Loxdale Primary School

Loxdale Primary School Chapel Street, Bilston, WV14 0PH

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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

 The headteacher has created a committed team of staff and is well supported by her governors. They all share in her successful drive to broaden pupils’ horizons, raise their aspirations and improve their achievement.  Senior leaders have led by example, sharing their skills and promoting an improvement in the quality of teaching.  Pupils leave this school as confident, responsible young people with enquiring minds. Their love of learning leads to high standards and means they are well prepared for their future education.  The helpful feedback that teachers give to pupils, both verbally and in their books, results in good progress across all subjects.  The most-able pupils, having made rapid progress, achieve increasingly high standards by the end of Key Stage 2. The standards that pupils achieve at the end of Key Stage 1 have improved at a faster rate than nationally over the last three years.  Pupils from Nursery to Year 6 show a love of books.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

They work with published authors and achieve very high standards in their reading.  High expectations and excellent support leads to disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs making exceptional progress.  Teachers in the Early Years Foundation Stage, working well with parents, quickly get to know the interests and needs of every child. This gives children a strong start to their education.  Disadvantaged pupils make increasingly strong progress through their school careers. They attain standards in all subjects that are level with or above those of other pupils in the school and other pupils nationally.  Pupils make an outstanding contribution to many aspects of safety in the school. This means they develop the knowledge and the confidence to stay safe both out of school and online.  Pupils’ outstanding behaviour is promoted by a system of rewards and sanctions that they themselves have helped to create.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The school is not always alert to the needs of the most-able pupils at the start of their education. This means that some of these pupils do not achieve the highest standards in Key Stage 1.  Teaching in the lower years of the school is not as consistently of the same high quality as the teaching which older pupils receive. This has resulted in some variation in pupils’ progress in these years.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 lessons, five of which were jointly observed with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher. In addition, the inspection team looked at pupils’ work in their books and listened to younger pupils read.  There were meetings with groups of pupils, senior leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 19 responses to the online questionnaire Parent View and considered the 20 responses to a staff questionnaire. Inspectors also considered responses by parents and pupils to recent questionnaires from the school.  The inspection team examined: the school’s own information on pupils’ recent and current progress; the school’s evaluation of how well it is doing and its records of the monitoring of the quality of teaching; records relating to behaviour and attendance; and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Richard Boswell, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Loxdale Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is below the national average and a very small minority have English as an additional language.  The percentage of disadvantaged pupils who are supported through the pupil premium (which provides additional funding for pupils in local authority care and those previously known to be eligible for free school meals) is above the national average. This group represents over half of the total number of pupils in the school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  The school runs a ‘study and well-being club’ each morning before lessons and a range of after school clubs.  The early years’ provision is part time (morning or afternoon) for nursery age children and then one full- time Reception class.  In recent years a number of pupils have joined the school part way through their education.

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the headteacher has offered support to a local junior school and a local primary school at the request of the local authority.  A very small minority of pupils attends ‘Re-entry’, a local authority approved provision off the school site.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the consistency of the quality of teaching in the lower years of the school and so further raise achievement by ensuring that all teachers target work precisely to the abilities of their pupils.  Improve the achievement of the most-able pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 1 by identifying them as early as possible so as to give them every opportunity to reach their full potential.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides strong leadership to a committed team of staff. Everyone shares her high expectations for all pupils and a desire to give them the widest possible range of opportunities at school and beyond. The headteacher has the full support of her governors in hunting out the best practice and the most effective systems and tailoring them to the specific needs of the school’s pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 All who work at the school are committed to maintaining outstanding behaviour and safety. This has created very positive attitudes to learning and an environment in which almost all pupils now make at least good progress and in which the school can continue to improve further.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher lead by example giving lessons to act as models for less experienced staff. Well targeted professional development and the use of external expertise and best practice from local schools have also contributed to improvements in the quality of teaching. These in turn have resulted in the pupils’ improved results at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Any serious underperformance has been tackled and there is much good practice throughout the school. However, not all younger pupils are yet receiving the consistently high quality of teaching in all subjects that older pupils experience.

