Bushfield School

Moon Street, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5JG

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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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 This good and improving school is well led by a strong headteacher and leadership team, supported by a committed and effective governing body.  Pupils make good progress to reach standards that are above average by the time they leave Year 6. Achievement in mathematics, reading and writing is good.  Disadvantaged pupils, the disabled and those who have special educational needs achieve well and make good progress.  Teaching is consistently good and some is outstanding. Teachers and teaching assistants match activities well to pupils’ individual needs.  Pupils are given high-quality feedback about how well they are doing and how they can improve. This is helping pupils to make good progress.  Pupils are skilful learners, have good attitudes to their work and behave well. They are proud of who they are and respectful to others.  Safeguarding is given a high priority. Pupils feel very safe and secure. Relationships between pupils and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

staff are excellent. The school is a very happy and productive place.  The curriculum prepares pupils well for life outside school. They thrive on the many sporting and other activities that make them good team players.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. It also prepares pupils successfully for life in modern Britain.  Parents are very supportive of the school. Many describe it as a good and improving school. Most would recommend the school to others.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always adapt their teaching to take full account of the pupils’ understanding. Consequently, progress is slowed.  While most pupils make good progress, too few attain the highest levels by the end of Year 6.  Pupils’ progress in reading is not as rapid as it is in writing and mathematics.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 22 lessons, of which six were seen jointly with members of the school’s leadership team.  The inspection team also made short visits to lessons as part of three walks through the school to look at pupils’ attitudes to learning and behaviour. An assembly was visited.  Inspectors held meetings with two groups of pupils and talked informally to other pupils at breaks and lunchtimes.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, staff and subject leaders. Inspectors also spoke to members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents including: the school’s evaluation of its own performance, plans for improvement, policies, and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. Safeguarding documents were also scrutinised.  The 38 responses to the online survey, Parent View, were considered. Inspectors spoke to parents and

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Information about this inspection

considered their written comments. Account was also taken of the findings of a recent school survey of the views of 130 parents. Inspectors noted the 40 responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Robert Ridout, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Bushfield School is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Almost two thirds of pupils at the school are from White British backgrounds. Approximately one fifth of pupils are of Pakistani heritage. The proportion of students who speak English as an additional language is well above that found nationally.  The proportion of students supported by the pupil premium, which is additional funding for students who are known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority, is above average.  The proportion of students who are disabled or have special educational needs is well above the national average.  The headteacher was confirmed in post in April 2014. The subject leaders for numeracy and literacy were newly appointed to their roles in September 2014.  The school is a member of the Wolverton Learning Trust supported by the Co-operative Foundation Trust. Bushfield School works in close partnership with Wyvern School and The Radcliffe School. It achieved

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Information about this school

Artsmark and Sportsmark in 2014.  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 teaching to outstanding in order to raise achievement, especially in reading, by making sure that: − teachers plan learning and set work that ensures all pupils, particularly the most able, are challenged to achieve to the highest level − pupils are given more opportunities to read from a wide range of appropriately demanding texts in different subjects so that they can apply and improve their comprehension skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is well supported by senior leaders and governors. Together, they have successfully established a culture of high expectations and aspirations for pupils and staff. They lead by example, modelling good practice in their own work.  The school’s own checks on how well it is doing are accurate and link well to its action plan in order to address areas requiring further improvement. Targets for pupils’ achievement, including those for specific groups, are challenging. This demonstrates the school’s belief and success in providing equal opportunities for all pupils and tackling discrimination.  Leaders’ checks on teachers’ performance are regular, demanding and accurate. Teachers receive good- quality feedback about how to improve. High-quality and carefully tailored training ensures that staff continually develop their skills. Leaders ensure that improvements are made quickly and that only good

