Coppice Primary School

Coppice Primary School Trinity Road, four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, B75 6TJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Children get an exceptionally good start to school life in the Reception classes. Teachers design activities extremely well to help develop skills and encourage positive attitudes to learning from an early age.  Pupils make rapid progress as they move through the school. This means that standards are above average by the end of Key Stage 1 and well above average by the time they leave Key Stage 2.  More than half the pupils in Year 6 are working above the level expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics.  Teachers are enthusiastic and have excellent subject knowledge. During lessons, they regularly check how pupils are doing so that they move them on quickly in their learning. However, their expectations of how pupils present their work are not always as high as they could be.  Other adults, such as teaching assistants, who work alongside teachers are well trained and support pupils’ learning very effectively.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They are extremely helpful and polite to adults and each other. From Year 2 through to Year 6, they readily take responsibility for looking after younger pupils.  Pupils are extremely enthusiastic about their learning and are keen to do well. They develop excellent learning attitudes from an early age and regularly set themselves high targets for achievement.  Pupils feel totally safe in school. They rightly attribute this to the care and attention of staff who ensure their safety and well being.  Pupils have an astute understanding of what constitute safe and unsafe situations beyond school, such as when using the internet or walking to school. They know how to avoid putting themselves in danger, and how to deal with potentially hazardous situations if they occur.  Under the calm, purposeful leadership of the headteacher, the quality of teaching has improved since the previous inspection and this has driven up

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

standards.  The headteacher and senior leaders regularly check pupils’ progress. They make sure that all groups are doing equally well and quickly provide support for any pupils at risk of falling behind. They ensure that pupils behave well and learn in a safe environment.  Governors are extremely supportive and rigorously challenge leaders to improve the school. They visit regularly to talk with staff and pupils about their views of the school and see for themselves how it is doing.  The school’s values of respect, honesty, empathy, trustworthiness, kindness and support underpin all it does. This is evident in the way staff relate to pupils and the way pupils respond to each other.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 25 lessons, six of which they observed together with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.  The inspection team held meetings with the headteacher and other staff, three groups of pupils, five governors, and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors held informal discussions with parents and pupils.  Inspectors took account of the 64 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 35 completed staff questionnaires.  Pupils in Year 5 were away on a residential visit during the inspection. Pupils in Year 6 were out on a field trip during the second day of the inspection. Inspectors looked closely at the work in their books and the school’s records of their progress.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and reviewed a range of documentation including: the school’s checks on its performance; its analysis and tracking of pupils’ progress; records of behaviour and safety;

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Information about this inspection

school improvement plans; records relating to classroom observations and the management of staff performance; safeguarding arrangements; and records of meetings of the governing body.  The inspectors also looked at pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and checked information on attendance.

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Inspection team

Susan Hughes, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Children in the early years start in a full-time Reception class at the beginning of the year in which they are five.  Most pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is greater than in most schools. Few pupils, however, speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium, which is additional government funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority, is well below average.  The school is part of the Learning Trust for Education (LTE), which was formed in 2013. The trust comprises seven local primary schools whose leaders work closely together to support staff development and enhance pupils’ learning opportunities across the trust.

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Information about this school

 The school shares its building with Langley Special School. Langley School is managed and reported on as a separate school.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations 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?

