Borrow Wood Primary School

Borrow Wood Primary School Arundel Drive, Spondon, Derby, DE21 7QW

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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

 Pupils’ progress over time has not been good. Not enough pupils make good or better progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Since the last inspection some pupils have not achieved their potential and reached the standards they are capable of.  Disabled and pupils with special educational needs and the most able do not always make the progress they should.  Expectations of pupils’ writing, particularly boys writing, have not been high enough.  Middle leaders do not check teaching or pupils’ work often enough so do not have an accurate picture of how well pupils are achieving.  Teaching is not consistently good. Teachers are not held to account rigorously enough for the amount of progress pupils are making.  Some pupils do not behave well enough or show a positive attitude to learning.  Leaders, including governors, have not responded quickly enough to falling standards. They have not taken steps to make sure that pupils achieve well

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

over time.  Marking does not let pupils know how they can improve their work.

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The school has the following strengths

 Teaching in the early years is good. As a result children make good progress and are well prepared for Year 1.  Recently, there has been a persistent effort by the headteacher and deputy headteacher to improve the quality of teaching and help pupils to make more rapid progress. As a result, the quality of teaching is improving.  Recent changes to the governing body together with effective training are enabling governors to support and challenge senior leaders about pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching.  The care and welfare of pupils are strengths of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 23 lessons and parts of lessons, four of which were joint observations with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. They observed the teaching of reading skills and listened to pupils reading. Teaching in small groups was also observed.  Meetings were held with senior staff, middle leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors talked to pupils and looked at pupils’ work in their books.  A variety of documents were scrutinised including the school’s improvement plan and self-evaluation, information on pupils’ progress, teachers’ planning and minutes from governing body meetings. Inspectors also reviewed how well the school makes use of its additional funding.  Records relating to behaviour and attendance, as well as documents relating to safeguarding were taken into consideration.  Inspectors took account of 73 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and the views of

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Information about this inspection

parents who spoke directly to inspectors.  The inspection team also considered 45 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Patricia Hunt, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Borrow Wood Primary School is larger than the average-sized school.  Children in the Nursery attend part-time. Children in the Reception classes attend full-time.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is lower than the national average. A significant number of pupils with special educational needs have been diagnosed with autism in the school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is lower than found in most schools. This is the additional government funding provided to give extra support to those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and to children who are looked after.  The number of pupils from minority ethnic groups, including those with English as an additional language, is lower than national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching in Key Stage 1 and 2 so as more teaching is good or better by:  making better use of the information that is collected about pupils’ achievement to plan work that motivates, stretches and challenges all groups of pupils, particularly disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and the most able  providing pupils with feedback that helps them to improve their work  ensuring all staff apply the school’s behaviour policy effectively to minimise inappropriate behaviour in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the attainment and progress pupils make in all year groups and all subjects, but particularly in writing, by:  making sure teachers’ expectations in writing are consistently high for all pupils  providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length to further develop their skills in spelling, punctuation and grammar  extending pupils’ vocabulary to allow them to write more varied and interesting pieces of work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further develop the skills of leaders by ensuring that:  middle leaders play a leading role in driving improvements in teaching and learning and raising pupils’ achievement  there is greater rigour in checking that learning is good for all pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management requires improvement. This is because pupils’ achievement is not consistently good.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher is taking the right actions to improve teaching, but too much teaching still requires improvement. New initiatives have led to improvements in pupils’ behaviour and their achievement in reading and mathematics across the school but these improvements have not yet shown impact over time.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher, with the support of governors, is now providing strong and ambitious leadership and has correctly identified the areas most in need of improvement. The headteacher and governors are very clear about what the school must do to improve pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Middle leadership is not effective enough. For example, subject leaders in English and mathematics and the special educational needs coordinator are not sufficiently involved in the actions being taken to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher regularly scrutinise data to check pupils’ achievement, observe teaching and look at pupils’ work. However this information has not been used well enough to hold teachers to account for the progress their pupils make.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders and governors have allocated the pupil premium funding effectively to support disadvantaged pupils, for example by employing additional staff. Extra activities to support disadvantaged pupils including small group teaching s and one-to-one interventions are helping to improve their reading, writing and mathematical skills. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are making good progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum provides a broad and balanced range of opportunities to pupils. Staff are working together to implement the revised National Curriculum and to take account of the changes required. This year, school leaders have placed greater emphasis on reading and writing. Pupils are engaged in a range of daily reading activities that are enabling pupils to rapidly improve these skills. However the additional focus on writing is not making as much difference because pupils do not always have the opportunity to write at length in order to further develop their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders appreciate the importance of equality of opportunity and have been effective in ensuring the school is fully inclusive and that any discrimination is tackled. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well in lessons, daily assemblies and trips. The school has reviewed the curriculum to ensure that appropriate opportunities are provided to reinforce pupils’ understanding of British values, including their respect for different faiths and cultures and their understanding of the importance of democracy. As a result, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Safeguarding procedures meet current requirements. All adults are checked before working in the school. The school is very good at monitoring the safety and well-being of pupils in most need and taking appropriate action when required. The pupils are very aware of how to keep themselves safe on the internet.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The primary sports funding is used well to employ coaches from Derby City School Sports Partnership and Cycle Derby to help staff improve their skills and to widen sporting opportunities for pupils. Funding is also used to support before- and after-school clubs.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority has provided valuable support to the school. It has supported the school most recently in the evaluation of teaching and learning and in the training of governors to understand school data and how this compares to national averages.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors are now well informed about the school’s strengths and areas for development. The recently devised strategic vision for the school gives clear direction and purpose for governors to challenge and support school leaders. However governors were too slow to challenge the fall in standards in 2013.  Recent training has enabled governors to ask challenging and pertinent questions particularly through the recently formed standards committee. Planned visits to school give governors up to date information about what the school needs to do to improve. Governors regularly meet with leaders, teachers, pupils and parents.  They have a clear overview of teachers’ performance and with leaders, monitor teacher underperformance. Governors have supported the headteacher in ensuring pay awards are dependent on pupils making enough progress and teachers meeting their targets.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Governors check that additional funds to support pupils eligible for the pupil premium are spent wisely and that they make a difference to pupils’ achievement.  Governors ask challenging questions about safeguarding to ensure they them carry out their statutory duties fully. Safeguarding policies and procedures are up to date. The governor who oversees the school’s work to safeguard children has worked with school leaders to ensure the new safeguarding policy reflects current legislation.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. It is not good because in some lessons pupils do not always have a positive attitude to their learning. Occasionally the behaviour of a minority of pupils disrupts the learning of others.

