Beech Grove Primary School

Beech Grove Primary School Beechwood Avenue, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, TS4 3AP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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 very effective headteacher has acted decisively, along with other leaders and governors, to rapidly improve the school and has clear plans in place that are leading to further improvement. Leaders form a strong team and direct the school with a passion and commitment that has earned them the loyalty and respect of staff, governors and parents.  Teaching is good because expectations are high and relationships with pupils are a strength. Pupils benefit from teachers’ secure subject knowledge and excellent behaviour management.  Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Standards are rising and pupils are well prepared for secondary school.  Provision for pupils with special educational needs and those who are disadvantaged is good, including those in the school’s support base. Consequently, they make good progress.  Children get off to a good start in the Nursery and make rapid progress in developing their speech,

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

language and communication skills and these help them to learn well in the early years.  Pupils’ behaviour is good because leaders provide clear direction to staff who act as exemplary role models. Pupils are polite and considerate, and have excellent and respectful relationships with members of staff.  All pupils feel completely safe in school and know how to keep themselves safe in different situations, including when using computers.  The school’s provision to support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is well developed, so pupils are extremely well prepared to be considerate citizens in modern Britain. Pupils benefit from a wide range of vibrant learning opportunities.  Partnerships with other schools and the local authority have contributed effectively to improving the school’s leadership.  Governors support and challenge senior leaders effectively and have a detailed understanding of the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

school’s strengths and areas for development.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The quality of teaching and learning has some aspects to improve to raise it to outstanding. The work set is not always sufficiently challenging for a minority of the most able pupils.  Teachers’ marking and feedback does not always show how pupils can improve their work or provide opportunities to respond to their advice.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of 22 lessons, one of which was observed jointly with the headteacher. They also made a number of shorter visits to classes.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work in lessons and carried out a detailed scrutiny of their written work in several subjects.  Inspectors heard a sample of pupils in Years 1 and 6 read, and talked with them about their reading.  Inspectors held meetings with the school council to hear their views on learning and behaviour in the school. They also spoke informally with pupils during their breaks and lunchtimes.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, other staff with leadership responsibilities, three members of the governing body and one representative from the local authority.  Inspectors examined a variety of school documents. These included records of current pupils’ progress, self-evaluation documents and improvements plans, and behaviour and attendance logs. Inspectors also

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Information about this inspection

examined minutes of meetings of the governing body and records relating to safeguarding and the management of staff performance.  Inspectors took account of questionnaires completed by 24 members of staff and 16 responses to the online parental questionnaire (Parent View) and one written parent response. They also spoke informally with parents before the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

Kevin Dodd, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Beech Grove Primary School is a larger than average-sized primary school.  Nearly all pupils are from White British backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium, is well above average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are in local authority care.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is well above the national average.  The school has an eight-place provision for pupils who have a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, seven pupils attend the provision.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Information about this school

 There have been a number of staff changes since the previous inspection, including the secondment of a Specialist Leader in Education (SLE) and appointment of a deputy headteacher.  The school has a breakfast club run by the governing body.  The school has a thirty-nine place Nursery. Children attend on a part-time basis until they enter Reception full time.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the already good quality of teaching, in order to raise achievement further, by:  sharing the outstanding aspects evident in the school and eradicating the small number of weaker aspects that remain  improving marking so that it consistently shows pupils how to make their work better, and ensuring that pupils respond to, and act on, the advice given  making sure the most able pupils are always set work that makes them think hard.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is fully committed to meeting the needs of all pupils and driving improvement within the school. Morale is high and staff inspection questionnaires demonstrate that staff share the headteacher’s commitment to doing the best for all pupils in their care.  The headteacher is ably supported by an effective team of senior and middle leaders. They have taken strong action to rapidly improve standards in reading and mathematics and for pupils with special educational needs, and are effectively leading further improvements in writing.  Good systems are in place to check on all aspects of teaching and learning and middle leaders are playing an effective role in supporting improvements.  The school has worked successfully to ensure that teachers are accurate in their assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress and refine their systems to take account of recent national guidance. Leaders at

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The leadership and management are good

all levels provide good support to help other staff improve what they do, including providing opportunities for them to take part in relevant training. They recognise the need for staff to have further opportunities to share the good and outstanding practice that exists to further improve the quality and consistency of teaching across the school.  Leaders’ views of the school’s strengths, and what must to be done to sustain and develop ongoing improvements, are accurate and based on rigorous checks.  School leaders ensure that the school’s systems for managing behaviour are followed consistently, so that pupils’ behaviour is good and supports learning effectively.  The school’s system of setting targets to manage teachers’ performance is well organised and rigorous. There is strong evidence that this has led to improved teaching.  The curriculum is lively and interesting, with a clear focus on developing pupils’ understanding of British