 Improve the presentation of work in pupils’ books by ensuring that subject leaders support staff in raising expectations of how pupils record their learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Through the strong and committed leadership of the headteacher, the school is going from strength to strength. High quality teaching and excellent behaviour pervade the school’s ethos. The outstanding quality of teaching is continually improving and standards are rising year on year. The headteacher and senior leaders rigorously check how well pupils are doing to make sure that the school provides additional support for any whose good progress is at risk of faltering.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Subject leaders regularly check the quality of teaching in their subjects. They observe lessons, look at pupils’ work, check planning and progress data and talk to the pupils about their learning. At times, leaders work alongside staff and help them improve their teaching techniques. They make sure that teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and how well they behave. They are not so consistent in ensuring teachers have high expectations of how pupils present their work. As a result, there are sometimes weaknesses in the presentation of some pupils’ work.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The appraisal system, which rewards teachers with a pay rise when their pupils do well, contributes considerably to the high quality teaching. Agreed targets for pupils’ achievement ensure that staff are clear about what is expected of them. Training and development opportunities help teachers greatly to refine their skills and meet the challenging targets.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school has a particularly strong partnership with the Learning Trust for Education and works closely with schools in the trust. This provides excellent opportunities for staff to share good practice and develop their expertise. Leaders have developed a new system for assessing how well pupils are doing. They check that staff use this similarly across the Learning Trust and compare work to make sure that their assessments are accurate.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Partnerships with other local schools provide further excellent opportunities for staff to collaborate, as well as giving pupils wider opportunities to work with others. Shared lunchtimes and activities with the special school in the same building help develop pupils’ understanding of differences and similarities in learning experiences. Older pupils have the chance to visit local secondary schools and experience Key Stage 3 teaching.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Pupils have plenty of opportunities to compete in sports against those from other schools. The school uses the primary physical education and sport premium well to support this. A specialist sports teacher makes sure that staff develop pupils’ physical education and sporting skills well in lessons and in the wide range of school clubs. He works alongside teachers to help them refine their techniques and oversees the additional activities, checking how well pupils are doing and coaching them for competitive sports. The school has been particularly successful in local football, athletic, cross-country and cheer-leader tournaments and events.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school uses the pupil premium extremely effectively to support the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. It employs additional adults to work with individuals, or small groups of pupils, to help them keep up with their classmates. All the adults are highly skilled as a result of good training opportunities and close working with the class teachers.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive similarly strong support. Adults work alongside them in class or, on occasions, help them prepare for the next lesson. Leaders regularly check that the support is effective.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The curriculum is very good. It is exciting and captures pupils’ enthusiasm while giving them excellent opportunities to practise their literacy, mathematics and communications skills in different subjects. For example, pupils in Year 1 practised letter-writing skills by imagining they were the big, bad wolf explaining to Mrs Pig why they blew down her piglets’ houses. Pupils in Year 5 developed their literacy skills considerably when writing about the battle between Theseus and the Minotaur as part of their topic on Ancient Greece.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education especially well throughout the curriculum. Staff develop pupils’ understanding of the importance of respecting others, their beliefs and cultures extremely well. Trips to different places of worship and visitors to school help pupils understand about world religions. Pupils also share their own experiences. For example, a Jewish parent and her child

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The leadership and management are outstanding

taught pupils in Year 3 about Jewish New Year celebrations. One pupil told the inspector, ‘We should respect all people and not judge anyone who is different from them.’

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school promotes equality of opportunities and tackles discrimination particularly well. Staff emphasise how everyone can make a difference if they try. During the inspection, pupils graphically demonstrated the gender imbalance of members of parliament. They agreed that putting themselves forward for elections when they were older could address it. The staff greatly reinforce pupils’ understanding when they stand for election to different roles in school and cope with the risk of non-selection in order to try to make a difference. The development of such skills and attitudes prepares pupils exceptionally well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school regularly invites parents into school to attend workshops or see how their children are learning. During the inspection, parents of pupils in Year 4 attended ‘Inspire’ workshops. These highlighted the importance of safety when using the internet and gave parents the chance to work with their children to solve an imaginary crime, subsequently identifying the culprit. The activity involved them so well that it was difficult to judge who were most enthusiastic, the parents or the pupils.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders ensure that the school’s safeguarding arrangements are robust and effective. They meet statutory requirements and staff ensure they apply them consistently and diligently throughout the school. All staff receive high-quality training on safeguarding issues and follow up any concerns about pupils’ well-being rigorously.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority periodically visits the school to check on pupils’ progress. It has correctly identified that the school is providing a high level of education for pupils and not in need of local authority support.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  Governors have an excellent understanding of the school’s strengths and their role in developing these further. They are highly aspirational for the school and committed to driving even higher standards. While challenging senior leaders to make sure this happens, governors are fiercely supportive of all that the leaders and staff do to achieve the best opportunities possible for pupils.  Governors use performance data confidently and have regular discussions with senior staff to check how well groups of pupil are doing. They make sure that no group achieves less well than any other. Governors check that the school uses pupil premium effectively to narrow any gaps between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and their classmates. They are equally diligent in ensuring that the primary physical education and sport premium strongly supports pupils’ active lifestyles and well-being.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Governors visit the school regularly and report their findings thoroughly to the rest of the governing body. They talk to staff, pupils and parents to gauge their views of the school. Governors have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and make sure that the appraisal system only rewards teachers whose pupils achieve well. They check that the leaders provide high quality training for staff to enable them to improve their practice and ensure there are no underperforming teachers in the school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. From the Reception class through to Year 6 they are extremely considerate and polite to adults and each other. During the inspection, inspectors overheard pupils asking politely for equipment, apologising for getting in each other’s way, offering sensitive help in lessons and paying close attention to their classmates’ contribution to discussions. They follow the excellent role models of adults in the school who treat pupils with care and respect.

