Childwall Valley Primary School

Childwall Valley Primary School Craighurst Road, Liverpool, Merseyside, L25 1NW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Good 2

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Leadership and management require improvement because good quality teaching and good achievement have not been consistently maintained across Key Stage 2 since the previous inspection.  Leaders’ plans for improving achievement in English and mathematics do not focus enough on pupil progress. The steps to measure progress toward reaching these targets are not sharp enough to help leaders check if their actions are having a positive impact on raising standards.  By the time they leave school at the end of Year 6 most pupils make the progress expected of them in reading, writing and mathematics, but too few do better than this.  Leaders do not carefully check whether the additional support some pupils’ receive is having a positive impact on improving their progress  Behaviour requires improvement because when pupils are not challenged by what they are learning, some of them become distracted. Their behaviour

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

has to be checked by adults and this disrupts the flow of lessons.  The quality of teaching over time is not yet consistently good across Key Stage 2. Teachers do not always use assessment information to plan activities that match pupils’ ability levels so some work is too hard or too easy for some pupils.  Teachers do not always check that pupils complete corrections or follow the advice they have been given to improve their work.  Pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise basic mathematical skills across other subjects or in real-life situations. They are not always encouraged to use basic literacy skills to improve pieces of extended writing.  Not all middle leaders are fully effective in managing their areas of responsibility.

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The school has the following strengths

 Governors are highly supportive of the school. They visit often and are well informed about the school’s work.  Pupils feel safe. They are looked after well by adults who care for them.  A wide variety of sporting activities are offered. All pupils leaving the school at the end of Year 6 are able to swim.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is well developed.  The quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement in Key Stage 1 and the current Year 6 is good.  The vast majority of Year 1 pupils meet the national standard in phonics (matching letters with the sounds that they make).  Children in the early years get off to a successful start with their learning. Teaching is good. Children are prepared well to start in Year 1.  Those pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs make good progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes taught by teachers and in activities and group sessions taken by teachers and teaching assistants. One learning walk around the school also took place.  Inspectors met with two groups of pupils and spoke to pupils during lessons and at lunchtime. They also listened to pupils reading.  Meetings were held with parents, staff, senior leaders and managers and members of the governing body. A representative from the local authority spoke to an inspector on the telephone.  A range of documents were considered by inspectors, including the school’s analysis of how well it is doing, the school’s plan for raising attainment, information about pupils’ progress, checks on the quality of teaching, minutes of governing body meetings and records relating to attendance and safeguarding. Inspectors also examined work in pupils’ books and on their hand-held computer devices.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors took account of 10 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and of a summary of the responses to a parental questionnaire recently distributed by the school.  Inspectors also considered responses from 13 staff to the inspection questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Louise Murphy, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is smaller than most primary schools.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium (additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority) is well above average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national level.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below average and there are currently no pupils at the school at the very early stages of learning to speak English as an additional language.  The school provides full-time places for children in the Reception class and part-time places for three- and four-year-old children in the Nursery class.  Four teachers have joined the staff since the previous inspection including a member of the senior leadership team.  A breakfast club is provided for pupils.

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Information about this school

 The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which is the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and pupils’ progress, particularly between Year 3 and Year 5, by making sure that all teachers:  use assessment information to plan activities that challenge all pupils appropriately and effectively  check that the guidance given to pupils about how to improve their work leads to actions that promote learning  provide activities that help pupils to practise their mathematical skills in real life situations and across other subjects  ensure that pupils always use basic spelling, grammar and punctuation when producing pieces of writing  make sure activities provide sufficient challenge to sustain pupils’ interest so that they can maintain good attitudes to learning throughout the lesson.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership and management by:  making sure that the school’s plans for improving achievement in English and mathematics closely focus on pupils’ progress and success is easy to measure  checking carefully on the impact of extra support to make sure this extra support helps pupils to make better progress  ensuring that all middle leaders are effective in driving improvements in their areas of responsibility.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher and other school leaders have not ensured that the quality of teaching and learning has been maintained since the previous inspection. Neither have all of the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection been fully addressed. As a result, leadership and management require improvement.  Targets set in the school’s plans to improve attainment in English and mathematics are not clearly linked to raising pupils’ progress. There are no precise steps identified to measure success and check when targets are achieved. This makes it difficult for leaders to evaluate the impact of their actions and raise standards quickly.  School leaders have invested in employing additional teachers to provide smaller group activities to support pupils and raise achievement to a good standard. However, these sessions and the impact they have on the progress of groups of pupils in the school are not closely checked to confirm success.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Not all middle leaders are fully effective in raising standards and improving teaching in their areas of responsibility. They do not have enough opportunities to check the impact of teaching to ascertain aspects that need attention.  Leaders make sure that the pupil premium funding is spent effectively on supporting disadvantaged pupils so that there are very few gaps between their achievement and that of other pupils. This demonstrates the school’s commitment to ensuring that all pupils have equal opportunities to succeed. Leaders foster good relations and take effective steps to tackle discrimination. However, there is still work to do to make sure that all pupils achieve equally well across all key stages.  The primary school sport funding is used effectively. Pupils now have more opportunities to take part in a range of sports which they might not previously have considered, for example lacrosse and tri-golf. Staff

