Binley Woods Primary School

Binley Woods Primary School Coombe Drive, Binley Woods, Coventry, CV3 2QU

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The strong and inspiring leadership of the headteacher, ably assisted by effective senior and middle leaders and a dedicated team of governors, has strengthened the school since the last inspection.  Leaders and managers accurately identify the school’s strengths and what needs to be done to become even better.  Governors know the school well and offer a good level of challenge and support to leaders.  Provision in the early years is good and children settle into school quickly. They make good progress in all areas of learning, helping them to develop an enjoyment of learning and of school.  All groups of pupils make good progress and achieve well. By the end of Year 6, standards are above average overall.  Teaching is good. Teachers form positive relationships with pupils which ensures that pupils concentrate well and try their best in lessons.  Teachers conduct a range of research projects to find ways of helping pupils to learn more

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

effectively. This has helped them to improve their teaching and to understand the impact of the way they teach on pupils’ achievements.  Pupils behave well. They are polite, friendly and well mannered. In addition, pupils are well looked after and, hence, safe in school.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. Consequently pupils have a strong sense of fairness and respect for all. They are being prepared well for life in modern Britain.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 In lessons, not all teachers use the information they have about what pupils know and can do to rectify pupils’ misconceptions or difficulties quickly enough to ensure that all pupils promptly move on in their learning.  Teachers’ marking and feedback are inconsistent; it does not always show where pupils need to improve their work.  Across the school, attainment in mathematics is not as good as it is in reading and writing. Many pupils have too few opportunities to develop their reasoning skills and to solve mathematical problems.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching in every class. Many of these observations were carried out with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher. Members of the team held discussions with pupils to ascertain their views of the school and of their learning. Pupils’ work in their books was scrutinised.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders and members of the governing body. A telephone discussion was held with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a number of documents, including safeguarding records, the school’s improvement plan, the school’s data for tracking pupils' progress, records of pupils’ behaviour, governors’ records and the school’s monitoring of the quality of teaching.  The inspectors listened to pupils in Years 1 and 2 read and held discussions with pupils in Years 2-6 about reading.  The inspectors took account of the 66 responses on Parent View (the Ofsted online questionnaire for

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Information about this inspection

parents and carers) as well as speaking to a number of parents informally during the inspection.  The inspectors also considered the 32 responses to the Ofsted staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Angela Kirk, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than most other primary schools, with one class in each year group.  Early years provision is available part-time in the Woodlands Pre-school, which is run by the school's governing body. Pupils in reception are full-time.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds, and about one in six are from a range of other ethnic, mainly Asian, backgrounds which is lower than average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is average.  The proportion of pupils entitled to additional government funding through the pupil premium is much lower than average. This funding is provided to support pupils who are entitled to free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which are the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve teaching by ensuring that:  all teachers use assessment information effectively during lessons to rectify any difficulties pupils may be having with their work so that all move forward in their learning quickly  in line with the marking policy, teachers always provide clear guidance to pupils about how they can improve their work, particularly in their writing.  Raise attainment further across the school in mathematics by ensuring that pupils have plenty of opportunities to develop their reasoning skills and to solve mathematical problems.

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The leadership and management are good

 The experienced headteacher provides the school with a clear vision and direction, which is shared by the senior leaders and governors. Good relationships are fostered throughout the school creating a positive climate for learning so achievement and behaviour are good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff morale is high, and staff and parents are rightly proud of the school. Parents speak extremely positively about the headteacher and the staff with regard to the care of their children, and how well they know each individual pupil and their parents.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s evaluation of its own work is accurate because senior leaders and governors, and increasingly middle leaders as well, systematically check on the progress of their plans for improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school ensures that every pupil has an equal opportunity to be successful. This is demonstrated in the way that teachers, alongside the headteacher, scrutinise how well each pupil, and different groups of pupils, are achieving. Any pupil who is identified as requiring additional support is particularly carefully checked to ensure that they are helped to catch up as soon as possible.

