Hanbury's Farm Community Primary School

Hanbury's Farm Community Primary School Derwent, Off Field Farm Road, Tamworth, B77 2LB

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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.  Pupils make consistently good progress as they move through the school.  Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They set pupils tasks that are challenging, but achievable if they try their best.  The school has a strong track record of success with pupils who have difficulties controlling their emotions and behaviour.  Pupils have good attitudes to learning. They come to school ready to learn and work hard during lessons.  Pupils are well-mannered and polite. Good behaviour is the norm, both in and out of lessons.  Good systems for raising attendance have led to rapid improvements in punctuality and attendance.  The school provides a wide range of experiences to enhance pupils’ understanding of life outside their immediate locality.  The headteacher sets high expectations in all areas of the school’s work. Staff respond to these enthusiastically.  The procedures for evaluating and improving

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

teaching are exemplary, so pupils’ achievement is improving across the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always check pupils’ written work or their understanding in lessons thoroughly enough to help them make the best possible progress.  Governors rely too heavily on the headteacher’s views when evaluating the school’s effectiveness.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons, including six jointly observed with senior staff. In addition, the inspectors listened to pupils reading and analysed the work in their books.  Meetings were held with staff, pupils, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  There were too few responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to allow analysis. Inspectors spoke to parents and carers informally during the inspection to gather their views.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including: the school’s own information on pupils’ progress; the school’s evaluation of its performance; records relating to attendance; and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

David Driscoll, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Nicola Hart Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The school had an unusually high proportion of pupils who joined part way through the academic year that ended in July 2013.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs has increased significantly since the school was last inspected, and especially so since January 2013. The proportion of these pupils supported through school action is high. The proportion supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also high. Most of these pupils have behavioural or emotional difficulties, with an increasing number who have mental health issues.  A high proportion of pupils are supported through the pupil premium. This is additional funding for pupils who are looked after by the local authority or known to be eligible for free school meals.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The headteacher is a local leader of education. He was asked to support another local primary school, Oakhill Community Primary School, which had been judged as inadequate when inspected. He took over as its headteacher and subsequently it was found to no longer require special measures.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure teachers act more quickly to identify and correct errors in pupils’ written work and any misconceptions they have in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Train governors to interpret information about the pupils’ attainment and progress for themselves, so they are less reliant on the headteacher and better able to challenge senior leaders about the school’s performance.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards are rising in all year groups as pupils make better progress. In some cases, such as in writing in Year 3, standards are already above average. Pupils leave the school well-prepared for the next stage of their education with a solid grounding in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the Nursery with skills and knowledge that are well below those typical for their age. They make good progress in the Nursery, and this continues in the Reception class, so that their standards when they start Year 1 are average in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children’s social development is a particular strength. They quickly learn to work and play together, follow classroom routines and pay attention to their teachers. This forms a strong basis for their good attitudes to learning further up the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress in Years 1 and 2 is equally as good. The pupils who left Year 2 in 2013 did so with average standards, despite starting Year 1 with standards that were below average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Without careful interpretation, the school’s published results for 2013 could paint a misleading picture of the progress made by pupils. Of the 21 pupils who left Year 6 in 2013, five did not join the school until Year 6 and a further three only joined in Year 4. They included, for example, pupils who had previously been excluded from other schools or who had missed years of formal education. Some joined the school, but then did not turn up for long periods as they moved away from the area.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Almost all of the above pupils joined the school having underachieved in the past and most with low standards. They made good progress at the school, but did not have enough time to make up the ground previously lost. All of the remaining 13 pupils made good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In all years, pupils are keen to do well. They usually respond conscientiously to their teacher’s written guidance on how to improve their work, by practising spellings or trying more difficult sums for example.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The gap in performance between pupils supported through the pupil premium and others has closed rapidly. In 2012, these pupils were, on average, two years behind their peers when they left Year 6. This reduced to one term in 2013 and the difference now is negligible. The success is a result of the very effective targeting of the funds to provide intensive support for individual pupils. As one governor put it, ‘we hit them hard and hit them fast’.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils make good progress. By the end of Year 6 they read very well and widely. They have an excellent knowledge of current affairs through reading newspapers. These pupils’ writing shows an excellent range of vocabulary and most present their work in beautiful handwriting.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Many of the school’s disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs have several difficulties that hinder them in making good progress. The school’s expertise in this area and the support it provides for such pupils has led parents and carers to actively seek a place for their child here. As a result, the proportion of such pupils has risen dramatically.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has invested in extensive training for staff in supporting disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, most of whom make good progress. In some cases their achievement is outstanding. Pupils learn to concentrate and build their confidence in having a go for themselves. Teaching assistants often take an uncompromising approach and have high expectations. Pupils come to understand that they cannot produce work of a lower standard than that of which they are capable.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In lessons, pupils usually pay close attention to their teachers. However, pupils sometimes misunderstand what they have been told and lose concentration. These misconceptions are not always recognised by their teachers, so the pupils continue to make mistakes in their work. This slows their progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Interesting tasks that make all pupils think mean that teaching is good throughout the school, with some that is outstanding. In mathematics in Year 6, for example, the very high expectations of the teacher has led to almost half the class making rapid progress across the year, while standards in writing are above average.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Throughout the school teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils and build on what they already know, understand and can do. They expect pupils to behave well and work to the best of their ability. Tasks are often very challenging, such as finding the missing value of mathematical symbols in an equation in Year 2. On several occasions, pupils initially lacked confidence in their ability when presented with such tasks, but still had a go, without any prompting from the teacher, and found that they were successful.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have established good routines which are applied consistently across the school. All pupils know that they must start work as soon as they enter the classroom, for example, and that they must have the necessary equipment immediately to hand.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The most-able pupils very much enjoy the very demanding tasks that they are given and struggle hard to reach correct answers to complex mathematical problems. For example, they worked out an itinerary for visiting Brazil for the world cup when faced with a range of different options for flights, hotels and match tickets on a limited budget.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All teachers introduce topics in ways that motivate and engage pupils. In Year 3, for example, pupils were given a mystery set of Egyptian hieroglyphics which totally confused them, until they realised that they were a mathematical code and immediately started in their attempts to break it. Pupils in Year 4 were captivated by the use of clips from the film ‘Castaway’ and worked hard to produce moving descriptions of how the character was feeling at key moments.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers in the Nursery and Reception classes provide a rich variety of activities, with a very strong focus on developing children’s skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Every opportunity is taken to sound out letters and then draw them, for example. Less emphasis is placed on children’s creativity and knowledge of the world, so progress in these areas is a little slower. However, plans are already being implemented to tackle these issues.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants are very effective at supporting disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. They know exactly when to insist that pupils work without support or that they should be pressed to do better; they are also good at realising when an individual is finding the work too difficult and providing extra help.