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The leadership and management are good

 Effective management and good leadership begin in the Early Years Foundation Stage and is demonstrated by subject leaders throughout the school. For example, the school recognised that pupils’ writing was relatively weaker than other skills and put effective measures in place so that current progress shows improvement. School leaders have fostered and promoted the current strength and popularity of reading in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders and governors, through careful and considered spending of the pupil premium funding, have boosted the performance of disadvantaged pupils in the school. They have also had a significant impact on the exceptional achievement of disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs. Over recent years, as the proportion has increased, the school has recognised the emerging needs of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and the small number of pupils at an early stage of learning English. This clearly shows the school’s commitment to equality of opportunity for all groups of pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has many productive links with other schools locally, including establishing a smooth transition to secondary school. The local authority has a detailed understanding of the school’s strengths and those areas in need of further development and acknowledges the leadership qualities of the headteacher. It is an indication of the local authority’s confidence in the headteacher that they requested her to help support a local junior school and a local primary school.

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The leadership and management are good

 Since the previous inspection the school has developed a bespoke approach to the assessment of pupils’ progress. There is now an effective combination of aspects of the national curriculum, commercially available schemes of assessment and the school’s own systems. Teachers use a range of evidence such as test results, observations and scrutiny of pupils’ books to inform their judgements. This results in pupils, staff and parents knowing how well each pupil is doing and the best next steps. There is also rapid assessment of pupils joining the school part way through their education. However, the identification of the most-able pupils in the first years of their schooling is less rigorous.

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The leadership and management are good

 All staff apply the school’s policies with great consistency, particularly in regard to the management of behaviour and promoting positive attitudes to learning. This extends to the encouragement of healthy lifestyles and the effective use of the physical education and sports premium funding. Professional coaches come into the school to work with pupils and staff. The school regularly competes in local competitions and the school ensures that all groups of pupils benefit from the use of this funding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s caring and meticulous approach to the safeguarding of pupils is exemplary. Leaders and managers check every detail and any concerns, however small, are swiftly followed up. This also applies to the very few pupils in alternative provision. Every week the headteacher visits the provider and personally monitors her pupils’ progress, attendance and behaviour.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils are fully engaged by a range of subjects that encourage them to make links between different areas of knowledge and with the wider world. Pupils’ books show examples of literacy and, to a lesser extent, numeracy skills being applied in scientific or historical investigations. Teachers are skilled in promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through lessons and activities. This results in pupils who are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage in their schooling and for life in modern Britain. They make regular visits to places of worship such as churches, mosques and temples and to local galleries and museums.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors combine analytical skills with seasoned experience. There is a deep knowledge of and an open engagement with the local and parental community. This is complemented by a detailed understanding of data and finance. Governors work effectively with the headteacher on planning the school’s financial and educational strategy. This is because they know the school well and understand its strengths and weaknesses, offering the headteacher a good level of both support and challenge. They have an awareness of the need to continue to improve aspects of the quality of teaching across the school. Governors examine pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance, rewarding good teaching and tackling any signs of underperformance. Governors take their statutory duties very seriously with regard to the safeguarding of pupils and are committed to the promotion of tolerance and respect in the

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The leadership and management are good

school community. They ensure that additional funding from the pupil premium and for sports and physical education is well spent and that its impact on pupils’ progress and well-being is accounted for and assessed.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Having decided for themselves the key components of a successful school, pupils now make positive choices to put those ideas into action. For example, pupils designed their own ladder of rewards and sanctions.

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Behaviour

 The highly positive attitudes of pupils to their learning and the absence of disruption in lessons help them to make increasingly good progress. They enjoy and are adept at working on investigations in pairs and groups and much of their work relates to their own interests and enthusiasms.

