Berridge Primary and Nursery School

Berridge Primary School Bobbers Mill Road, Hyson Green, Nottingham, NG7 5GY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected 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 Requires improvement 3

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

 Leaders have not yet ensured that teaching is consistently good to enable pupils to make good progress, especially in mathematics and writing.  Checks on teaching do not provide a sufficiently accurate picture of its quality.  Pupils have too few opportunities to use and apply their literacy and numeracy skills.  Not all teachers have high expectations of what pupils are able to do; the most able pupils do not move on to harder work quickly enough.  Teachers’ marking does not lead to enough improvement in pupils’ work and they do not consistently pick up errors in pupils’ grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Provision in the early years requires improvement. In Reception, teachers’ questioning, the assessment of children’s progress and the use of the outdoor environment do not promote good progress.  Not all subject coordinators and other managers make effective checks on their areas of responsibility, and

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

so are not in a position to take the necessary action to ensure that teaching and achievement are good.  Senior leaders do not check pupils’ written work regularly enough to ensure that assessments are accurate, and that pupils are making at least the expected progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher and senior leaders have successfully ensured that staff feel valued, work together closely and are clear about the vision for the school.  Governors provide good support and challenge.  Pupils’ reading skills are improving because of the good teaching of letter names and sounds.  Children make good progress in the Nursery.  Pupils are well behaved and feel safe in school. They are eager to learn and are polite to each other and to visitors.  Parents are very supportive and are pleased with the way staff take care of their children’s well-being and safety.  The quality of display is outstanding, and confirms the vast range of activities enjoyed by pupils. These contribute strongly to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons, playtimes and lunchtimes. Pupils’ work in books was scrutinised and their work on display around the school was also examined. The headteacher and the two heads of school were involved in classroom observations and in work scrutiny.  Meetings were held with pupils, the headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders, other staff, three governors and a representative of the local authority.  A range of documents was considered. These included the school’s analysis of how well it is doing, its improvement plan and policies, minutes of the governing bodies meetings, safeguarding documentation, behaviour and attendance records. As national data on pupils’ attainment in 2014 is incomplete, this was supplemented with the school’s own data.  Inspectors gathered parents’ views at the start of the school day and considered the 145 responses to the recent parent questionnaire administered by the school. There were too few responses to the Ofsted

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Information about this inspection

online questionnaire (Parent View) for these to be considered. The questionnaires completed by 63 members of staff were also analysed.

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Inspection team

Lois Furness, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Berridge School is much larger than the average primary school. It was opened on the 31 August 2013, as a result of the amalgamation of Berridge Infant and Nursery School and Berridge Junior School. The two sites are approximately a quarter of a mile apart. There are three classes in each year group from Nursery through to Year 6. Early years provision is provided in part-time Nursery and full-time Reception classes.  In November 2013, a new governing body was appointed, made up of governors from the two former schools and some new governors.  Most pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds, the largest group of which is of Pakistani origin. Most pupils speak English as an additional language.  An increasing demand for school places within the local area means that approximately 116 pupils have joined the school over the last year, many of whom are at an early stage of learning English. Some of

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Information about this school

these pupils are supported through the school’s ‘International Unit’ in Key Stage 2.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be supported by the pupil premium, at 38%, is above average. This funding provides additional support for pupils in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  Approximately 18% of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs, which is similar to the national average.  Until the substantive headteacher was appointed in January 2014, the two heads of school were responsible for leading and managing the newly amalgamated school.  The school is part of the Nottingham Central Learning Partnership, which is a voluntary grouping of primary and secondary schools across the city. The headteacher is a local leader of education. At the present time he is not directly supporting another school.  Currently four members of staff are absent from school on maternity leave, and in September 2014 three

