Lote Tree Primary School

643 Foleshill Road, Coventry, West Midlands CV6 5JQ

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Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good Outcomes for children and learners Requires improvement Early years provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection (16/06/2011) Good

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This is a school that requires improvement

 This school requires improvement because leaders have not yet been successful in ensuring that good teaching is consistent in all subjects and year groups.  As a result of these inconsistencies in teaching, as well as in assessment and pupils’ learning, not all pupils make good progress throughout the school. Tasks are not always set at the right level of difficulty for pupils, and marking is not consistently leading to improved learning.  The system for managing the performance of teachers is not yet fully developed. The targets that are set for teachers do not make coherent links to pupils’ progress.  Pupils do not develop a sufficient depth of knowledge in all subjects taught. For example, pupils’ knowledge of world geography is not as well developed as it should be.  School improvement plans do not include indicators of how leaders will measure the effectiveness of their work. As a result, governors cannot check if leaders

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This is a school that requires improvement

are making the necessary improvements, particularly with regard to the rate of pupils’ progress.  Leaders do not systematically analyse the information they have about pupils’ progress in Key Stages 1 and 2. As a result, they do not have an overview of how many pupils are making expected or good progress.  In mathematics, teachers do not routinely check during lessons to ensure that pupils are doing work that is suitably challenging for them. In addition pupils have too few opportunities to develop their problem-solving and logic skills. This results in pupils’ progress being slower than it could be.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders, including governors, have ensured that the independent school standards are met. They have an accurate view of what needs to get better, and there is a palpable desire from all staff to make the necessary improvements.  The early years’ classrooms provide a nurturing environment where children feel safe and are well cared for. Leadership and teaching, learning and assessment are good. As a result, children are ready to start Year 1.  Leaders have established a culture where pupils are valued and nurtured, feel safe and behave well.  The teaching of reading is effective. Children enjoy reading and talk about books with enthusiasm.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted extremely well. Pupils have a very good understanding of their Islamic heritage, what it means to live in modern Britain and how they should respect others’ beliefs.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by: ensuring that improvement plans state how leaders and governors will measure the effectiveness of their actions systematically analysing information about pupils’ progress to check that all pupils are making good progress from their starting points enabling governors to check how well groups of pupils are achieving by providing them with a full analysis of pupils’ progress across the school making more coherent links to pupils’ progress when setting targets for teachers during performance management procedures.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and accelerate the progress of all pupils by ensuring that: all teachers use the information that is available about pupils’ achievement to set work at the right level of difficulty pupils are moved onto work that is more challenging as soon as they ready to be moved on the resources that are in place to support pupils, for example worksheets, provide them with enough opportunity to show what they know and can do, and require their thinking to be challenged pupils have more opportunities to develop problem-solving, reasoning and logic skills in mathematics marking and feedback help pupils to improve by ensuring that the best practice in marking is shared with all staff the teaching of all subjects, including geography and history, provides pupils with the depth of knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age and ability.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because pupils in all classes do not yet achieve equally well and make good progress. Leaders have not yet secured consistently good teaching, learning and assessment across the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and governors are committed to ensuring that the school improves. They have an accurate view of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and understand what actions need to be taken in order to make improvements. However, there is a lack of strategic overview to the plans for improvement. Leaders do not identify how or when they will measure if their actions have had an impact. So, although leaders work hard to tackle weaknesses, they do not know which actions have been most successful. Parents and staff members who spoke to inspectors are supportive of the work of the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders collect accurate information about how much progress individual pupils are making. However, they do not summarise or analyse this information to give an overall picture of how well groups or classes of pupils are achieving. As a result, they do not have a complete picture of achievement across the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Appropriate systems are in place to manage the performance of staff. Leaders provide teachers with helpful feedback after observing teaching or scrutinising pupils’ workbooks. Teachers receive this feedback enthusiastically and act on it because they are keen to improve. However, the annual targets that are set for teachers do not clearly link to the school improvement plan or to targets for pupils’ progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 A comprehensive system of training, coaching and mentoring is in place for staff. This has led to improvements in teaching, but has yet to achieve consistently good practice in all classes.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has been successful in establishing a strong school culture, built on the values of tolerance and respect, where all pupils are valued as individuals. She is clear about what she wants to achieve, and school policies and practices reflect this. Pupils gain a good grounding in their Islamic faith as well as learning about how to live this out practically in multicultural Britain.