Burton Manor Primary School

Burton Manor Primary School Uplands Road, Stafford, ST17 9PS

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 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 make good progress from their low starting points and reach above-average standards by the end of Year 6. In 2014, attainment was well above average in mathematics.  Teachers carefully assess what pupils already know to plan work which stretches pupils of all abilities.  Staff ask questions which probe pupils’ understanding and help them to make progress.  Teachers’ feedback to pupils in lessons is good and teachers adapt the level of challenge or support they provide based on how well pupils are learning.  Exciting topics enable pupils to use their reading, writing and mathematics skills in interesting contexts.  Good teaching and provision in the early years leads to good achievement and ensures that children are eager to learn.  Pupils are happy and they respect adults and each other. They are enthusiastic about their work. Their hard work, good behaviour and attitudes to learning contribute well to their success.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils feel safe in school, and staff and parents show great confidence in all aspects of the work of the school.  The headteacher has established a drive for improvement in teaching which is shared by staff and has raised pupils’ achievement.  Governors are skilled in holding the school accountable for its work because they undertake extensive training. They understand the school’s strengths and areas to develop, and measure the success of their work by the progress pupils make.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 While work stretches all pupils, the most-able pupils could be challenged further so that their progress could be even more rapid.  Marking is not yet consistently giving all pupils an understanding of how to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons and an assembly. They also listened to pupils reading, looked at their workbooks and checked information about their progress.  Meetings were held with pupils, parents, governors, a representative of the local authority and school leaders.  Inspectors examined the 35 responses to the online Parent View survey and the 16 responses to the staff questionnaire.  A range of documents was considered. These included the school’s analysis of how well it is doing; its improvement plan and policies (including those relating to staff performance); minutes of governing body meetings; and safeguarding, behaviour and attendance records.

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Inspection team

Lynne Bradbury, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  Almost all of the pupils are White British.  More than one in ten of the pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. This is below the national average.  Close to 25% of pupils are disadvantaged and are eligible for support from the pupil premium funding because they are known to be eligible for free school meals or are looked after by the local authority. This is in line with the average.  The Nursery offers a mixture of full- and part-time places.  A number of staffing difficulties affected the early years and Key Stage 1 during the last academic year.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for progress and attainment at the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  extending the level of challenge in activities for the most-able pupils so that they are quickly able to move on to new learning  ensuring that teachers’ marking gives all pupils clear guidance so that they know how to improve their work.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has established a focus on improving the achievement of all pupils which is shared by staff and governors. Leaders and governors monitor the school’s work carefully so that they identify where the school’s strengths lie and can set priorities for development. This has led to improved achievement for pupils, and leaders measure the success of the school against this.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders use the school’s tracking system and the work in pupils’ books to check which pupils are falling behind, and then allocate support in small groups to help them to make better progress. This has successfully raised standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 Writing and mathematics books seen during the inspection showed that leaders have been successful in ensuring that teachers set appropriate levels of work for pupils of all abilities. This has helped all pupils to make better progress. However, the work set for the most-able pupils is still not as challenging as it could be.

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The leadership and management are good

 Careful monitoring by leaders of teachers’ work identifies areas for staff training and school improvement. Staff are held accountable for their work through the appraisal system, and judgements about their work are made against pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils show a good level of tolerance, respect and understanding for the many differences in society because everyone in school places a great deal of emphasis on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. This is developed through all aspects of school life. It gives pupils an understanding of life in modern Britain and the values this represents.

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The leadership and management are good

 Reading, writing and mathematics skills are applied in the exciting topics which bring together subjects from across the curriculum.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school shows its commitment to equal opportunities through the good progress made by all groups of pupils. Extra support and opportunities funded by the pupil premium help disadvantaged pupils to make good progress. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs also make good progress because of the way in which funding for these pupils is used to provides targeted support.

