Braunstone Frith Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 25 Jun 2015

Braunstone Frith Primary School Cuffling Drive, Leicester, LE3 6NF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected 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

 Leaders and managers at all levels have high aspirations for the school. The school is improving because they have successfully created a climate in which pupils thrive and achieve well.  The excellent, innovative methods used by leaders and managers to check and improve the quality of teaching are having a strong, positive impact.  Leaders maintain detailed records, externally checked for accuracy, that show pupils are currently making good progress. Any pupils at risk of falling behind are quickly helped to keep up.  Governors are very clear about their roles. They are supportive and challenge leaders to ensure continued improvement. Governors visit regularly to see for themselves how well the school is doing.  Children get a good start to school in the early years classes. Well planned activities and good teaching ensure they develop well across almost all areas of learning.  Pupils achieve well and make good progress in

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

reading, writing and mathematics. The improvement in reading over this academic year has been exceptional. As a result, standards are rising quickly.  Teachers make sure that lessons are interesting. They manage teaching assistants’ work exceptionally well to support pupils’ learning.  Pupils behave well in and around school. They are pleasant and polite to adults and each other. They are enthusiastic about their learning and try hard in lessons.  All staff work diligently to ensure pupils are kept safe. Pupils know that there is always someone they can go to if they have a concern. The school deals promptly and effectively with any incidents of poor behaviour.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Occasionally, tasks are too easy to get the best out of the most-able pupils.  For some pupils, learning is sometimes hampered because not enough attention is given to ensuring their basic number and spelling skills are secure.  In the early years, staff do not always promote children’s speaking skills, and the link to their writing, as fully as they could.  Leaders’ plans to include literacy and numeracy tasks in a wider range of subjects are not yet implemented. As a result, pupils do not always develop these skills to the full.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 23 lessons, some of which were jointly observed with the headteacher or deputy headteachers.  The inspection team held meetings with the headteacher and other staff, two groups of pupils, two governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body, and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors held informal discussions with parents and pupils.  Inspectors took account of the 40 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire Parent View, the returns from the school’s own parental questionnaires and discussions with parents at the start and end of the school day. They considered the 62 questionnaires completed by staff.  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; school improvement plans; records relating to classroom observations and the management of staff

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Information about this inspection

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

Ruth McFarlane, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school. It was formed in September 2013 from Braunstone Frith Junior School, which has since closed, and Braunstone Frith Infant School. When the two schools were last inspected by Ofsted, in March 2013 and November 2010 respectively, they were judged to be good.  The headteacher came to the substantive post from the headship of the former Braunstone Frith Infant School. She was also acting headteacher of the junior school.  Since the school opened, major building works, recently completed, have linked the premises of the former junior school with the former infant school.  Children in the early years attend part-time in the Nursery class in the year in which they are four. Most then move to a full-time Reception class at the beginning of the year in which they are five.  A smaller proportion of pupils than average are White British. Many different minority ethnic groups make

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Information about this school

up the rest of the school population, comprising over a third of the pupils. This is a higher proportion than average. However, a smaller proportion of pupils than average speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is well above the national 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 above average.  The Chair of the Governing Body took up post in February 2015. Several new governors have also joined the governing body recently.  The school uses alternative provision occasionally. Currently, it is using the Goldhill Adventure Playground for two days per week. The provision contains a unit to support pupils with behaviour difficulties.  The school works informally with two nearby schools that are judged to be outstanding by Ofsted. The

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Information about this school

