Tudor Grange Primary Academy, St James

School report Tudor Grange Primary Academy, St James Halifax Road, Shirley, Solihull, B90 2BT

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 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

 This is a rapidly improving school. It is exceptionally well led by a principal who is determined to ensure that all pupils achieve to the very best of their ability.  Leaders’ rigorous checks on teaching and support by excellent governance, has eliminated all teaching that was not good enough.  Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary at all times. Pupils are highly responsible, care about each other and are immensely proud of their school. Pupils’ behaviour in class and attitudes to learning are exceptional. This helps to ensure that they make good progress.  Teaching is good. Staff are highly experienced, exceptionally well trained and have high expectations of what pupils can achieve.  Governors hold the school fully to account, providing highly effective challenge and support to the school leadership team.  Pupils benefit from an interesting and engaging new curriculum, which is well on its way to being fully implemented.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ attainment in all subjects is continually improving across the school, especially in writing.  The overwhelming majority of pupils make good and sometimes outstanding progress throughout the school. This includes disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils.  Parents have highly positive views of the school. They are happy that their children are safe and well cared for, and they value the information that they receive about their progress.  The school’s new early years provision has already gained an exceptionally good reputation in the community. Leadership, provision, achievement and work with parents are good.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Marking does not always inform pupils of how they can improve their learning and the best practice in marking is yet to be fully shared among staff.  Not enough opportunities are provided for pupils to apply their mathematical skills to practical problem-solving activities.  Resources outside are not used to the full for children in the early years.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed a range of lessons in all year groups. Some lessons were jointly observed with the headteacher.  The inspector listened to pupils read and held discussions with pupils from across the school. Pupils’ work in books was scrutinised during lessons and separately.  The inspector considered the 32 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and the school’s own surveys of parents’ views. Informal discussions took place with parents.  A telephone conversation took place with a representative from the local authority. Responses to a questionnaire completed by 13 members of staff were considered.  A meeting was held with two governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body.  A range of school documents was examined. These included: the school’s review of its own performance, external evaluations of the school's work, data on pupils’ progress, records of the school’s checks on the

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Information about this inspection

quality of teaching, records of pupils’ attendance, behaviour records and safeguarding documentation.

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Inspection team

Lenford White, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is much smaller than an average-sized primary school.  The school became an academy in January 2013 and is sponsored by Tudor Grange Academy Trust Solihull. In the last 18 months, the academy has more than doubled the number of pupils on roll. In September 2014, the academy changed its provision to include a full-time Reception class of 27 children, and a part-time Nursery class of 28 children.  The large majority of pupils are White British. Others come from a range of different minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is below average, at roughly one in eight of the pupils.  At around one in four of the pupils, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding is average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for

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Information about this school

pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  Pre-school and after school services operate on the school site and are managed by the school’s governors.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and raise attainment by ensuring that:  teachers’ marking shows pupils how they can improve their learning, and that the best practice in marking is fully shared among staff  pupils have the opportunity to apply their mathematical skills in problem-solving activities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve early years provision by providing children with full and easy access to outdoor learning and playing areas.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The principal is highly ambitious for the future of the school. She is determined to ensure that all pupils achieve well, and enjoy learning. Senior leaders and governors have exceedingly high expectations of both staff and pupils, and have gained the confidence and support of the community, including the diocese, families and local organisations.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 In a short time senior leaders and governors have created a school where only the best is good enough. They have eradicated all teaching that was not good enough, instilled in pupils a sense that they can achieve high standards if they work hard, and widened training opportunities for teachers to help them to continually improve. All of these things are helping to rapidly improve pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders of sections and subjects, including the early years and those responsible for English and mathematics, are exceptionally well trained, and well respected for their work, both within their cluster of schools and the local authority. Their action plans clearly identify what needs to be done to improve reading and mathematics and they have drawn on the expertise of outstanding teachers from the Tudor Grange Academies Trust to support them in their endeavours. They have clearly defined roles in improving the quality of teaching and they ensure that all teachers are accountable for raising the attainment of the pupils.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s new curriculum is well on its way to being fully implemented. Pupils are very much aware that their learning has changed and are fully embracing it. They benefit from a range of interesting and exciting learning opportunities and explore a wide variety of topics. All topics provide excellent opportunities for pupils to practise their reading, writing and mathematical skills and to engage in creative activities, including singing, dance and playing musical instruments. The range of activities promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. Pupils also benefit from being able to access the school’s pre-school and after school services.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Pupils’ knowledge of life in modern Britain and British values is good in this harmonious school. This has recently been enhanced by the increasing culturally diverse nature of the school, and in the many opportunities that pupils have to learn and talk about the history and make up of their local community and different communities nationally.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school is committed to promoting equal opportunities for all. For instance, through good use of the pupil premium funding on small-group teaching activities, it is successfully reducing the wide attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers inherited from its predecessor school. The sports premium is well spent and has had a strong impact on pupils’ participation in competitive sports. It is helping to improve the health and well-being of all pupils, including children in the early years.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Teachers are set challenging targets linked to raising standards for pupils and are subject to regular checks on their performance. These targets are being met and are helping to rapidly improve the standards attained by pupils. The school’s systems for monitoring the overall quality of teaching and supporting teachers new to the school, and to the profession, are highly effective.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school is as passionate about teachers’ learning as it is about pupils’ learning and works exceptionally well within the Tudor Grange Academies Trust to develop teaching and professional development programmes.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority has recently led a full review of teaching and learning and provides strong support. In addition, the school works closely with the diocesan education board, which has supported it in developing its outstanding leadership team.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school takes care to ensure that it has effective arrangements for safeguarding its pupils and for children in the early years. All statutory requirements in this respect are met.  The governance of the school:  Governance is outstanding. Members of the governing body are highly skilled and knowledgeable. Their experience in education has a direct impact on the school’s continual improvement. Governors know exactly where the school’s strengths and weaknesses lie because their grasp of data on performance is excellent. They are clear about what is needed to become an outstanding school.  Governors hold senior leaders fully to account and set them highly ambitious targets. They are fully aware of the quality of teaching and they reward teachers for their work, but only if they are satisfied that they have met their demanding targets. Governors support action that is taken to tackle weaknesses.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Governors check on how extra funding is spent. They know, for example, that small-group teaching activities in English and mathematics are helping to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are fully engaged in their learning and are achieving well.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils’ behaviour in class and attitudes to learning are exceptional. They are conscientious and eager to work as hard as they possibly can, for their own benefit and because they are eager to please their teachers. This helps to ensure that they make good progress and achieve well.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are proud to be ambassadors for their school. They wear their school uniform with pride, come to school prepared, and are always ready to learn. Their above-average attendance and excellent punctuality reflects their interest in their education.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are polite and courteous and exceptionally welcoming to visitors. All pupils, including children in the early years, are eager to share their learning and talk about their achievements. They behave exceedingly well at all times, this includes during lunchtime, when moving around the school and during breaks.

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Behaviour

 Whenever pupils come together, they behave impeccably. They are highly motivated and enjoy collective worship and celebrating the achievement of their peers.

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Behaviour

 The school’s behaviour logs show that pupils break the rules very infrequently. Pupils are of the opinion that behaviour is good most of the time and say that, on the rare occasions that they fall out with their classmates, they are soon friends again.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Visitors from the police and fire services help pupils to understand dangers and risks, and how to keep themselves safe. All pupils know never to talk to strangers and how to behave sensibly when they are near traffic or crossing roads.

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Safety

 Pupils have a very well-developed understanding of most forms of prejudice-based bullying, including racism, because they learn about such matters through anti-bullying week, assemblies and their personal, social, health and citizenship education programme. Pupils have an excellent understanding of how to stay safe when online and they have a well-developed knowledge of e-safety.

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Safety

 Pupils say that they have ‘never heard of any bullying’ and are of the opinion that it rarely if ever happens. They are very confident in sharing any concerns that they have with any member of staff, members of the school council or prefects, and know that concerns will be taken seriously and dealt with immediately.

