Manor Primary School

Manor Primary School Drayton Lane, Drayton Bassett, Tamworth, B78 3TX

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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

 Leaders rigorously monitor teaching and learning, and use the results well to plan for continuous development. They have been successful in improving teaching and achievement for pupils across a wide range of ability.  Governors use their skills well to check the school’s work and to hold leaders to account for pupils’ achievement. They use all available money carefully to ensure that pupils’ learning continues to improve.  Teachers show high expectations of pupils’ work and behaviour, and plan and teach exciting topics that inspire and motivate pupils of all abilities to do their best.  Pupils’ good behaviour and attitudes to their work make a strong contribution to their achievement. They concentrate and work hard so that they make good progress.  Pupils say that they feel safe because everyone respects and cares for each other. Relationships at all levels are happy and purposeful, and support learning well.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils, parents, staff and governors greatly value the school as the heart of the village, and the positive contribution it makes to the community.  Parents are welcomed as partners in their children’s learning, and most of those who expressed their view are very pleased with the work of the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The younger pupils do not always get enough writing practice in different subjects and topics.  Children’s writing in the early years is not always recorded in a way that helps staff in planning what they need to do next.  Occasionally some pupils are not fully challenged during lessons, particularly in mathematics.  Although pupils use their knowledge of the sounds letters make well to read, they are not as good at using them in spelling.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited lessons, examined work in books, attended an assembly, and listened to pupils reading.  She observed behaviour in lessons and around the school, met with the school council and held informal discussions with pupils in each year group.  The inspector took account of a letter from a parent, the 21 responses to the online survey, Parent View, as well as the school’s own survey of parents’ and pupils’ views. She spoke to a number of parents during the inspection and also took account of 16 responses to the staff questionnaire.  The inspector met with governors and leaders, including those responsible for special educational needs and the early years. She spoke on the phone to a representative of the local authority and to the Chair of the Governing Body.  The inspector examined school documents, including those related to safeguarding, the school improvement plan, information on pupils’ attainment and progress, and records of attendance and

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Inspection team

Lynne Bradbury, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The early years department offers part-time nursery provision and a full-time reception class.  The school is part of the Tame Valley Co-operative Learning Trust.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority) is much lower than average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is higher than average.  Most pupils are White British, and almost all speak English as their first language.  The school encountered considerable difficulties with staff absence over the last 18 months, but there is generally a more settled picture now.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress, particularly in the lower age groups, by:  ensuring that pupils across the wide range of ability in classes are consistently stretched, particularly through problem-solving in mathematics  giving pupils plenty of writing practice, including applying their grammar and punctuation skills in longer pieces of writing or in other subjects  ensuring that the good work in phonics is developed into secure knowledge of spelling patterns, particularly in frequently used words  recording children’s early written work in a way that helps staff to plan further learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher was appointed at the beginning of the summer term 2014 and, with the assistant headteacher, has established a determined drive for school improvement which is shared by all leaders, staff, governors and pupils. This is having a positive impact on teaching and achievement, and behaviour.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders, including the governors, use data on pupils’ performance well to identify key strengths and appropriate areas for improvement, and develop well-focused plans to address these areas supported through the school’s budget. For example, they have established a range of support, including a nurture group, to help pupils at risk of falling behind in their work. They then carefully monitor the impact of these measures on raising achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders measure teachers’ performance rigorously against pupils’ achievement, set appropriate targets to improve progress, and then provide effective training to develop their skills and knowledge. Regular meetings with staff enable leaders to monitor progress against these targets.

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The leadership and management are good

 Some subject leaders are new to their posts. Even so, they are developing their skills rapidly and this is having a positive impact upon pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents are welcomed into school to share in assemblies and the many topics undertaken. Most who spoke with the inspector were highly appreciative of the school’s work and its contribution to the local community. They like the caring and intimate ethos of the small school where, they believe, staff and pupils know each other well and take great care of each other. They say that their children develop confidence and a sense of value. One said that the school ‘dragged the best’ from an initially reluctant child by offering exciting experiences in sport and various topics, which motivated them to learn.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and governors make sure that the school’s safeguarding policies keep pupils safe because they are followed rigorously. They meet all national requirements.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s commitment to equal opportunities is reflected in the good progress made by pupils of all abilities and backgrounds. It does not tolerate any form of discrimination. A parent was very keen to tell the inspector that children from all cultures are shown great respect, and their backgrounds are celebrated.