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Information about this school

newly qualified teachers were appointed.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure teaching is consistently good so pupils make good progress in writing and mathematics by:  raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils are able to do  moving the most-able pupils on to harder work more quickly  ensuring that marking provides clear guidance to pupils as to how to improve their work, including their grammar, punctuation and spelling  providing pupils with regular opportunities to use and apply their literacy and numeracy skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the progress of children in Reception by:  using assessment information more effectively to plan the next steps in learning for different groups of children, including the most able  developing the questioning skills of adults, so that they make children think for themselves and find out more about what they understand  improving the use of the outdoor environment.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  ensuring that the assessment of pupils’ progress is reliable  increasing the frequency of checking pupils’ written work to ensure that they are making at least the expected progress  ensuring all leaders are accountable for the quality of teaching and the resulting achievement of pupils in their areas of responsibility.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders at all levels including governors have not yet ensured that teaching and pupils’ achievement are consistently good.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The monitoring of teaching is not sharp enough. Checks on its quality do not always paint a complete and accurate picture of its effectiveness. The checking of pupils’ progress in their books is too infrequent. While assessment records suggest good progress, this is not substantiated by the work in pupils’ books. Therefore self-evaluation provides too optimistic a view of the school’s effectiveness.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Not all leaders of subjects or key stages, including the early years, regularly check the quality of provision. For example, there has been limited scrutiny of work so that it was not identified that in mathematics, pupils in some classes do not have sufficient opportunity to use and apply numeracy skills; or, that in pupils’ editing books in Years 3 to 6, too little had been done to help pupils to improve their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new senior leadership team has a clear vision and has been highly successful in securing the confidence of the staff. All of the staff who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire knew what senior leaders are trying to achieve, felt their views were considered and said there are good opportunities for professional development. Performance management is now securely established and this year’s objectives are linked closely to the national teaching standards and to the school improvement plan. Even so, the impact of performance management is not yet fully evident.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils experience a broad curriculum and their learning is exciting and interesting. Pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain through the extensive range of activities, visitors and celebrations throughout the year. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted extremely well in all areas of school life. Pupils are successfully taught to respect others and that all forms of discrimination are wrong. The quality of display is outstanding and shows the huge range of trips, visitors and extra activities in which pupils take part.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders’ work to ensure pupils attend school, behave well and are safe is good. Through working closely with parents, pupils’ attendance is average and improving. Safeguarding procedures are implemented well and meet requirements. Parents have very positive opinions of the school’s work, as shown by the response to the school’s questionnaire. Parental involvement is a strength in the early years and parents commented positively about the ways in which the provision helps children to learn. For example the morning ‘stay and play’ session provides good opportunities to gather ideas about supporting children’s learning at home.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority provides good support, including that for leaders, governors and staff through the amalgamation. In partnership with the Nottingham Central Learning Partnership, leaders and staff have shared best practice to improve teaching and learning capacity across schools.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupil premium funding is used effectively to provide disadvantaged pupils with additional support in English and mathematics. Overall, assessment information in school shows there is little difference in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others in the school. This demonstrates leaders’ commitment to promoting equality of opportunity.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The primary school sports funding is used well. The school has employed a specialist sports coach to train teachers to improve their sports teaching skills and to offer pupils more sporting activities, including after- school clubs, such as the safer soccer club. These opportunities have increased pupils’ participation, including that of girls, and are improving pupils’ physical well-being.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The relatively new governing body has a good understanding of its role in providing both support and challenge. Governors visit regularly and ask searching questions about pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. They have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and development areas in teaching and, for example, know that marking requires improvement. Governors make good use of performance data when reaching their conclusions on the school’s overall effectiveness.  Governors have a clear understanding of the management of teachers’ performance and are aware that they only agree a pay rise when pupils achieve consistently well. One governor has arranged training for staff to support them in promoting tolerance and respect for others.  Governors attend training to keep their skills and knowledge up to date and ensure they fulfil their statutory duties effectively. In order to improve further governors have arranged for an external review

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils enjoy coming to school and this is confirmed by their improving attendance which is now at the national average. They co-operate well in lessons and readily share ideas about their work. Pupils are smartly dressed and say that they are proud to wear their uniforms.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are orderly as they move around the school building, whether supervised or on their own. They are courteous, polite and well-mannered, and have respect for adults and each other. They enjoy taking responsibility, for example, being members of the school council. Pupils demonstrate qualities such as kindness, honesty and responsibility. They show a good understanding of people’s different beliefs, cultures and faiths.

