Setting

Nadeem Bhatti Headteacher Shaw Hill Primary School Anthony Road Alum Rock Birmingham B8 3AN

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No formal designation monitoring inspection of Shaw Hill Primary School

Following my visit with Joanne Harvey, Her Majesty’s Inspector to your school on 30 April –1 May 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings.

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No formal designation monitoring inspection of Shaw Hill Primary School

The inspection was a monitoring inspection carried out in accordance with no formal designation procedures and conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection looked at the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and the leadership and management at the school.

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Evidence

Her Majesty’s Inspectors scrutinised the single central record, minutes of the meetings held by the governing body, pupils’ attendance records and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements. They met with the Chair of Governors and three other members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority, members of the senior leadership team, middle leaders, as well as teachers and teaching assistants.

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Evidence

Her Majesty’s Inspectors visited each class during a learning walk. They spoke informally to pupils during playtimes and met with two groups of pupils. As there were insufficient responses to the online survey, Parent View, Her Majesty’s Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the day and looked at the latest parent survey carried out by the school. They also considered the views of 53 staff contained in the staff questionnaire. Serco Inspections Colmore Plaza 20 Colmore Circus Queensway Birmingham B4 6AT T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T: 0121 679 9168 Direct E: narinder.kurana@serco.com Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Evidence

The school's safeguarding arrangements meet requirements.

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Evidence

The quality of leadership and management requires improvement.

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Context

There are 484 pupils on roll. All pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds. Four fifths of the pupils speak English as an additional language. This is much higher than the national average. Nearly half of the pupils in the school are known to be eligible for the pupil premium. This is additional funding for children in local authority care and for those known to be eligible for free school meals. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is well above average, but the proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is average.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. They show positive attitudes in lessons and are conscientious in their work. They listen carefully to adults and respond quickly and enthusiastically to teachers’ instructions and questions. Pupils’ attendance is steadily improving from below average.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The school is a welcoming and inclusive community. Pupils are kind and thoughtful to each other. Pupils develop their self-confidence and self-esteem well. The planned curriculum attends well to the personal, social, health and emotional development of pupils. It is also evident that pupils enjoy learning about different faiths and cultures and there are specific calendared events linked to different religions. With the agreement of other pupils, a child explained, ‘we don’t care about your race or religion, as long as there is good in people we don’t mind.’

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils move around the building sensibly, showing consideration for others and their personal safety. Staff set high expectations of behaviour. They are good role models for pupils in the care and consideration they show to all members of the school community. In a meeting, one pupil summed it up well when describing staff as being ‘generous with their time’. As a result, pupils know that they will be listened to and adults will respond to their concerns.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The school is on a steady journey of improvement. The headteacher and senior leadership team provide strong leadership. However, governance is not good enough. There are particular weaknesses in providing strategic leadership and in holding senior leaders to account. Senior leaders have successfully ensured that staff share the determination and commitment to provide a safe and welcoming environment. The school’s curriculum successfully prepares and equips pupils to take their place in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. The headteacher has shown his strength of conviction to ensure that newly appointed governors are committed to the ethos of the school and share the school’s aims and vision.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Statutory safeguarding procedures are in place. It is common practice that pupils are kept safe and taught to keep themselves safe. All staff are well-versed in the school’s procedures and record and share any concerns appropriately. Pupils’ attendance is monitored closely and the school works with families to ensure they understand the importance of regular attendance. School staff follow up unauthorised absences and report extended absences to the appropriate professional agencies. The school’s website provides information for parents on e- safety and has a direct link to the child exploitation and online protection centre. The senior leadership team complete regular monitoring of procedures. Staff have recently attended training in the national ‘Prevent’ programme, a government funded initiative intended to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism. However, staff have been working to minimise the possible risks from extremist behaviour and

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

to ensure pupils’ safety and well-being over an extended period of time.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Governors’ monitoring of safeguarding and financial management is not robust and requires improvement. They are over reliant on the information provided by senior leaders and do not regularly check procedures for themselves. For example, governors completed only a limited scrutiny of the school’s recent safeguarding audit. They also agreed the missing child policy and anti-bullying policies in a batch, paying them little individual regard and without discussion or professional challenge. The school’s senior leaders must also take responsibility for the fact that key policies such as the child protection policy do not fully reflect the school’s context and current good quality safeguarding arrangements. This hinders governors in their monitoring of safeguarding because they are unaware of the steps the school is taking and the extent to which these are effective.

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External support

The local authority’s support and challenge of the school’s leadership and management has been weak. Processes to appoint local authority governors have hindered the work of the school. For example, the local authority has not completed a thorough risk assessment on candidates to ensure their suitability to strengthen the work of the school. They have presented governor candidates to the school without consultation and who do not reflect the particular nature and vision of the school. The local authority’s support for the school to develop their safeguarding arrangements has been minimal; however, the schools’ completion of an annual audit of safeguarding has been encouraged.

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Priorities for further improvement

As a matter of urgency, the school should;

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Priorities for further improvement

 conduct an immediate and external review of governance in order to assess how the monitoring of the school’s safeguarding arrangements and financial management may be improved

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Priorities for further improvement

 ensure that key policies such as the child protection policy, anti-bullying and attendance policies are up-dated to reflect the extent of the school’s safeguarding arrangements and their work in identifying and minimising any possible risk of radicalisation or extremist behaviour.

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Priorities for further improvement

Her Majesty’s Inspectors will continue to monitor the school and will consider this is in determining the timing of the next full inspection.

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Priorities for further improvement

I am copying this letter to the Director of Children’s Services, to the Secretary of State for Education, the Chair of the Governing Body. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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