Nishkam Primary School Wolverhampton

Nishkam Primary School Wolverhampton Great Brickkiln Street, Wolverhampton, WV3 0PR

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Early years provision Good 2

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Leaders and managers have not taken effective action to improve teaching in Year 1. Leaders’ checks of pupils’ work in books have not sufficiently identified weaknesses in teachers’ planning, teaching and pupils’ progress.  The quality of teaching is too variable in the school. Teaching does not always meet the needs of all learners. As a result, progress in some lessons is not as good as it could be. Pupils’ progress in Year 1 slows down particularly in writing and mathematics.  Teachers do not give pupils clear enough guidance on how to improve their work. Some mathematics work is marked as correct when it is, in fact, incorrect.  Teachers and leaders have underestimated the skills of pupils when they start in early years and Year 1. Assessment information is not completely accurate and therefore teachers are unclear about the rate of pupils’ progress.  The most-able pupils do not always make as much

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

progress as they should.  External consultants and an education advisor from the Department for Education have been too generous in their assessment of the school. Their reports have supported the inaccurate view of leaders and governors about the quality of teaching and achievement.

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The school has the following strengths

 Provision for reading is effective across the school.  Children in the early years make good progress. Good teaching and interesting learning opportunities enable children to settle quickly, listen well and improve their skills.  Parents are appreciative of the recent changes made by the new sponsors, the Nishkam School Trust, such as the new behaviour monitoring system and improvements made to the buildings. Parents value their children’s educational experiences at the school.  Pupils work together well. They share ideas when learning and support each other both in lessons and at playtimes.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are good. They behave well and say they enjoy school.  The school’s values-based curriculum is a strength and is clearly visible in all aspects of the provision.  Effective work with a range of external organisations supports the curriculum and pupils’ understanding of how to stay safe.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed 12 lessons or part lessons, including examples of teaching in both year groups. Three of these lesson observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, executive principal, governors and a representative from the Department of Education who has been monitoring the school.  The inspection team, together with the headteacher, looked at a range of pupils’ books to establish the progress and quality of their work over time.  Informal discussions were held with parents to gauge their views of the school. The inspection team took account of 18 recent responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and analysed 10 responses from the staff questionnaires.  The inspectors talked with groups of pupils during their lessons, and at playtimes, to find out their views about the school.  The inspection team heard pupils reading and observed their behaviour in lessons and around the school.

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Information about this inspection

 A wide range of documents were looked at by the inspectors, including the school’s plans for improvement, external monitoring reports, staff development, and information on pupils’ attainment and their progress. Inspectors also saw records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Stuart Bellworthy, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 Nishkam Primary School is a Sikh ethos, multi-faith free school. The school is currently much smaller than most primary schools. Pupil numbers are projected to double in September 2015.  The school opened as Anand Primary School in September 2013 with 17 pupils. Following a request from the Department of Education, the Nishkam School Trust has managed the school since September 2014. The current headteacher, governing body and most of the staff started in September 2014. Two of the current governors are parent governors. The original school buildings have been modernised and further building work is taking place.  Nearly half of the pupils are of Indian heritage. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language is well-above that of other schools nationally.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding is in line with the

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Information about this school