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Behaviour

 The school listens to its pupils and acts on their comments. For example there is an annual questionnaire of pupils’ attitudes that helps to shape the curriculum and the school day. The pupil-elected school council is a lively and dynamic forum that acts as an effective engine for change. It also gives pupils experience in operating their own budget.

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Behaviour

 Pupils learn from an early age about British values, such as democracy and free speech. Each year the pupils debate and vote on, not only their class rules, but also establishing their rights. As they move up the school they learn about the importance of laws as well as rules and this is reinforced through regular visits and talks, for example from the police and the fire service.

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Behaviour

 Many pupils attend the ‘study and well-being club’ before school each day. The aptly named club allows pupils to make their own choices between fitness activities and additional study. Healthy eating options ensure a good start to the school day and a wide variety of after school and lunch clubs means that pupils broaden their range of experiences.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ behaviour outside of lessons is impeccable. Their cheerful greetings and good manners show their respect for adults and for each other. Pupils have a good knowledge of forms of bullying, including cyber bullying, and how to deal with them. This comes not from negative experiences at school but from a thorough programme of informative activities and visitors.

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Behaviour

 The school celebrates its growing diversity by pupils and parents from different faiths and backgrounds being encouraged to share their knowledge and experiences.  The school manages very well the occasional challenging behaviours from some pupils who have behaviour difficulties. The considerable impact of the school’s strategies can be seen in the sustained progress these pupils make and in the absence of any negative effect on the progress of other pupils.

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Behaviour

 The attendance of pupils has steadily improved and is now above the national average. The school carefully monitors attendance for specific groups of pupils and works closely with families and outside agencies. There have been no permanent exclusions in recent years and the few temporary exclusions are only used as a last resort.

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Behaviour

 Pupils show huge pride in their work and their school. Parents, staff and governors are in no doubt about the impact that outstanding behaviour has on the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils feel completely safe in school and learn how to be safe outside of school. The safety of any pupils in alternative provision is closely monitored by senior leaders. The leaders ensure there is no discrimination within the school.

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Safety

 Pupils are alert to dangers and manage their own safety. Most mornings, pupils don high visibility jackets and tour the school with the site manager, checking for themselves any potential hazards or safety issues. In wet weather, the children in the Early Years Foundation Stage run their own risk assessment on the outdoor equipment before using it. Pupils recently prompted improvements to safety in the school car park.

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Safety

 The school completes thorough risk assessments of all educational visits and all visitors to the school are appropriately checked. The governors have recently overseen a new additionally secure entry system for the school reception.