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated and all pupils are treated equally. British values are actively promoted, and pupils have a good understanding of the legal system and the purpose and importance of voting. Pupils learn about expressing an opinion and having personal beliefs as well as valuing the opinions and beliefs of others. This, together with the strong commitment to developing the pupils socially, morally, spiritually and culturally, is a strength of the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and governors have a clear vision for the curriculum. Pupils are taught an appropriate range of subjects and benefit from trips to places of interest and from visitors to the school. For example, ‘Mary Poppins’ recently visited the school on World Book Day. There are a range of opportunities for pupils to raise money for charities, for example the NSPCC, and visits to places of worship used by those of other faiths are organised. However older pupils’ knowledge and understanding of world geography and some aspects of history are not yet at age-appropriate levels.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The leadership of the early years is effective. This has led to a smooth transition of the Nursery provision from the secondary site which has now closed. Teaching is good and the pupils are offered stimulating and interesting learning opportunities. Children’s progress through the early years is tracked carefully and recorded in detail in ‘learning journeys’. The leader is aware that the outdoor provision is not as well developed as the indoor learning environments and has appropriate plans in place to address this.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school: governors set the strategic direction for the school and work with the headteacher to develop the statutory policies. They have ensured that all independent school standards are met  governors are not able to fully assess the progress of the school because action plans do not always include targets that can be measured or steps that can be evaluated at regular intervals to check the pace of improvement.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Statutory requirements are met. Safeguarding and child protection procedures are well developed and thorough. All members of staff understand what to do if they are worried about a pupil. Staff have received training on a range of safeguarding topics, including female genital mutilation, forced marriage and the dangers associated with radicalisation and extremism. They are alert to any signs of this within the school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teaching, learning and assessment require improvement because, although there are many aspects of good teaching in the school, this is not consistently the case across all classes and subjects. It is this lack of consistency that prevents teaching from being good overall.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Not all teachers routinely move pupils on to harder learning, or expect them to apply their learning quickly enough. This is particularly the case in mathematics. Often, all the pupils, irrespective of their ability, are required to complete a large number of calculations of the same type and level of difficulty. This provides insufficient challenge for some pupils who could make faster progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Pupils do not get enough opportunities in mathematics to solve problems or to develop their logic and reasoning skills. Pupils have a good grasp of basic calculation skills and mental arithmetic but get too few chances to apply this knowledge to interesting or real-life contexts.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Adults have warm, caring and supportive relationships with pupils. This is universally the case throughout the school. As a result, pupils develop positive attitudes to learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teachers regularly assess how well pupils are progressing in mathematics, reading and writing. This assessment information is accurate and reflects what pupils know and can do. However, not all teachers use this information to help them to plan lessons that help all pupils to learn new things and make the progress of which they are capable.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Where learning is least effective, the focus is on completing a task or a worksheet rather than learning something new. The over-reliance on worksheets limits what pupils can write, and prevents them from showing how much they know and can do. Practical resources are not always used to good effect to stimulate pupils’ interest and help them to visualise and experience the concept being taught. In addition, teachers do not set work that gives pupils an adequate level of challenge. Pupils behave well and complete the work without complaint, but it is often too easy.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Conversely, where learning is effective, teachers have prepared tasks and activities that interest and engage pupils, they ask probing questions that stretch pupils’ thinking. Teachers use assessment information about pupils to set work at just the right level of difficulty. Additional adults provide effective support and challenge for pupils and use their time productively.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Marking and feedback to pupils vary in their quality and effectiveness. In some classes, for example Years 4 and 5, pupils make adjustments and corrections to their work that lead to improvements. However, in some classes and subjects, marking and feedback are cursory and do not help pupils to see how they can improve.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Parents receive regular, helpful and detailed written reports about how their child is achieving. Parents’ evenings and workshops, for example on mathematics, are also held regularly, and help to enable parents to support their child’s learning at home.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 In the Nursery and Reception classes teaching is good. Adults are skilled at joining in with children’s play to help them to learn new things. Activities are accessible, interesting and fun. They capture children’s attention. As a result, children stay on task for extended periods of time and build good levels of concentration.  Phonics (the sounds letters make) is taught well and as a result pupils are quick to develop early reading skills. Additional support for the teaching of phonics is provided in Years 1 and 2. This is effective in ensuring that children make good progress, and that those who are falling behind are identified quickly and appropriate support is provided.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Leaders have created an open culture that fosters harmony and tolerance. This is a strength of the school.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils understand what constitutes bullying and are confident that it does not occur in their school. Adults take time to get to know each pupil and take time to develop positive relationships. Pupils and parents gave inspectors examples of when the school had acted to support them or sort out a worry. As a result, pupils trust the adults to take care of them, and they feel safe and secure.