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The leadership and management are good

 The sports funding is used to offer extra coaching in football, cricket and basketball during and after school, and for staff to have training in these sports. Pupils greatly enjoy these extra opportunities in physical education and sport.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents, pupils and staff say that they are satisfied with the work of the school. Leaders have greatly extended the opportunities for parents to understand how their children learn and to work alongside them in school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has given valuable support to leaders to improve teaching and learning by offering training in monitoring teaching and learning so that priority areas for improvement in English and mathematics have been tackled successfully.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors hold leaders to account for the achievement of pupils through regular monitoring and review of pupils’ progress. They are able to judge the success of the school for themselves because of the extensive training they have undertaken and the professional and career skills that they bring to their roles. All judgements about school effectiveness, areas for development, staff pay and career progression are based upon pupils’ achievement.  All aspects of the school’s work are supported by carefully planned and monitored funding. Governors make sure that extra funding, such as the additional school sports funding, is utilised to improve opportunities for pupils. They make sure that the pupil premium funding is used so that disadvantaged pupils make good progress.  The governing body ensures that the arrangements for pupils’ safeguarding fully meet statutory requirements.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning which contribute to their good achievement.

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Behaviour

 Pupils build good friendships, and enjoy working and playing together. They move around the school sensibly, take an active interest in lessons and treat adults and other pupils with respect. They are polite, enjoy taking responsibility for helping with younger pupils, and take care of resources in school.

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Behaviour

 The school’s records, and conversations with groups of pupils, show that the picture of behaviour during the inspection, with no disruptions to lessons, is how school life usually is.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are proud of their school and their achievements, and they enjoy the praise and rewards given by staff. They work hard because they enjoy the topics, which develop their skills and knowledge by drawing together a wide range of subjects. Pupils are very enthusiastic about the clubs outside the school day.

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Behaviour

 Pupils develop spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness through their lessons, assemblies and working together on their topics. They learn about right and wrong, develop understanding of people of other faiths and cultures, and show tolerance of difference and respect for the world.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. All staff follow school policies and these are monitored by the governing body. Safeguarding procedures, including appropriate checks on visitors and training for staff, meet statutory requirements.

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Safety

 Pupils can explain how they can stay safe, and say that they feel safe at school and trust adults to help them. They understand the different forms that bullying can take, including those which involve mobile phones and the internet, but say that bullying is rare. They say that any such incidents are dealt with very quickly by staff.

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Safety

 Staff make sure that pupils have many opportunities in lesson time to consider the risks from strangers, and from fireworks, medicines and railways. They discuss ways to avoid or limit danger.

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Safety

 Racist incidents are rare and pupils say that staff check that pupils do not use derogatory language or say negative things about groups of people who are different in some way.