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Behaviour

 Pupils of all ages are keen to take on responsibility as their contribution to school life. These are not confined to older pupils, but run throughout both key stages. For example, pupils in Year 2 elect house captains to support their Year 6 counterparts. They also act as play pals to make sure everyone has something to do during play times.

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Behaviour

 The idea of everyone making a difference is encapsulated on the MAD (Making A Difference) wall. This shows the wide range of activities, often initiated by the pupils, which have made a difference to others. They include fund raising for charities, the Year 6 road safety campaign, which was reported in the local press, and individual letters from pupils to the council about how the local environment can be improved.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are extremely enthusiastic about their learning. They try hard in lessons and encourage each other. For example, during group discussions, pupils make sure that everyone is fully involved and feels listened to. When given the opportunity to choose the level at which they are working, pupils invariably choose the most challenging that they fell they can achieve. During the inspection, some pupils in Year 2 were allocated a task which they extended themselves, to include aspects of work that was being tackled by the most-able pupils.

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Behaviour

 The system of rewards and consequences is highly valued by pupils. They told inspectors that the system was fair and encouraged everyone to try hard. Pupils particularly appreciate the rewards, which include choosing a privilege ranging from participation in a specific activity to bringing in a favourite toy or wearing ‘non-uniform’ clothes for a day.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ enjoyment and enthusiasm for school contributes to their above-average attendance. Parents agree that their children are happy at school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. They feel totally safe in school as a result of robust systems to keep them safe and adults’ diligence and care in checking on pupils’ well-being. Pupils also appreciate that the school rules help and told inspectors that, if they saw a strange adult in school not wearing a visitor’s badge, they would report it to a member of staff.

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Safety

 Pupils who spoke to inspectors were adamant that there is hardly any bullying in school. They are very aware that bullying can take different forms, including cyber- and physical-bullying. All pupils spoken to felt there was someone they could go to if they had a problem and that the school would sort it out.

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Safety

 Pupils’ first line of support is the FAB (Friends Against Bullying) pupils from Year 6. Pupils apply for these posts during their last term in Year 5 and have training in mediation and resolving minor disagreements. FAB pupils choose different coloured sweatshirts to make sure that all pupils know who they are in case they need help. Part of their selection process is to communicate, not only how they can help other pupils, but also what they can do to discourage bullying or rough behaviour.

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Safety

 Pupils respond extremely well to the wide range of information they receive about keeping themselves safe beyond school. They understand how to stay safe when using the internet and why precautions are necessary. They also know how to stay safe on the roads, whether when riding their bicycles or walking to school. Visits out of school often involve walking or travelling on public transport to give pupils practical experience of road and train safety.

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Safety

 Older pupils have a mature understanding of safety beyond school, including how to avoid conflict with other people. They learn how to avoid potentially unsafe situations. Some pupils from Year 6 told an inspector how it is sometimes unwise to be walking with your phone in view in case this triggers theft or an attack.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers are enthusiastic and have excellent subject knowledge. This means they are able to accurately assess how pupils are doing and provide work that will help them move quickly on to the next steps in their learning. They ask pupils probing questions to help develop their answers and deepen understanding. Teachers ensure that pupils routinely explain their learning to each other and ask each other questions which become increasingly searching and mature as they move through the school.  Teachers very successfully encourage pupils to choose wisely when they are given the opportunity to decide the level at which they will be working. Teachers check regularly that they are working at the right level to enable them to make rapid progress and securely build on what they already know. They make sure pupils understand what they have to do through very clear explanations, often showing pupils just