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The leadership and management are good

performance is rewarded. Teachers are held to account rigorously for pupils’ progress.  Subject leaders are an effective team. Their weekly meetings with class teachers enable them to check the progress pupils are making and to provide appropriate support. They work together to monitor teaching in a variety of ways, for example through lesson observations and looking at pupils’ books. They coordinate their findings carefully to plan effective improvements.  All leaders use a common assessment system to collect and track information about pupils’ achievement. The system is effectively used to identify pupils who are underperforming and agree actions to accelerate achievement, particularly the more vulnerable pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, pupils who are disabled and those who have special educational needs.  The school’s curriculum is broad, balanced and successfully promotes equal opportunities for all. It gives

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The leadership and management are good

teachers the flexibility to make learning exciting and varied. However, chances to develop and extend pupils’ reading and improve their comprehension skills are sometimes missed. The school is implementing its own approach to assessment following national changes and teachers use the information effectively to direct learning.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted strongly in all aspects of the school’s work and is a clear strength. Assemblies and lessons teach pupils values, tolerance for other cultures, life in modern Britain and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Pupils often engage in fundraising for local charities. The many high-quality activities available at the school develop good teamwork and social skills that are helpful to pupils when working in and out of school.  Leaders makes good use of the pupil premium funding. Effective additional support is provided for eligible

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The leadership and management are good

pupils and their progress is very carefully tracked. For example, there is good evidence to show that supporting disadvantaged pupils through teaching them music has positively contributed to their good and improved behaviours.  The school uses the primary sports funding extremely well. The school employs a specialist team of sports teachers to teach pupils and train staff. Together, they deliver a broad range of high-quality experiences to all. Pupils’ participation in competitive sport has increased and all are engaged. Every child has represented the school in at least one team event or activity including dance, music and rugby.  There are good links with parents. They are kept well informed through regular newsletters, the website and attendance at celebratory events. The majority are happy with the school and all that it provides and would recommend it to others.  The local authority only provides light-touch support for this good school. The school chooses to purchase

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The leadership and management are good

additional expert support from the authority when it requires it. Leaders provide guidance and support to other local schools in providing for their sporting needs.  Arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. The school is meticulous in ensuring that these procedures are followed and are extremely effective in keeping children safe.  The governance of the school:  Governors are committed and have high expectations of themselves and the staff. Through their work, they have secured good teaching and achievement at the school.  Governors’ self-evaluation is good. They know the school’s strengths and weaknesses. The governing body understands the school’s data and uses the knowledge to hold the headteacher and school leaders to account. It knows that the school is good and identifies the need to help more pupils to attain the higher levels at the end of Year 6, particularly in reading.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body knows how well different groups are progressing, including disadvantaged children, and is most thorough in its examination of how pupil premium funds are spent.  The governing body receives regular reports about the quality of teaching. School leaders keep the governors up to date about what is happening in school. Consequently, the governors are kept well informed about the quality of teaching. They ensure a clear link between pay, promotion and pupil performance exists. Good teaching is rewarded. Poor teaching is not tolerated within the school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They are skilful learners and have good attitudes to work. They are supportive and actively collaborate with each other. It is not outstanding because pupils can sometimes lose their focus in a very small number of lessons where teaching does not fully engage them.  The school promotes mutual respect by promoting ‘values’. Pupils are proud of their school and respond positively to this approach. They are confident, polite, respectful and are able to talk sensibly to each other and all adults in the school.  Pupils say they are generally kind to each other. Children new to the school say that they settled in quickly because everyone was so welcoming and made them feel as if they had always been there. They are clear that there is no discrimination or racist behaviour.  At breaktime and lunchtime, pupils socialise in and across all year groups. The school provides a good

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Behaviour

level of supervision and adults oversee activities and games which fully engage children. Older pupils are encouraged to take responsibility by acting as ‘play leaders’, helping younger pupils to devise games.  The school environment is clean and tidy. There is no litter. Displays in the school reflect the work of the pupils and the values of the school. They are well presented. Each class has a class charter which pupils know and understand.  Attendance is average and rising. The school follows up all absences rigorously and discourages term-time holidays. Pupils are punctual. There has been one fixed-term exclusion in the last year.  Pupils say they trust all adults in the school to help them if they are concerned about anything. They feel safe, secure and cared for. Their parents agree.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Pupils, and their parents and carers, are well aware that pupils feel very safe and well cared for in school. This is evident not only during the school day, but also in the many clubs and activities offered before and after school.  The school’s policies and procedures, especially those for behaviour, child protection and health and safety, are highly effective. Pupils are very welcoming and look after each other extremely well. They know and understand well the school’s stringent safety rules and adhere closely to them.  Bullying in any form is extremely rare and pupils have strong confidence in adults’ ability to respond to any concern they may raise.  Pupils have many opportunities to learn about how to keep themselves safe, for example in the case of fire, during school visits or when using social media sites on the internet.