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Behaviour

 The school has introduced a new behaviour and rewards policy. Incidents of inappropriate behaviour are becoming less frequent as pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to work improve. However the pupils spoken to during the inspection commented that behaviour is still not good at the school in lessons and during breaks and lunchtimes.

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Behaviour

 Pupils like and value the new rewards they can earn and are now making the right choices about their behaviour so as they can “earn” these rewards. Particularly valued is the green “Truly Trusted” sweatshirt which is awarded each week to pupils who have shown good attitudes and behaviour towards each other and towards staff.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are respectful and polite to adults in school and enjoy coming to school. Pupils are proud of their school.

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Behaviour

 Parents who spoke with inspectors and responded to the school’s most recent parent survey are positive about pupils’ behaviour.

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Behaviour

 Leaders and governors regularly check pupils’ attendance. Effective systems are in place to support pupils to ensure they attend regularly. Last year attendance was above the national average.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Rigorous policies and procedures are in place to keep pupils safe and these are regularly updated.

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Safety

 Pupils say they feel safe in school and their parents agree. They have a good knowledge of different forms of bullying. Pupils said they know what to do if they are bullied and are confident teachers would deal with it. The school regularly holds assemblies to raise awareness of how to tackle forms of bullying and harassment.

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Safety

 Pupils reported to inspectors that sometimes name calling and play fighting happens on the play ground but that this is reducing as a result of the new behaviour policy.

