Newton Regis CofE Primary School

Newton Regis CofE Primary School Austrey Lane, Newton Regis, Tamworth, B79 0NL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy 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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This is a good school

 School data and the work in pupils’ books show that achievement in Key Stages 1 and 2 is good. Pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Teaching is typically good, with some that is outstanding. Teachers and support staff both make a substantial contribution to pupils’ learning in lessons.  Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They have positive attitudes and are keen to learn.  Pupils are polite and friendly towards adults and one another. They are proud of their school and say that staff will always take care of them. The school ensures pupils are safe.  Children in the early years make good progress because they are taught well. They are prepared well for learning in Year 1.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively so that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The headteacher and other leaders have a good

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This is a good school

understanding of the strengths of the school and what needs to be improved further. They have successfully improved the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The governors know the school well. They continually question how well the school is doing while providing the right support.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers sometimes set work for pupils that is too easy for them.  Opportunities for pupils to apply their numeracy skills to solve problems in mathematics are not consistently used across the school.  Children in the early years do not always have enough opportunities to practise their basic literacy and numeracy skills.  Despite the school’s best efforts, attendance remains below average because some parents do not ensure their children attend regularly.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning in seven lessons, jointly with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector listened to pupils read.  Meetings were held with a group of pupils, school leaders, governors, the School Improvement Partner and a representative of the Birmingham Diocese.  The inspector took account of the 27 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) for parents and carers.  The inspector considered the views of the 13 staff that completed a staff questionnaire.  The inspector looked at many documents, including: the school’s own information on pupils’ current and recent attainment and progress; teachers’ planning of work in different subjects; evidence of leaders’ checking on teaching and learning quality; and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding of pupils.

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Inspection team

Steve Nelson, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Early years provision is part-time in the Nursery and full-time in Reception.  Nearly all pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is higher than the national average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is average. This is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible to receive free school meals or looked after by the local authority.  Classes are taught in mixed-age groups, except in the Nursery.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum standards expected nationally for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The school provides a breakfast club and an after-school club.  On the 1 September 2013, the school converted to become an academy. When its predecessor school, of

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Information about this school

the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted in March 2012, it was judged to be satisfactory.  The school is part of the Heartwood Trust, a multi-academy trust that includes three other local schools.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that pupils make the best possible progress by:  ensuring that activities stretch all pupils, whatever their ability, throughout lessons  making sure that staff in the early years encourage the children to practise and use their skills in reading, writing and mathematics  providing more opportunities for pupils to use their number skills in problem-solving activities in mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase attendance to at least national average levels by working even more closely with those families that take holidays in term time or do not make sure their children come to school regularly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher demonstrates a strong ambition to improve the school. She is supported well by a committed team of staff and governors. The school has established a culture that supports good teaching and behaviour. Leaders promote equality of opportunity well and do not tolerate any discrimination. As a result, pupils achieve well.

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The leadership and management are good

 Self-evaluation is accurate. Senior leaders have identified the right priorities for improvement, based on their accurate assessment of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Their actions to bring about improvement have been successful and pupils are now making faster progress than they were last year. Leaders show good capacity for further improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of teaching is strong. The headteacher makes good use of information from checks on teaching and learning to develop teachers’ skills and improve teaching. Targets set for teachers are closely linked to pupils’ achievement. Teachers have responded well to them and, as a result, teaching is improving. Subject leaders fulfil their roles well. They regularly visit lessons, look at pupils’ books and check that teachers are supporting effectively those pupils identified as falling behind.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted very well through the school’s clear vision and values. The school’s values are reflected throughout the school’s work, and particularly through assemblies. Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility in the school and to support others in the community. A wide range of activities helps pupils to deepen their understanding of different cultures and faiths so that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school provides a broad and interesting range of subjects that promotes pupils’ good achievement and contributes to their personal development. Termly topics such as ‘Animals and Heroes’ and ‘Villains’ bring together aspects of many different subjects that interest and inspire pupils and rouse their curiosity to learn more. Pupils enjoy the many additional clubs, sports activities and educational visits the school provides.