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Safety

 Attendance is in line with the average.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff plan interesting and exciting activities which stretch pupils of all abilities because they carefully assess what their pupils can already do.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers understand and use the school tracking system to identify any pupils who may begin to fall behind, and then make sure that they receive appropriate extra support.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and teaching assistants are skilled in asking questions during lessons which probe understanding and enable them to change activities to support pupils or to move them on even further. For example, in a writing lesson, Year 5 and 6 pupils studying adjectives and adverbs were asked to find better words and phrases to make their meaning clearer. Teachers used pupils’ answers to assess whether they had made progress.  Pupils enjoy the homework that teachers set them. They practise reading, spelling and number skills and undertake research into their topic work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff make learning interesting and enjoyable, which helps pupils to behave well and concentrate. Pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics are developed through their use in the work in different subjects in topics. Teachers and teaching assistants use praise and rewards to encourage pupils to take pride in their achievement and behaviour.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff establish good relationships with and among pupils and demonstrate high expectations of themselves and their pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants are highly skilled and support small groups of pupils. They contribute well to pupils’ achievement and show a great deal of care for all pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 While all groups of pupils make good progress, the most-able pupils are not challenged enough in some lessons. Sometimes they are expected to work through lower level activities before they move on to more advanced work, and this limits the time for them to achieve the maximum possible progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All staff mark work regularly. Some use marking to identify what pupils have learned and how the work could be improved, but this is not a consistent feature of marking by all teachers in school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the Nursery with knowledge and skills which are generally below those typical for their age. These children are joined by children from other nurseries as they enter the Reception class. Both groups make good progress and start Year 1 with knowledge and skills which are closer to those expected for their age. They continue to make good progress through the school. In 2014, pupils attained above- average standards by the end of Year 6. They did particularly well in mathematics, where attainment was well above average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 From the start of the early years, children begin to develop their skills in phonics (letters and the sounds they make). In 2014, Year 1 pupils attained levels in line with those nationally in the Year 1 phonics screening check.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In Year 2 in 2014, the proportion of pupils who attained expected standards was in line with the national average in writing and mathematics. It was above average in reading. The proportions of pupils in Year 2 who made progress in line with pupils nationally were higher in reading and mathematics and similar in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils make good progress. However, in some lessons, they are not moved on quickly enough to work at the higher levels.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 During the inspection, workbooks sampled, school tracking data and lessons observed showed that pupils of all abilities in all year groups are making good progress in all subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils develop their reading, writing and mathematics skills well across different subjects. For example, children in the early years explore their place in families and in the world; pupils in Key Stage 1 study myths and legends, while pupils in Years 3 and 4 study the Mayan civilisation; they undertake research through books and the internet to identify appropriate sources of information and they use Mayan measurement systems. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 write recounts of the story of Robin Hood and work out how much bows and arrows would cost. They practise building complex sentences and using connectives as they write accounts of experiments to investigate friction. They use mathematical skills involving negative numbers as they explore weather systems.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils develop reading skills which help them to have a high level of understanding of what they read. They enjoy reading for pleasure and for information. They understand what they read, and enjoy talking about their favourite authors and books. They analyse the way in which authors use verbs, adjectives, particular language patterns and punctuation, and they draw on this knowledge to help them with their own writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because they are identified early so that targeted work in lessons and extra support focus on their specific learning needs.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils who received support from the pupil premium in Year 6 in 2014 were just over half a half term behind their peers in school in mathematics, one and a half terms behind their peers in reading, nearly two terms behind in writing, and nearly four and a half terms behind in grammar, punctuation and spelling. These pupils were a term above pupils nationally in mathematics, just over half a term behind in reading, nearly a term behind in writing, and two and a half terms behind in grammar, spelling and punctuation. In all year groups, these pupils are making progress at least in line with, and sometimes at higher rates than, their peers in school. Progress for this group across the age group, along with work in their books, shows that attainment gaps are closing.

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The early years provision is good

 Children in the Nursery and Reception make good progress because of the wide range of learning opportunities inside and outdoors. The Reception class is a particularly rich and nurturing environment where children are highly motivated to explore and to develop a love of learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff plan exciting and challenging learning activities which stretch children of all abilities in all areas of the curriculum because they have a good understanding of what children already know. Progress in early years last year was slowed because of staffing difficulties, but children’s skills and knowledge were closer to those typical for their age when they moved to Year 1. Staffing is stable this year and, during the inspection, it was clear that this is enabling children to make good progress.

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The early years provision is good

 Learning activities through play indoors and outside give the opportunity for children to act out stories from their reading, to build structures on the building site area, and to use measurements and number as they explore the natural world. Children develop a love of learning, respect for each other, and they behave well, whether working on their own or in groups.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff work with local nurseries to help prepare children for school life. Parents are welcomed into the Nursery and Reception, and they contribute to the school’s assessments of children’s development.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership of the early years is good. Leaders make sure that staff are well trained, and they monitor teaching carefully to check that assessments are accurate.

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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 124202 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 448539

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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 255 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Geoff Rowlands Headteacher Justin Robinson Date of previous school inspection 28 January 2010 Telephone number 01785 356900 Fax number 01785 356901 Email address office@burtonmanor.staffs.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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