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Safety

 The vast majority of parents, including all those who spoke to the inspector, are of the opinion that bullying is rare and always dealt with. Checks of records and discussion with staff confirm this.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Senior leaders have taken decisive action to improve the quality of teaching and eradicate teaching that was not good enough. This term, a number of new teachers have been appointed. All are highly qualified and have excellent subject knowledge, especially in mathematics and English.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have especially productive relationships with pupils, high expectations of what they are capable of achieving and are very clear about the standards that are expected of them in class.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers are highly effective in bringing the curriculum to life and, where possible, they develop links between pupils’ learning and local history. This was the case in a mixed Year 3 and 4 class, where pupils demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the Second World War and the impact of bombing raids on Coventry.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Observations in classrooms and work in books show that teachers consistently check pupils’ grammar and punctuation. Spelling mistakes are always identified in pupils’ writing and corrections are always made. As a result of this, pupils’ skills in writing are exceptionally well developed and their progress is often outstanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make learning fun by exploring themes of interest to pupils. They are highly focused on ensuring that any gaps in pupils’ skills or knowledge are quickly identified and closed. This was the case in a mixed Year 4 and 5 mathematics class where pupils were catching up on learning that they had missed in previous years as they converted kilograms to grams and litres to millilitres. However, teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to apply their mathematical skills to practical problem-solving activities. This means that progress is not quite as good as it could be.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The overall quality of teachers’ marking and feedback to pupils is good, with examples of good practice in mathematics and English and in the books of pupils who benefit from small-group teaching activities. However, marking is not consistently good across the school because not all marking shows pupils what they need to do to improve their work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school is recently established and has only one year of national data on pupils’ performance. At the end of Year 6 in 2014 pupils’ overall attainment varied but all subjects were within the broadly average range. Attainment in writing was best, at around a term ahead of pupils nationally, with attainment in reading around a term behind the national average. Compared with the previous years, when the academy had been open only a few months, standards had risen dramatically.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has compelling evidence to show that the progress of pupils in all year groups has been hampered by previous teaching that was not good enough. Its current highly effective teaching in mathematics and reading is helping to ensure that previous gaps in pupils’ learning are being effectively addressed, ensuring that they make rapid progress towards their exceptionally challenging targets.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ performance in mathematics is rapidly improving. This is because teachers have excellent subject knowledge. In addition to this, the school’s decisive action to provide pupils with regular ‘maths challenge’ activities and access to online resources and mathematics clubs are all helping to ensure that they make at least good progress in this subject across the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ good writing is evident throughout the school in classrooms and in their books. Teachers are very careful to develop pupils’ technical writing skills in grammar, punctuation and spelling, and good opportunities are available for them to practise their writing skills in all subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Teachers provide many opportunities for pupils to read for pleasure. In all year groups, they are used to regular reading tests. These are having a powerful impact on the development of pupils’ comprehension skills. This is rapidly raising pupils’ reading standards. Pupils are particularly keen on reading fantasy books and they regularly read the work of a wide variety of authors. Less able readers use their skills in phonics (linking letters and the sounds they make) well to sound out and read unfamiliar words. Pupils in all year groups are making good and sometimes outstanding progress in reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children in the Nursery and Reception years are making very good progress towards their highly ambitious targets.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The progress of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language is at least good, and sometimes outstanding. In the 2014 national tests, the attainment of pupils in these groups was good overall.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Historically, disadvantaged pupils have been very poorly served. Their attainment in 2014 was on average two years behind their peers in English and mathematics and there was a similar attainment gap in relation to all pupils nationally, though their progress in reading and writing was good. Senior leaders have been determined to make sure that the personal circumstances of these pupils no longer adversely affect their achievement. The outstanding small-group support that they receive in English and mathematics, and their access to music, mathematics and homework clubs, ensure that they are now making at least good progress and attaining well in all subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are exceptionally well provided for. Though small in number, all made good progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 in 2014. Excellent partnerships with specialists and close monitoring of their performance helps to ensure that they enjoy learning and make at least good progress in all year groups and in all subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school’s most-able pupils are very well challenged in class by being taught in different ability groups. They also benefit from specialist teachers in French, for example, and support from older students from various parts of the Tudor Grange Academies Trust. In addition to this, they benefit from their new school’s ‘yes can do’ culture and are encouraged to read and learn as much as possible.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years provision in well led and managed. Leaders have set themselves very challenging targets, but given children’s current rate of progress, these are realistic. Highly effective systems for monitoring how well children are doing enable staff to focus on developing those areas of learning where their achievement is weaker; for example, in children’s understanding of the wider world around them.

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The early years provision is good

 Parents are happy that their children are safe, happy and well cared for. Early years leaders know what they need to do to ensure that early years provision is outstanding and are working on developing even stronger partnerships with parents.

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The early years provision is good

 Children start in Nursery and Reception with skills and abilities that are generally in line with those typical for their ages. Children are highly inquisitive, and vary in ability, from those who are confident with their counting up to 30 in Nursery, to those in Reception who are in the early stages of mark making and being able to say both their first and second names. Their learning gets off to a good start because they are well cared for by highly skilled and experienced teachers and teaching assistants.

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The early years provision is good

 Children soon settle into Nursery and Reception and behave outstandingly well. This has made an exceptional contribution to their progress.

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The early years provision is good

 Teachers’ continuously develop children’s skills and support their learning. This was exemplified when children in the Nursery class were working in small groups mixing colours. When they came together to share their learning they were able to say, ‘I mixed red and yellow to make orange, the colour of fire’, and ‘My black and orange colours made brown.’

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The early years provision is good

 Children are well supervised at all times. They behave very sensibly when using their bicycles and playing outside, and they know how to take turns and share resources. Although children have access to outdoor learning and playing areas, this is limited because they have to first come out of one of two classrooms into an open area and then down a short corridor. Senior leaders have made it a priority to develop provision so that children can have continuous access to all areas of the Nursery and Reception to enable them to more easily participate in different learning activities.

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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 139007 Local authority Solihull Inspection number 447820

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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 Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 135 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Beverley Watson Principal Vivienne Stone-Fewings Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0121 744 7897 Fax number 0121 744 7897 Email address office@stjames.tgacademy.org.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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