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The leadership and management are good

 The additional primary physical education and sport funding is used effectively to widen the experience and skills of pupils in a variety of sports, such as mini-tennis and golf, as well as to extend the skills of staff. The extra funding has meant an increased proportion of pupils participate in sports activities such as the North Warwickshire cross-country competition.

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The leadership and management are good

 The pupil premium funding for disadvantaged pupils is used well. Each pupil is identified, his or her needs assessed and additional support is provided, as required. Some pupils receive assistance for educational visits and events, which is helping them to make good progress in their learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Supported by the Birmingham Diocese, the school has established very good links with the three other schools in the Heartwood Trust to improve the work of the school. Staff share expertise, compare standards of work, observe lessons in each of the schools and run combined sports events. This joint working and sharing of resources reduces the overall costs for the schools and enhances teaching and learning at this school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has brought about improved attendance since the last inspection but it remains below average. Leaders have not yet convinced the small number of parents who do not bring their children into school regularly of the benefits to their children’s education of regularly attending school.

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The leadership and management are good

 All current safeguarding requirements are met. The headteacher has ensured that all staff and governors have read and acted upon the latest guidance on keeping children safe. Consistent application of school procedures ensures that pupils are safe and well cared for.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has made effective use of its School Improvement Partner to help strengthen teaching and raise pupils’ achievement.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is effective. Governors have a broad range of skills and good knowledge of the quality of teaching. They know the strengths and areas for development in the school. Governors support the headteacher in making decisions about pay by making sure that teachers’ annual targets, and any pay increases, are closely linked to the pupils’ progress. They set clear and challenging targets for the headteacher.  Governors understand the school’s performance data. They analyse information on pupils’ attainment and progress, compare it to that of other pupils nationally, and use their findings to arrive at well- informed conclusions. They are supportive but challenge the school, thus helping to improve pupils’ achievement.  The governing body monitors the school’s finances carefully and carry out their duties effectively.

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The leadership and management are good

Governors work closely with staff to ensure that arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements. They also keep themselves up-to-date with relevant national changes in education.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in lessons, in the playground and around school. They are polite and friendly towards each other, staff and visitors.

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Behaviour

 The school is calm and orderly. Pupils feel happy and understand what is expected of them in terms of their behaviour. They take their responsibilities, such as being a school councillor, seriously. Pupils increasingly assess their own and other’s work and do so accurately.

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Behaviour

 Very thorough records are kept of any incidents of poor behaviour. These show the effectiveness of the school’s procedures for improving behaviour. Records of individual incidents reveal a marked reduction in poor behaviour over time.

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Behaviour

 The school is effective in dealing with pupils who have behavioural difficulties, although in the past this has involved some fixed-term exclusions. Through the school’s support and guidance, the behaviour of these pupils has improved.

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Behaviour

 The breakfast club is well organised and gives pupils a nourishing and fun start to the day. Pupils are very well cared for in the out-of-school club and they also enjoy the activities there.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ attitudes to learning are usually good across the school but, occasionally, a few pupils lose concentration and become disengaged from learning.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is below average. Despite the school’s best efforts to promote good attendance, a few families take their children for holidays during term time, and some families do not fully support the school’s drive to raise attendance.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Leaders check to make sure that all the necessary policies to ensure pupils’ safety are implemented effectively. Staff are trained well in their safeguarding responsibilities.

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Safety

 Pupils say they feel safe in all parts of the school site and that all members of staff look after them well. They are proud of their school and know how to care for the environment, for example by turning the lights out when they are not in use and recycling a range of materials.

