Wood End Primary School

Wood End Primary School Wood End Road, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, WV11 1YQ

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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 headteacher has provided much needed stability during a period of considerable staffing changes.  The headteacher, senior leaders and governors have successfully improved pupils’ achievement since the previous inspection.  Decisive actions taken by school leaders, including governors, have led to improved teaching.  Governors provide good support. They are not afraid to challenge in order to bring about improvement.  Children get off to a good start in the early years because they are taught well.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils is good, and sometimes outstanding, because their progress is very carefully monitored.  Good teaching is the key to pupils’ good achievement across the school. As a result, attainment is rising.  Adults and pupils get along well together because they respect each other. These strong relationships help pupils to make good progress.  Pupils feel safe and secure. Most behaviour is good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

in lessons and around school. Pupils enjoy their work.  Adults and pupils have adjusted very well to disruption caused by current building work.  The school promotes British values, such as tolerance and respect, effectively so that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always give pupils enough information about how to improve when they mark work, particularly in mathematics. Not all pupils are sure what they need to do to achieve their targets.  Not enough teaching is outstanding because teachers do not always demand enough of their most-able pupils.  Too few pupils reach higher levels, particularly in writing, and especially in Key Stage 1. Pupils most disrupted by staffing changes have not always developed the skills they need to reach these levels.  The quality of presentation of work varies too much and shows too many careless basic mistakes.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 16 lessons, five of which were seen together with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with pupils, representatives of the governing body, the local authority and staff, including senior and middle leaders.  Inspectors listened to pupils reading, looked at their past and present work, and talked to them about their learning.  Inspectors took account of 27 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. They looked at the school’s own parental questionnaires and also spoke informally to parents and carers. They analysed 11 staff questionnaires.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school improvement plan, policies, and information about pupils’ progress and attainment. They also scrutinised records of how the school sets targets for teachers to improve their work, and looked at child protection and safeguarding procedures.

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Inspection team

Kath Campbell, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  Children in the Nursery attend part-time and in the Reception class they attend full-time.  Three-quarters of pupils are White British. A quarter of pupils come from minority ethnic groups, the largest ethnic group being Indian. This is below average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average.  An average proportion of pupils are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium funding. The pupil premium funding is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after.  Breakfast and after-school clubs are provided for pupils during term time.  During the current academic year, the school has undergone an extensive rebuilding programme.  There have been several changes of staffing, particularly at senior leadership level, since the previous

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Information about this school

inspection.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment 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?

 Increase the proportion of pupils reaching higher levels, particularly in writing, and especially in Key Stage 1 by:  developing pupils’ basic literacy skills systematically so that pupils can build on these and gain the more advanced skills they need to reach higher levels  insisting that pupils’ written work is well presented, with no basic spelling mistakes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen teaching by making sure that all teachers:  share and learn from the good practice that exists within the school  have the highest expectations of what the most-able pupils can achieve so that these pupils do not waste time doing work that is too easy  use marking consistently well to give pupils clear guidance on what they need to do to improve their work, particularly in mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 Despite the disruption associated with building work and the difficulties caused by staffing changes, the headteacher has established a good climate for learning where most pupils behave well and teaching is good.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is currently moving forward at a brisk pace because the headteacher has effectively raised pupils’ and adults’ performance since the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders have taken decisive action to eliminate weak teaching. Underperformance is robustly tackled and teachers are far more responsible for the progress pupils make than in the past. As a result, the overall quality of teaching is good.

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The leadership and management are good

 The relatively new senior leadership team works well together. Senior leaders monitor the school’s performance relentlessly and set challenging targets for teachers to improve their work. Documentation is of high quality. As a result, key areas of the school’s work, such as the teaching of mathematics, have improved and attainment is rising.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subject leaders have a clear view of whether pupils are achieving well enough. They monitor the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress closely in their drive for improvement. The coordination of special educational needs and of the early years is good, resulting in good achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed because there is no discrimination. Pupils of all abilities and ethnic backgrounds achieve equally well.

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The leadership and management are good

 On-going building work has meant that the school has not been able to prepare as quickly as it would have liked for the changes to the National Curriculum. For example, the school’s environmental area is no longer available and space for creative arts activities is at a premium. However, events such as African Art week and visits to a local Sikh temple have helped to maintain pupils’ enthusiasm for learning during the disruption. There are good examples of pupils extending their literacy and, to a lesser extent, their numeracy skills in subjects such as religious education.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is in the process of developing new ways of checking pupils’ progress in different subjects. However, arrangements are not yet fully developed.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school focuses well on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Assemblies are used effectively to reinforce key British values of tolerance and respect and to celebrate pupils’ success. Pupils learn about democracy through, for example, applying in writing to become prefects. Consequently, they are well prepared for life in modern British society.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupil premium funding is used effectively to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils by, for example, providing targeted support on a one-to-one or small group basis. The impact of this work can be seen in Key Stage 2, where these pupils performed better than others in writing and mathematics in 2014. Some individual pupils made outstanding progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Primary sports funding is put to good use. It has improved teachers’ expertise and provided far more opportunities for pupils to participate in competitive sport. The increase in activities makes a good contribution to pupils’ healthier lifestyles.