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The leadership and management are good

 At the time of the last inspection, the Early Years Foundation Stage was a key area for improvement. As a result of effective leadership, provision and learning in the early years have been completely reorganised and improved. Children's progress through the early years has, therefore, accelerated.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has developed a broad and interesting curriculum which has a strength in how well it develops pupils’ life skills and prepares them for the next stage of their education. Innovative ideas such as ‘Class Learning Forums’, have given pupils a voice to discuss issues that concern them, helping them to find and test solutions to their problems.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school physical education and sport funding has been used well, particularly to increase the expertise and confidence of teachers in the planning and delivery of dance and gymnastics. It has also been used to improve behaviour and participation in sports at lunchtimes through the provision of sports coaches. Pupils now have more opportunities to participate in sports competitions with other local schools, with celebrated success for Year 3 and 4 pupils in gymnastics recently.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses funding for disadvantaged pupils to provide: one-to-one and small group tuition, a learning mentor to improve learning behaviours and well-being at school, and financial support for trips, clubs and music tuition. The impact of the funding is very carefully and regularly checked to help ensure pupils benefit as much as possible and that these pupils make good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Inspectors agree with the very large majority of parents who responded to Parent View and who spoke to inspectors saying they are very confident that the school is led and managed well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective. The school is proactive in its approach to prevent bullying and risks to its pupils. The school’s behaviour records show that discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. All required training is up-to-date and all staff questioned by inspectors were accurate in their knowledge of the school’s policies and procedures. They were confident about what to do if they came across a safeguarding issue.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided appropriate light touch support since the previous inspection. The school uses an external consultancy to effectively support senior and middle managers. It has links with other schools to cross-check teachers’ assessments of pupils to make sure they are reliable. The links are also helpful in giving teachers opportunities to train with other professionals, to discuss ideas, with and to share good practice.  The governance of the school:  Governors have a clear view of the quality of teaching and of pupil performance data across the school.  They work closely with an external consultancy to support them in their self-review and monitoring activities. This has helped to ensure useful training and that they take account of the views of other professionals about how well the school is doing.  Governors have a good understanding of performance management procedures. They know how good

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The leadership and management are good

teaching is rewarded and how any underperformance is tackled through support and holding staff to account for the pupils they teach.  Governors ensure that safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements and that these are reviewed regularly. Governors and staff regularly undertake joint safeguarding training.  Governors work alongside senior and middle managers in their monitoring to check how well the school is performing. Recent visits have included a check on how well the school’s values and British values are understood by pupils, and the impact of marking and feedback on pupils’ learning.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are keen to learn, concentrate well and readily take on additional responsibilities such as being members of the school council or supporting younger members of the school. Their good attitudes to learning help them to achieve well.

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Behaviour

 Pupils behave well in lessons and at play. They are sensible when walking around school and responsible when they are not being directly supervised. Pupils are friendly towards each other and believe strongly that you treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. The very small minority of pupils who do not always exhibit the best behaviours are well supported to improve.

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Behaviour

 Incident logs are comprehensive and detailed. They show that parents are involved when appropriate. Trends in behaviour are monitored, which led to the introduction of sports coaches at lunchtime to reduce incidents. By monitoring these logs, the school is also checking to make sure that bullying is not occurring. Exclusions and racist incidents are very rare.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are confident that any concerns they raise with staff are dealt with well. Pupils of all ages, including children in the early years, get on well together. Good relationships are very effectively promoted by ‘Family Circles’ where each week pupils have a lesson in a mixed age class from Reception to Year 6 to support pupils’ personal, social and emotional development. These include learning about how values influence a person’s behaviour and attitude.

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Behaviour

 The school organises a rota for pupils to greet visitors to the classroom. They introduce themselves and explain to the visitors the learning taking place in the lesson. During the inspection, pupils in all year groups showed confidence in doing this, with a secure knowledge of their learning.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The safety of pupils is a high priority and this is evident in the reorganisation and rebuilding of the school entrance and offices. Policies and procedures to keep pupils and children in the early years safe are robust and implemented consistently. Though rare, when they do occur, incidents of bullying are taken very seriously by the school and dealt with effectively.

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Safety

 The pupils know about different kinds of bullying and they are taught about how to deal with bullying. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe when using computers, for example, of the importance of not giving out personal details over the internet.