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The leadership and management are good

values, such as tolerance, resilience and respect for others. There are good opportunities for pupils to learn about, and reflect on, their feelings and the world about them, through a range of activities such as hunting for ‘minibeasts’ in the imaginatively laid out school Secret Garden, to weighing dinosaur eggs.  Pupils have access to a variety of sporting and other enriching activities after school, such as art, tennis, street dance, drumming, netball and football. The curriculum, therefore, contributes well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, and helps them prepare well for life in modern Britain.  Leaders make good use of the additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils to ensure that they achieve well. It has been used to employ four learning support mentors to support vulnerable pupils to access the curriculum and two parent support advisors to improve attendance and punctuality.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has used the primary school sport funding provided by the government to increase sports provision equally well. It has employed a coach to provide skilled tuition for all pupils, increase the range of and participation in sporting activities and improve the skills of staff. As a result, pupils’ standards in a range of sports have improved, as have their levels of fitness, although this is yet to impact fully on their success in competitions.  The headteacher and governors ensure that the school rejects all forms of discrimination, fosters good relationships and strongly promotes equality of opportunity through actively discussing racism and other forms of discrimination with pupils. This is demonstrated by the commitment shown by the leader of the support base to integrate ASD pupils with their peers.  The majority of parents are extremely positive in their views about the school. One parent commented,

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The leadership and management are good

’the school could not do enough to help my child settle in.’ They enjoy being given the opportunity to work alongside their children in class, and help them to support their children’s learning.  Partnerships with other schools and the local authority are strong and provide effective support, for example, to improve leadership through the deployment of a Specialist Leader in Education from the nearby teaching school funded through Outwood Academy. The local authority has also provided targeted and effective support for the early years leader and newly qualified teachers.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is effective and contributes well to the planning and checking of the school’s work. Governors have effective structures in place for fulfilling all their statutory responsibilities. They have benefited from a range of appropriate training, including interpreting data. Governors are well informed

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The leadership and management are good

about all aspects of the school’s work through weekly Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body meetings with the headteacher. They have a good grasp of how well the various groups of pupils are progressing and of the published data on the school. Governors check that the data is accurate by asking the headteacher for samples of pupils’ work. Discussions showed that governors challenge the school’s leaders, for example, when they checked that follow-up actions had been taken by senior leaders to monitor improvements in teaching. Governors understand the importance of improving teachers’ performance and the systems for doing so. They ensure that teachers on higher pay scales make a good contribution to the school and that only those teachers who have met their performance management targets receive pay increases. They ensure that finances are managed well and have a detailed understanding of how the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and sport is spent and

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The leadership and management are good

how it is helping to improve achievement. The governing body makes sure that the school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet all current government requirements and are effective.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Leaders promote high expectations for behaviour through a clear approach which is consistently followed by staff who act as positive role models. Pupils, including those in the support base, respond very well to the behaviour approach adopted, developing excellent relationships based on trust and mutual respect.  Work in books demonstrates pupils’ desire to learn. Their keenness to succeed makes a strong contribution to their good progress. Pupils pay close attention in lessons, follow instructions carefully, share their own ideas and listen respectfully to the views of others.  Pupils are well mannered and are welcoming. They speak politely to all staff and routinely hold doors open for each other and for adults. Pupils take pride in their school and work.  Pupils move calmly around the school site, are particularly well behaved during assemblies and play well

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Behaviour

together in the outside areas. Play leaders encourage younger children to join in games and lunchtime behaviour has improved greatly since the introduction of a ‘card’ system.  The school maintains a detailed system to monitor behaviour regularly. This shows that the school employs a range of successful sanctions to improve the behaviour of pupils whose conduct does not always meet expectations. The pupils who spoke with inspectors considered that behaviour was ‘generally good’ and that staff listened to them and were quick to deal with any incidents of misbehaviour.  Attendance is below average. The school has good systems in place to monitor attendance and punctuality and is doing all it can to improve them. Persistent absence is declining and there are no differences in the attendance of different groups of pupils. The school is justifiably pursuing fixed penalty notices as a means of deterring parents whose children are persistently late for no good reason.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Pupils, including those in the support base, report feeling safe and appreciate the very good care that staff take of them and have confidence in approaching them if they have a problem.  All policies relating to safety and safeguarding are reviewed regularly and are consistently implemented. The identities of all visitors to the school are checked carefully along with potential candidates for vacancies which occur. The teacher with responsibility for keeping children safe has impeccable knowledge of the needs of vulnerable children and highly effective systems to protect them.  The curriculum supports pupils extremely well in learning how to stay safe in different situations, for example, the dangers of cyber bullying and of e-safety, including how to avoid unsafe websites.  Pupils have a good understanding of most types of bullying, including racism. They say that there is very

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Safety

little bullying and that when it occurs it is dealt with swiftly by staff. This is supported by the school’s records.  In their questionnaire responses and discussions with inspectors, the overwhelming majority of staff and parents agreed that pupils are well behaved and are safe and happy at school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good across the school and sometimes better. Work seen in pupils’ books and evidence gathered during the inspection, show that teaching is leading to pupils’ rapidly rising achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. The school’s records show that the quality of teaching is checked on efficiently and confirm that it is leading to very effective learning.  Well-planned lessons cater for the needs and interests of pupils. Teachers show good subject knowledge and have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and work. Pupils respond well to these high expectations.  Where learning is most effective, teachers set challenging and relevant tasks and use questions to engage and motivate pupils. They use a variety of ways to help pupils learn, such as working in pairs and small groups and model tasks so pupils know what is expected of them. Teachers use their knowledge of children and their prior learning to deepen their understanding and provide opportunities for pupils to