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Safety

 Pupils are very aware of the school’s insistence on tolerance alongside awareness of the dangers of extremist views or discriminatory language. For example, stereotypes or unkind words are questioned and challenged from Nursery role play onwards. Pupils show an excellent understanding of the need to protect their identity online and of the potential dangers of being on the internet.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have a good knowledge of skills in reading, writing and mathematics and also of their pupils’ interests and enthusiasms. Their generally high expectations lead to pupils making good progress because of their respect and fondness for their teachers and their excellent attitudes to learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers demonstrate a good knowledge of teaching letters and the sounds they make (phonics) in the Early Years Foundation Stage and into Key Stage 1, leading to pupils performing well in national checks. Teachers go on to encourage a love of reading and make good use of the school library and of visits from professional writers.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers usually pitch work at the right level of difficulty and plan lessons that pupils find interesting and challenging. Teachers give pupils many opportunities to write longer pieces of work and to develop their skills in creative writing. This is leading to improved progress and standards in pupils’ writing. There is, however, some inconsistency in the quality of teaching in the lower years when the most able are not always set work that is hard enough.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Support staff play an important part in the strong progress of disadvantaged pupils and of disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs. This is because teachers work closely with additional staff, planning and delivering carefully targeted interventions. The few pupils who are at early stage in learning English or who join the school part way through their education also receive strong support and so make rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Homework is set and marked regularly and teachers ensure that pupils have time every day to work on their corrections and to respond to feedback in their books. Teachers regularly and accurately assess the progress of individual pupils and of groups, such as the increasing number of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. The school ensures that any pupils in alternative provision also receive a similarly good quality of teaching.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Almost every pupil leaves the school having made at least the nationally expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion making more than the expected progress is above the national average in reading and in mathematics and is in line in writing. The progress in all subjects of pupils currently in the school, including in writing, shows further rapid improvement.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and others in the school and the gap with others nationally have closed in the last two years in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result of well- targeted use of funding to develop effective strategies, the standards reached by disadvantaged pupils are therefore level with or above others in the school and nationally. This group of pupils also makes similar or better progress than others in the school and nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are no barriers to achievement in this school and there is a strong commitment to equality of opportunity. This is evident in the exceptional achievement of disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs. These pupils make progress that is similar to their classmates and is above the average for other pupils nationally. Other groups of pupils, such as those from minority ethnic backgrounds, those for whom English is an additional language and those who joined the school part way through their education, all make similarly good progress. The progress of pupils in alternative provision is also closely monitored.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the school with language skills and an understanding of the world that are below that typical for their age. They then make good progress and the proportion of children leaving Reception having reached a good level of development in the key areas has been above the national average for the last two years. The proportion going on to meet the expected standards in the Year 1 phonics check has also been above the national average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils achieve standards at the end of Key Stage 2 that are above the national average in all subjects and are particularly high in reading and in English grammar, punctuation and spelling. In Key Stage 1, while standards in reading, writing and mathematics have improved at a faster rate than nationally, they are not yet consistently above the national average. This is because the quality of teaching is not always as consistently high in these years as it is in the upper end of the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Since the previous inspection, the proportion of the most-able pupils achieving high standards at the end of Key Stage 2 has risen to above the national average in reading and mathematics. Some pupils, including pupils who have special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils, have gone on to achieve the highest levels. The proportion of pupils achieving high standards at the end of Key Stage 1 is broadly in line with the national average. This is because systems for identifying and promoting the achievement of the most-able younger pupils are not yet rigorous enough.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff have created a bright and lively setting that promotes social development and communication skills well. Children are keen and attentive and most of them willingly contribute to discussion. Many Nursery children can concentrate for lengthy periods and when they do not it is largely due to lack of experience.

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The early years provision is good

 Almost all children enter Nursery or Reception without having experienced any other child care settings. Their language skills and their understanding of the world are frequently below those typical for their age. The majority of children, including disadvantaged children, make good progress and go on to achieve well. However, the most able are not always identified early enough and the early years are not currently included in the school’s register of gifted and talented pupils.

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The early years provision is good

 The quality of teaching is good because staff know the children well. They take every opportunity to develop children’s language skills and encourage them to work and play in pairs and in groups. The enjoyment of reading is promoted throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage. For example, inspectors heard squeals of delight coming from a group of Reception children huddled together in a corner of the playground. One of them was reading aloud from a pop-up book while another turned the pages and all responded with joyful surprise.

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The early years provision is good

 Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the leadership and management of the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly the high level of care and support for disabled children and children who have special educational needs. There are strong links between home and school. The early years leader is keen to broaden children’s experiences. She arranges frequent visits, for example to the post office and to the local art gallery to work with professional artists.

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The early years provision is good

 From the very youngest children to the end of Reception, there are the highest expectations for outstanding behaviour. Staff create an exceptionally encouraging environment by the consistent use of certificates and badges that reinforce positive messages. Pupils learn how to stay safe, making their own risk assessments, and how to be healthy, with regular visits from the school nurse.

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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 104315 Local authority Wolverhampton Inspection number 448890 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 251 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ronald Wright Headteacher Patricia Scott Date of previous school inspection 11 November 2009 Telephone number 01902 558570 Fax number 01902 558573 Email address loxdaleprimaryschool@wolverhampton.gov.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

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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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