schools work together to share expertise and develop teaching and leadership skills.  In 2014, the school did not meet 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 teaching by:  ensuring sufficient challenge is offered to the most-able pupils so that they develop stronger research and thinking skills  ensuring that teachers reinforce pupils’ basic number and spelling skills more consistently across the school  using every opportunity to encourage children in the early years to develop their speaking skills, and placing greater emphasis, when planning activities, on developing the links between speaking and writing.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Fully develop and implement plans to reinforce and deepen pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills in a wider range of subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is highly skilled in school improvement and creates a climate in which good teaching flourishes and pupils behave well. Leaders and managers share her ambition for the school’s success.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subject leaders and phase leaders (those responsible for leading a section of the school, including the early years) all contribute effectively to school improvement. Leaders have responded rapidly to data showing that standards for the Year 6 cohort in 2014 were too low. For example, they have introduced new and highly effective teaching methods for reading. All leaders and managers ensure that priorities for development, drawn from the school’s accurate self-evaluation, are met.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders track the progress that groups and individual pupils make rigorously. Any pupils at risk of faltering are quickly identified and helped to keep up. Assessments of pupils’ work and progress are accurate as a result of the school working in partnership with two other local schools.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of teaching is effective. Leaders have made marked improvements in teaching in the past year and are quickly addressing any remaining weaknesses. The school uses a highly effective process to improve classroom performance. Support often takes the form of remote camera monitoring, with the teacher wearing an ear-piece for in-lesson advice from trained coaching staff. The immediate improvement this has brought about is evident in the consistently good teaching by both newly qualified teachers and established staff. The appraisal process, which rewards teachers with a pay rise when their pupils achieve well, is rigorous.

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The leadership and management are good

 The actions leaders have taken to improve achievement have been very effective. The introduction of ability groups in the mornings has led to increased rates of progress, especially in writing and mathematics. The adjustments the school has made to its curriculum to accommodate an intensive additional programme to improve reading have had a significant and positive impact. The range of subjects taught is exciting and interests pupils, who are enthusiastic about their lessons. Leaders are planning to capture this enthusiasm and raise standards further by incorporating literacy and numeracy skills more deeply in a range of other subjects, but this work is not fully developed.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses the primary sports premium effectively. As a result, more pupils take part in physical activities and develop strong sporting skills and healthy lifestyles. The school further develops’ pupils physical development very successfully through competitive team sports, such as volleyball, basketball and tag rugby. It also offers the chance to take part in Paralympics sports, such as ‘New Age Kurling’ (a form of curling that is not played on ice), and boccia (related to bowls) to broaden pupils’ interest and skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school makes effective use of the pupil premium. This is having a marked impact on pupils’ progress, often as a result of the high quality additional adult support the school provides. Gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others are closing as a result. This reflects the school’s drive to ensure equality of opportunity and tackle discrimination so that all groups of pupils achieve equally well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school actively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness and their understanding of fundamental British values through assemblies and a well-planned personal, social and health education programme. The school places a strong emphasis on developing pupils’ understanding of the importance of individual liberty and democracy. Pupils develop respect and tolerance of other beliefs through learning about other religions. The school’s ‘good behaviour’ policy instils respect for authority and social rules. The school’s support for these qualities and skills equips them well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders ensure that the school’s safeguarding arrangements are effective and meet statutory requirements. Staff vetting procedures are meticulous. The school undertakes all risk assessments rigorously, for example, in respect to alternative provision.

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The leadership and management are good

 In the online Parent View questionnaire, most parents indicated their children are happy at school. The school’s own parental surveys, and parents spoken with at the start and end of the school day, demonstrated strong support for all aspects of the school. Typical comments were, ‘I am ecstatic about this school’ and ‘It’s a fantastic school’.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has supported the school well in its development as a new school. It has encouraged the school to develop productive links with other local schools. These links enable members of staff to share expertise. Leaders closely check the progress, attendance and behaviour of any pupils attending alternative provision.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is led very well by the recently appointed Chair. Despite a number of governors being new, they fully understand their roles. Governors are extremely supportive and challenge leaders to make sure that the school continues to improve. They make regular visits to talk to staff and pupils and to see for themselves how improvement is going.  Governors have an accurate view of the quality of teaching. They use pupil performance data well to check that all groups of pupils are making good progress. Governors make sure that the appraisal system is robust and only rewards teachers when their pupils achieve well. They check that any weaker teaching is improved.  Governors make sure that the pupil premium is used effectively. They also check that the primary sports funding is used to improve pupils’ skills and opportunities. They ensure that statutory requirements are

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are courteous and helpful to adults and each other. From the earliest age, pupils are enthusiastic about their learning. They cooperate well with each other and work hard on their own as well as in groups.

