Redhill Primary School

Redhill Primary School Wrights Avenue, West Chadsmoor, Cannock, WS11 5JR

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Inadequate 4 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Requires improvement 3

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

 Although behaviour has improved significantly since the previous inspection, there remains some low-level disruption in some lessons, especially where teaching does not engage pupils.  Not all teaching is yet good enough to ensure that all pupils make sustained and better than expected progress.  Teachers’ own assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress is too often inaccurate.  Some teachers and teaching assistants have weak subject knowledge in mathematics, spelling, punctuation and grammar.  The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is still not as strong as it should be, especially in Year 1 and for older pupils who need additional help with their reading.  Standards remain too low for some pupils and year groups, particularly in mathematics, spelling, grammar and punctuation.  Not all pupils make consistently good progress in all subjects across all year groups. This is especially the case for boys and the most able

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

pupils.  The provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage is not consistently good. It is better in Reception than in Nursery.  There is no clear leadership structure for the Early Years Foundation Stage; consequently, when weaknesses in provision are identified it is not always clear to staff who is responsible for remedying them.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders and governors have improved the school. They have been rigorous in checking that planned improvements have resulted in better teaching and improved achievement.  The leadership team is now strong. The headteacher is supported well by a team of senior leaders and a developing team of teachers with other responsibilities. They have an accurate picture of the school’s current performance and the areas for further improvement.  Governance is strong. Governors’ views of the school’s work are accurate. They have clear priorities to turn the school into a good school.  The curriculum is an emerging strength. It provides pupils with a broad and rich range of learning experiences.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe is good. The school works extremely well with a wide range of external agencies to support its most vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils and their families. All statutory safeguarding requirements are met.

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The school has the following strengths

 The outcomes at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage have improved substantially so that children are much better prepared than previously for Year 1 and the requirements of the National Curriculum.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out under Section 8 of the Education Act 2005 as a monitoring inspection. It was turned into a full inspection and deemed a Section 5 inspection.  Inspectors observed 18 lessons or part lessons. They listened to pupils read, visited an assembly and observed playtime and lunchtime activities.  Inspectors looked at the work in pupils’ books and at a range of books from the previous school year.  Meetings were held with pupils, senior leaders, teachers with other responsibilities, the inclusion manager, representatives of the governing body and the Co-operative Trust, and a representative from the local authority.  There were insufficient responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, for these to be considered, but inspectors spoke to parents informally at the start and end of the school day and met with parents attending a coffee morning.  Inspectors observed the work of the school and examined a range of documentation, including evidence

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Information about this inspection

from the school’s website, the school’s own records of pupils’ progress, evidence from the checks made on the quality of teaching, written policies and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Angela Westington, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Full report

In accordance with section 13 (4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average primary school.  Nearly three quarters of pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority)  The overwhelming majority of pupils are from a White British heritage. Very few pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is broadly average. The proportion of these pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is well above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics at the end of Year 6.  The school moved into a brand new building at the end of July 2014 following an extensive period of

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the standard of all teaching to that of the best so that all pupils make and sustain good progress and all behaviour in lessons is good by:  improving teachers’ and teaching assistants’ subject knowledge in mathematics, spelling, punctuation and grammar  improving the consistency of teachers’ own assessments of pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding  improving the teaching of phonics (the sounds that letter combinations make) in Year 1 and for those older pupils who need additional support with their reading.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards even further for all pupils, but especially for boys and the most able pupils, and especially in mathematics, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Restructure the leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage and improve the provision in Nursery so that children make sustained good progress across both year groups.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and governors have been successful in tackling the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection when the school was judged to require special measures. It has been a difficult journey, but this school is now moving in the right direction. Leaders and governors know where they are heading and what they need to do to get there. The school is in good hands.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, who for so long carried the weight of leadership alone, has remained steadfast in her determination to see the school improve. She is now supported by a very capable team of senior leaders and is developing ‘home-grown’ leaders at other levels.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness. Their judgements on the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress are accurate. Dips in teachers’ and teaching assistants’ performance are identified quickly and challenged or supported as appropriate. Professional development for teachers and support staff is targeted to address identified priorities in the school’s development plans.