national average. The pupil premium is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs is below the national average. There are no disabled pupils in the school.  Children in the Reception class attend full time.  As the school currently has early years and Year 1 pupils only, it has not been assessed against the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, particularly of writing and mathematics, so that it is consistently good or better and pupils’ achievement improves rapidly, by ensuring that teachers:  always deliver lessons that meet the needs of all pupils, including the most able and ensure all pupils remain engaged  give accurate feedback to pupils, so that they can use this to improve their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that:  assessments of what pupils can do are accurate, used to inform teaching and are transferred to the next class  leaders’ and governors’ evaluations of the work of the school are accurate and used effectively to improve the education provided  leaders take rapid and appropriate action to improve the quality of teaching when it is less than good  middle leadership is developed to meet the needs of the school as pupil numbers grow.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and managers have an over-optimistic view of the quality of teaching and achievement in the school. They have used assessment information which is not completely accurate and external reports to support this view. Checks on the quality of teaching and the work in pupils’ books have not been sufficiently accurate to identify issues and quickly bring about improvements to pupils’ progress in Year 1.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 While the quality of teaching is good in early years, the steps taken by leaders to improve teaching have not had a noticeable impact in the rest of the school. The school works closely with the three other schools in the Nishkam School Trust, which provide some support and training, but not enough has been done to ensure carefully planned teaching meets the needs of all pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Middle leadership needs to be developed as pupil numbers grow. Due to the small size of the school, there are no middle leaders at present. All class teachers are newly-qualified and supported by the headteacher and leaders from other local schools. The school has advertised for a deputy headteacher but was not successful in finding a suitable candidate. This means there is currently very limited scope to share leadership roles.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders have commissioned a number of external consultants to complete reviews of the school and an education advisor from the Department for Education visited the school in December 2014. The reports of these visits are over-generous and have not identified some weaknesses in assessment information, teaching and pupils’ progress. Consequently, external reports have supported the over-optimistic view of leaders and governors about the quality of education being provided by the school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders use pupil premium funding well to support those pupils eligible for this funding. For example, staff have been trained in language development for pupils whose first language is not English and an additional teacher has been employed to support specific programmes in mathematics, reading, and writing. As a result, the extra help has enabled the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in the school to reduce.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has a strong culture of safeguarding the well-being of pupils. The schools’ procedures for safeguarding pupils meet all the statutory requirements. Essential staff training is kept up to date so that everyone knows what to do if they have concerns about a pupil. When concerns are identified, the school works very closely with families and ensures other agencies also provide the support needed.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s values-based curriculum provides a good range of learning experiences. Pupils are taught to demonstrate good values at all times of the school day. For example, pupils are rewarded if they show good sharing values when playing with equipment. Reading, writing and mathematics are supplemented by a topic-based approach in all other subjects. Consequently, pupils have a good range of opportunities to develop their interests and skills in different curriculum areas.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The multi-faith ethos and strong values of the school are clearly seen in the displays, work and conduct of the pupils. Prayer times provide good opportunities to develop pupils’ spiritual awareness. Pupils learn about democracy through voting in class on themes linked to British values. These opportunities, along with the school’s values-based curriculum, have helped to develop pupils’ understanding and respect for others and supported their preparation for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school promotes equality of opportunity, fosters good relations and tackles discrimination well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The primary sports funding has been used well to increase pupils’ participation and enjoyment of physical education. A specialist sports teacher has been employed to teach physical education across the school and lead after-school sports clubs. Families have also been involved in a ‘Get Fit’ programme. As a result, pupils have access to a range of physical opportunities, which reinforce the importance of healthy lifestyles.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 School staff are very welcoming, friendly and work closely with parents. Parents say they can talk to staff if they have any concerns and the school makes changes if needed. The Parent View results show that nearly all parents are very supportive of the school. Parents told inspectors that communication with the school is very good and they have noticed clear improvements since September.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Most governors are experienced and some are also governors at other local schools that are part of the Nishkam School Trust.  Governors are generally effective in carrying out their responsibilities. They hold the school to account to check that pupils are progressing using the information they are given. However, inaccurate assessment information and over-generous reports about the quality of teaching have not enabled the governors to have a clear picture of the school’s performance. Consequently, governors believe the school is performing at a higher level than it actually is.  Governors are knowledgeable about how additional funding, such as the pupil premium and the sport premium grant, is being spent and check that it is making a positive difference to pupils’ achievement.  Governors manage the school’s budget well. As the Nishkam School Trust has managed this school

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The leadership and management requires improvement

since September, governors have not yet had to make decisions about appraisal and pay increases. Due to a planned increase in pupil numbers, governors have been involved in recent staff appointments ready for September.  The safeguarding governor is trained and helps in ensuring all safeguarding requirements are met.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They have positive attitudes towards all adults and each other. Staff promote good behaviour and manage most pupils’ needs well. Consequently, lessons are rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. Any less-positive behaviour is linked to teaching that does not fully engage and meet the needs of all the pupils.

