Beoley First School

Beoley First School Beoley Lane, Beoley, Redditch, B98 9AN

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils enjoy school and achieve well. Children enter Reception with skills and knowledge broadly typical of those expected for their age. They make good progress and begin Year 1 with good levels of development.  Pupils make good progress in Years 3 and 4 in reading, writing and mathematics. Standards are better than those typically found by the end of Year 4, and pupils are exceptionally well prepared for the middle-school stage of their education.  Teaching is consistently good and the curriculum provides an outstanding range of interesting experiences to support pupils' learning and development.  Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They always do their best, help one another and feel very safe and well cared for.  Staff know the pupils well and use accurate assessments of their attainment to cater effectively for all individual needs. The school feels like a happy extended family which strongly supports the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The headteacher leads the school well. Together with senior staff and strongly supported by governors, she makes sure that teaching is at least good. Any underperformance is tackled effectively but sensitively.  Governors provide good support to the headteacher. They keep themselves well-informed of pupils’ progress and rigorously hold the school to account for the standards achieved.  Parents are highly supportive of the school, as reflected in an exceptionally positive response to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire and comments made to the inspector during the inspection.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers’ questioning in lessons is not always purposeful enough to ensure that all pupils, including the most able, are challenged and made to think hard.  Some school improvement measures lack clarity of purpose and leaders cannot, therefore, be sure how effective their actions have been.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited all classrooms to observe lessons and talk with the pupils about their work. He also looked through work-books from the previous year. Most of these activities were undertaken jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector heard some pupils read and observed pupils’ behaviour during playtimes, lunchtime and at the beginning and end of the school day.  Meetings were held with members of staff, groups of pupils and with five governors. The inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  The responses of 54 parents to Ofsted's online survey were taken into account alongside comments made to the inspector by parents before and after school. The views of staff were also taken into account, including 16 completed staff questionnaire returns.  A range of documents were examined, including safeguarding policies and procedures, the school’s view

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Information about this inspection

of its own performance and records of the progress of past and current pupils.

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Inspection team

Peter Kerr, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Beoley First School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage. A very small proportion of pupils come from minority ethnic groups and none speaks English as an additional language.  Two pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the additional funding known as the pupil premium is below average. In this school, this additional funding is allocated for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Provide sufficient training and support to enable all teachers in Years 1 to 4 to:  ask more purposeful questions of pupils, particularly of the most able, as lessons proceed, so that they all have to think hard and experience challenge  help staff become more skilled at seeing how best to get pupils to apply and extend their recently learned skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by making it clearer what each school improvement initiative is intended to achieve so that the impact can be more accurately evaluated.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides strong leadership. Coupled with good management and inter-personal skills, this ensures that everyone involved with the school feels that they have a say and that their contribution is appreciated.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher knows how good teaching is through her regular presence in classrooms and around the school and through robust systems to manage teachers. Together with the deputy headteacher she sets an example for good teaching and gets the most out of the small staff through continuous support and encouragement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and all the other staff with leadership roles in this small school know what is needed to improve provision. Most of the measures taken have clearly had the intended impact. For example, when progress in mathematics began to lag behind that in English, immediate and effective steps were taken which quickly closed the gap.

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The leadership and management are good