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Behaviour

 Older pupils enthusiastically take on responsibility. Prefects are chosen for their own good behaviour, and their readiness to work hard and be good role models for others. School councillors are elected by their peers, encouraging an understanding of democracy.

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Behaviour

 Pupils told inspectors that nearly everyone behaves well. A minority of parents who completed Parent View indicted concern about the management of behaviour but the school’s own parental surveys are highly positive. Records, and parents spoken with, confirm that pupils’ behaviour is typically good. The school deals promptly and effectively with any rare incident of poor behaviour.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils in alternative provision is closely monitored by the school. There are too few such pupils to make a comment about their behaviour without identifying them.

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Behaviour

 The school is doing all it can to raise levels of attendance for the few pupils who have not attended well in the past. Consequently, attendance levels are now broadly average.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say that the teachers and other adults look after them well. The provision of toast in the mornings, available for all who want it, provides a good, welcoming, social start in the classrooms, and is much appreciated by the pupils.

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Safety

 Safeguarding procedures are implemented well. Staff receive regular training on safeguarding issues and rigorously follow up any concerns about pupils’ well-being. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, including the potential dangers of using the internet.

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Safety

 The safety of pupils in alternative provision is closely checked by the school. Leaders assess any risks and ensure that all pupils placed in such provision are kept safe.

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Safety

 Pupils understand what bullying is, including cyber- and physical bullying. A small minority of parents expressed concern, in the online questionnaire, about the way the school deals with bullying. Records and discussion with staff, pupils and parents indicated that there is little bullying in the school and it is dealt with effectively.

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Safety

 A few parents expressed concerns about safety in the online questionnaire. Inspectors therefore asked many parents and pupils about how safe the school is. Their highly positive responses, and the views of most parents who completed Parent View, together with a check of records relating to all aspects of safety in the school, confirm that the school is a safe environment in which to learn.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers throughout the school have good subject knowledge. In the great majority of cases, they use this effectively to move pupils on to the next stage of their learning, enabling them to make good progress. Teachers ask probing questions to check pupils’ knowledge and help deepen understanding. For example they follow up initial questions with further queries such as ‘How do you know?’ and, ‘Explain your thinking.’