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The leadership and management are good

 Links between home and school are on-going areas for development. Although further work remains to be done, parents are far more involved in their children’s learning than in the past.  Safeguarding procedures, including those for child protection, meet current government’s requirements. Governors are clear about their responsibilities and staff are well informed. The school has very successfully maintained a safe environment for pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority adviser knows the school well and reviews its work termly. He provides training when required and gives an appropriate level of support to a school regarded as good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leadership is not outstanding because the drive of senior leaders to raise the school’s performance has not yet resulted in enough outstanding teaching. During the current disruption and staffing changes, the school has not been able to share the good practice that exists within the school for staff to develop their skills further. Although pupils’ progress is good overall, too few pupils make rapid progress across all year groups and subjects over time.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors are highly supportive of the school and are far better informed than at the time of the previous inspection. They know what is working well and what needs to be improved. They keep up-to- date with training to make sure that all statutory requirements, including safeguarding, are met. They set clear performance targets for teachers to improve their work and only reward good teaching. They have provided strong support for the headteacher in taking decisive action to eradicate weak teaching and to tackle underperformance. They are better equipped to challenge because they have a greater understanding of data and know how well the school’s performance compares with that of others nationally. However, they recognise the need to gain further knowledge of the school’s work so that they know whether standards are high enough.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Most pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They have very positive attitudes towards learning and these contribute well to their good personal development. They are proud of their school and enjoy their work.

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Behaviour

 Children in the early years enjoy the activities on offer very much. They have adapted very well to losing some of their outdoor learning area.

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Behaviour

 Pupils throughout the school have retained their enjoyment of learning during the on-going building work. The way in which they have accepted ever changing levels of disruption is impressive.

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Behaviour

 Parents and pupils in Key Stage 2 have mixed views about behaviour. Their chief concerns centre around the admission of some older pupils with challenging behaviour. The behaviour of these pupils is improving because the support provided is effective. They are starting to settle into school life.

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Behaviour

 Pupils like working in pairs and small groups because they can learn from each other as they chat together about their work. They enjoy joining together as a community for occasions such as special assemblies when they look forward to ending the week on a positive note.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Parents are very confident that the school keeps their children safe. The headteacher and governors take great care to make sure that access to the school site is very secure during building work. Staff are rigorously checked prior to appointment.

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Safety

 Pupils are well informed about different kinds of bullying. Pupils say, and school reports show, that incidents of bullying do happen but rarely. Older pupils say that the way in which playtimes are staggered so that all pupils can use the limited playground space effectively has helped to reduce arguments and any potential incidents of inappropriate behaviour.  Pupils know who to go to if they have concerns and are confident that what they say will be taken seriously. They know how to keep safe when using computers and the internet.

