Salisbury Primary School

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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

 The headteacher and her senior team have provided very clear guidance for teachers on how to raise standards of teaching and learning since the last inspection. Teaching is monitored closely and the impact has been a rapid improvement in the progress that pupils are making in all year groups.  The school’s own internal information now shows that the proportion of pupils in all classes who are making better than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics is much higher than the national average.  Teachers are making good use of information about the progress that the pupils are making in order to provide work which is at the right level and which is accelerating their learning rapidly.  Nursery and Reception classes are very well organised and managed, and pupils make good progress as a result.  Pupils behave well in classes, corridors and the playground and say that they feel safe in school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

They have a pride in their work, are polite and well- mannered and enjoy their learning.  The governors have a good understanding of the strengths of the school and what needs to be done next in order to improve further. They have put systems in place which will help them become more effective over a short space of time.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Some disadvantaged pupils are not making the same high levels of progress in writing and mathematics as they are in reading.  Too few of the most-able pupils are attaining the higher levels of Level 3 and Level 5 by the end of Year 2 and Year 6.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons, including two joint observations with the headteacher. They observed pupils in classrooms and corridors and on the playground.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders and the staff responsible for literacy and mathematics. Inspectors also met with five governors and a representative from the local authority.  There were too few responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to take account of. However, inspectors met parents and carers informally at the start of the school day and held a more formal, private meeting with a parent or carer.  Inspectors looked at school polices and documentation, including the school’s improvement plan, information about pupils’ progress, attendance records and safeguarding policies and procedures.  Inspectors looked at a range of pupils’ work which included literacy, mathematics, history, geography and science, and looked at books and displays during lessons. They met with two groups of pupils and heard

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Information about this inspection

children from Year 1 and Year 6 reading.

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Inspection team

Graeme Burgess, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school became part of a federation in January 2013, which was dissolved in October 2014. The school then formed its own governing body, co-opted a serving headteacher who is a Local Leader of Education as an associative governor, and made changes to staffing.  The school is led by an interim acting headteacher and acting deputy headteacher. The members of staff responsible for leading special educational needs, Years 1 and 2 and early years provision are all new to post.  The local authority appointed a new consultant to the school in December 2014.  This school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and looked after children) is very high in comparison with the national average. The majority of pupils are from minority ethnic groups.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is average.  The school’s population is much less stable than average.  Children attend the Nursery for separate morning and afternoon sessions. They attend the Reception class on a full-time basis. Some pupils in Years 1 to 6 are taught in mixed-age classes.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils by ensuring that they make as much progress in writing and mathematics as they do in reading.  Raise attainment of the most able by increasing the proportion who achieve a Level 3 at the end of Year 2 and a Level 5 at the end of Year 6.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership team and the governing body are recently formed as a result of the dissolution of the previous federation. Since their appointments, the members of the new leadership team have introduced a number of key changes which have had a positive impact on standards and the quality of teaching.  As a result, teachers are now clear about how to use the new pupil tracking system to match work more closely to each pupil’s stage in their learning. This has led to a rapid increase in the proportions of pupils who are making expected, and better than expected, progress in all year groups.  Responses to the staff questionnaires show that leaders are creating a strong culture in which teaching can flourish.  Pupil premium funding is being used effectively and the impact on the proportions of pupils who are making better than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics is significant.  Relationships between staff and pupils, and with each other, are fostered well. The school promotes

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The leadership and management are good

equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination effectively. Pupils say that they feel safe.  Middle leaders, including those new to post, are successfully leading by example and regularly check the progress that the pupils are making. They watch lessons and look carefully at pupils’ books.  The curriculum covers a wide range of subjects and is a strong feature of the school. For example, reading, art and history are particularly strong and the work done on World War II shows that pupils have a good understanding of cultural differences, and of the process of reconciliation, which is preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain.  The school meets the statutory requirements for safeguarding. Risk assessments are in place to ensure that the pupils remain safe during their activities.  The sports fund is used effectively, for example, to buy in specialist coaches from Walsall Football Club.

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The leadership and management are good

Their knowledge and skills are used effectively in lessons to move pupils’ learning on more rapidly.  There is evidence of rigorous monitoring by the headteacher and the governing body of lessons, pupils’ work and the progress that each pupil is making. The headteacher has a particularly strong grasp on how to use information about the progress that the pupils are making.  The local authority has provided support for the school when required. In addition, the school works in very close partnership with the education welfare officer. The impact of this is that attendance is now in line with the national average and evidence seen in school shows that attendance is on track to be better than average by the end of this year. If pupils are away, the school checks why immediately and then insists on seeing evidence of medical notes.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school: Half of the governing body are new to post. They are making good use of training for governing bodies and have fully embraced the local authority’s partnership with Her Majesty’s Inspectors to raise standards in schools within Walsall. They have a good grasp of how well the school is doing in comparison with other schools nationally because they thoroughly analyse the information about pupils’ achievement provided by the headteacher. The minutes of the new governing body are professional and record the robust discussions that are taking place. Monitoring records show that governors are carefully observing the work of the school and the progress of pupils. As a result, governors are clear about the strengths in teaching and learning and know the priorities for future development. They have reviewed targets for staff development and understand how salary progression can be used to reward and support teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

Governors know about the additional funding provided to support the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, and carefully check how it is being used.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good because their attitudes towards learning are consistently good across the whole school, in their classrooms, in the corridors and on the playground during playtimes and lunch- times.  Pupils respond well to all adults, including those who do not work with them every day. For example, pupils in Year 1 were seen making good progress by diligently following instructions during a gymnastics lesson led by a visiting sports coach.  Parents spoken with during the inspection fully agreed that the pupils are well behaved in school. They were full of praise for the school’s staff, and keen to talk about how the school’s work with their children has improved behaviour and enabled them to learn more quickly.  Pupils take a pride in their appearance and their work, as seen in the very high standard of presentation seen in their books, particularly in Year 6.  Behaviour is not yet outstanding because some pupils can lose concentration in lessons and this detracts

