Coppice Farm Primary School

Coppice Farm Primary School Laver Close, Arnold, Nottingham, NG5 7LS

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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

 School leaders and governors monitor all aspects of the school’s work effectively. Their evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas to improve is accurate. They have brought marked improvements to teaching and achievement.  Pupils’ progress has improved considerably in all areas. It is good in reading and mathematics, and improving rapidly in writing.  Teaching is good because teachers have a clear understanding of what pupils can do and use this to plan work that usually challenges them and stretches their thinking.  Pupils work with enthusiasm, try to do their best at all times and concentrate well in lessons.  Staff are well trained and ensure pupils are kept safe. Pupils say that they feel safe in school because they care for each other and know that adults will help them when necessary.  Pupils have positive attitudes and behave well in lessons and around the school. They take great care of younger and vulnerable pupils.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils are polite and well mannered. They show respect to adults and pupils from all backgrounds.  The majority of parents are highly satisfied with the work of the school. They say that their children are doing well and that the school is a happy and exciting place.  Governors are effective. They hold staff rigorously to account for their pupils’ achievement and undertake regular training so that they can judge pupils’ progress for themselves, and plan for further improvement.  Provision in the early years is good. Staff are well trained. They have an accurate understanding of pupils’ abilities and plan highly motivating activities across all areas of the curriculum.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Marking does not consistently show pupils what they need to do to improve their work. When they are given pointers for improvement, including spelling errors, pupils are not given enough time to correct their mistakes.  Occasionally, when the whole class is taught together, the work is too hard for some pupils and too easy for others.  Leaders do not yet make best use of the most effective practice in school to support, coach and improve other members of staff.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited an assembly and 14 lessons. The headteacher joined the inspectors for six of the lessons. Inspectors also looked at pupils’ workbooks.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, at break and lunchtimes, and around the school site. They had a formal discussion with the pupils in the junior leadership team, and informal discussions with other pupils.  Inspectors took account of the 29 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and also of the 11 responses to the staff questionnaire.  Inspectors had meetings with parents, the headteacher, other school leaders, a group of governors and a representative of the local authority. They looked at school documents, including those relating to pupils’ achievement, behaviour and attendance, records of monitoring, school self-evaluation, plans for improvement, and information relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Lynne Bradbury, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children attend full time in the Reception class.  The majority of pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for support from the pupil premium is below average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by 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 order to accelerate pupils’ progress further by:  providing work which stretches pupils of all abilities, particularly the most and least able pupils in all parts of lessons  ensuring that teachers use their marking consistently to identify what pupils have achieved and what their next steps should be, and give pupils opportunities to then improve their work  ensuring that spelling errors identified when pupils’ work is marked are addressed quickly and effectively by pupils  using the best practice within school, particularly with regard to ensuring consistent levels of challenge and support for all pupils, to help other members of staff.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have successfully ensured that most teaching is good and some elements are outstanding. This is continuing to raise pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics, and enabling pupils to thrive. Leaders’ expectations of behaviour are high and they strongly promote positive attitudes to learning. Staff share leaders’ ambitions. They are keen to continue to improve all aspects of their work.

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The leadership and management are good

 The warm and caring atmosphere that pervades the whole school, along with the exciting lessons that teachers prepare, motivates pupils to work hard in their lessons. Relationships with parents and carers are good. The school communicates well with parents so that they understand how to help their pupils in their learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders rigorously check the quality of teaching so that they can devise plans to bring about effective improvement. Work to help teachers understand what pupils can already do has enabled them to plan appropriate levels of challenge in group and independent work for most pupils. However, the least and most able pupils are not always challenged in all parts of some lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 Together with governors, leaders ensure safeguarding policies and procedures meet statutory requirements and are effective in keeping pupils safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 Discrimination in any form is not tolerated in school. Pupils from all backgrounds and of all abilities are fully included in all school activities and are provided with equal opportunity to achieve their best. Staff work effectively with pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable or who face particularly acute challenges.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and teachers successfully develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness, and their understanding of other faiths. This enables pupils to demonstrate high levels of respect and good relationships with others across a wide range of cultural groups and to learn the values that underpin the British way of life. This prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum is well planned. Topics are combined carefully so that pupils understand the connections between the various themes they are studying. This also helps pupils to learn how to apply the skills they learn in one subject in another. Pupils’ personal and social development is supported well through the wide range of visits, experiences and clubs the school offers. Pupils greatly enjoy the sport and music opportunities available to them all.

