Newfield Park Primary School

Newfield Park Primary School Whittingham Road, Halesowen, B63 3TP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Good 2

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

 Pupils’ achievement and the curriculum in Key Stage 2 require improvement. They are not as good as they could be in reading, writing and mathematics. Consequently some pupils do not reach the levels of which they are capable.  Teachers do not always use marking and feedback effectively. As a result pupils, especially boys, are not clear about how to improve their work.  Teaching requires improvement because teachers do not always expect enough of all pupils, but especially the most able. They do not regularly check on pupils’ level of knowledge and move them on to harder work when they are ready.  Leadership requires improvement because subject leaders and governors do not check on the progress of different year groups and groups of pupils in detail. This means they are not totally clear which groups are making slower progress.  Leaders check the quality of teaching regularly and give all staff targets for improving pupils’ progress.

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

However, a few staff do not take enough responsibility for analysing performance data to show how well they have met their targets.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics has increased sharply this year. This is due to more rigorous tracking of progress by senior leaders.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are receiving a good start to their school life. Better assessment practices for this age group mean that children thrive in well-organised indoor and outdoor areas and make good progress.  Pupils say they feel safe, and indeed are safe.  Behaviour is good. Pupils are polite and thoughtful young people because they receive good levels of care from staff.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They benefit from a broad range of opportunities to work with others productively.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 23 lessons, six of which were observed with either the headteacher or other senior leaders.  Inspectors talked to pupils about their reading and listened to them read.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and an experienced governor, staff and a local authority adviser.  Inspectors took account of the 47 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire. They also spoke with parents and carers.  Views expressed in questionnaires returned by members of the school staff were considered.  Inspectors observed the work of the school, looking at a range of documentation. This included an examination of pupils’ books from last year.  The school’s child protection and safeguarding procedures were also scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Jeremy Bird, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Newfield Park is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Almost all of the pupils speak English as their first language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those supported through a statement of special education needs or the new education, health and care plan is higher than the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, known to be eligible for the pupil premium, is below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding to raise the achievement of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those in local authority care.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  Recent staff changes include new leadership appointments.  The school manages a child care facility before and after school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, particularly in Key Stage 2, and further accelerate pupils’ progress by ensuring that:  teachers set work that challenges all groups of pupils, including the most able, so they produce work that is the best they can do in every subject  pupils are moved on to harder work when they have mastered the tasks set  all groups of pupils, but boys in particula r, regularly amend and improve their work following feedback from teachers and other adults.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 improve the effectiveness of all leaders by ensuring that:  all staff are fully involved in analysing and presenting data to show they have met their targets for improving pupils’ progress  all subject leaders and governors keep a closer eye on the progress made by each year group and different groups of pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders do not consistently challenge teachers by encouraging them to show through detailed evidence from pupils’ work that they have met their targets to improve their teaching skills and speed up pupils’ progress, especially in Years 3 to 6. Because pupils do not make consistently good progress the headteacher has planned a range of training activities for all leaders, with a particular focus on subject leaders. This can be seen in the current school improvement plan.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Rates of pupils’ progress through Key Stage 2 are not rapid enough. When observing lessons or analysing pupils’ work over time, leaders do not check effectively how assessment is used to ensure that pupils, particularly the more able, are challenged and set high expectations.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders understand what good progress looks like for pupils with different abilities. However, this is not achieved by all teachers all of the time. There are effective strategies in place to manage the performance of teachers, but there is insufficient scrutiny of the progress made by different year groups and groups of pupils over time to support the governing body in monitoring performance.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is working appropriately towards full implementation of its preferred approach to assessment following the removal of National Curriculum levels. Subject leaders appreciate the time provided to explore the most effective ways to assess pupils’ progress in their subjects. Leaders understand that a consistent assessment system, rigorously monitored, is required to ensure pupils make at least good progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum is enriched by a broad range of opportunities for pupils to learn about, and from, different religions and cultures (an example being the sharing of experiences from a recent staff visit to India). Pupils develop spirituality through learning in a range of subjects and by reflecting on well-led assemblies. This is because leaders place a high priority on creating a caring school as well as pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The senior leadership team ably supports the headteacher. Effective leadership skills, demonstrated in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in the support and challenge for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, are being shared among staff.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is aware of past weak performance of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding. Steps to address this include the appointment of a member of staff whose role is to monitor progress through the school and ensure these pupils do not fall behind their peers. Their current performance is better.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has made effective use of primary school physical education and sport premium funding by employing sports coaches to teach physical education. School staff benefit by observing this high quality teaching. Football and cross-country offer competitive opportunities for the pupils. The school has yet to establish the full impact of this funding on pupils’ healthy lifestyles.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school works appropriately with the local authority with regular visits from the school adviser timetabled. However, during such visits there is insufficient rigorous joint scrutiny of pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is currently being restructured. Governors are aware that they have not previously challenged leaders robustly to answer specific questions about pupils’ progress, and have taken appropriate steps to make sure this will be resolved through the new committee structure and lines of accountability.  Development of the new curriculum and the associated assessment strategies have been shared with the governing body. It has appropriate plans to more rigorously monitor and check on how well the school uses assessment to ensure pupils make at least good progress in their reading, writing and mathematics.  The school and governors promote tolerance of and respect for people of all faiths (or those of no faith). For instance, school projects allow pupils to learn about faiths found all over the world and in modern Britain.  Governors’ documentation is comprehensive, with minutes for meetings now demonstrating greater

