Alderman's Green Community Primary School

Alderman's Green Community Primary School Aldermans Green Road, Coventry, CV2 1PP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 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.  Pupils’ achievement has improved since the previous inspection. Pupils are now making good progress across the school.  Teaching is at least good and some is outstanding.  All groups of pupils, regardless of their ability or circumstances, do well because the school takes exceptionally good care of them.  Children get off to a successful start in the Nursery and Reception classes. The many pupils who join the school after the Reception classes are well supported and settle quickly.  Pupils are proud of their school and their achievements. They show respect to one another and to adults. Their behaviour is good and they feel safe in the school.  The school provides pupils with an interesting range of subjects, topics and experiences which contribute strongly to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The headteacher’s effective leadership since the previous inspection has meant that

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

achievement and teaching have continued to improve. Staff changes and the increase in school numbers have been well managed.  The headteacher is strongly supported by leaders at all levels and a knowledgeable and challenging governing body.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There is not yet enough outstanding teaching to ensure all pupils’ progress is rapid and sustained across all year groups.  Attainment in writing is not as high as in reading and mathematics.  Within the overall picture of good achievement, there are some variations between year groups, particularly in writing.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 23 lessons involving 17 teachers. Five of the lessons were observed jointly with school leaders.  The inspectors held discussions with school leaders, staff, governors and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at documentation including improvement plans, the systems for tracking pupils’ progress, the arrangements for safeguarding pupils and samples of pupils’ work. They heard groups of pupils reading and spoke with others about behaviour and safety arrangements at the school.  Account was taken of the 21 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and the views expressed by those parents and carers who spoke with the inspectors at the start of the school day, or wrote letters. The inspectors also considered 41 staff questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Michael Bartleman, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Judith Long Additional Inspector Helen Booth Additional Inspector Timothy McGuire Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Around two thirds of pupils come from a White British background. The remaining third come from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds.  One pupil in 15 is disabled or has special educational needs supported through school action. This is well below average. Around one pupil in 12 is supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, which is above average.  About half of all pupils are supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are in the care of the local authority). This is above average.  The governing body manages a before-school club daily.  A high proportion of pupils start at the school after the Early Years Foundation Stage, and they often join partway through the school year.  The Early Years Foundation Stage consists of one part-time Nursery class with morning and

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Information about this school

afternoon sessions and three Reception classes.  A specialist resource provision for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, known as Enhanced Resource Provision (ERP), opened in January 2013. Currently, there are six pupils in the provision.  The school moved into its new buildings in September 2012.  There have been many staff and leadership changes since the previous inspection.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the proportion of outstanding teaching in order to raise attainment in all subjects by the end of Year 2 and in writing in all years groups by ensuring that:  activities in lessons more consistently develop pupils’ spelling, punctuation, sentence construction and basic mathematical skills, so they are able to complete more challenging tasks successfully  teachers always use checks on pupils’ skills and understanding in lessons to make sure work is challenging enough for all pupils so that more pupils reach the higher levels in their work, particularly by the end of Year 2  pupils learn as well in writing as they do in reading and mathematics  teachers insist on high standards of presentation.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the school in Nursery and Reception classes with skills that are below the levels typical of their age, especially in communication and personal skills. They make good progress because adults provide a rich array of experiences which are finely tuned to pupils’ needs. By the time pupils enter Year 1, they are still below average levels in reading, writing and mathematical development.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 have fallen since the previous inspection in reading, writing and mathematics because a large number of pupils joined the school who were working well below levels expected for their age. Nevertheless, all groups of pupils are now making good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the Year 6 national tests in 2013, standards rose, with an above average proportion of pupils attaining the expected Level 4 in reading and mathematics, and an increased number of pupils attaining the higher Level 5. Pupils made good progress from their various starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The work seen in pupils’ books, in lessons and the school’s own records of pupils’ progress show that the vast majority of pupils, including those who are most able and those from minority ethnic groups, are making good progress. Gaps in attainment between groups of pupils are closing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The vast majority of the most able pupils are making good progress because teaching challenges them more often. More pupils, particularly those in Key Stage 2, are working at levels expected for their age.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Within the overall picture of good achievement, there are some variations between year groups, particularly in writing in Years 2, 5 and 6, where some pupils do not have a sound grasp of punctuation, spelling and sentence construction.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school teaches phonics (the sounds that letters in words represent) well. Results in the Year 1 phonic screening check in 2013 were above national levels.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Attainment in reading was above average in Year 6 in the 2013 national tests and has improved further this year in all classes. Volunteers from the local community regularly come into school to support individual readers which ensures that pupils who do not read regularly outside school make similar progress to their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress due to well- planned one-to-one and group sessions. Pupils in the Enhanced Resource Provision (ERP) make good progress in their personal development which assists them joining in with other pupils when they join mainstream classes.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupil premium funding is used effectively to provide additional teaching assistants and nurturing activities. In Year 6 in 2013, the attainment of pupils supported by the pupil premium was the equivalent of three terms behind their classmates in reading, writing and mathematics. An increasing number of eligible pupils currently in the school are making similarly good progress to their classmates.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically engaging and creative. Activities are well designed to broaden pupils’ experiences and develop their knowledge and understanding. For example, in a Year 5 lesson, pupils progressed well when writing using personification. The teacher taught the pupils the necessary skills to produce good-quality writing. The activity ensured that pupils had excellent opportunities to discuss and share their ideas. This enabled all groups of pupils to write to a high standard using good quality vocabulary.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff training, including effective coaching has generated greater consistency in teaching standards. Lesson observations, scrutiny of pupils’ work and the school’s monitoring data confirm that the overall quality of teaching is good. An increasing proportion of teaching is outstanding. Mathematics, reading and, increasingly, writing, are taught effectively.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils supported by the pupil premium receive well-managed help which enables them to progress as well as their classmates. The focus on individual needs also ensures that disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs, those who have recently joined the school and pupils in the ERP are supported effectively.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching in the Reception and Nursery classes is effective and promotes rapid learning. The team of adults work together well in the vibrant, well-organised classrooms. Inside and outside spaces are used effectively to promote high-quality learning. Children were observed making good progress in using their knowledge of sounds and letters to write simple sentences, for example.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding well and regularly use these assessments to track how well pupils are doing. This school has effective systems to provide extra support to help those who need to catch up. This help is often provided by teaching assistants who effectively promote learning and good behaviours when leading small-group work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Occasionally, work does not demand enough of pupils at differing ability levels because teachers’ checks in lessons have not correctly gauged pupils’ understanding. Pupils’ progress is not as rapid in these lessons when some of them are given work that is too easy or too hard.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Scrutiny of work in books shows that teachers give pupils helpful encouragement about where they have succeeded, as well as feedback about what they need to do next. Sometimes the presentation of work is untidy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils learn quickly about phonics because teachers have strong subject knowledge and high expectations, and they set work at the right level for different groups of pupils. For example, children in the Reception class were seen making rapid progress because of skilled teaching of sounds and letters, including the way in which the work was adapted to suit everyone’s different needs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. School records show that the good behaviour seen during the inspection is typical of behaviour over time.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The recently introduced approach to managing behaviour , ‘Good to be green’, is having a positive impact and incidents of inappropriate behaviour have reduced as a result. Pupils respond well to the system of rewards and sanctions, and understand that good behaviour helps them learn well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school successfully promotes positive relationships and pupils are proud of their school. They are polite, considerate and respectful to each other and adults. They demonstrate this in the way that pupils from a diverse range of backgrounds, cultures and beliefs work and play well together, and in the caring and considerate way in which they welcome new pupils to the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils play an active role in ensuring a happy, well-organised school. They feel that their views are listened to. House captains, ‘Green Team’ members, councillors and monitors make a strong contribution to the running of the school. These opportunities have a positive impact on pupils’ personal development