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The leadership and management are good

 There are not yet sufficient opportunities for those members of staff who are most effective in raising pupils’ achievement to share their practice with others.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders check pupils’ attendance carefully. They have successfully reduced the rate of absence of those pupils who do not attend as often as they should.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and governors use the performance management system to set challenging targets for teachers to improve pupils’ progress and this has been successful in raising standards, particularly this year.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle leaders, including the leader of the early years, lead their areas of responsibility well. Subject leaders check pupils’ progress carefully to identify where improvement is needed and provide appropriate staff training. They work with class teachers to help them to understand where pupils need extra support or challenge.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses the pupil premium funding effectively to ensure disadvantaged pupils have full access to the educational visits and clubs enjoyed by other pupils, and also to provide extra support when they need it. Most of these pupils are now making good progress in all subjects; sometimes they are making faster progress than their classmates.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary physical education and sports premium has been allocated effectively to support staff training. A teaching assistant, who is a trained sports coach, offers pupils extra activities in tennis, athletics, football, cricket and gymnastics. Pupils are very proud of their performance in local tournaments with other schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority supports the school well. It has organised monitoring and support activities that have been successful in supporting improvement in teaching and leadership.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors have undertaken a wide range of training which has helped them to be effective in supporting and challenging the school’s leaders. They understand the information about pupils’ progress and compare their performance with other schools nationally. They use their findings to set clear priorities for improvement. Individual governors visit the school to find out about developments in subjects. They feedback to the full governing body, so that other governors know about pupils’ achievement in all subjects.  Governors know how well staff performance is managed through the appraisal system. They know where teaching is good and where it needs to improve. Governors make careful decisions about staff pay increases, ensuring these consistently reflect the progress pupils make.  Governors manage school finances well so that all resources are focused on supporting and improving

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The leadership and management are good

pupils’ progress. They check that all finance, including the pupil premium, is used effectively to raise standards for disadvantaged pupils.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They show respect and tolerance and a high level of care, patience and support for any pupils who experience difficulties.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ positive attitudes make an important contribution to their good progress. Pupils’ workbooks generally reflect hard work and concentration in all subjects.

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Behaviour

 Most pupils behave well in their lessons, around the school and in the playground. They are courteous and respectful and show tolerance for each other’s views during group and team discussions. They befriend and care for those who experience difficulties. They demonstrate a good understanding of a range of cultures. Pupils work together happily with those from other backgrounds and develop an understanding that helps them in their topic work about people from around the world.

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Behaviour

 The school’s values of fairness and tolerance are strongly evident in pupils’ behaviour. Records of incidents in school show that serious problems are rare and are dealt with firmly and effectively.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are very happy and greatly value their school. They and the majority of parents expressed high levels of satisfaction with the work of the school and the way in which teachers manage pupils’ behaviour.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are keen to help others through mentoring and being ‘buddies’ to others. They explore British traditions and values, for example, democracy, when they vote for their school councillors.

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Behaviour

 Pupils greatly appreciate the rewards for working hard and the way in which this is celebrated with their classmates.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is in line with the national average and the attendance policy is followed rigorously. This has helped those individual pupils who are often absent from school to improve their attendance.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  All members of staff and some governors are trained in child protection and safeguarding requirements. All adults ensure pupils are safe. The school systematically carries out all the required checks on visitors and new members of staff. The school identifies and protects vulnerable pupils effectively so that they are well cared for by the whole school community.

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Safety

 Pupils understand the various forms of bullying, including name-calling, and the risks concerned with using the internet and new technologies. They say that they feel safe and trust staff to help them if they need it. They say that bullying is rare and is dealt with successfully if it happens.

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Safety

 Leaders use effective systems to assess and record risks within school and in outside activities or visits, to ensure these aspects of school life are safe.