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The leadership and management are good

 The pupil premium is spent effectively on a nurture group, one-to-one tuition, a precision teaching group at breakfast time, and small group support for disadvantaged pupils. This has raised their achievement. It also subsidises visits, clubs, sports, music and dance opportunities.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school sports funding has been spent effectively to extend the range of sports experiences and to provide opportunities for high-quality coaching with a local group of schools. Staff skills have also been further developed through working with the coaches.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school offers a wide range of subjects through exciting topics. Visits, visitors and working with parents help pupils to see the links between the skills they are developing. They apply their reading skills well through research into their topics, but do not get such good opportunities in writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils develop their understanding of British values and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness by taking on responsibility for younger pupils, voting for team captains, and having discussions about events in the world. During the inspection, pupils in Years 3 and 4 and children in the early years were exploring the topic of dinosaurs, and there were moments of excitement, awe and wonder as they followed trails leading to the ‘dinosaurs’ nest’, and found the newly-laid egg.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils learn about other faiths and cultures and show great respect for everyone. They visited a Hindu temple and followed this by learning about the Hindu faith.  The local authority has given effective support in raising pupils’ achievement. Particular work has focused upon the early years, assessment and planning. Other schools in the trust help to check the accuracy of assessment judgements and provide support for subject leadership. This has enabled staff to develop their skills in these areas, and this has been effective in accelerating progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors play an effective role. They undertake regular training so that they can, for example, understand data on pupils’ performance and identify strengths and weaknesses. This then informs their development planning and the use of the school’s budget.  The governors manage the school’s finances well. They make sure additional funding, such as the pupil premium, is spent on the eligible pupils it is intended to support, and monitor the effectiveness of this spending carefully.  Governors gain good first-hand knowledge of the effectiveness of teaching and learning, particularly through their visits, and hold staff and leaders accountable. They judge staff effectiveness against pupils’ achievement, and make judgements about staff pay and career progression in the same way.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They behave well in lessons, around the school and on the playground. Their good attitudes and desire to learn make a strong contribution to the progress they make. They are polite and courteous to everyone in the school community.

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Behaviour

 Pupils concentrate and persevere with their work. They collaborate well when given the opportunity, but are also able to work sensibly on their own. Records show very few incidents of poor behaviour and appropriate responses from staff when these happen.

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Behaviour

 Pupils enjoy the responsibilities they have around the school, including taking care of younger pupils, and show great enjoyment of the rewards they receive for their work and behaviour. They are pleased that pupils who struggle at times are also rewarded for their effort and improvement. The school places great value on each pupil for the qualities that he or she brings to the community. It rewards high standards and great effort equally.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say that they feel safe and know that staff and other pupils care for them. They talk about lessons and assemblies that help them to understand dangers around them, from roads, strangers and technology like mobile phones and the internet. Pupils are able to analyse situations and know how they should react in order to keep themselves and others safe.

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Safety

 The school site is secure and carefully monitored. All necessary checks are carried out on visitors and before appointing new staff.

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Safety

 Pupils said that bullying is very rare, and dealt with very quickly if it happens. They learn about the various kinds of bullying including any to do with new technologies. Pupils say that everyone respects each other too much to allow racism to happen. Any kind of derogatory name-calling is dealt with effectively.

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Safety

 A club at breakfast time offers extra tuition for groups of pupils, and there is a wide range of clubs and activities outside school time. These are very well attended and highly valued by pupils and parents.