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Safety

 The attendance of pupils is improving and is now average as a result of strategies to reduce term time holidays and to raise the expectations of parents in the regular attendance of their children.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good overall, with examples of outstanding practice. Good relationships create a positive climate for learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers engage pupils well and often use stimulating tasks or presentations that capture pupils’ interests and enthusiasm well. For example, in an upper Key Stage 2 writing lesson on modal verbs and conditional connectives, the teacher cleverly adapted her original learning tasks, so that pupils were using ideas from the theatre production of the Wizard of Oz they had seen in the morning in school. The pupils had lots of ideas and used descriptive language to bring their writing to life, and were really inspired in their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is taught very well in the school right from the start of the early years, where children learn about the sounds that letters make. Since the last inspection, careful consideration has been given to the quality and choice of texts chosen by teachers in pupils’ group sessions to make sure they appeal to boys as much as to girls. Teachers have had opportunities to observe best practice in this school and others in order to improve their own teaching.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Embedded throughout the school is the choice given to pupils about the difficulty of their work. Pupils are now skilled at choosing the ‘one, two or three star challenges’ which give them just the right amount of challenge in their learning. Choices are made after the teacher has taught the first section of the lesson and the same pupil can, therefore, vary their choices depending on their knowledge and skill in each area of learning. This has resulted in pupils having a strong belief in their own abilities. Pupils are helped to know how to achieve well and are able to assess how well they have achieved in lessons using carefully structured criteria.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants are well trained and deployed effectively in one-to-one support, group teaching and supporting pupils in lessons. They use questioning well to fully involve pupils in the lessons, clearly explain new concepts and make a good contribution to pupils’ achievements.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most teachers use questioning well to check on pupils’ understanding of new ideas and concepts. Many also ensure that pupils are asked to explain their thinking, especially in mathematics. However, some teachers do not use assessment information to adapt the lesson quickly enough to ensure pupils grasp new ideas securely and move onto the next task without any misconceptions or difficulties.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Marking and feedback have improved since the last inspection, but these are still inconsistent across the school and do not always comply with the school's marking policy. Teachers are not all providing feedback that explains clearly to pupils how they need to improve their work, particularly in their writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Homework is used well to support pupils’ learning.

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is good

 Pupils achieve well. From their starting points, which are typical for their age, pupils of all abilities make good progress to reach standards that are above average by the end of Year 6. Although attainment by the end of Year 6 is usually above average in mathematics, across the school including at the end of Year 2, mathematics is not as strong as pupils’ reading and writing. Pupils have good basic mathematics skills but have too few opportunities to use these when reasoning or solving problems.

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is good

 In 2014, as a result of improved teaching in phonics (letters and their sounds), the proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check was above average. Pupils who read to inspectors could use their phonic knowledge confidently to help them read unknown words. The school promotes a love of reading successfully. Pupils were able to give reasons for their chosen favourite authors and explained to inspectors how visits from authors had inspired them to want to write books themselves.

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is good

 The school has worked successfully to close the gap between boys and girls in their standards of writing. Evidence shows that boys are equally well motivated to write because teachers ensure that writing activities are engaging and interesting. The standards boys achieve in writing across the school have improved significantly so they are comparable with those of the girls in most year groups. Teachers continue to monitor boys’ achievements in writing carefully to continue this trend of improvement.

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is good

 The school’s own data, supported by pupils’ work in books shows that pupils with a variety of special educational needs generally make good progress from their varied starting points. This is because their needs are identified and they are provided with effective support throughout their time at the school.

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is good

 There are very few disadvantaged pupils is each year group which makes generalised comparisons to other pupils statistically insignificant. Individuals make similarly good progress when compared to other pupils in the school. In addition, the standards of work achieved by disadvantaged pupils are similar to others. Pupils from different ethnic backgrounds achieve at least as well as their White British peers in school.

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is good

 The proportion of the most-able pupils reaching the higher levels at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 is usually better than the national picture. This strength is evident in most classes in the school because the most-able pupils usually choose to tackle the most demanding work in lessons. They are confident in their own abilities and enjoy work which challenges them to do their best.

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is good

 Most children start school with skills that are typical for their age. As a result of effective leadership, progress through the early years has improved. The proportion of children achieving the expected level of development in 2014 was at least in line with that nationally and current children show similar achievement. A significant number of children are likely to exceed what is expected of them in 2015 and, as a result, are being very well prepared for Year 1.

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is good

 Leaders and staff establish effective relationships with children and parents are fully involved in their child’s learning. Parents comment on the seamless transition between pre-school and Reception. Staff undertake accurate assessments and high quality observations which are sharply focused on pupils’ achievements and their next steps.

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is good

 Teaching provides a wide range of experiences which engages and motivates children, particularly in promoting independence. Staff questioning challenges children to solve problems and to keep themselves safe. Children have positive attitudes; they are inquisitive.

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is good

 The indoor and outside areas are extremely well-organised, ensuring that children’s concentration is sustained through the varied, inspiring and challenging activities available each day across all seven areas of learning. Behaviour is good and the few children with difficulties are supported well in their learning and helped to manage their own behaviour.

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is good

 As well as ensuring that children learn well and make good progress, staff pay good attention to checking that the learning environment is safe and that children’s health and well-being are promoted well. A group of three pre-school children who were organising drinks from the water station described to the inspector the rules for storing the cups and explained that it was important to wash them, ‘Because it stops other people’s germs.’

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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 130886 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 461826

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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 201 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Roger Manning Headteacher Karen Davidson Date of previous school inspection 3 February 2011 Telephone number 024 76543754 Email address admin2626@welearn365.com guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . 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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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