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Behaviour

 Behaviour is good in the early years. Children have positive attitudes towards learning and towards each other. This is because adults place a great emphasis on their personal, social and emotional development. As a result, children are keen to learn and to explore the learning environment.

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Behaviour

 Pupils say that behaviour is good, as do parents, staff and governors. Inspection evidence, including a close examination of behaviour logs, confirms that behaviour is typically good. On occasions when pupils find it difficult to manage their emotions, staff intervene quickly and provide effective help and support.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and the questionnaire returns show that their parents agree. Pupils have a good awareness of what bullying is, and the different types of bullying that can take place. They know what to do in the case of internet or text bullying. They say that bullying is rare in school and when it does occur it is dealt with swiftly and fairly.

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Safety

 Pupils have good understanding of how keep themselves safe in potentially dangerous situations such as near busy roads, around strangers or when using the internet.

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Safety

 All necessary risk assessments have been carried out for the activities that pupils undertake. Incidents of dangerous, violent or racist behaviour are extremely rare and are logged and shared with the local authority as required. School leaders are knowledgeable of their responsibilities to be vigilant against extremist and homophobic behaviours. Opportunities are planned in the curriculum to ensure that these issues are discussed and threats minimised.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ expectations of the amount and quality of work that pupils are able to complete are not yet high enough. In mathematics and writing there is not enough recorded work to substantiate the assessments and progress recorded on the school tracking system.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not always move on those pupils who show they are ready for more challenging work. In mathematics, for example, one pupil commented that she didn’t need a whiteboard to solve a problem as she could mentally solve this in her head, but she was still given one. Too often the most-able pupils do not have work that makes them think hard.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ marking in pupils’ books is inconsistent. The most noteworthy marking and that which has the greatest impact on progress is where teachers make pupils aware of the strengths of a piece of work and give them clear advice on how they could make it even better. However, not all marking is of this quality. There are examples of teachers’ marking that are unhelpful and teachers do not always provide good models of writing themselves.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to practise their writing in subjects other than English. The teaching of spelling, grammar and punctuation is not well developed. Too often in Years 3 to 6 errors are left uncorrected in their editing book and are then repeated in their topic work. Similarly, teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to use and apply their numeracy skills through problem solving or in different subjects.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the early years, the quality of teaching is good in Nursery but requires improvement in Reception. The learning environment in Reception does not encourage children to use and apply early literacy skills. There are too few opportunities for children to read in a stimulating area, to write for a purpose or to use their mark making and numeracy skills in the outdoor area.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 When teaching is good, questioning is used well to deepen pupils’ understanding. This was seen in Year 4 as the teacher carefully questioned pupils about how they could make their sentences more interesting; and in a lower ability mathematics lesson where pupils learned more about place value as a result of staff asking them to reason why numbers changed when adding ten.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of reading is good. Pupils are skilfully taught phonics (the names of letters and the sounds they make) to help them read unfamiliar words. This means even the weakest readers have the skills to read texts that are appropriate for their ability.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff build warm and caring relationships with pupils and all encourage pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development across the curriculum and in experiences outside the classroom. For example, in all subjects pupils learn to take turns and to respect each other’s views, as was seen in a discussion about homework in Year 6.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Good additional and well-planned support ensures that those pupils who need extra help when withdrawn from the classroom make good gains in their learning. Teaching assistants are mainly effective, providing a careful balance between support and the encouragement for pupils to try things for themselves.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement is affected by many pupils joining the school late and with very different starting points. For most groups of pupils, however, progress is held back by inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start school in the nursery with skills and abilities below the levels typically seen for their age. Communication skills are a particular weakness. Children make good progress during their time in Nursery but progress slows in Reception.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 By the end of Year 2 in 2014 national data shows that attainment was well below average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the school’s own assessment information shows that after removing data on those pupils who joined the cohort over the last year and who are at the early stage of learning English, attainment was average in all three subjects. Even so, the proportion of pupils attaining the higher Level 3 remained below average, confirming the lack of challenge seen for the most able pupils during the inspection.