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The leadership and management are good

 The deputy headteacher, in her capacity as leader for special educational needs, has overhauled all of the school’s intervention programmes so that no pupil is left languishing on a programme long term. All individual and small-group support is short term, no longer than six weeks, and not undertaken in English or mathematics lesson time. All additional support is evaluated to make sure it is providing the help that pupils need. As a result, the numbers of pupils on the special educational needs register has reduced considerably and continues to fall.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is ahead of many schools in having in place a clear, alternative assessment system to the National Curriculum levels which have been withdrawn. The school uses commercial, standardised tests for reading and mathematics which provide pupils with reading ages and standardised scores and allows staff to measure pupils’ attainment and progress reliably. In those areas where the school relies entirely on teachers’ own assessments, the data is too often over generous and unreliable.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have introduced a new curriculum which the headteacher has mapped against all the requirements of the new National Curriculum. It is well planned and ensures coverage of all required subjects. Senior leaders have begun to identify where in the curriculum more work can be done to teach about, and promote, fundamental British values.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school follows the locally agreed religious education syllabus. Governors take this aspect of their work, and pupils’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development, very seriously. They have considered in some depth how to improve the ethos of the school and how to develop a range of qualities in their pupils. Recent developments include the introduction of ‘Grace’ before meals and a school prayer.

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The leadership and management are good

 The pupil premium funding is used to provide additional support from teaching assistants and a specialist reading recovery teacher. The success of these strategies is evident in the falling numbers of pupils on the special needs register and the improved rates of progress and attainment of targeted pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 Almost all of the parents who spoke to inspectors reported being happy with the education that their children were receiving.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school sports funding is being used to provide specialist coaching and training for pupils and staff. Governors accept that the impact on pupils’ health and sports skills is not yet readily apparent. The Chair of the Governing Body has raised the possibility of developing a wider health and sports initiative.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and her team have managed the move into the new building with great skill and care.

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The governance of the school:

– Governance is now a strength of the school. Governors are informed well enough to challenge and support school leaders, in equal measure. They play a significant role in setting the strategic direction of the school, for the good. – Governors know where in the school teaching is strong and where it is less effective. They are proactive in tackling underperformance robustly. They know how the quality of teaching feeds into the formal management performance process. – Safeguarding arrangements meet all requirements. The school benefits from having a governor who is a former local authority human resources professional; she ensures that the school complies with the most recent statutory requirements. All staff have read the summary of the most recent DfE guidance on how to keep children safe. Governors are aware of the 'Prevent' agenda and what the implications are for pupils living in this particular context who could be susceptible to extreme, politically far right

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The governance of the school:

views. – The local authority has provided effective and timely support for the school, especially latterly as the relationship between the school and local authority has improved. The Commissioning Manager for School Improvement has an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness and what needs to be done to move it further forward. The Chase Co-operative Trust continues to support the school by, for example, loaning out short-term supply teachers or providing Trust-wide professional development opportunities.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. The vast majority of pupils are keen to learn and they engage well in lessons. This is a major improvement on the position at the time of the previous inspection. However, at times there is still some restlessness and loss of concentration in lessons, especially when the teaching is less effective. Inspectors observed instances of some most able pupils being turned off in lessons which they found dull.

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Behaviour

 Attendance continues to improve and is edging closer to the national average. Persistent absence is also reducing as a result of the school’s sharper attention to vulnerable pupils and families, the introduction of a walking bus and willingness to prosecute families where necessary.

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Behaviour

 The number of exclusions has dropped markedly. In the academic year 2012–13 over 200 exclusions were recorded: one lasting 20 sessions and three lasting 10 sessions each. In 2013–14, 86 sessions were lost to exclusions and only one 10-session exclusion was recorded. The severity of the reasons for exclusions is diminishing: there are far fewer instances of physical assault to adults and other pupils and aggressive and verbal abuse.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. There are well-embedded systems followed by all staff to respond to any concern about a pupil's safety or wellbeing. Records are meticulously kept and up to date. The school keeps a central, anonymised safeguarding register of all children for whom it has concerns or for whom there are case files. Safeguarding training requirements are up to date. Pastoral support for pupils and their families is strong; the school works with a wide range of external agencies to support individual pupils and families. Staff recruitment procedures comply with current statutory requirements.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, as judged by pupils’ responses observed in lessons, the work in their books and their progress over time, remains variable. Some teaching is of a very high order and much is good. But there remain concerns about progress made by pupils in two year groups where leaders have identified that teaching is not good enough.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In some instances, teachers’ own assessment of the standard of pupils’ work and the progress they have made is over generous, particularly when there is no other standardised data to compare with. For example, teachers’ assessment of pupils’ writing is higher than comparable data for reading and mathematics. As a result, the work given to pupils is sometimes not at the right level and that required of the most able pupils is sometimes too easy.  Inspectors observed some examples of very good assessment taking place within lessons and the teachers redirecting the course of the lesson to accommodate what they had picked up from pupils. For example, in one lesson, through careful questioning, the teacher realised that a number of pupils could not confidently count on in tens using two-digit numbers. Her effective questioning led her to change the activity she had planned and, through the course of more questions and the use of different apparatus, managed to lead