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The leadership and management requires improvement

challenge to the school and higher expectation of staff performance. They show how the headteacher is supported and challenged effectively by governors.  There is a clear strategy to make effective use of pupil premium funding. Governors are aware of the recent gap in standards between disadvantaged and other pupils in the school. The school is now seeing the benefits of better use of the funding with 2014 data showing gaps significantly narrowed.  The governing body ensures all statutory responsibilities are met, including those relating to safeguarding. For example, all necessary checks are carried out on staff before they start at the school.  Parents and carers work successfully with staff and governors, and say that their child is safe in school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. It achieves this by ensuring all staff are aware of policies and procedures. Documentation is well maintained and used to inform work with pupils, families and staff. Issues relating to e-safety are taught through various subjects.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Conduct around school and at play times is good with pleasant relationships seen between supervisors and pupils. Pupils regularly display positive attitudes to their learning. Parental views support this judgement.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils work and play well together. They have a strong sense of right and wrong and are happy to talk about issues involving making the right choices. Pupils’ positive attitudes contribute greatly to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This, coupled with respect for each other’s views, enables pupils to feel secure when discussing challenging topics.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage develop good social skills, with all adults valuing the importance of setting firm foundations for future development. Effective work with parents and carers early in the school year supports the children in their learning and play.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Where teaching challenges pupils’ thinking their attitudes are good, and they show a keenness to learn.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Bullying is tackled effectively. Pupils talk about bullying, understanding what it is and how it can be tackled when it occurs. They value the school’s approach, stating that any issues are dealt with quickly and effectively. Most parents agree that their children are safe in school and that behaviour is good. Specific incidents, including racial comments, are logged with actions followed through without delay.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school is committed to ensuring discrimination does not occur. It uses the information from behaviour logs to ensure that any issues are dealt with effectively and in a timely manner.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils respect and value their school environment. They know their comments are listened to and are pleased to see their ideas become reality, for example current playground enhancements.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance has been maintained at an above-average level in recent years because pupils enjoy coming to school. This is a real success story for the school community. The school has successfully tackled low attendance for all groups and is determined to maintain this approach. Successful strategies include ‘Nifty the Owl’ and ‘Challenge the Gap’.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not rigorously expect good enough work from the pupils. This means some do not reach the level of skills and knowledge that they are capable of.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some teachers do not set work that is consistently challenging, particularly for the most able. Pupils’ work in their books is not sufficiently analysed. Examples were seen in English work where pupils were not effectively challenged in their written responses to tasks, so they wrote simple sentences where they had the ability to include more complex phrases.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Activities are not quickly changed when pupils show they can easily cope with the tasks set. This leads to insufficient challenge in lessons. In mathematics pupils were seen successfully completing calculation tasks, but their progress was limited by not being expected to tackle higher-level tasks. In English pupils offered sentences to the teacher, but had no detailed expectation (for example inclusion of powerful similes) to accelerate their performance.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ marking and feedback to pupils are not consistently helpful across the school. Not all teachers provide clear enough advice for pupils about how to further improve their work, and they do not always make sure that pupils follow up the advice they do receive by applying it and showing that they have understood.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Adults who support teachers are highly skilled. They know what the pupils need to do as teachers are clear in their instruction. They make sure all identified pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, gain the confidence and skills to work productively. In some lessons, these pupils make accelerated progress when they are working in small groups.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Relationships between teachers and pupils are strong. Where teachers are secure in their subject knowledge, knowing how to provide greater challenge for the pupils, they show confidence when leading discussions with pupils. This helps pupils experience more demanding work. In a Year 3 mathematics lesson, for example, pupils were enabled to create various solutions to arrive at the same answer. Good questioning of their thinking then took place.