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Personal development and welfare

 Rates of attendance are in line with those of other primary schools nationally and few pupils are persistently absent. This is because staff are quick to follow up absence. In addition, pupils enjoy school and want to attend regularly.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils learn how to keep healthy. For example, pupils in the Reception class created healthy lunchboxes and spoke to inspectors about healthy foods. Older pupils are aware of the importance of regular exercise and can talk about its impact on the body.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in a number of situations, for example when crossing the road, in case of fire or when using the internet. Pupils explained to inspectors the importance of using the internet under adult supervision, not giving out any personal information, and being aware that people they meet online may not always be who they say they are.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Staff, pupils and parents agree that this is the case. School records verify that incidents of poor behaviour are rare. Pupils respond quickly to adults’ instructions, for example lining up quickly or returning to their seats to start their learning activities. Off-task behaviour is rare, and lessons characteristically run smoothly without interruption.

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Behaviour

 Around the school building, and in the playground, pupils, including the youngest children in Nursery and Reception, follow the school rules and demonstrate good manners. They are friendly to one another and to visitors to the school. Pupils use the stairs sensibly. Older pupils are responsible and ensure that the stairgate is closed behind them in order to keep the younger children safe.

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Behaviour

 Pupils enjoy their playtimes. They socialise well while eating their snacks in the canopied area, quickly tidy away any food wrappings, and then have fun playing together in the playground. Pupils are polite and friendly, and spontaneously display good manners to their peers and to adults.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Rates of progress for pupils currently in the school are not yet good in all classes and subjects. This is because the quality of teaching is variable. Progress for some pupils in some subjects is good, for example in Nursery, Reception and in reading in Years 1 and 2. However, this situation is not replicated across the school and therefore not all pupils are making the progress they are capable of.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Almost all pupils reach the expected level of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. However, this does not always demonstrate good progress from their starting points.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Too little is expected of the most-able pupils. They are capable of achieving much more in each lesson than the teacher anticipates. As a result, progress for some of these pupils is too slow.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Children enter the school in either the Nursery or Reception class with skills and abilities that are broadly typical for their age. As a result of effective teaching they make good progress and are ready to begin Year 1 when the time comes.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Those pupils who are in the early stages of learning English are supported well through the school’s dual language teaching and, as a result, they make good progress.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 In the past, the teaching, learning and assessment in some subjects have not been consistently effective. As a result, for instance in geography, history and religious education, older pupils do not have the knowledge and understanding expected for their age. This means that pupils are not fully prepared to begin secondary school.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Phonics is taught well. Children learn their sounds quickly and are keen to practise what they have learned in their reading and writing. As a result, pupils develop positive attitudes to reading and can use what they have learned to confidently have a go at new and unfamiliar words. Pupils of all ages can say which books they enjoy reading and express their opinions confidently.