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Pupils feel very safe in school. They say that there is very little bullying in school but that, if something does happen, they know who to go to, one emphasising that the headteacher is ‘a good sorter outer’.  The school actively promotes keeping pupils safe from harm by providing lessons on how to keep safe when using the internet. This has been effective because pupils can talk about how to keep themselves safe on-line.  Pupils’ physical safety is stringently monitored. For example, pupils leaving the school during the day do so under strict supervision. Rigorous and robust procedures ensure that pupils are not shown as absent from the school’s registers until it is known where they have gone and that they are safe.  The school has robust systems for checking where pupils are if they are not in school. Attendance has improved as a result and is now in line with national averages.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching has improved since the last inspection and is now consistently good across the school. It is particularly strong in the Nursery and Reception classes and in Key Stage 2. Teachers make good use of the system that tracks pupils’ progress, enabling them to provide the standard of work needed to help them move to the next stage in their learning.  There has been a particular emphasis on raising the quality of learning in mathematics by creating a consistent approach to methods of teaching. As a result, the progress that most of the pupils are now making is consistently good and, sometimes, better than the national average, in reading, writing and mathematics.  However, some of the most-able pupils, and some disadvantaged pupils, are not making the same rate of progress as their peers. This is because teachers are not yet providing work which is matched closely enough to their individual needs to move them on more rapidly in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 As a result of effective use of good questioning skills by teachers and teaching assistants, pupils are able to think more carefully about their learning. This was seen, for example, in science, where pupils progressed at an accelerated rate as a result of carefully considering answers to the questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’.  Teachers make lessons fun, and the pupils readily engage with teachers and teaching assistants. The climate for learning that has been established within the school supports pupils well. They feel confident to ask and answer questions and this promotes good learning, seen, for example, in a Year 6 lesson where pupils were interrogating each other while pretending to be famous people. The level of commitment shown by all of the pupils to their learning was very high.  The school’s approach to the teaching of reading is very effective. Pupils enter the school with very little

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The quality of teaching is good

reading knowledge. However, by the end of Year 6 they have become very proficient readers and can talk eloquently in detail about the books and the authors that they enjoy the most.  Teachers plan work which is fun and which enables the pupils to practise their writing in subjects like history. For example, pupils in Year 6 were seen using their developing writing skills to write a class assembly around the theme of the Vikings following a visit from ‘The Viking Man’.  Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and in line with the school’s marking policy. They know the pupils very well and provide a welcoming environment which supports and promotes learning.

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is good

 Pupils enter the school working at levels which are significantly below what is typical for their age. The majority of them do not have English as their first language. They make good progress so that by the time they complete Year 6 the proportion of pupils working at age-related levels is broadly in line with those nationally for reading and writing. The gap that existed on entry to the school has been successfully reduced.  The progress that pupils make from their starting points on entry to the school to Year 6 in reading and writing is higher than that nationally. The proportion making better than expected progress in reading and writing is significantly better than the national average.  Published information about the attainment the pupils made in 2014 shows that they were working at levels which are below the national average, particularly in mathematics, at the end of Year 2 and Year 6.

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is good

 Current information about pupils’ performance across different classes and year groups shows a trend of better than expected progress, and that it is set to continue, including in mathematics. This is bringing the majority closer to the national average for attainment.  The most-able pupils are usually challenged well, which helps them to make good progress overall. However, too few of them are making the progress that they should in order to reach the higher levels of achievement by the end of Years 2 and 6.  Teachers in the early years help the pupils successfully to develop and use a range of strategies to support the development of their phonics (the sounds that letters make) skills. Effective links between early years and Key Stage 1 allow this success to continue. School information shows that the current Year 1 pupils are on track to reach standards in the phonics screening check that will be broadly in line

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is good

with those nationally.  The school effectively meets the needs of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. These pupils are making progress which is better than expected in reading and mathematics, and broadly in line with expectations in writing. The proportion of pupils making better than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics is much higher than that of their peers nationally.  The majority of disadvantaged pupils are also making good progress. In 2014, their attainment was about six months ahead of that of their classmates in reading and broadly in line in writing and mathematics. When compared with pupils nationally, this group was six months ahead of their peers in reading and writing and about a year behind in mathematics. However, a smaller proportion of disadvantaged pupils make expected progress in writing and mathematics than they do in reading.

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is good

 From very low starting points the children make good progress. By the time they enter Year 1, about a fifth of them have a good level of development in literacy and mathematics.  The leader of early years is new to post and already has a clear understanding of her role and responsibilities. She has an excellent understanding of the need to use information about children’s progress accurately and holds regular moderation meetings with another local school.  The working environment is safe and secure, and each room has a paediatric first-aider. Staff absences, though rare, are covered by staff already known to the school.  Pupils engage enthusiastically with a variety of tasks, including those initiated by themselves as well as fun activities organised for them by their teachers. The strong relationships between the children and staff help to promote effective learning and good progress.  Staff meet regularly as a team to review which aspects of the provision are working well and to plan

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is good

further improvements. This ensures that the quality of teaching and learning continues to improve.  Staff have cultivated good links with parents and carers, providing them with information about their children’s learning which they can use to good effect in helping their children with extra support at home.

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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 104178 Local authority Walsall Inspection number 453461

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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 309 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Naseerah Motara Headteacher Lynn Bland Date of previous school inspection 20–21 March 2013 Telephone number 01215 686779 Fax number 01215 266504 Email address admin@salisbury.walsall.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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