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Safety

 The curriculum ensures that pupils know how to stay safe and protect themselves from harm. Pupils spoke confidently about keeping themselves safe on the internet.  Pupils appreciate and enjoy attending the breakfast and after-school clubs because they feel safe and can meet with their friends.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is not consistently good across the school. As a result pupils do not always make as much progress as they could. The quality of teaching has improved this year because expectations of what pupils can achieve are higher. Teachers also have good opportunities to learn from each other.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of writing requires improvement. Recent actions and new methods are helping to develop and extend pupils’ skills, especially for boys. However pupils do not always have the opportunity to write at length in order to further develop their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In recent years, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs have not make the progress they should in all subjects because teachers have not always planned activities that are matched to their needs. However, teaching and support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is improving. Provision for pupils with autism is good. For example, during the inspection, adults organised a good range of activities and skilfully asked pupils questions to check their understanding. This enabled a small group of pupils to thrive and make rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The most able pupils are not challenged well in some classes and so do not make the rapid gains they are capable of to achieve the higher grades.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils’ books show that teachers mark work and school policy is followed. Pupils understand the school’s marking policy and say that teachers expect them to respond to their comments. However written comments do not always make constructive suggestions on how pupils can improve their work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teachers’ questioning in lessons varies too much. Where teaching is good, questions challenge and extend pupils’ thinking. However in some lessons teachers do not use questioning to check pupils’ progress so they can identify those pupils who need extra help.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of mathematics has improved and mathematics is now taught well throughout the school. Pupils’ work shows they are given a range of opportunities to apply number facts and basic calculations when solving problems. Challenge questions in lessons encourage pupils to take risks and to develop resilience.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils say that teachers encourage them to do their best and spend time with them to explain what they need to do. They enjoy opportunities to mark each other’s work because they say they learn from it.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The school provides a wide range of support for pupils who have gaps in their learning. Small group and one-to-one sessions are effective in closing the gap in pupils’ basic skills to improve their progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics (letters and sounds they represent) is now effective in the early years and Key Stage 1 and so standards are rising. Pupils read regularly at school and use their knowledge of phonics to help them read unfamiliar words.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because pupils have not made enough progress over time.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most children enter the early years with knowledge and skills that are typical for their age. They make sound progress in Nursery. In their Reception Year, children make good progress. Consequently, they are well prepared to start Year 1.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is average. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher levels at the end of Year 2 improved in 2014 in mathematics and writing. The school’s assessments show that attainment, particularly at the higher levels, is on track to rise further this year.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In the 2014 national tests, Year 6 pupils’ results improved to be broadly in line with national averages in reading and mathematics. However, pupils did significantly less well than their peers nationally in writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The percentage of pupils who made the progress expected by the end of Year 6 was similar to the national averages in reading and mathematics. The percentage of pupils that made more than the progress expected of them was well below national averages in all subjects. However, the school’s most recent assessments show that pupils’ progress is rapidly improving in all subjects, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress made by disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs in all year groups varies because checks on how well they are doing were not sufficiently robust. However, these pupils are now making progress at a better rate because of the additional support they receive from teaching assistants who provide very precise help to individual pupils and small groups of pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Published data for 2014 show that disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 made similar and sometimes better progress than their peers. Results for eligible pupils show they were about a term ahead of other pupils in the school in reading and writing, but were about one term behind in mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils at the school did better than their peers nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most able pupils do not achieve as well as they should. These pupils are not always sufficiently challenged during lessons to enable them to reach the higher levels of which they are capable.

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The early years provision is good

 Children join the early years with typical skills and abilities. Adults organise lots of interesting activities that enable children to learn and develop new skills. As a result, they make steady progress in the Nursery and good progress in Reception. By the time they start Year 1, their skills are above average in all areas of learning, particularly in mathematics.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. Activities are planned well and staff check children’s progress often to ensure activities are at the right level for all children. Occasionally, when activities are not suited to the needs of different groups, particularly the most able, the pace and effectiveness of learning slows.

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The early years provision is good

 Leadership and management are good. The good assessment system ensures accurate assessments of pupils’ progress are recorded in learning journals for all areas of development.

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The early years provision is good

 Staff work very well with parents. Parents are invited to spend time with their children each morning, often reading with their child. Staff are available for parents to talk with to discuss their child’s progress.

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The early years provision is good

 Children feel safe and behave well. The environment is safe and secure and warm and inviting. Well- established routines support the children in their learning.

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The early years provision is good

 The teaching of phonics is now a strength in the early years. A variety of activities for all abilities enable the children to read and spell sounds or words quickly.

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The early years provision is good

 All safeguarding policies and procedures are implemented effectively.

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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 112975 Local authority Derby Inspection number 455988

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 419 Appropriate authority Select Chair Emlyn Richards Headteacher Zoe Fletcher Date of previous school inspection 19 March 2012 Telephone number 01332 662826 Fax number 01332 662826 Email address admin@borrowwood.derby.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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