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Skills in mathematics are taught exceptionally well. High levels of challenge mean that pupils make excellent progress from their different starting points. High expectations by teachers encourage pupils to strive to do the best they can. For example, during the inspection, the most-able pupils in Year 6 worked out complex mental arithmetic problems incorporating decimals, fractions and multiple operations. Even while waiting for their books, pupils were challenged to solve number puzzles to keep their learning active.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The teaching of reading is extremely good. Teachers successfully help pupils to develop very good phonic skills (the sounds letters represent in words) from the Reception class and through Key Stage 1. The results of the most recent screening on how well Year 1 pupils understand phonics were above average. Pupils use these skills well to read and spell unfamiliar words. As they progress through the school, skilled questioning helps pupils identify underlying meanings in texts and understand what an author is implying, even if it is not written in words.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The teaching of writing is equally effective. In the Reception class, teachers introduce children to basic grammar and encourage them to use this in their early writing. Teachers use accurate vocabulary so that pupils learn the correct terminology from an early age. For example, during the inspection, some most- able pupils were identifying ‘bossy verbs’ to use in their instructions on how to plant seeds. The teacher explained they were called ‘imperatives’ and gave children the opportunity to repeat and use the term appropriately. Teachers develop pupils’ writing skills particularly well through the school. They ensure that pupils regularly practise skills learnt in literacy lessons in other subjects.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching assistants work very effectively with teachers to support pupils’ learning. Specialised training and development opportunities equip them with strong skills and enable them to be very effective in supporting individuals or groups of pupils. Disadvantaged pupils benefit particularly from this support, as do disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching assistants work alongside pupils in lessons, helping them achieve extremely well, while ensuring that pupils do not become too reliant on adult help. On occasions, pupils have sessions before a lesson to prepare them for specific vocabulary or tasks that they may otherwise find too difficult. On other occasions, teachers identify pupils who have struggled with the learning in a lesson, and immediately give them additional practise and support to make sure they do not fall behind. This excellent practice helps support pupils’ outstanding achievement.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers’ high expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always reflected in their expectations of the way work is presented. Occasionally, work is untidy and this means that it is difficult to read or to appreciate the rapid progress that pupils are making.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children start school with skills broadly typical for their age, though boys’ reading, writing and social skills are slightly weaker than others. Children make good progress in Reception and start in Key Stage 1 with well-developed skills, some of which are stronger than typical for their age. The proportion of children who achieved a good level of development in 2014 was above average.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils continue to make rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics throughout Key Stages 1 and 2. By the end of Key Stage 1 in 2014, standards were above average. Standards at the end of Key Stage 2 were well above average, and represented an improvement on the previous years’ already high standards.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Across the school, disadvantaged pupils make the same excellent progress as others. At times, some achieve more than their classmates do, to close any previous gaps in their attainment. Their attainment is generally similar to that of others in the school, and better than that of other pupils nationally. There were too few disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 in 2014 to report in detail on their attainment, without the risk of identifying individuals.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make similarly outstanding progress. Their needs are identified early in their school life and appropriate support provided for them to do extremely well alongside their classmates. Leaders check regularly to make sure that the support is effective.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The most-able pupils make rapid progress and attain exceptionally high standards by the time they leave the school. The proportions of pupils attaining the highest levels in reading, writing and mathematics are increasing year on year. Currently, well over half the pupils in Year 6 are working at levels above those expected for their age.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Teachers and other adults in the Reception classes create a vibrant, safe and happy environment in which children rapidly develop their skills. Staff foster very good attitudes to learning as soon as the children start school, so they quickly learn to concentrate, persevere and try hard. Children behave exceptionally well, taking turns and sharing ideas and toys. During the inspection, some pupils were giving others rides on their two-seater cycles. They happily took turns and the ‘passengers’ helped the rider if pedalling got a bit difficult on the slopes.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Teaching is excellent and extremely well-planned activities build on children’s enthusiasms and on their previous learning. For example, the Reception children are gradually building a large igloo out of plastic milk cartons because they were so interested in what it would be like to go in one when studying cold climates earlier in the term. During the inspection, a group of children were fascinated by the range of worms they were able to dig up. They talked about how they could look after them to make sure they would survive. Other pupils excitedly planted ‘mystery’ seeds and explained what they needed to grow successfully.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 The early years classes are led extremely well. Using accurate self-assessment, the leader had identified the need to collect more evidence to demonstrate the excellent progress that children make during the year. As a result, staff track children’s progress just as rigorously as they did previously, but gain more evidence to support their assessments. Very good relationships with parents mean that they enthusiastically attend workshops, which suggest how they can help their children at home. Parents told inspectors that their children settled in quickly and are very happy at school.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Pupils’ strong skills and excellent attitudes to learning by the time they leave the early years, prepare them exceptionally well for their move into Year 1.

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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 103390 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 461829

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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 421 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tony Goddard Headteacher Richard Green Date of previous school inspection 8 December 2010 Telephone number 0121 464 7022 Fax number 0121 464 2180 Email address enquiry@coppice.bham.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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