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The leadership and management requires improvement

work alongside gymnastic and dance coaches to improve their skills in order to teach to a higher standard. The school is rightly proud that all pupils can swim by the time they leave school.  The curriculum is planned well to interest and involve pupils. They say how much they enjoy topics especially when they can go on trips. They report that their learning has improved since they have all had the use of a personal computer tablet. One pupil felt that he did not learn anything until he acquired his tablet and now he can learn whatever he wants to. However, the curriculum does not meet the needs of all pupils well because work is sometimes too difficult for the least able and too easy for the most able.  Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is given good attention. Good relationships result in the majority of pupils working and playing well together. In addition, learning about different cultures and

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The leadership and management requires improvement

religions prepares them well for life in modern Britain.  At the request of the school the local authority is providing an increased level of support. For example, a local authority consultant is providing staff training to develop mathematics teaching and learning and this is bringing benefits.  Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements.  The governance of the school:  Members of the governing body are proud of the school and the pupils. They visit school as often as they can and receive regular reports from the headteacher and other staff to keep them informed about the school including about the quality of teaching. The minutes of meetings clearly demonstrate that governors offer good support. They understand national data and ask challenging questions to help them fully understand pupils’ progress information. Governors know teachers’ pay awards must be closely linked to how effective they are and that any underperformance must be quickly tackled.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning are not consistently good across Key Stage 2. When tasks are not set at the correct level of challenge some pupils become distracted and behaviour has to be checked by adults. This interrupts the flow of learning and pupils do not make as much progress as possible.  Pupils say that they mostly get on well together, enjoy school and feel that teachers make learning fun. They look very smart in their uniforms and keep the school tidy.  Pupils enjoy taking on various responsibilities around the school. School council members feel that they are able to pass on the ideas that pupils share with them to the headteacher and that he listens carefully to their suggestions. For example, councillors have had input into the choice of new playground equipment and the soon to-be-developed football pitch.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Pupils are particularly well informed about e-safety. ‘Digital leaders’ who are pupils with particular responsibility for helping others with any technology issues remind pupils of the SMART acronym, ‘keep S afe, don’t M eet anyone A ccept people you know you can R ely on and always T ell.’ All parents who spoke to an inspector or responded to the online questionnaire agreed that pupils are safe and well cared for.  Pupils feel safe in school because they know that the adults care for them well. They have also been instrumental in keeping the local community safe by writing to a Member of Parliament and encouraging the local council to provide no parking signs outside the school. This helps pupils and their families to keep safe on their way to and from school.  School records show that bullying is rare, and most parents who responded to the online and school

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Safety

questionnaires agree that any incidents that do occur are handled effectively by school leaders. Pupils know about different types of discrimination and bullying, however, they are not entirely clear about the difference between bullying and falling out. School leaders recognise this and are intent on remedying this through class discussions. Nevertheless, pupils are confident that there is always an adult to listen when they need to talk and confirm that they would deal with any concerns quickly and effectively.  Attendance rates are improving and are similar to the national average. The well-attended breakfast club provides a good start to the day and helps pupils to be on time for school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is stronger in Key Stage 1 and in the early years. However, teaching has not been good over time and it is still not consistently good enough to promote good achievement in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 2. The quality of teaching therefore, requires improvement.  Teachers do not always use all of the assessment data available to set work at an appropriate level of challenge. The work set for the most able pupils does not always ensure that they achieve as well as they should. What is more, the work set for the least able pupils is sometimes too difficult for them and they are unable to move on with their learning.  Younger pupils develop basic skills in reading words through carefully structured and planned activities. Throughout the school, pupils read a broad range of well-chosen texts that provide them with good ideas to help develop their writing. The teaching of reading has improved. However, it has not been good

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

enough for long enough to result in consistently good achievement for pupils by the end of Key Stage 2.  Teachers have high expectations of the presentation of pupils’ written work, which is usually very neat and includes imaginative writing across the school. This is because exciting activities often stimulate pupils to write imaginatively. For example, the teacher provided a range of photographs to Year 6 pupils which drew them in completely. Pupils came up with wonderful suggestions when explaining what could be happening in the photographs. Two lights shining in the room of a sleeping child were thought to be two alien eyes watching. However, while basic literacy skills are taught across Key Stage 2, teachers do not always insist that pupils use the skills that they learn during spelling, grammar and punctuation lessons to enhance their writing still further. This is particularly evident when pupils produce their own e-books.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Basic mathematical skills are taught regularly. However, the teaching of mathematics is not fully effective because teachers provide too few opportunities for pupils to practise and develop the skills that they have learnt to solve problems in real life situations or across other subjects. As a result, pupils do not consolidate these skills as well as they could. Strategies, such as delivering training to teachers to improve subject knowledge, and providing more practical resources to help pupils develop their mathematical understanding, have been put into place. Moreover, an online mathematics programme which supports pupils to develop mathematical skills at their own pace is now available. However, these interventions have not been in place long enough to ensure that pupils achieve consistently well.  Teachers do not always explain precisely what pupils should be learning during lessons. This sometimes