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Behaviour

 Nearly all staff and parents are very positive about the management of behaviour in the school. Pupils respond well to the school’s electronic behaviour monitoring system. Parents are pleased to be able to keep a check on their children’s behaviour through digital media and ask staff for more detail when necessary. Staff work closely with both parents and outside agencies to support pupils’ needs.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are confident that they can go and speak to adults if there is a problem. Pupils say that adults help resolve any problems they have at playtimes, which are rare.

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Behaviour

 Pupils say that learning is fun at school and they enjoy coming to school. Nearly all pupils respond well to adults’ questions and prompts. Pupils move sensibly between activities in lessons and work thoughtfully during group work, considering each other’s views and ideas.

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Behaviour

 School leaders record the rare incidents of poor behaviour carefully.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Safe practices are emphasised and embedded in all aspects of the school’s work. Pupils unanimously say they feel safe, because adults are always there to look after them.

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Safety

 Pupils are made aware of how to keep themselves and others safe. Visitors to the school such as the police and fire service support pupils’ understanding of safety. Pupils are taught about how to stay safe when using the internet and displays reinforce this.

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Safety

 Safeguarding procedures are strong and meet all statutory requirements. The management of safeguarding is effectively organised and all staff are appropriately and regularly trained. The headteacher has good communication with parents and works closely with outside agencies to safeguard individual pupils as needed.

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Safety

 The school is aiming to achieve high attendance and any absences are quickly followed up. Pupils’ attendance rates are in line with the national average for all groups. Illness has had a noticeable effect on attendance, especially due the age of the pupils and size of the school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching over time is too variable across the school. Teaching is stronger in Reception and enables children to develop their skills securely. Teaching in Year 1 does not enable all pupils to make secure progress, especially in mathematics and writing. Overall, teaching requires improvement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Children make secure progress in Reception, because the teaching is stronger. Sequences of teaching are well planned and both adults are skilled at adjusting lessons to further develop learning. Consequently, these pupils develop secure skills in nearly all of the areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in Year 1 does not meet the needs of all the learners. Teaching does not challenge pupils enough to develop their knowledge. As a result, pupils’ misunderstandings are sometimes left unchecked. This can lead to low-level disruption from a few pupils and their progress is not as good as it could be. Work is marked, but some mistakes are made in marking and pupils are not given clear guidance to improve their work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The school has recently arranged some additional external support to help improve teaching. However, at the time of the inspection, it was too early to judge the impact of this support. Well-directed support has not been provided early enough by leaders and managers.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of mathematics and writing is too variable across the school. Pupils in Year 1 do not always fully understand what they are learning and work does not always follow a clear sequence. Consequently, these pupils do not develop their writing and mathematics skills quickly and make as much progress as they should. Where teaching is stronger, teachers set well-planned activities and make good use of additional adult support. For example, in a guided reading and writing lesson seen in Reception, children were reading well from a well-chosen text. A writing group were effectively supported by the associate teacher, who helped the children to correct their spellings, using their phonic skills (the sounds that letters represent). As a result, children made good progress in reading and writing.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of reading is stronger across the school. All pupils have daily phonics lessons arranged in small groups according to their ability. Pupils were seen confidently using and developing their phonic and reading skills in several lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Inaccurate assessment information has been used to set pupil targets for reading, writing and mathematics. This means that not all pupils have targets which will challenge them. In addition, teachers do not always set work which is challenging enough and therefore some pupils do not make as much progress as they could.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils who have special educational needs are well-supported by an intervention teacher out-of-class and are helped by additional adults in class. Individual support and effective guidance is used to help these pupils correct errors and improve writing skills. Consequently, this group of pupils are making progress in line with other pupils in the school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers promote good relationships, as well as a high level of respect for each other and different faiths. The school’s strong ethos and local links enable pupils to develop an understanding of the value of belonging to a community. All pupils are known well by all members of staff and feel well cared for as a result.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress slows down in Year 1 and therefore their achievement becomes weaker. As the oldest pupils are currently only in Year 1, it is not possible to make further comparisons with schools nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 As a result of better teaching and provision, achievement in reading is stronger than it is in writing and mathematics across the school. School records suggest that pupils are on track to be at least in line with the national average in the Year 1 phonics check.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most children achieve well in Reception. Their attainment was above the national average in 2014, in nearly all areas. Children develop their mathematics skills well in Reception. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development in mathematics is above the national average. Attainment in 2014 was above the national average in numbers and equivalent to the national average in shape, space and measures. Pupils continue to develop their mathematics skills in Year 1, but the rate of pupils’ progress slows down.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children achieve well in writing in Reception. Both boys and girls develop their writing skills well and make good progress in their first year at school. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development in writing is above the national average. This is a result of good teaching and provision for all children, including those who speak English as an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress in writing and mathematics slows down in Year 1. This is because the work they are given is not always at the right level and teachers’ marking does not always help them to improve their work. In writing, pupils do not effectively develop their skills in structuring sentences, and their use of punctuation in inconsistent. In mathematics, they often repeat calculations at basic levels without moving on quickly enough to more challenging tasks.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most-able pupils do not always achieve as well as they could. This is because they are given some work which is repetitive. They do not receive enough challenging work to help them progress further.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils with special educational needs make progress in line with that of others. They are given effective additional support in developing basic skills out-of class. However, as with other groups in Year 1, they are not always able to develop their understanding quickly enough because work is not always set at the right level.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The additional support given to disadvantaged pupils has enabled the school to slightly reduce the achievement gap between these pupils and the others in the school. As there are no Year 2 or Year 6 pupils in the school, no comparisons with national information are possible.