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Safety

 Attendance is improving and is currently average. The relentless efforts of the family support worker in making sure that pupils who were persistently absent in the past are now attending more regularly has helped to improve attendance levels. The number of pupils who are excluded is also reducing. This is partly because of the support given and partly because a small number of pupils have been moved to specialist units.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching is much improved since the previous inspection and is the key to the rise in attainment. Teachers have better subject knowledge, particularly in mathematics. They provide interesting opportunities that develop pupils’ literacy, reading and mathematical skills well, albeit from a low base for some pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is promoted strongly and taught effectively. The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) has improved. The impact can be seen, for example, in the Year 1 phonics screening check. The results of all groups of pupils, including those with English as an additional language, was above the national average in 2014.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of writing, although good, is not as strong as reading. Pupils who have been most affected by weak teaching in the past are held back by their lack of basic literacy skills. They attempt more difficult work, yet make basic spelling mistakes and this hampers progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Through good training, teachers have far greater confidence with teaching mathematics and currently teach it well. They focus on developing pupils’ basic mathematical skills and target individual pupils who need extra help more effectively than in the past.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Where expectations are high, pupils produce good quality work. In a Year 2 writing lesson, the teacher reminded pupils constantly about the need to do their best. She encouraged pupils to use more exciting adjectives and vocabulary and pupils responded by producing a piece of good quality writing of which they were proud.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Where expectations are not as high, pupils sometimes do not give of their best. If work is too easy, the most-able pupils make less progress than other pupils. Some are held back by their lack of basic skills from previous weak teaching.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The overall quality of marking has improved and is now good. Work is regularly marked and there is detailed evidence of marking being used well to check pupils’ levels of understanding. However, numeracy work is not as well marked as literacy. In addition, marking does not always let pupils know how they can achieve their target for improvement or tell them what they need to do to improve their next piece of work. Pupils respond well to teachers’ comments because they know they will be followed up. However, careless mistakes persist and the quality of pupils’ presentation varies too much.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The achievement of pupils, including those from ethnic minority groups and with English as an additional language, is good because senior leaders have focused successfully on accelerating progress. As a result, all groups of pupils make good progress across a range of subjects. In classes where there has been past underachievement, some pupils are catching up from a low base.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the Nursery with skills that are below those typical for their age. Communication and language skills are particularly weak. They make good progress throughout the Nursery and Reception classes and an average proportion achieve a good level of development by the time they enter Year 1.  In 2014, attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, not enough pupils reached higher levels. This represented a decline on the previous year. Pupils’ attainment was adversely affected by a higher number of pupils than usual with complex learning difficulties joining this year group. Current data show a rise in 2015, although not enough pupils reach higher levels, particularly in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In Key Stage 2 in 2014, attainment was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. This represented a rise on the previous year and formed part of a continuing upward trend. The improvement was mainly due to tenacious monitoring that quickly identified any potential underachievement. Current data show that attainment in reading and mathematics is on track to rise again in 2015. However, attainment in writing is not as strong, particularly at higher levels.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Reading has improved because it has been given a much higher profile. It has become a very important part of daily work. The school has also reorganised the way in which phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) is taught. As a result, younger pupils have greater confidence to tackle unfamiliar words. Older pupils also enjoy their reading time more. These factors have had a positive effect upon attainment.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has focused successfully on improving teachers’ expertise in mathematics. Although there is some way further to go, pupils’ basic skills are becoming increasingly secure. Previously, weak calculation skills had hampered progress. However, pupils in classes most disrupted by staffing changes are still catching up lost ground.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 To some extent, writing has taken a back seat while the school focused its attention on raising attainment in reading and mathematics. The school is now turning its attention to improving pupils’ confidence with writing. However, once again, some pupils lack the advanced skills and the mature vocabulary they need to reach higher levels. Presentation of work is also too inconsistent. Despite the weaknesses, there are good examples of pupils extending their writing, particularly in their history work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils make good progress from their different starting points because they receive good quality support. Individual and small group work is effectively targeted at their specific needs, enabling them to grow in confidence so that they can achieve well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils achieve at least as well as others, with some individual examples of outstanding progress. In 2014, these pupils were two terms ahead of other pupils in writing, one term ahead in mathematics and one term behind in reading. When compared with other pupils nationally, the gaps had been completely closed. Current data shows that gaps in attainment are narrowing throughout the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils achieve well overall, although not all teachers provide a high enough level of challenge to raise their achievement further. The school has rightly focused its attention on increasing competence in English and mathematics. It is now starting to provide additional opportunities, through links with other schools, to promote that extra level of challenge. However, when work is not demanding, the most-able pupils do not give of their best and produce work that is not of a high enough standard.

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The early years provision is good

 All groups of children, including disabled children and those with special educational needs, make good progress from their different starting points.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years has recently seen an increase in the number of Indian children with English as an additional language. It has successfully adapted its routines to make sure these pupils receive as much one-to-one dialogue with staff as possible so that they acquire the skills they need to settle quickly into school life. These children achieve well as a result of good quality support.

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The early years provision is good

 Good leadership ensures that resources are well deployed and that teaching and achievement are good. Adults work together effectively as a team and every aspect of work is tightly monitored so that improvement can be made where necessary.  Adults know children well and make sure that they are safe and secure. Routines are well established and tasks are engaging and purposeful. As a result, children throughout the early years behave well, develop positive attitudes to learning and want to succeed.

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The early years provision is good

 Children in both the Nursery and Reception classes have coped particularly well with the changes to their usual routines during building work. They have lost their usual playground and outdoor learning area and have also had to move into temporary classrooms at opposite ends of the building. This has not dented their enthusiasm for learning or their enjoyment of the activities on offer.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good because learning is focused very much on the needs of individual children. Progress is carefully monitored and support put quickly in place to enable children to achieve well. Occasionally, opportunities are missed to allow children to explore for themselves. At times children lose concentration and their progress slows when they spend too long working on one activity.

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The early years provision is good

 Parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s learning right from the start. They appreciate the opportunities offered to them to work alongside their children. They comment on how much the teaching of reading has improved.

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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 104322 Local authority Wolverhampton Inspection number 462530

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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 252 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Derek Wollam Headteacher Dianne Blower Date of previous school inspection 11 July 2013 Telephone number 01902 558940 Fax number 01902 558941 Email address woodendprimaryschool@wolverhampton.gov.uk 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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