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

leads to confusion when pupils do not understand fully the purpose of their tasks.  Teachers mark work regularly and provide useful advice, but do not always check that pupils correct their work or learn from mistakes.  Teaching assistants at the school work well with teachers to provide a good level of support, particularly to pupils who have additional learning needs.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress information held by the school, nationally published information, work in pupils’ books and other inspection evidence confirms that progress is not good enough across Key Stage 2. Therefore, achievement requires improvement.  Building on a good start to learning in the early years, pupils continue to make good progress across Key Stage 1. For the past two years, standards at the end of Year 2 have varied between above and well- above national levels in reading and writing. Attainment in mathematics is not quite as strong, but is above national levels. The proportion of pupils reaching the higher Level 3 is similar to national levels in mathematics and is above this in reading and writing.  In the 2014 national tests, the attainment of Year 6 pupils was slightly below national in reading and writing and significantly below the national average in mathematics. Most pupils made the progress

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

expected of them in reading and writing but too few pupils made expected progress in mathematics. The proportion of pupils making more than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics was below national levels.  Assessment information and work seen in pupils books show that the progress made by pupils in the current Year 6 is improving in reading, writing and mathematics. In response to the strong teaching in Year 6, standards are expected to improve in the 2015 national tests. Although there is increasingly good progress being made, some unevenness between subjects and classes in Year 3 to Year 5 is evident and there remains ground to make up when pupils reach Year 6.  The vast majority of Year 1 pupils meet the required standard in the national screening check on phonics (letters and the sounds they make). Pupils are encouraged to read regularly and older pupils who read to an inspector did so with accuracy and expression, reporting enthusiastically that they enjoyed the

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

opportunities to read in school and the range of books available.  There are too few opportunities provided to boost the skills of the most able pupils at Key Stage 2. Tasks provided by teachers do not always challenge the most able pupils effectively or encourage them to think hard. Proportionally fewer pupils attain at the higher Level 5 than do so nationally. Although this is set to increase in the 2015 tests the progress made by the most able pupils in school is not consistently good and requires improvement.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress. Although progress is uneven, by the time they leave school at the end of Key Stage 2 they have made good progress from individual starting points. Any additional need is identified early, and the school works well with parents and other agencies when necessary to make sure that a good level of support is put into place.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s latest published data shows that there was no difference in attainment in reading, writing and mathematics between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils at the end of Key Stage 2. When compared to other pupils nationally, disadvantaged pupils reached standards that were approximately one term behind in reading and writing, and almost one year behind in mathematics. There is little difference between the attainment and progress of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils currently at the school.

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The early years provision is good

 Children in the early years enjoy a successful start to their education. Children joined the Reception class this year with skills and knowledge typical to what is expected for their age although this varies year-on- year. From their individual starting points children make good, and sometimes exceptional, progress. By the end of the Reception class, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development is above that found nationally and school data suggests that this proportion is set to increase further this year. As a result, children are prepared well for learning in Key Stage 1.  Communication with parents is good. Staff are available to talk to parents on a daily basis. Parents can read their child’s record of achievement as often as they wish because the documents are available on a secure on-line site on the internet. Children joining the early years at the Nursery or Reception class settle

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The early years provision is good

quickly because there are a number of interesting and exciting activities arranged that encourage parents to stay with children and help them to get used to school. Staff plan to start home visits before new children start in Reception so that they can get to know children and their families even more quickly.  Nursery and Reception class children consistently demonstrate an enthusiasm for learning and their behaviour is good. Routines are well established and children follow instructions very well. A caring staff, together with a stimulating and secure indoor and outdoor environment, keep children safe in school. What is more, swimming lessons for Reception children help them to understand risk and how to stay safe in the water.  The quality of teaching is good. Opportunities enable children to develop curiosity and imagination and reading and writing skills are well developed. For example, children were enthralled when listening to the

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The early years provision is good

story of The Three Pigs. As well as enthusiastically joining in with the ‘huff and puff’, they described the wolf as ‘miserable and grumpy’. Following this, some children produced their own high quality writing.  Leadership of the early years is good and helps to make sure that the staff team work and plan lessons and activities well together. Staff listen to children carefully to make sure that they include activities that they know will interest the children. For example, one group of children were busy mixing water in bowls and discussing how they were making a cake for pirates. The teacher immediately noted that activities for the next week should include pirates.

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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 134210 Local authority Liverpool Inspection number 456180

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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 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jane McKelvey Headteacher Kevin Basnett Date of previous school inspection 19 January 2012 Telephone number 0151 722 2544 Fax number 0151 738 1664 Email address childwallvalley-ao@childwallvalley.liverpool.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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