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Safety

 Pupils act responsibly on the playground, where they are well supervised. They have a good understanding of how to keep safe in different situations, such as fire safety and using the internet safely. Pupils understand different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying and name-calling. They say that bullying is rare but, if they ever have any concerns, there is always an adult on hand to help them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is now promoting good progress for all groups of pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. Marking is consistently good across the school. It provides encouragement and praise for good work. Constructive comments provide next steps to pupils’ learning. Pupils are set clear and specific learning targets in writing and mathematics so they know what they are aiming for.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of mathematics is good. Staff ensure pupils learn the essential skills of calculation well. In a lesson in Key Stage 1, pupils made good progress using reasoning to solve mathematical problems. The number of opportunities for pupils to investigate and apply skills to solve problems is increasing but there are still not enough of them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of reading, writing and communication skills is good. Teachers ensure pupils apply their reading skills well in a wide range of subjects. They ensure that pupils master the basic skills of spelling punctuation and grammar. Pupils write well for different purposes and in different styles. For example, pupils in Key Stage 2 wrote interesting, creative poems that described a river as having human-like qualities.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Other adults make good contributions to pupils’ progress, sometimes teaching small groups and at other times providing support for individuals. For example, additional adults provide effective support for those pupils who join the school throughout the year, helping them to settle in quickly and catch up with the others.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Sometimes pupils do not make the best progress they should in lessons. This happens when teachers do not provide activities that challenge pupils at different levels of ability sufficiently and so do not move learning forward rapidly enough.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stages 1 and 2 from their starting points. Work in pupils’ books and school records suggest that nearly all of the pupils in the current Year 2 and Year 6 are on track to reach above national average standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of the school year. More pupils are working at the expected attainment for their age this year than was the case last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In 2014, pupils leaving Year 6 made average progress in reading and mathematics and good progress in writing to reach broadly average standards in these subjects. Few pupils made more than the expected progress in reading and mathematics in 2014. Improvements in teaching mean that nearly all of the pupils in the current Year 6 are making the expected progress, with most making faster progress than this.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school’s most-able pupils are making good progress. This is an improvement on the situation in 2014 when few pupils in Year 6 made faster than expected progress. Higher proportions are now exceeding the expected standards for their age in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The results of the national check on pupils’ knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics) at the end of Year 1 in 2014 were average but showed good progress from pupils’ starting points in language. Pupils enjoy reading at school and at home. The school is improving pupils’ reading skills through daily, guided reading activities.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils write at length in different subjects, such as geography and science, and they develop their writing skills well. Their grammar, spelling and punctuation are of a good standard. Older pupils are confident speakers and good listeners. They regularly discuss their ideas together in lessons and also help each other with their learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are making good progress in mathematics. They show good knowledge and understanding of different methods of calculation. They are increasingly using their mathematical skills to investigate and solve mathematical problems.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are benefiting from effective early identification of their individual needs and the extra help that is given quickly. As a result, these pupils are making the same good progress as other pupils.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils make good progress overall and achieve at least as well as their peers because the school uses its extra funding effectively. For example, the money is used to provide extra literacy and numeracy support that is effective in speeding up the pupils’ progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In 2014, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 was too small to comment on their attainment without risk of identifying individual pupils. This was also the case for the previous year. The school’s own evidence and that gathered during the inspection show that disadvantaged pupils make good progress throughout the school and the gaps in their attainment compared with other pupils in the school continue to close.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years provision is well led and managed, with all adults working closely together. Staff work closely with parents so they are kept well informed and involved in their children’s education.

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The early years provision is good

 Most children join the school with knowledge and skills that are below what is typical for their age, with weaknesses in their language and communication skills. They make good progress across all areas of learning. School data shows that, by the end of Reception, the number of children reaching a good level of development has risen this year compared with last and pupils are well prepared to move into Year 1.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. Adults check children’s learning and development frequently and find out what stimulates and interests them. This information is used to make learning interesting and fun.

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The early years provision is good

 Children enjoy a wide range of exciting indoor and outdoor experiences. Learning activities are particularly well thought out. They follow the interests of children closely, inspiring them to learn more. Adults develop children’s speaking and listening skills and extend their vocabulary well. Small group sessions teach children basic numeracy and early writing skills but these are not always promoted as much as possible when children move to other activities.

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The early years provision is good

 Children are safe and well cared for. Adults establish strong relationships with the children, and their positive responses mean they behave well. The children grow in confidence and relate well to adults and each other. They share learning resources and take turns. Children clearly enjoy their learning.

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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 140139 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 450335

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 72 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Brill Headteacher Samantha Dennis Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected as an academy Telephone number 01827 830220 Fax number 01827 830937 Email address admin@newtonregis.heartwoodmat.co.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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