 The purpose of school improvement plans is not always as clear as it could be and therefore success less easily measured. For example, the school expanded the pupils’ cultural experiences in response to a key issue raised at the previous inspection. The intended impact of the activities on the content of the curriculum and on pupils' learning and development was not explicit enough for leaders to be able to evaluate how successful the initiative was.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is implementing the new curriculum for 2014 and is working with a group of local schools to establish an efficient system for assessing the progress and attainment of pupils from term to term, and to use this information to plan suitable work for them.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum provides an excellent range and balance of subjects and practical experiences that enable pupils to develop their interests and talents. English and mathematics skills are taught well and the pupils are successfully encouraged to use these as needed in all their activities. Assemblies strongly promote spiritual and moral values and a sense of community. Religious education lessons teach the pupils about the full range of religious beliefs and cultural traditions that help to shape people’s lives in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes exceptionally good use of its excellent outdoor facilities to engage pupils in growing vegetables, caring for animals and safeguarding the environment. Families and staff are closely involved in this project, which makes a very powerful contribution to the pupils' personal development.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff hold exceptionally positive views of the school and are highly supportive of its aims and objectives. Although very nearly all staff agree that the school provides well for their professional development, a significant minority have reservations. The inspection confirms that not enough is done to help staff become more skilled at seeing how best to get pupils to apply and extend their recently learned skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s partnership with parents is very strong. A high proportion of parents completed Ofsted’s online survey and the responses were exceptionally positive. All respondents would recommend the school to others and all agreed that their children are safe, happy, make good progress, are well looked after and taught well. There was also 100% agreement that the school is well led and managed, provides valuable information to them about their children’s progress and responds well to their concerns.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents make positive contributions to the life of the school. An active parent teacher association oversees significant fund-raising to support a wide range of projects. Parent volunteers lend valuable support to the school through hearing readers and lending a hand in practical ways such as in the vegetable garden and with the hens.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses the primary school physical education and sport premium effectively. A specialist has been employed to teach gymnastics and dance skills throughout the school. Teaching staff observe these lessons to improve their own expertise. The pupils thoroughly enjoy the lessons and have already developed good dance and gymnastics skills.  The additional funds for the small number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium are used well to support the personal development and progress of these pupils. Any gaps in attainment between these and other pupils in the school have narrowed and their attainment is catching up with that of their peers nationally. The data examined show that the rate of catch up is about one term over a year on average.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Good governance contributes significantly to school improvement. Governors give optimum support to the school while at the same time challenging leaders to continue raising standards. All statutory duties are fulfilled, including ensuring that safeguarding arrangements meet requirements.  Governors are well informed about the progress pupils make in each class and how well the school is doing compared with others nationally. They make sure that the contribution of staff to raising pupils' achievements and improving the management of the school is linked to the pay they receive. They have shown the capacity to take decisive measures when any staff fail to meet the demands placed on them.  Governors keep themselves abreast of developments in the school through regular visits. For example, they participated actively in looking at the teaching of mathematics in the school following the measures

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The leadership and management are good

