Meadow Green Primary School

Wythall, Meadow Green Primary Meadow Road, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6EQ

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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 Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Requires improvement 3

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

 School leaders and governors have not maintained the quality of teaching seen at the previous inspection. As a result, by the time pupils leave school at the end of Year 6, they do not achieve consistently well, particularly in reading and mathematics.  The analysis of information about pupils’ attainment and progress is poor and the information gathered by the school is not used well to identify weaknesses and plan for improvement.  The school does not analyse the progress of the most able pupils and is therefore unaware how well these pupils are achieving.  The teaching of phonics (linking letters and sounds) does not provide enough challenge for some pupils, and for others it is too hard.  Marking in pupils’ books does not give them enough guidance about what they need to do to improve their work.  Some teachers do not adapt the work they set to provide the right level of challenge for pupils of all

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

abilities.  The early years provision requires improvement because teachers in the Nursery and Reception classes are not making good use of the information about children’s skills and abilities to plan for the next steps in their learning.  Governance is not fully effective because governors have not held school leaders to account for the most obvious weaknesses in pupils’ achievement and performance, and have not been sufficiently insistent on actions to remedy these weaknesses.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils behave well and work hard in lessons. They are friendly and polite, and there is very little disruption in lessons.  There is some good teaching in school with effective questioning and good levels of challenge for pupils.  The school is a caring place and there are positive relationships between adults and pupils.  Behaviour is managed well.  Provision for safeguarding is effective. Pupils feel safe in school and they learn how to keep safe.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in 20 lessons and were accompanied by the headteacher or deputy headteacher during two of these observations.  Inspectors observed morning playtime and lunchbreaks, and looked at the way pupils behaved as they moved around the school.  Meetings were held with a group of pupils, and other pupils were spoken with during lessons and informally at break times.  Inspectors met the Chair of the Governing Body, spoke to a representative of the local authority and had meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other key managers in the school.  The 46 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account. The inspectors also took account of the views of the parents that they met at the start of the school day.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work, including in English and mathematics books, alongside the English and mathematics subject leaders. They heard pupils from Year 2 and Year 6 read.

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Information about this inspection

 The 30 responses to the staff questionnaire were analysed.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including: school improvement plans; achievement data; the school’s data on pupils’ current progress; and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Mary Le Breuilly, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The school provides full-time places for children in the Reception classes and part-time places for children in the Nursery class. Parents may opt to pay for full-time provision in the Nursery class.  Most pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is smaller than average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average. The pupil premium is additional government funding to support pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils identified as disabled or who have special educational needs is average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of pupils by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and learning so that pupils, and in particular disadvantaged pupils, make at least good progress, especially in reading and mathematics, by making sure that:  teachers’ marking provides sufficient guidance to pupils on how to improve their work in all subjects  the work set for pupils, including that in phonics sessions, closely matches their different abilities so that the most able are appropriately stretched and the least able are given the right amount of support.  Improve the analysis of assessment information to identify strengths and weaknesses and use the analysis to improve teaching and outcomes for all pupils, including groups of pupils such as the most able and those who have special educational needs.  Make better use of assessment information in the early years when planning for children’s next steps in learning.  Ensure that governors hold school leaders fully to account for actions to improve pupils’ progress and