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

the pupils to the point that she had originally planned, ready to move on the following day.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics is not as effective as it should be in Year 1 and for older pupils who still need help with their reading. Inspectors found that older pupils who now enjoy reading and are keen to read, ‘skate over’ words that they cannot read and do not try to sound them out. Few older readers, who need them, have reading books that allow them to practise sounding out at an appropriate level.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ and teaching assistants’ subject knowledge in mathematics, spelling, grammar and punctuation are not as good as they should be. Inspectors observed adults teaching incorrect information, for example, about parallel and perpendicular lines.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Work in pupils’ books is marked regularly and all teachers follow the agreed way to mark. Occasionally, teachers do not identify and correct basic errors in pupils’ grammar, spelling and punctuation, so they persist.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Historically, by the time they leave the school, too many Redhill pupils have not had the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding in reading, writing and mathematics to enable them to succeed in the next stage of their education. This situation is slowly improving.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2014, the proportion of pupils in Year 6, who attained Level 4 or above in reading, writing and mathematics combined was lower than the national figure. The proportions of pupils attaining the expected Level 4 in the individual subjects were below the national figures but more pupils gained the higher level 5. At the end of Year 2, in 2014, pupils’ attainment was broadly in line with national figures. In the Year 1 phonic check, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard was lower than the national figure.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The vast majority of pupils at Redhill are known to be eligible for the pupil premium. As a result, their results in national tests do not follow the national trend. The last available validated data, in 2013, showed that 64% of these pupils achieved the expected Level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics combined, compared with 50% of their classmates not eligible for the funding and 75% of all pupils nationally. This picture is improving. Some of the largest gains in reading and mathematics are to pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 For pupils currently in the school, there are clear signs that the long tail of underachievement is being eaten into as standards gradually rise. The greatest improvement is seen in the better-than-expected progress being made by lower-ability pupils, those who previously attained less well and for those who have special educational needs. Comparison of their standardised mathematics scores from September 2013 with those for September 2014 reveals that most had increased their scores over the twelve month period, some by substantial amounts. Similarly, examination of the reading age data also shows that the vast majority of pupils continue to make at least good and often better progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The two exceptions to this generally positive picture are boys and most able pupils. The data show that a small number of the most able pupils are not sustaining previous good progress and are dropping back. The data also show that boys are generally making less rapid progress than girls and attaining less well.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Apart from the teaching of phonics, reading is now taught well and has become a major strength of the school. As a result, pupils read widely, regularly and have an extremely positive view of reading. Teaching assistants are used daily to hear individual readers every day; the recording of this activity and classroom guided reading is thorough. English lessons are taught through the medium of class books, in every year group, so that over the year pupils are introduced to several different titles and authors. In addition, they are expected to read many more books than was previously the case. This good practice in reading is having a positive impact on pupils’ writing. Whereas previously, many pupils were reluctant to lift a pencil or put pen to paper, now they are able and willing to write longer, more extended pieces. However, their grammar, spelling, punctuation and, in many cases, handwriting remain poor.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards in mathematics now lag behind those in reading. Staff and pupils have a more secure understanding of place value, calculation and the number system, but broader mathematical knowledge is less secure.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Most children join the Nursery class with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age. They make inconsistent progress across the two year groups; they make better progress in Reception. Boys make less progress than girls and attain less well.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 In the summer 2014 assessments for Reception children, the proportion achieving a good level of development was significantly higher than in previous years and broadly in line with the national figure. Boys attained well in early mathematics but less well in communication and language. Overall, the cohort achieved well in early literacy and early number.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The quality of teaching in Early Years Foundation Stage is not consistently good. The provision meets the needs of the vast majority of pupils although the provision for the three autistic children is patchy.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The curriculum is planned well and all activities are purposeful and linked to clear objectives. Teachers plan activities which engage children’s interest and hold their attention but the teaching of early reading skills, including phonics, is not always as effective as it could be.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Teachers gather a range of evidence to make their assessments about children’s stages of development and use these to plan a range of activities.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children settle quickly into the secure and caring environment. The Early Years Foundation Stage has been surrounded by building works for many months and staff have used this as a resource to engage the children. Throughout this period, the children have been kept safe and secure.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage is currently shared between the headteacher, the reading recovery teacher and the Reception class teacher. This arrangement has worked while the school has been developing the leadership skills of less experienced staff but leaders and governors recognise that a more secure leadership structure is now necessary.

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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 124073 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 441842

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Foundation Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 170 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Richard Worth Headteacher Libby Banks Date of previous school inspection 20 November 2012 Telephone number 01543 502181 Fax number N/A Email address headteacher@redhill.staff.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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