taken to raise standards in the subject.  The budget is managed effectively and governors are aware of how the pupil premium is being spent to support eligible pupils’ progress and raise their attainment.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils are lively and engaged because they enjoy school. The atmosphere in the school is always orderly and purposeful. Pupils’ eagerness to learn, willingness to co- operate with each other and powers of perseverance help them to get the most out of lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school very successfully encourages good behaviour through its high quality provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Imaginative rewards, including invitations through the post to afternoon tea with the headteacher, recognise and emphasise positive attitudes as well as good behaviour. Some pupils spoken to during the inspection were proud to have been among the first to receive such an invitation and were looking forward to the experience.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties respond particularly well to the school’s behaviour management approach and their behaviour markedly improves.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Good supervision during playtime and lunchtime contributes to outstanding behaviour. Staff encourage pupils to play co-operatively and to support one another, and intervene judiciously to defuse any tensions that arise.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school’s work to keep the pupils safe and secure is outstanding and pupils feel very safe in school. When asked about bullying in the school, pupils show that they fully understand what bullying is and what forms it can take. They say that it is something that happens seldom, if at all, in their school and if anyone is unkind to other pupils the staff deal with it straight away.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils know that all staff care for them as individuals and this helps them to feel safe and secure. Attendance is consistently well above average because the pupils love school and their parents fully appreciate the importance of regular attendance. Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils have a keen moral sense and appreciate that everyone is a unique and special individual. They know that discrimination on any grounds is wrong. Pupils from all backgrounds and with a range of needs and difficulties are naturally included in all activities and friendship groups.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are very relaxed and confident in helping to grow and cook vegetables and looking after egg- laying hens because of the excellent facilities that have been provided to make this possible. This contributes enormously to their physical, mental and emotional well-being and their sense of personal responsibility for other living things.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils are proud of their Eco School status and fully understand why it is important for people to adopt eco-friendly practices in their daily lives.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Consistently good teaching leads to pupils’ good progress. This reflects senior leaders' success in eradicating inadequate teaching and supporting all teachers to improve. Some aspects of teaching are outstanding, particularly the success with which the teachers generate interest and enthusiasm among pupils with the activities and resources they prepare for lessons.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Very effective teamwork between teachers and teaching assistants, all of whom know the pupils’ needs, ensures support for them throughout the school day as well as during lessons. Information about how well pupils are doing, based on accurate assessment procedures, is shared fully with them and their parents.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported very effectively in lessons to achieve as well as they can relative to their starting points. Those pupils with statements of special educational needs have appropriate one-to-one help a lot of the time, but are also integrated into groups whenever possible to help them to feel part of the group and develop their social skills.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All teachers have high expectations and plan lessons that systematically build on the pupils’ previous learning. They question pupils carefully to make sure that they have understood what is being taught. This helps them to make accurate assessments of pupils’ attainment.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All aspects of English are taught well. Teachers convey an enthusiasm for reading and ensure that pupils read as often as possible and have any support needed to ensure that they read fluently. Standards of handwriting have improved since the previous inspection because this has been a school focus and high expectations have been met.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Marking is consistently helpful, and pupils are practised at marking their own work to identify where they have made mistakes and where they have done well. This contributes well to their progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide harder work for the most-able pupils, but this does not always test them because some teachers lack the confidence to ask suitably probing questions and adapt activities to add more challenge. In mathematics, pupils are sometimes given work suitable for older age-groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Some good teaching in science was evident in the pupils’ books from the previous Year 4. Pupils had presented the results of an experiment using graphs and fully explained what they had discovered about the insulating properties of a range of materials.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Attractive displays around the school reflect the wide range of activities that lessons provide. A variety of writing from labels and lists to descriptions, poems and stories is evident across subjects; and number, shape and data-handling skills feature prominently.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress is good across Key Stage 1. Most pupils enter Year 1 from Reception with good levels of development. Results in the phonics screening at the end of Year 1 are above average and standards are above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. Progress is good throughout Years 3 and 4 and standards are higher than those typically seen in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 4.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards in writing have been particularly high for the last two years because it was the focus of teachers’ attention. Progress slowed in mathematics in 2013 but prompt and effective steps were taken to improve teaching in the subject and pupils now achieve equally well in both subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils achieve well in writing because they have the scope to extend their writing. This has been a successful focus of school improvement.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils learn well in lessons because they pay attention to instructions, sustain concentration on their work and co-operate and collaborate successfully with each other. They learn particularly well in practical lessons and when the subject matter fascinates them, as was observed in a mathematical model-building lesson in Year 4, and in group reading activities in Years 1 and 2.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils' good learning in English and mathematics and the self-confidence they have developed through enjoyable practical activities in these and other subjects prepare them very well for the transition to middle school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because the work they are given is pitched at just the right level and they are given support to finish work quickly and gradually catch up with other pupils. Those supported through a statement of special educational needs learn well relative to their starting points because of the carefully planned one-to-one support they receive with individualised programmes of work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils know a lot about some aspects of history and geography because of the topics they have studied, some of which they have chosen themselves. Their knowledge of their local area, particularly the different ethnic and religious communities, is not well developed because this was not a focus of curriculum development despite the school’s recent efforts to widen the pupils' cultural experiences.

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The early years provision is good

 Children settle quickly into Reception because of the well-established routines and inviting environment. This term, the younger Year 1 pupils in the class made this process even smoother and quicker by helping the new arrivals.

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The early years provision is good

 The children arrive from a number of nursery settings with differing levels of development across the areas of learning but most are within the expected range for their age. They make good progress overall, and particularly rapid progress in their personal, social and emotional development. By the end of Reception, most children have reached a good level of development across the areas of learning and are well prepared for Year 1.

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The early years provision is good

 The children learn well though play and in teacher-led activities because teaching is good. A good range of interesting equipment supports play activities in the classroom and outdoor area. These are chosen to relate to the current topics and staff skilfully listen to and question children as they play to assess and support their learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Behaviour is outstanding. Children are self-confident but caring about each other and play co-operatively. They listen attentively to stories, answer questions and talk confidently in teacher-led groups. They show pride in their work.

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The early years provision is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs learn well because their needs are quickly and accurately identified and appropriate individual support provided. The most-able pupils are supported to learn by discovering things for themselves and they make rapid progress.

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The early years provision is good

 The setting is led and managed very effectively. Assessment arrangements are thorough and accurate and an excellent quality of information is provided to parents through the children’s individual ‘learning journey’ records.

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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 116652 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 448494

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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 First School category Community Age range of pupils 4–9 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 97 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lucinda Turnbull Headteacher Sally Davies Date of previous school inspection 10 May 2010 Telephone number 01527 62295 Fax number 01527 598809 Email address info@beoley.worcs.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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