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The quality of teaching is good

explain their thinking and check that any misunderstandings are promptly corrected.  On the small number of occasions when learning is less effective, these strong features are less evident, and some pupils do not make as much progress as they could.  Pupils needing extra help, such as those who are disabled or have special educational needs, are given well-targeted support by highly-trained teaching assistants, as well as by teachers, so that they can catch up with their classmates and make good progress.  The needs of the pupils in the support base are met effectively through a combination of a positive climate and high expectations which have helped them mix confidently with other pupils in school and learn exceptionally well.  Teachers’ marking, however, does not consistently show pupils exactly how to make their work better, particularly in mathematics. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to respond to, and act on, advice

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The quality of teaching is good

given in order to further extend their learning and progress. School leaders are working together to ensure that all pupils benefit from the pockets of excellent practice seen.  Most pupils read well, and with enjoyment, because of the appropriate attention given to ensuring that they learn the range of skills of reading. A coherent programme that teaches pupils about the sounds that letters make (phonics) begins in the Reception class and continues throughout the school.  Mathematics is taught effectively, with sufficient emphasis given to all areas, including the development of reasoning skills.  Pupils’ writing skills are well developed because skills taught are targeted well to pupils’ specific needs. Good opportunities are provided for pupils to write at length to make sure they are confident in applying the knowledge that they have been taught.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make good progress across the school in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress in all three subjects has improved notably, particularly in reading, since 2013.  Similarly, pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics has improved since 2013, but remains below the national average due to the high number of pupils who have special educational needs.  The end of Year 1 results of the national screening check on pupils’ knowledge of phonics are below average. The school has provided additional support and the school’s assessment information indicates pupils’ progress is accelerating rapidly and is currently approaching the expected level by the end of Year 1. Most older pupils read fluently and understand what they are reading.  Across the school, the progress pupils make shows little variability between classes. Pupils make strongest progress in reading and mathematics. School leaders have recognised this and have taken appropriate

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The achievement of pupils is good

action which has accelerated progress in writing. The school regularly checks the progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. As a result of good teaching and support, these pupils, along with those in the support base, are making good progress from their individual starting points.  While the most able pupils make good progress overall, some do not always make such strong progress as others because, on occasions, they are given work that is not as challenging as it should be. Comparisons between the most able pupils in the school and the most able pupils nationally would be statistically unreliable because of the very small number of the most able pupils in the school.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress overall compared to other pupils in school and nationally. In 2014, data shows that disadvantaged pupils were three terms behind other pupils nationally in reading

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The achievement of pupils is good

and mathematics and two terms behind in writing. However, these gaps have all narrowed since 2013, especially in reading, in which pupils were over five terms behind. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is now similar to that of other pupils in the school.

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The early years provision is good

 Most children start school with basic skills and understanding that are significantly below those typical for their age. There is a high proportion of children whose skills in speech, language and communication are significantly below those typical, and activities are specifically planned to help these children rapidly develop their speaking and listening skills.  All children, whatever their starting points, go on to make good progress in all areas of learning in the early years, because the quality of teaching is good overall and provides a purposeful, enabling setting where children are encouraged to be active learners. The proportion of children who reach a good level of development at the end of Reception Year is below average, but improving, and no pupils have skills and understanding significantly below those typical for their age. Consequently, although pupils are not well prepared for Year 1, they are making rapid progress from low starting points.

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The early years provision is good

 Senior leaders have an accurate view of strengths and recognise the need to improve the accuracy of assessing the progress made by children through comparing assessments with other schools and analysing and using information about groups of children to identify and improve weaker areas of learning.  The early years leader is effective. An effective team has been established who share a common vision and have rightly recognised the need to improve learning outdoors.  Teachers and teaching assistants have positive and caring relationships and opportunities to play are well planned to make sure children feel safe and happy to explore and learn. Adults model speech well which develops children’s self-esteem and their language and social skills very effectively. However, they do not model the sounds that letters make with the same precision to help children to read.  The behaviour of children is good. They quickly learn the school’s high expectations and show a strong

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The early years provision is good

desire to learn.  The provision is checked on regularly to make sure children’s safety and well-being are assured. Parents say that they are very happy with the information that they are given and that this helps the children settle quickly. They feel welcome and appreciate the positive relationships which exist. Staff recognise a need for them to be more involved in contributing to their children’s assessments.

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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 111577 Local authority Middlesbrough Inspection number 462238

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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 479 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Richardson Headteacher Sheila Hauxwell Date of previous school inspection 3 July 2013 Telephone number 01642 818577 Fax number 01642 815291 Email address beechgroveprimary@mcschools.org.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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