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The early years provision is good

 Children are happy, taught well and make good progress in early years. As a result, the proportion of pupils who achieved a good level of development in early years, was above the national average in 2014 in nearly all areas.

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The early years provision is good

 The shared leadership and management of the early years is good overall. The early years staff are well trained and are successful in providing a stimulating learning environment that captures children’s imagination. Staff have high expectations of most children and are keen to develop their practice to improve the provision for the children. However, inaccurate assessment information has affected leaders’ ability to measure progress and plan detailed developments for the early years provision.

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The early years provision is good

 Children join the Reception class with weaknesses in some skills, especially those of English language and communication. Good teaching and support enable children to make good progress in all areas of learning, so that nearly all children are well prepared for Year 1 at the end of Reception. A small number of children were eligible for the pupil premium funding in 2014. These children achieved better than eligible children nationally and nearly as well as other pupils in the class.

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The early years provision is good

 A wide range of carefully planned and well-resourced learning activities ensure that children have daily opportunities to learn and achieve well. For example, teachers focus well on small groups to develop key skills such as phonics. Associate teachers use good subject knowledge and effective questioning to support groups well.

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The early years provision is good

 Children begin the school day confidently and happily because of the well-established routines that are reinforced by all adults working in Reception. Adults ensure children learn in a safe and caring environment and regularly check the provision and equipment to make sure it is safe to use.

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The early years provision is good

 Early years staff are skilled at working with young children and set clear learning expectations that the children understand. Consequently, children have good listening skills, are enthusiastic to learn and behave well. They develop a good sense of how to keep themselves and others safe and are keen to join in the wide range of learning activities.

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The early years provision is good

 There are a very small number of children with special educational needs in Reception. These children are nurtured well and make progress in line with others. Adults ensure that most children are provided with just the right amount of challenge to make good progress. However, the most-able children are not always given activities that challenge them enough to make the progress they are capable of.

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The early years provision is good

 Parents who spoke with inspectors were all very positive and appreciative of the good start their children were making to school. They confirmed they are kept regularly informed of their children’s learning and progress through informal discussion with teachers.

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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 139274 Local authority Wolverhampton Inspection number 450200

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 57 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Brinder Singh Mahon Headteacher Harmander Singh Dhanjal Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01902 554900 Fax number Not applicable Email address info-npsw@nishkamschool.org 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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