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The quality of teaching is good

 High expectations for all and effective training and support for teachers mean that teaching is consistently good overall. Some teaching is outstanding, particularly in Year 6. As a result, pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Teachers and teaching assistants use questioning effectively to check on the progress pupils make. Questions are used by all adults to deepen pupils’ understanding and help them achieve well to make rapid improvements in their learning.  The marking of pupils’ work is of a very high quality. Teachers check work almost daily and consistently provide high-quality feedback. As a result, pupils know what they have done well and what they need to do to improve. Pupils respond to their teachers’ comments to ensure work is better. Pupils enjoy reading the comments their teachers make and find the guidance very helpful.  Homework is set regularly and makes a good contribution to pupils’ progress as it is linked closely to what

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The quality of teaching is good

pupils learn in lessons.  Teachers provide specific guidance on the work they want the teaching assistants to focus on. Teaching assistants make a good contribution to the pupils’ learning providing effective support to pupils without doing the work for them. Consequently, pupils make good progress in all subjects.  Teachers plan a broad range of opportunities for pupils to apply their English and mathematical skills in other subjects. Teachers create interesting and relevant experiences for their pupils who engage fully in the challenges with which they are presented, knowing that they will use the skills they are learning outside of the school. However, opportunities to read from appropriately demanding texts in different subjects so that pupils can apply and improve their comprehension skills are too few to enable them to further develop their vocabulary and ability to access more complex texts.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disadvantaged pupils make good progress because the support they receive is effective in meeting their needs. Pupils who are disabled and those with special educational needs make good progress because the support they receive is sharply focused. This is because the teaching assistants who support them are well trained and very skilful.  Teachers use accurate assessment information effectively to plan lessons which generally provide the right level of challenge for most pupils of differing abilities.  Where teaching is less effective, pupils’ progress is slowed and lesson time wasted as they sometimes wait for others in the class to catch up with them. Occasionally, they are given extra work when they complete a task, which does little to extend their thinking or strengthen their skills.

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is good

 Overall, pupils make good progress from their starting points by the time they end Year 6. In Key Stage 2, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is above the national average. Pupils’ progress in reading, although good, is slower than in mathematics or writing.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well. Additional help is given in class and in small groups. This enables pupils to make good progress.  Pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, including those who speak English as an additional language, achieve as well as other pupils in the school.  Disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as, and often better than, their peers in school and nationally. This is because the school routinely and accurately assesses their abilities and quickly provides effective support to them.  Leaders use the pupil premium funding to provide additional teaching assistants to give one-to-one help

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is good

and support through small-group work. As a result, Year 6 pupils known to be eligible for the funding are on average two terms behind other pupils in the school in reading, writing and mathematics and one term behind other pupils, compared to national assessment information for 2014.  Current assessment information shows that disadvantaged pupils achieve well, as support for them is consistently well coordinated. Pupils in the current Years 3 to 6 are making more rapid progress and the gap in attainment between them and their classmates is narrowing.  The most-able pupils make similar progress to others in the school. The proportion reaching the higher levels in national tests at the end of year 6, however, is not as high as it could be. This is because the most-able pupils are not consistently given work that challenges them in all classes across the school.

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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 110256 Local authority Milton Keynes Inspection number 448390

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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 Junior School category Foundation Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 352 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jake Yeo Headteacher Steve Springett McHugh Date of previous school inspection 15–16 June 2010 Telephone number 01908 314876 Fax number 01908 314876 Email address office@bushfieldschool.net 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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