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Safety

 Pupils display a good understanding of the kind of dangers which may arise outside school, such as when crossing the road or talking to strangers, and know how to keep themselves safe in such situations.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good and, in some classes, is rapidly improving further. It is leading to much better achievement than in the past in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have high expectations and are very clear about what pupils are expected to learn and how they should behave. Pupils respond enthusiastically to staff instructions and to the activities they are set. There are warm and caring relationships in all classes and this supports pupils’ learning well.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have an accurate understanding of what pupils already know. They use this to set work which stretches pupils of all abilities. However, in some lessons, they do not match activities in all parts of the lesson sufficiently to stretch or support the most and least able pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most teachers and teaching assistants use skilful questioning during lessons to check what pupils understand. They use this information to change the level of challenge or support in pupils’ work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is good for all pupils. Teachers ensure that pupils apply these skills accurately in all their reading and writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In mathematics, teachers encourage pupils to extend their basic number skills effectively by providing them with opportunities to apply these skills in investigations and problem-solving tasks; this deepens pupils’ understanding of the mathematical ideas they are studying.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers ensure that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive effective extra support within classes and outside lessons. This helps these pupils to make good progress. Occasionally, in some lessons the work is too hard for these pupils during whole class sessions.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants make an important contribution to pupils’ learning. They are well trained, particularly in working with disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. They give these pupils a great deal of emotional support as well as support for their work, so that they gain the confidence to tackle new challenges. Teaching assistants work very effectively when breaking tasks down into different steps so that pupils are clear about the stages in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ feedback to pupils during lessons is good and helps them to develop confidence in their ability to learn. However, teachers do not consistently follow the school’s marking policy in all classes. Where it is most effective, pupils know where progress has been made and how their work could be improved, but this is not the case in all classes and subjects. At times, teachers wait too long before returning to address aspects of pupils’ work which their own marking has shown to be weak. Pupils are not always given the opportunity to learn from the spelling errors identified in marking.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers use homework effectively. Pupils have good opportunities to practise basic reading and mathematical skills, and to investigate the ideas and themes they encounter in their topic work further.

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is good

 Pupils achieve well from their starting points. In 2014, the attainment of pupils in Year 6 was broadly in line with the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. Current data and work in pupils’ books show that pupils’ progress is accelerating rapidly.

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is good

 The proportion of pupils in Year 6 attaining the higher levels in 2014 was in line with the national average in mathematics and writing, but was lower in reading and spelling, punctuation and grammar. The most- able pupils are now making good progress in each year group because most of their learning activities provide a good level of challenge. However, there are still some lessons where they are not stretched sufficiently during whole class activities.

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is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because their needs are identified at an early stage and there is effective support targeting their needs. In some lessons they are not sufficiently supported during whole class sessions.

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is good

 Disadvantaged pupils who left the school in 2014 made good progress from their starting points. Some of these pupils had complex needs. They were just over a term behind their classmates and nearly two terms behind other pupils nationally in mathematics, just over two terms behind their classmates but in line with other pupils nationally in reading. They were one and a half terms behind classmates and just over half a term behind other pupils nationally in writing. They were over one and a half terms behind their classmates and nearly three terms behind other pupils nationally in grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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is good

 Most disadvantaged pupils currently in school are making good progress and, in some classes, their progress is faster than their peers.

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is good

 Pupils enjoy reading and make good progress. In the phonics screening check in 2014, pupils in Year 1 reached standards above those nationally. Reading skills are used well to research topics, as in work on animals in Years 1 and 2.

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is good

 Achievement in writing is good. Pupils develop their writing skills well for a wide range of purposes in their topic work. Pupils’ grammar, punctuation and spelling are improving as they apply them in well-thought- out writing activities.

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is good

 In mathematics, pupils of all abilities are now making rapid progress in developing basic number skills. They apply these in problem-solving situations and investigations. Building on their existing knowledge pupils in Year 3 investigated the properties and nets of 3D shapes in order to make their own. In Year 5, pupils investigated missing angles using their understanding of the number of degrees on a straight line or in a circle.

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is good

 Pupils achieve well in work across a wide range of subjects. They find out about life in other countries and the traditions and beliefs of different cultures and faiths.

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is good

 Children join the reception class with knowledge, skills and understanding that are typical for their age, but some have weaknesses in their speech and language. Attainment on entry varies from year to year.

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is good

 Teaching is good because teachers use their understanding of what children already know to plan exciting activities which stretch children of all abilities in the indoor and outdoor environments. Teachers ensure that there are many opportunities to develop children’s speaking and listening, and children make good progress in all the areas of learning.  The children behave well and are extremely keen to learn. They find the topics they study fascinating and there are moments of genuine excitement when, for example, they discover worms while they are digging or as they sell bugs in the insect shop.

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is good

 Children’s achievement is good. They make good progress in phonics and this supports their good progress in reading and writing. In mathematics, adults encourage them to sort items and to compare sizes as they count, order and add.

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is good

 Leaders manage the provision for the early years effectively. They ensure that staff are well trained. They check children’s progress and identify areas where improvement is needed. Children make good progress in the Reception class and most enter Year 1 well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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is good

 Children are kept safe and are well cared for. They share and take turns, and to show respect and tolerance for others around them. Their good behaviour makes a positive contribution to their learning.

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is good

 The school sees parents as valued partners in the children’s learning journeys and encourages them to support their children’s learning as much as possible. This helps them to make good progress.

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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 122516 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 461976

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 175 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ian Watson Headteacher Jason Brewster Date of previous school inspection 21 May 2013 Telephone number 0115 9560990 Fax number 0115 9560990 Email address office@coppicefarm.notts.sch.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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