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers manage teaching assistants’ work exceptionally well so that they follow the good practice of class teachers. This means that disadvantaged and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported. Those who speak English as an additional language receive individual support to help them become confident when communicating with others in class.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Intensive work to improve the teaching of reading has raised pupils’ rates of progress significantly. Reading is taught well. From the early years, the teaching of phonics (the sounds letters represent in words) is good, following the recent introduction of new systems. Pupils use phonic skills well to read unfamiliar words. As pupils get older, they are taught to think about what the authors of texts are implying, or hinting at, in the way they write and the words used.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Mathematics is taught well. As a result, standards have improved. In Year 2, pupils enjoy problem solving and make good progress because the work is engaging and absorbing. In one activity, for example, they had to decide how to rescue ‘Pirate Polly’ who had been kidnapped. This involved working out how to make up £5, using various coins and calculations.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Literacy is taught equally effectively, with teachers insisting pupils use terminology and grammatical constructions correctly. Pupils in Year 1 can explain how adjectives enliven their writing and where in the sentence structure they fit. In Year 6, pupils show understanding of a wide range of grammatical structures, and, in this respect are achieving above the level expected for their age. However, as with numeracy, teachers do not always give sufficient emphasis to reinforcing pupils’ literacy skills in other subjects.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Marking is sometimes excellent and most teachers offer helpful guidance as to how pupils can improve their literacy and mathematics work. However, not all teachers check consistently that pupils’ spelling and use of basic numbers are accurate, so that, for some pupils, these basic skills are sometimes underdeveloped.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The tasks teachers provide are often exciting and engaging and lead to good progress for most pupils. Just occasionally, tasks for the most-able pupils are too easy. When this happens, it delays progress for these pupils, and limits their opportunities to think hard and develop research skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In Key Stage 2, attainment in 2014 was below average in reading and mathematics. The government’s required standards were not met. Standards were average in writing and in the grammar, punctuation and spelling test. However, school data show that these pupils had made at least expected progress in the period following the opening of the new school. Pupils currently in the school are making good progress overall. School data indicates that they are on track to gain much improved results this year.  Pupils in all year groups are making exceptional progress in reading. Their improved fluency and understanding of what they read have had a positive impact on their achievement in all subjects. This includes the many different minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from all ethnic groups and abilities make good progress in writing and mathematics, although there is still some slight unevenness in their rates of progress in different classes and between subjects. However, across the school as a whole, progress is accelerating in response to the highly effective action taken by leaders to improve teaching and their meticulous tracking of progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children get off to a good start in the early years and continue to achieve well as they move through the school. The improvements made in the way that phonics is taught led to an above average proportion of children achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check in 2014. In Key Stage 1, pupils achieve well, from low starting points. In 2014, standards in reading and writing at the end of the key stage were broadly average. In mathematics, they were just below, due to a weakness in pupils’ grasp of numbers, which continues to affect their achievement in Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the 2014 National Curriculum tests, disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 had caught up with others in their class and attained the same results in writing and mathematics. In reading, they were about six months behind their classmates. Compared with others nationally, in writing, they were about six months behind; in mathematics, they were nearly two and a half terms behind, and in reading, they were about eighteen months behind. Gaps in performance are closing rapidly because disadvantaged pupils currently in the school are making good progress, from their individual starting points, in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported. Their needs are quickly identified, sometimes while they are still in the early years classes, and appropriate support is provided. This enables them to achieve well from their different starting points.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The progress and achievement of any pupil who attends alternative, part-time provision is checked thoroughly by the school. There are too few to make a comment about their progress or attainment without identifying them.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils achieve well overall but some could achieve even more. Fewer pupils than average achieved the higher Level 3 in Year 2 in 2014, but current work shows a higher proportion of pupils are working at this level now. In Year 6 in 2014, although a smaller proportion of the cohort than average, all of the pupils who had reached the higher Level 3, in Year 2, made the expected progress and achieved Level 5 at age 11. The work in pupils’ books suggests that a higher proportion of pupils are working at this level currently. However, their progress is still occasionally hampered by a lack of challenge in the work set. For all pupils, spelling skills are sometimes held back due to teachers’ occasional failure to correct inaccuracies.

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The early years provision is good

 Children start in the early years classes with levels of skills which are generally low, and at an early stage of development. Language, personal, social and emotional skills are especially weak. Well planned activities and good teaching help children go on to develop most of these skills, well. Even so, although they made good progress from their starting points, in 2014, the proportion of pupils who achieved a good level of development was below average. New assessment information, about the 2015 cohort, indicates that this has improved.

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The early years provision is good

 Good leadership and management in the early years ensure that teachers’ assessments of children’s progress are accurate and carefully recorded. Their rigorous tracking makes sure that all children are developing strong skills in almost all areas of learning and aspects of their development. Growing numbers of children achieve a good level of development by the time they leave Reception, and this, together with their positive attitudes to learning, means that children are effectively prepared to move on to Key Stage 1.  The early years classes provide a vibrant environment in which children enjoy playing and learning. Children are kept safe in the Nursery and Reception classes by vigilant staff. The activities planned, indoors and outside, encourage children to be inquisitive and develop a love for learning from an early age. They behave well and readily cooperate with each other, sharing ideas and toys. For example, during the

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The early years provision is good

inspection, Reception children worked together cooperatively and with much enthusiasm on the ‘Pirate’ theme work, especially when making ‘pirate party cakes’ and during the ‘pirate treasure game’.

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The early years provision is good

 Teaching is consistently good. Teachers have high expectations of what children can do. During the inspection, children in the Reception classes showed that they understood what a digraph is (two letters, one sound) and that they could successfully use the new knowledge they gained in class to read words such as ‘cow’ and ‘car’. Staff use a variety of techniques to encourage children to spell correctly, but some do not encourage children to talk enough about what they are doing in order to develop fluent speaking skills. This sometimes delays children’s understanding of the link between speaking and writing.

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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 120031 Local authority Leicester Inspection number 450003

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 620 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Boyd Pick Headteacher Amelia Smith Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0116 2872487 Fax number 0116 2874020 Email address office@braunstonefrith.leicester.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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