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Rigorous systems are in place for the recruitment of new staff, and to ensure the site is secure. Pupils say they feel secure in school. Almost all parents who gave their views agree that children feel safe and most agree that their children are happy, are well looked after and behave well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good awareness of all the different forms of bullying, including cyber bullying, and say there are few incidents of inappropriate behaviour or bullying in school. They are confident that staff would deal promptly and fairly with any incidents should they occur.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour and safety are not yet outstanding because a few pupils need adult support to ensure that their behaviour does not hamper their learning or that of others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school works hard to promote regular attendance and punctuality, and pupils are keen to receive an award for the best weekly class attendance. Currently attendance has risen and is in line with the national average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils who attend the breakfast club get a good, healthy and sociable start to the school day. The breakfast club has helped to improve the attendance and punctuality of some pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, ably supported by other leaders, provides strong and effective leadership. With helpful support from governors, the headteacher has successfully raised expectations and ensured that achievement is continuing to rise.

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The leadership and management are good

 The accurate evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses by the headteacher and governing body, combined with the record of improvement, shows that leaders have a strong capacity to improve the school further. The headteacher has managed developments and staff changes well so there is a common sense of purpose and staff morale is high.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders, staff and governors have high expectations of what the school and its community can achieve. Partnerships with parents are good. The school successfully promotes equality of opportunity, fosters good relationships and tackles discrimination.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders check the quality of teaching rigorously by regularly observing lessons, examining pupils’ work and providing constructive feedback. Staff also benefit from additional training, which includes sharing good and outstanding practice As a result, there has been a marked improvement in teaching, learning and achievement since the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 The systems used to check how well individual pupils are doing are very thorough and teachers are fully involved in these reviews. This enables leaders, including those in charge of subjects and phases, to evaluate how different groups and individuals are achieving and to improve provision where necessary.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders manage the performance of staff well by setting challenging targets based on the progress of pupils and enabling staff to receive appropriate training. This means that teachers are held to account and any promotion is justified.

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The leadership and management are good

 The broad range of subjects taught provides pupils with interesting experiences which contribute to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. This includes many opportunities for pupils to experience a sense of wonder in art and design, physical science and by taking part in dance, drama productions and sports. Pupils have many worthwhile opportunities to practise their literacy and numeracy skills in different subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 Sports funding has been sensibly allocated. It is being used to extend staff’s expertise in teaching sport, to increase opportunities for inter-school competition and to offer more after- school sports clubs. The headteacher has plans to closely monitor the impact of the funding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided effective support for the school and has helped the headteacher to raise achievement, to make links with other schools for training and checks on assessments, and to make sure that her view of the school’s effectiveness is accurate

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors visit the school regularly and know it well, including its strengths and areas for development. This is because they have a good understanding of the information showing pupils’ progress and use it to hold the headteacher to account for the quality of teaching and standards in the school. They have effective procedures to manage the performance of the headteacher and make sure pay rises for staff are deserved. They know the actions taken by leaders to improve the quality of teaching. Governors undertake training to help allow them to successfully fulfil their roles, including for checking the impact of the school’s work on raising pupils’ achievement. They carefully monitor the progress of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding and make sure that this extra resource is being spent wisely to raise achievement. They also have suitable procedures for monitoring the impact of the new sports funding on

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The leadership and management are good

pupils’ health, well-being and sporting achievement. They ensure that statutory arrangements for safeguarding 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 103638 Local authority Coventry Inspection number 442512

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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 420 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Steve Rees Headteacher Gillian Bowser Date of previous school inspection 12 March 2013 Telephone number 024 7668 8918 Fax number 024 7668 7400 Email address admin@aldermansgreen.coventry.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 and 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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