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children join the school in Reception with skills that are broadly in line with those expected for their age. They make good progress through the Early Years Foundation Stage and this rate of progress continues through to the end of Year 2. However, progress is slower through Key Stage 2 and pupils typically leave the school with standards in line with national averages.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The 2014 national test results showed that pupils had made better progress than in 2013. This is not being sustained in Key Stage 2. Current assessments by the school show that standards are improving in Years 3 to 6 but progress is still inconsistent. The work set in lessons is not sufficiently challenging to ensure that pupils achieve well by the time they leave.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils make inconsistent progress in reading. A good start is made in the Early Years Foundation Stage, with good teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make). The pace of progress slows through Key Stages 1 and 2, where teachers do not always provide challenging reading books or make sure pupils apply their phonic skills to their own reading. Even so, pupils enjoy reading and value the home school communication, with parents encouraged to comment on how well their child is reading at home.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress in writing across the school is stronger, with girls outperforming boys. This is because girls tend to act on advice given by their teachers. For example, they reflect on marking which demonstrates how more effective paragraphing can have greater impact on the reader. This enables girls to demonstrate their higher-level writing skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Rates of progress in mathematics vary across the school. Pupils typically achieve well by the end of Key Stage 1. By the time they leave, the girls have made better gains in their learning. The gap between girls and boys closed in 2014. The school is not rigorous in ensuring such rapid gains are now embedded in all classes.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The current progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is strong. Good leadership effectively identifies needs of individual pupils then provides clear action plans. These are monitored and evaluations are shared with parents and relevant staff. Subsequent work is then adapted accordingly.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2013, the Year 6 test results showed that pupils supported by the pupil premium were between three and four terms behind their classmates in all aspects of English, and four terms behind in mathematics. When compared with other pupils nationally the gap was three terms in English and four terms in mathematics. The 2014 data showed that the gaps had narrowed. Current data show that gaps in school are narrowing further and eligible pupils are making slightly faster progress than their peers.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most able pupils achieve well by the end of Year 2. This is true for reading, writing and mathematics. By the end of Year 6 they continue to perform well, especially in their writing work. It is the girls’ performance that ensures this positive picture, with their attainment being significantly better than that of the boys in all areas. The most able group make expected progress though Years 3 to 6. They are not currently challenged enough to exceed expected progress.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership in the Early Years Foundation Stage has been strengthened. This led to good progress for the children currently in Year 1. Good practice has been sustained, with the current Reception children enjoying a very settled and stimulating start to their life in school.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff are skilled and know how to ensure they make accurate assessments early in the year. This accuracy enables them to plan effectively for the children. They track the progress of all pupils diligently, ensuring they quickly become aware of any child struggling to make good progress. Action is then taken to support such children.

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The early years provision is good

 A significant minority of children arrive in school with weaker skills in some areas of development. Staff work with families to ensure these children make rapid gains, so they get back on track. Children move into Year 1 with a good level of development. This is true for both boys and girls.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is well planned. Children enjoy a rich environment where they can explore their own interests. Two boys were keen to use a globe and maps to show where they went on holiday and what it was like there. Resources are carefully selected to stimulate the children’s desire to learn and find out about things.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 103815 Local authority Dudley Inspection number 448266

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 397 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair John Stone Headteacher Angela Mander Date of previous school inspection 29 June 2010 Telephone number 01384 818640 Fax number 01384 818641 Email address info@newfield.dudley.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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