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Almost all pupils in last year’s Year 6 made the expected progress from their starting point on entry to Year 3. While this resulted in an average proportion of pupils attaining the expected Level 4 in all subjects, too few pupils attained the higher Level 5. Pupils are now taught English and mathematics in ability groups, which is starting to prove effective in accelerating their progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of most able pupils has not been rapid enough for them to reach higher attainment levels. They are now being given appropriately targeted support to accelerate their progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The work sampled showed that pupils’ knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling is not secure. While most are able to write for a range of purposes, they rarely write at length. Writing in the Year 3 to 6 drafting books is untidily presented, in marked contrast to the generally good quality of presentation of work in other books.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils learn to read well as a result of their good understanding of phonics. Older pupils demonstrate the ability to use texts to find out information about characters in a story, for example.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 While most pupils have a reasonable understanding of numbers and calculations, they do not use their skills confidently in different contexts including problem solving. Improving pupils’ mathematics skills is currently a key priority for the school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The achievement of pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding is similar to that of other pupils; the progress they make is similar to others. Disadvantaged pupils made better progress than others in Year 6 last year, but this one year was not enough to make up all the ground lost in the past. In Year 6, disadvantaged pupils attained lower than the other pupils by one and a half terms in mathematics and one term in reading. They attained similarly to others in writing and grammar, punctuation and spelling. In comparison with other pupils nationally, the difference was five terms behind in mathematics, reading and writing and four terms in grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The many pupils who arrive at school at times other than is usual, often with little or no English, are supported well. The staff of the ‘International Unit’ ensure pupils quickly make good progress with their language and communication skills. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also make good progress when they are withdrawn from class and receive specific tailored support. Their progress is not as fast when working in class.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Leadership, the quality of teaching and achievement all require improvement to make sure more children are prepared to start the National Curriculum in Year 1. Whilst there is some good practice within the early years and children make good progress during their time in Nursery, this positive start is not built upon effectively during the Reception year. At the end of Reception only 27% of children achieved a good level of development. However, around one half of the children in Reception had not attended the school’s nursery and almost all of these children spoke no English on starting school.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 In Reception the questions asked of children are not precise enough, particularly to ensure that the most able make rapid progress and achieve at a higher level. Assessment information is not used well enough to plan next steps of learning and ensure that all children learn swiftly.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Monitoring by the early years leader is not sharp enough. The scrutiny of assessment data, work in books and records of achievement is too infrequent and therefore pertinent questions about provision and the resulting progress of children are not asked regularly. However it has been recognised that improvements are needed, as shown in the development plan. Support from external sources has been sought and the good advice given so far has been acted upon.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Teaching in Nursery is good and children have many opportunities to apply and consolidate what they know, understand and can do. For example, children enjoyed repeating the refrain in a story and as a result were able to extend their knowledge of number names.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The majority of children are engaged in their activities. They willingly collaborate as they explore the environment with a great deal of independence, for example when using large construction blocks to make a model. However, there is a minority of children who move from one activity to another without becoming engrossed, so missing the opportunity to deepen their understanding. Adults do not check carefully that all children are productively engaged and opportunities to help them learn more quickly are missed.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Personal, social and emotional development is a priority, resulting in children who are kind to each other, form friendships at an early stage and have the developing self-confidence to explore, talk to adults and try new things. The support for children new to the setting is highly sensitive and as a result they settle quickly.

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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 139429 Local authority Nottingham Inspection number 447803

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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 694 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Don Ross Headteacher James Tee Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0115 915 5851 Fax number 0115 915 5814 Email address admin@berridge.nottingham.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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