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Early years provision is good

 The early years’ provision is good because it enables pupils to make good progress in a safe and nurturing environment. Children are valued for their individuality, and staff know them well. As a result, children settle quickly into both Nursery and Reception. They behave well and develop positive attitudes to school.

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Early years provision is good

 The provision is well led and managed. Leaders are keen to develop the adults and the learning environments. They visit other settings and attend local authority training and briefings in order to develop their practice. As a result, there is a culture of continuous improvement.

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Early years provision is good

 Regular and frequent assessments are undertaken, and children make good progress from their starting points in each of the areas of learning. If assessments show that children are at risk of falling behind, or that any area of learning is underdeveloped, the learning environment is adapted to address this. By the time children move into Year 1, they are ready and well prepared.

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Early years provision is good

 Teaching is good. Children are excited by and interested in the activities that are provided. This helps them to develop curiosity and a love of learning new things. For example, children were observed excitedly exploring ‘bugs’ that had been frozen in blocks of ice, working out how they had got there and how they could be removed. The adults were expertly developing the vocabulary of temperature and the understanding of melting.

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Early years provision is good

 Adults are good role models for the children, encouraging and demonstrating good manners and confidence when speaking in a range of situations. Children who are in the early stages of learning English are given good support in their mother tongue and quickly develop their spoken English skills during their play.

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Early years provision is good

 The outdoor learning environment does not yet provide children with the same quality of rich learning experiences as they have access to in the classroom. Leaders are aware of this and have appropriate plans in place to make improvements.

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School details

Unique reference number 103753 Inspection number 10007688 DfE registration number 331/6022 This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Type of school Primary School status Independent school Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 72 Number of part-time pupils 14 Proprietor Mohammed Ashique Chair Suleman Bhayat Headteacher Mariam Ashique Annual fees (day pupils) £1585 Telephone number 02476261803 Website coventrymuslimschool.com Email address admin@coventrymuslimschool.com Date of previous school inspection 14–16 June 2011

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Information about this school

 Coventry Muslim School is registered for 100 pupils aged from 3 to 16. Currently there are 72 pupils on roll, aged 3 to 11. There are 24 children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Of these, 14 are part-time in the Nursery.  The school’s aim is to ‘instil in children a strong sense of Islamic identity which they can be proud of, while providing them with the highest standards of education’. The school aims ‘to produce responsible and productive, model Muslim citizens who will confidently engage within society and meet the challenges of the future, whilst presenting a positive image of their Islamic personality’.  Until July 2015, the school had secondary pupils. The proprietor and the governors have closed the secondary provision and now provide education for nursery and primary pupils only.  The proprietor and three governors oversee the work of the leadership and management of the school.

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Information about this school

The headteacher is in charge of the day-to-day running of the school.  No pupils are identified as having special educational needs.  A small number of pupils are in the early stages of learning English.  The school was last inspected in June 2011 and judged to be good. A progress monitoring inspection was completed in May 2014 during which the unmet independent school standards identified at the inspection in June were deemed to have been met.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in 16 lessons or part-lessons. Two of these were joint observations with senior leaders.  During visits to classrooms, inspectors reviewed pupils’ work in a range of subjects and spoke with pupils about their learning. They also observed pupils’ behaviour at lunch- and playtimes.  A tour of the school’s premises was undertaken with the headteacher.  Inspectors held discussions with the leadership team, pupils, parents, the proprietor and a member of the governing body.  School documents, policies and records were scrutinised, including safeguarding information, records of pupils’ progress, and behaviour and attendance records. Inspectors also looked at school improvement planning and premises records.  Inspectors spoke informally to parents at the beginning of the school day and after a mathematics workshop. There were not enough responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to enable

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Information about this inspection

conclusions to be drawn. Eight staff questionnaires were completed and analysed.

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Inspection team

Rachel Howie, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Simon Mosley Her Majesty’s Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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