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The work of the headteacher and other school leaders has not been fully effective in ensuring that the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement have been maintained since the previous inspection. As a result, leadership and management require improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school regularly records information about how well each pupil is doing in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the school is not making effective use of this information and sometimes it is not interpreted in a timely fashion. For example, during the inspection the school presented two alternative and conflicting sets of information about the progress of pupils in Key Stage 1, there was no up-to-date analysis of how well pupils with special educational needs were doing and no analysis at all of how well the most-able pupils were doing. As a result, the school does not have a clear view of its strengths and weaknesses.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Where weaknesses have been identified from the assessment information, there has been no concerted effort to address them. For example, despite the recognition that the phonics screening in Year 1 has produced results below the national average for the past two years, there has been no investigation into the quality of teaching in phonics and no clear steps taken to make improvements to phonics teaching. The school development plan makes no reference to improving phonics.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Teachers’ performance is checked by school leaders, who make sure that teachers attend training that matches the school’s priorities and the developmental needs of individuals. The headteacher feels that teaching is improving and that, in particular, there is more evidence of outstanding teaching, but the progress made by pupils does not support this view.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is currently undergoing some changes in leadership, and teachers who have not previously held management positions are being trained to take over aspects such as special educational needs and subjects such as mathematics. This means that the headteacher and deputy headteacher are still taking considerable responsibility for some aspects of subject leadership and the subject leaders themselves are not yet playing a full role in monitoring or improving provision.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has introduced a new curriculum plan that meets the requirements of the new National Curriculum. The subjects on offer provide opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of fundamental British values. Trips, visitors and charity work, such as raising money for a guide dog for the blind, help pupils to understand more about life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has used funding for the pupil premium to provide additional support for pupils through one- to-one tuition, access to an online mathematics resource that allows them to practise mathematics skills, and a learning mentor to support pupils’ emotional development. The impact of this funding is variable because pupil numbers in each year group are small.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The primary school sport funding is spent effectively. Specialist coaches work with pupils and staff to help develop their sporting skills. The school offers a variety of after-school sporting activities and all pupils learn to swim. As a result, more pupils are participating in sporting activities and are developing increasingly healthy lifestyles.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders foster good relations within the school and the local community. The school is committed to equality of opportunity and any form of discrimination is tackled effectively.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority has checked that assessments in the early years are accurate but has not otherwise provided any training or support.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. There are careful checks on staff and volunteers, and good links with outside agencies to support vulnerable pupils.  The governance of the school:  Governors are committed to the school and the Chair of the Governing Body devotes much time and energy to visiting school, looking at lessons and talking to pupils. Nevertheless, the governing body has not provided sufficient challenge to school leaders, as standards have not been maintained since the previous inspection. Although governors understand the information they receive about pupils’ performance, this has not led to an insistence on actions to address the weaknesses this data reveals.  The governing body monitors the quality of teaching, although is not always doing enough to hold leaders to account for specific weaknesses in teaching. Nonetheless, governors are working with the

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The leadership and management requires improvement

headteacher to establish a performance management scheme that rewards good teaching and identifies where there is weaker performance.  The governing body ensures that the school works within its budget and checks matters of health and safety carefully.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils work hard in lessons and are obedient, following teachers’ instructions quickly. They move round school in an orderly manner, showing each other respect and courtesy, opening doors for visitors and welcoming adults with smiles and friendly greetings. Break times and lunchtimes are well managed, and pupils play and chat happily together in a calm atmosphere.

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Behaviour

 A new behaviour system has just been introduced, and pupils spoke positively about this. They said the system was fair and that it was helping to make behaviour even better. Teachers agree that the system has had a positive impact on behaviour.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ attitudes towards their work are good. They collaborate effectively in pairs and groups, answer questions with enthusiasm, and often help each other to stay on track with their work. Most pupils take pride in their written work.

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Behaviour

 Teachers and other adults manage pupils’ behaviour in classrooms well and there are good routines in place for giving out books, collecting equipment and entering and leaving classrooms. These routines save time and maintain a positive, working atmosphere. There is little low-level disruption to lessons.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The school has good procedures for risk assessments on trips and outings, and ensures that the school site is secure. All necessary checks on adults working or volunteering in the school are carried out and recorded carefully.

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Safety

 The school works well with outside agencies to ensure the safety of vulnerable pupils. There is a good emphasis on training in safeguarding, and adults in the school understand the procedures for identifying and reporting issues of potential risk to children.

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Safety

 Pupils say they feel safe in school and most say that any concerns about bullying are dealt with well by staff. Although most parents also feel that bullying is dealt with well, a small number of parents express concerns.

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Safety

 Pupils are aware of different forms of bullying and learn how to keep themselves safe in different situations, such as when using the internet or going swimming.

