, the end of Year 2 assessments indicate that progress over time was good with attainment in reading being well above average. In writing and mathematics attainment was broadly average. This showed a marked improvement from the previous year when attainment was well below average in all three subjects.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 However in Year 3, this average attainment is not being built on well enough and progress has slowed. In other year groups in Key Stage 2 progress is not rapid enough, and pupils’ achievement requires improvement. The slowest progress is in writing where weaknesses in handwriting, grammar, spelling and punctuation persist through to Year 6. Teachers do not systematically correct such errors, and pupils are not constantly reminded to improve these skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In the phonics screening check carried out at the end of Year 1, a high proportion of pupils achieved the national expectation for six-year olds. This reflects the good progress they make in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Year 1. Pupils develop good independent reading skills and, across the school, they enjoy reading a wide range of books. Reading standards are improving and current attainment information suggests that by Year 6 the proportion of pupils attaining Level 4 or higher will increase in 2014.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start school in the Nursery with knowledge, skills and understanding which are well below those typical for their age. In 2013 the proportion of children with a good level of development at the end of the Reception was closer to the national average which represents good progress from their starting point. Current assessment information shows that the number of children attaining a good level of development will improve this year.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 At the end of Year 6 in 2013, the attainment of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding was approximately one term behind other pupils in mathematics and writing, and half a term in reading. In the grammar, punctuation and spelling test they were approximately three terms behind their peers. The school’s own analysis shows that the currently eligible pupils are making similar progress to others in the school and the gap is closing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of disabled pupils, and those who have special educational needs improved in 2013, alongside that of other pupils. These pupils are sometimes withdrawn in smaller groups to boost their learning. They make good progress in their groups but do not always transfer this learning to their work when they return to class.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils from minority ethnic groups achieved as well as other pupils in 2012, and those for whom English is an additional language quickly learn to speak English. Nevertheless, sometimes they are given work that is inappropriate. For example, a pupil having very little English was asked to edit a newspaper article and others were required to learn the meaning of words such as miniaturist and herbalist.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils who are newly arrived in school are assessed quickly in order that they can be given targeted work if necessary. Their achievement is similar to that of other pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching does not secure consistently good progress for all pupils especially in Years 3 to 6. No evidence of outstanding teaching was seen during the inspection.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Throughout Years 1 to 6 teachers do not plan well for the most able pupils. Teachers are not sufficiently aware of the level of challenge needed to ensure that these pupils make rapid and sustained progress. As a result, the most able pupils too often complete work that they can already do, and time is wasted.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking across the academy, does not influence pupils’ achievement well enough. It is better in English than in other subjects but even there, written comments do not always tell pupils what they have to do to improve. Too often, pupils are told to re-read their work to see if it makes sense rather than being given specific advice that would help them to do this. Or a comment such as ‘remember to use similes’ is made and then the work given over the next few weeks provides no opportunity for pupils to use such a device.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils are not always expected to use their knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation in their writing, nor do they have enough opportunities to write for extended periods of time. In mathematics, teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to apply what they have learnt to different situations or contexts. Teachers too readily accept careless and poorly presented work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In all classrooms the relationships between pupils and adults are good. On classroom walls there is good evidence of prompts to help pupils learn. Teaching assistants mainly provide good support, ensuring that pupils who speak English as an additional language and those who are disabled or have special educational needs are able to access activities.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. Teachers quickly assess children’s skills, understanding and interests so that they can be purposefully engaged in a range of activities which help them to make good progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. In most lessons, pupils have positive attitudes towards learning and are keen to talk about their work with others. However, when tasks do not engage their interest pupils lose concentration and off-task discussion takes place.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 During the inspection the behaviour observed was mainly good, however behaviour records show that there are a number of pupils who do not behave appropriately in all year groups. School leaders are trying hard to support pupils who find it difficult to manage their behaviour and exclusion is used as a last resort. Since September 2013, six pupils have had part-time exclusions. A clear behaviour policy is in place which is understood by staff and pupils. The inclusion manager is successfully helping pupils who find it difficult to behave appropriately, to manage their behaviour at lunchtime.