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The quality of teaching is good

 For some individuals, progress is slowed because the teacher does not realise that pupils have not understood a concept or because errors in written work are not identified accurately enough. Some incorrect spellings, for example, are missed, which leads to the pupil continuing to spell the word incorrectly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons they usually concentrate well for the full duration and try their best, resulting in good progress. Pupils respond quickly to teachers’ instructions and only occasionally need reminding to stop daydreaming.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is equally as good outside of lessons. Teachers model respectful behaviour and pupils respond well. They are polite and welcoming towards visitors. Pupils are proud of their school, quickly running to pick up any litter that has been inadvertently dropped in the playground, for example.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school works with a very wide range of agencies to support pupils who have difficulties managing their behaviour and emotions. These pupils are successfully taught a range of strategies to help them stay calm in the situations that they find difficult.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school has had great success with such pupils, and had maintained a record of very few exclusions of any type until this year. Exclusions have risen this year as the school has had to support some pupils with exceptional needs. However, these have tended to be short, sharp shocks and the excluded pupils have learnt their lessons and are now back on track.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance has improved considerably this year and is now average. The rate of persistent absenteeism is now well below average and punctuality to school is good. The school has implemented a strict and rigorously enforced set of measures to encourage parents and carers to send their children to school and the results are clear. Absence is now followed up by text message immediately after the registers close and any lack of response from parents or carers results in a meeting with senior staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Checks on the suitability of adults to work with children are comprehensive and well recorded.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, including on the road and when using the internet. All pupils said that they felt very safe in school, a view that was echoed by their parents and carers.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school has noted a few incidents where racist or homophobic language has been used between pupils. These have been dealt with effectively and the pupils concerned have not repeated the offending words.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is highly respected by staff for his good humour, support and uncompromising approach to providing the best possible education for pupils. The strengths identified at the last inspection have been maintained and the weaknesses, such as punctuality, have been improved significantly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The targets set for the school’s improvement reflect the headteacher’s high expectations of both staff and pupils. The targets set for teachers through their performance management are particularly demanding and teachers work hard to achieve them. The headteacher is well supported by a team of senior leaders who have ensured that the school continues to run smoothly and improve when the headteacher has been at the other school for which he is responsible.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff who are responsible for aspects of the school’s work are also very effective. The leaders of the Early Years Foundation Stage and mathematics, for example, analyse pupils’ performance in great depth so know exactly what aspects need to be improved. They play a good role in checking and improving the quality of teaching in their respective areas.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has sophisticated systems for checking teaching. These lead to highly detailed evaluations of where even the very best practice can be improved. Staff are enthusiastic about the feedback that they receive and make good use of the advice and subsequent training in order to improve. They have many opportunities to observe best practice, both in this school and others.

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The leadership and management are good

 The way that the different subjects are taught is very effective in engaging pupils and teaching them about the wider world. Topics are often unusual, such as ‘the 60s’. Into these, teachers weave a range of activities that cover a large number of subjects. In ‘the 60s’, for example, pupils visited the Beatles museum in Liverpool to study their music and the cultural differences between communities.

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The leadership and management are good

 Extra funds for primary sport have been used well to provide extra training for staff and provide more sporting opportunities for pupils. This has resulted in more pupils taking part in sport and raising the level of fitness across the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides only ‘light touch’ support to this effective school. Nevertheless, it was quick to act when the school’s results in 2013 were announced and worked with senior staff to determine the reason for the apparent decline.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors support the school well, but do not always provide enough challenge to the headteacher. The governing body meets all of its statutory requirements, including those for safeguarding, and ensures good financial control. It has made particularly good use of the pupil premium funds to ensure that the most disadvantaged pupils make up the ground they have lost in the past and achieve as well as their peers.  Governors have a good understanding of how effective teaching is and what the senior leaders are doing to improve it. They manage the performance of teachers well, supporting the headteacher in taking robust actions when a teacher’s performance is not good enough while ensuring that pay increases are awarded only to those whose pupils make good progress.  Governors rely too heavily on the headteacher and senior staff to analyse information on pupils’ attainment and progress and tell them what it means, rather than understanding the

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The leadership and management are good

information for themselves so that they can ask probing questions about the school’s performance.

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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 124165 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 442635

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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 193 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Edward Workman Headteacher Peter Hollis Date of previous school inspection 7 July 2010 Telephone number 01827 475100 Fax number Not applicable Email address office@hanburysfarm.staffs.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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