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Safety

 Attendance is average. The school follows up absences carefully and has effective procedures for dealing with persistent absence.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Information about pupils’ progress, observations of teaching and work in pupils’ books indicate that the quality of teaching is uneven across the school and is not consistently good over time, especially in reading and mathematics. This prevents some pupils from making good progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics is not helping pupils to learn to read quickly. Phonics lessons generally provide one set of letters and sounds for pupils of all abilities to practise or learn. The most-able pupils quickly learn these and then have to wait for others to finish. Less-able pupils struggle at times with letters and sounds that are too hard for them. As a consequence, pupils do not all make good progress in learning to read.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The school has introduced a set of stamps to provide feedback to pupils on how well they have completed their work. Most teachers use these stamps conscientiously but there are few written comments accompanying the stamps to provide guidance on exactly how to improve. Pupils were often unclear why they had been given a stamp that indicated their work could have been better.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although, in some mathematics lessons, different work is given to pupils working at different levels, most lessons take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to learning: the majority of pupils are expected to complete the same work, regardless of what they already know and can do. This is also true in writing lessons where there is little attempt to distinguish between what is expected of most able pupils or to look at how less able pupils can be supported. For example, it is not always made explicit that the most-able pupils should be writing more complex sentences and less-able pupils are not always given guidance on how to structure their work. This limits the progress that pupils make because some are insufficiently challenged and others are insufficiently supported.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils are always willing to respond to questions in class. In some lessons, teachers ask thought-provoking questions that help pupils to deepen their understanding. There is often good use of technical language to support learning. For example, in one mathematics lesson seen, the teacher set a series of mental arithmetic questions at the start of the lesson that used a wide range of mathematical terms and reinforced pupils’ understanding of the mathematical ideas related to these terms.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers plan conscientiously and are always available to help pupils outside lesson times if they need extra help. Teaching assistants often have a positive impact on the understanding and progress of individual pupils or of groups of pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Homework is set regularly and includes access to online mathematical resources that pupils can use to practise, reinforce and develop their mathematical skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start in the Nursery with skills and abilities that are broadly typical for their age, though with weaknesses in some aspects. By the end of the Reception Year, the proportion reaching a good level of development is similar to that seen nationally. The standards reached by pupils at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 have been broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics for the past two years. Attainment is therefore average throughout the school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils make expected progress from their different starting points in Key Stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics. However, national test results show that, by the end of Year 6, slightly fewer pupils than the national proportion made the progress they should in reading in 2014. Although progress in mathematics improved in 2014, the proportion making the progress expected of them was still below the national average. In reading, writing and mathematics, the proportion of pupils making better than expected progress is lower than the national average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disadvantaged pupils ended Year 6 approximately a year behind pupils nationally in mathematics, and a term behind in writing but had similar levels to national in reading. They reached similar levels to their classmates in reading but were a term and a half behind in writing and almost two terms behind in mathematics. School information about progress shows that the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is widening in mathematics as pupils move up the school. However, the numbers of disadvantaged pupils are comparatively small and this exaggerates the extent of the gap.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school does not track the progress of the most able as a separate group, but scrutiny of progress information indicates that the most able are making similar progress to their peers. Although the proportion of pupils reaching the higher levels in reading was below that seen nationally in 2014, the proportion of pupils reaching higher standards in writing and mathematics increased in 2014 and was similar to that seen nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs varies from year group to year group but, on average, these pupils make similar progress to their peers. The school provides good support for these pupils to help them catch up with their reading, but there are fewer additional activities to help them make better progress in writing. The school has planned some additional support in mathematics but this has not yet been implemented.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Most children start in Nursery with skills and abilities that are typical for their age, though they are, in general, weaker in social development and communications. From their individual starting points, the majority of children make the progress that is expected of them and they make good progress in their social development. By the time they leave Reception, most are ready to start Year 1.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Staff in the Nursery and Reception classes provide a good range of activities to promote children’s learning, especially in physical development and social skills. Adults work well with the children and there is a happy, busy atmosphere. However, as in Key Stage 1, phonics teaching in the early years is not providing the correct level of challenge for the most able or the least able because all children learn the same letters and sounds regardless of their phonics capability.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children behave well in the Nursery and Reception classes, responding quickly to instructions and showing kindness and consideration towards others. Warm, constructive relationships are evident between adults and children. Adults know the children well and the children enjoy coming to school. The safeguarding arrangements linked to the early years help to make sure that the children are safe and well looked after.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The school encourages parents to stay with their children until registration and it offers a range of opportunities to become involved with their children’s learning; for example, holding a coffee morning for Fathers’ Day.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The school uses commercial software to record evidence about how well each child is doing and to keep track of their progress. During the inspection, these records proved time-consuming and cumbersome for staff to access. The assessments are not used well to plan activities to help individual children develop more quickly and so some activities set by adults do not challenge children at the correct level. As a result, children are not helped to make consistently good progress.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Leadership and management of the early years require improvement because, as with other phases in school, information from children’s assessments is not used to develop an overall picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching in the early years and to use this to plan improvements.

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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 116763 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 456281

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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 327 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jarrod Marsland Headteacher Nathan Jones Date of previous school inspection 23-24 February 2012 Telephone number 01564 823495 Fax number 01564 822218 Email address office@meadowgreen.worcs.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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