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Safety

 Attendance is above average and staff respond very quickly if they have any concerns about a pupil.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Effective teaching ensures that pupils make good progress in all subjects. Staff show that they have high expectations of learning and behaviour, and pupils respond well.  Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and support good progress. The use of praise and rewards helps pupils to focus on their individual learning targets and they show a desire to please and to succeed. Any pupils who experience difficulties settling in class receive extra support, including through the nurture group.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make it clear what the focus of learning will be for each lesson. They provide helpful demonstrations and share success criteria so that pupils know what good work will look like. Staff ask probing questions in order to deepen pupils’ understanding, give extra support, or to stretch them further.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Phonics is taught well so that pupils progress confidently into reading and make good progress. Currently pupils do not use their phonics knowledge as well to spell frequently used words.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff encourage pupils to use their reading skills as they research exciting topics through which different subjects are taught. Pupils enjoy visits and visitors, and learning about topics like the Vikings, the Tudors, Chocolate and Brazilian football. Currently pupils in the younger age groups do not have sufficient opportunities to practise their mathematical or writing skills through these topics, for example by using the punctuation and grammar they have learned in writing longer pieces of work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 ‘Guided reading’ is taught well across the school, and pupils engage with their books with great purpose and enthusiasm. In the Year 3 and 4 class, teachers support pupils’ understanding by setting mathematics challenges which need to be interpreted in their guided reading sessions, and pupils clearly enjoy this.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Skills in mathematics are taught well with daily practice of number work in all age groups. As these skills are applied in problem-solving, there is not yet enough work that stretches pupils of all abilities appropriately, particularly within the lower age groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive good help and guidance during lessons and in extra support groups. Teaching assistants are generally skilled and make a valuable contribution. As a result many of these pupils no longer need extra help as they get into the older age groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff assess pupils’ work and track their progress carefully, so that any pupils at risk of underachieving are identified and supported.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The small size of each year group means that children’s attainment on entry to school can vary considerably year by year. This also makes it inappropriate to measure their results at the end of Year 6 against national averages. However, data show that pupils in all ability groups left in 2014 having made good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the 2014 Year 1 check on skills in phonics (letters and the sounds they make) pupils’ results were slightly above those seen nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 At the end of Year 2 in 2014, pupils’ standards generally reflected good progress from their individual starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 As pupils move through the school they learn to read confidently and with a high level of understanding. They show considerable enjoyment in their reading and share their favourite books and authors enthusiastically. They can identify themes and the writing techniques authors use to build excitement or character.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The small number of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported and make good progress. Many of the disadvantaged pupils are also in this group. Given the very small number in Year 6 in 2014, it is not appropriate to comment on their attainment in reading, writing and mathematics without risk of identifying individuals. However, they make good progress that accelerates as they move through the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school’s most-able pupils achieve well, particularly in writing. By Years 5 and 6, the quality of writing produced by these pupils is exceptional, both in its content and in its technical accuracy.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years leader joined the school in September 2014. She very rapidly established effective relationships with other schools in the trust in order to support her own development and that of the department. This is at an early stage but is having a positive impact upon teaching and learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Children make good progress in the early years, and are well prepared for Year 1. Those who joined the school in September 2014 had skills and understanding in line with those typical for their age. The proportion of children who entered Year 1 with a good level of development in 2014 was in line with the national average, despite a significant proportion having disabilities or special educational needs.

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The early years provision is good

 The quality of teaching is good. Staff organise exciting activities, both indoors and outdoors, related to the topic children are studying. During the inspection, children showed moments of awe and great excitement as they explored a dinosaur’s ‘nest’. They chose from activities designed to develop their reading, writing and mathematics skills through this topic, and clearly enjoyed their learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Children’s good behaviour and attitudes support their progress. They learn to respect each other, and to work happily together or on their own. They come into school confidently and are eager to do their work. They concentrate and persevere with their activities, and reception children help the younger nursery children.

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The early years provision is good

 All safeguarding and welfare requirement are met. Children are taught how to keep themselves safe, and they are well cared for. Parents are welcomed as partners in their children’s learning.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff track children’s ‘learning journeys’ carefully through frequent and regular assessments of their progress. They display children’s work carefully so they can take great pride in their achievements. Currently, children’s written work is not kept sufficiently systematically to give staff the progress information they need to plan the next steps in learning.

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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 124079 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 448917

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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 Foundation Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 104 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lady Jane Ackers Headteacher Simon Robson Date of previous school inspection 2–3 March 2010 Telephone number 01827 475200 Fax number 01827 475200 Email address office@manor.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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