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. Pupils told inspectors although they felt safe in school, there were times at lunchtimes when not all adults who were supervising their play listened well enough when they complained about silly behaviour or name calling. However they say this is improving as teaching staff are now supervising lunchtimes. They also said that the increased number of activities available for them is reducing the number of incidents of silly behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Despite this inappropriate behaviour, pupils confirm that there is very little bullying in school and records show only two incidents over the past year. Pupils are very clear about the different types of bullying including, name-calling, and physical, mental and cyber-bullying. They know to tell an adult if bullying happens to them and are confident that staff will help them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils say the daily family group sessions are helping to improve everyone’s behaviour. Older pupils are getting to know younger ones, and are developing a sense of care and responsibility for the pupils in their family. One parent commented on the good effect these sessions are having on behaviour and pupils’ moral and social development. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are developing good social and moral skills. They get on well together and respond positively to adults.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Attendance is improving and is now average, which confirms the view that pupils mainly enjoy school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The Principal, academy council members and all staff are committed to school improvement, and the planning identifies some of the right priorities, for example increasing the number of pupils attaining Level 5 by the end of Year 6. However, the school’s view of how well it is doing is overly generous as too much reliance has been placed on-going assessment information without verifying that this is a true reflection of pupils’ work over time in all year groups. Actions in improvement plans are too woolly and the lack of sharp, measurable criteria and dates of when actions will be completed makes it difficult for the academy council members to regularly monitor how well the school is doing. However leadership has the capacity to improve as shown by improving standards at the end of Year 2, and the rise in attendance this year.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders do not check often enough that pupils are producing high-quality work. Leaders of different subjects and of year groups do not check achievement within their areas of responsibility sufficiently well. There was little evidence provided of regular work scrutinies and specific feedback given to individual teachers about the quality of pupils’ work over time or about how well staff are following school policies. For example, the agreed policy for how pupils should set out their work.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Performance management is used to hold teachers to account for the achievement of pupils. Targets are clear, linked directly to the standards set out nationally for judging the quality of teaching and to the progress pupils should make across the year. These targets are reviewed during regular meetings. As yet performance management has not ensured that all teaching is good or better.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum does not ensure pupils’ achieve well or have sufficient opportunities to use and apply their literacy and numeracy skills. There is a good range of enrichment activities, such as lunchtime and after-school clubs, visits and visitors to the school. Pupils thoroughly enjoy their physical education lessons. These make an important contribution to their healthy physical development. The new primary sports funding has been used to pay for specialist coaches to broaden the range of physical education activities available. Some aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are promoted well in certain subjects, such as English and religious education, assemblies and in Family Group time.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Discussions with parents, Parent View and the school’s own questionnaire analysis show that the majority of parents are mainly happy with the school’s work. The school website is accessible and provides all the information that is expected of this resource. However some of the information is misleading as for example, prior to the inspection, parents were informed that the school was good moving towards outstanding.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The promotion of equality of opportunity requires improvement. This is because, although the school tackles discrimination well, the good achievement of different groups of pupils is not yet fully assured.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The impact of the multi-academy trust requires improvement. Although Trust members are a part of the Academy Council, they have not found out for themselves the accuracy of statements about the school’s work. As yet there is no one within the Trust who quality assures the work of the school, although a person has been appointed to assume this role from September.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The Academy Council members receive regular reports from the Principal about the work of the school. Minutes record that they do ask questions about the information they receive. However, they are too reliant on external consultants’ reports and the Principal’s view of school effectiveness without checking for themselves that these views are accurate. They recognise attainment is rising but think that progress is good, as are all other areas of the school’s work. Apart from the information on the website saying the school is good, self- evaluation does not evaluate the school’s overall effectiveness. There is little evidence of leaders of subjects or of year groups presenting information about their areas of responsibility. Other than the Chair, other council members do not visit the school regularly enough and visits that have taken place are not well planned or linked to school improvement actions.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Financial management is secure and council members know how pupil premium is spent and the impact of this. They also understand how the primary sports funding is used. Council members are involved in the performance management of the Principal and know that systems to reward teachers for their impact on achievement are in place. They hold the safety and well-being of pupils as a high priority and ensure that all their statutory duties relating to these are met.

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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 138194 Local authority Not applicable Inspection number 408824

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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 Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 441 Appropriate authority The Ninestiles Trust Chair Emma Beattie Principal Martyn Collin Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0121 4643122 Fax number 0121 4642978 Email address enquiry@erdhall.bham.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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