Beaulieu Village Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs K Jones Headteacher Beaulieu Village Primary School High Street Beaulieu Brockenhurst Hampshire SO42 7YD

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Short inspection of Beaulieu Village Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 24 May 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in January 2012.

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Context

The former substantive headteacher and deputy headteacher both left the school by the end of the summer term 2015. Since the last inspection, there have been a number of changes to staffing and governance, most notably your appointment as headteacher as of September 2015.

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Context

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your highly effective and determined leadership has revitalised the school in the last nine months. Together with staff and governors, you have tackled weaknesses quickly and successfully . You have been uncompromising about raising standards, particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. Together with governors, you have galvanised staff so that all share a common purpose and have high expectations of all pupils. Published data about the school last year showed that the progress pupils had made by the end of key stage 2 was below national averages. The progress that pupils are making this year has significantly improved and is good. Evidence from this inspection shows that standards are rising quickly and securely for all groups of pupils.

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Context

At the previous inspection, the school was asked to raise levels of attendance and lift the teaching from good to outstanding. The school’s effective work with parents and pupils has led to levels of attendance rising this year to above average. Although teaching is not yet outstanding, it is securely good across the school. The evidence of the work seen in pupils’ books and the quality of teaching and learning observed during the inspection show that pupils take great pride in their work. As pupils progress through the school their handwriting develops extremely well and is of a high standard by the time they reach key stage 2. The quality of work in pupils’ mathematics books is well presented. The clarity with which pupils lay out their sums, for example, helps them to understand what they need to do to solve problems correctly. The pupils I spoke to said how much they appreciate the feedback from their teachers. They said that this helps them to know how to

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Context

Responses to the staff questionnaire show that all of those who responded are proud to be a member of staff at the school. They also believe that the behaviour of pupils is good or better. All staff agree that the school is well led and managed and they enjoy working at the school.

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Context

In their response to the questionnaire, the vast majority of pupils indicate that they feel safe and enjoy school. They believe that their teachers help them to do their best and give them challenging work in lessons. Of the parents that responded to the online survey, the vast majority indicated that they would recommend the school to another parent. They believe that their child is making good progress and is well taught. They also believe that their child is happy and safe at school. A very few pupils and parents do not believe that the behaviour of pupils is good. However, behaviour seen in and around the school during the inspection, and evidence about behaviour at other times, was good. Pupils showed themselves to be kind and considerate to each other as well as to adults. They are polite and work hard during lessons.

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Context

A parent who spoke to me at the beginning of the school day stated, ‘I used to send my child to this school because he loved it and was happy. I now send my child, not just because he loves it and is happy, but because he is getting a good education.’

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Context

The leadership team ensures that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and of high quality. There is a culture of vigilance about the need to safeguard pupils within the school. This is shared by parents, staff and the pupils themselves. Pupils are confident that there is an adult they can turn to at the school if they have concerns.

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Context

Governors and staff are trained to recognise signs that a pupil may be vulnerable to radicalisation. However, there is no formal teaching about the dangers of extremism and radicalisation.

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Inspection findings

 You have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and are tackling quickly and effectively areas in need of improvement.  Together with governors you undertook a review of the school’s policy and practice for special educational needs. As a result, the quality of leadership and management of special educational needs has significantly improved this year. Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are now identified more accurately and provided with a good level of bespoke support. Younger pupils with additional needs that are in Reception are now identified more swiftly so that the school is able to put early interventions in place and provide support as quickly as possible .  You have made very effective use of an external consultant and local authority officers, including inspectors for English and mathematics, to improve the quality of teaching and learning across the school quickly this

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Inspection findings

year.  You are a strong leader of teaching and learning. You have managed the performance of teachers extremely well, ensuring that they receive the support and guidance they need to become securely good practitioners. This has led to teachers taking greater responsibility for the learning and progress of vulnerable groups, particularly the disadvantaged pupils, in their classes.  Leaders’ close tracking of pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics ensures that those falling below the required pace are identified and supported. This includes looking at the work in pupils’ books as well as taking account of teachers’ assessments.  Leaders, managers and governors ensure that the school offers a broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils are taught French from an early age and benefit from music tuition and the teaching of a range of sporting activities provided by a specialist. However, the main focus of teaching and learning this year

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Inspection findings

has been about raising standards in reading, writing and mathematics. While an appropriate range of other subjects are taught, you recognise the need to develop the wider curriculum further.  You undertake informal monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning across different subjects but have yet to record and track pupils’ progress more formally across the wider curriculum.  Governors hold leaders to account well for the use and impact of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils. As a result, the use of some of the funding was redirected this year and is having a greater impact on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils at key stage 1.  Although governors challenge leaders and managers about the progress made by different groups of pupils, they do not always analyse gaps in performance between the groups rigorously enough.  Teaching typically identifies success criteria to help pupils know what they

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Inspection findings

need to do in order to be successful. A good example is the way that pupils at key stage 2 can edit and improve their written work and use a dictionary to check their spellings and a thesaurus to find synonyms.  The quality of teaching in English and mathematics has significantly improved this year as a result of stronger leadership in the subjects and the guidance and support provided by you and local authority inspectors. Consequently, in mathematics, pupils of lower ability are always provided with a good range of practical resources to help them to understand mathematical concepts with which they would otherwise struggle. A good example was seen in a Year 1 mathematics lesson, with pupils cutting up slices of bread into halves and quarters. This helped pupils to understand the concept of fractions.  Support staff make a strong contribution to the quality of teaching and learning. They are highly skilled at modelling new learning for pupils, such

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Inspection findings

as how to add and subtract two-digit numbers. They support pupils very effectively with their reading and writing, encouraging pupils to use their knowledge of phonics (the sounds that letters represent).  Teaching and support staff help pupils to develop a love for books and of reading. This is enhanced by the school’s bright and inviting library. The librarian supports pupils in their choice of reading books. This, together with the rigorous teaching of phonics, is leading to pupils making good progress with their reading. A higher proportion than was the case last year are set to achieve the expected standard in the phonics screening check.  Teachers are becoming particularly adept at helping pupils to master new skills. However, they are not all equally as effective at sustaining good levels of challenge during lessons for the most able pupils.  Although the proportion of pupils expected to reach age-related

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Inspection findings

expectations is below the highly aspirational target set in the autumn, a much higher proportion of pupils than was the case last year are currently on track to reach the expected standard for their age in reading, writing and mathematics.  The evidence seen in pupils’ books, as well as the school’s own information about pupils, shows that the rate of progress that pupils make in their writing and mathematics has significantly improved this year, particularly since January 2016. This is a direct result of stronger teaching and a sharper focus by leaders and managers on the progress made by different groups of pupils, particularly boys, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.  The work seen in pupils’ books highlights increasing levels of resilience in their ability to write at length and use formal language. Their writing reflects good spelling and grammatical skills as well as the ability to write interesting

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Inspection findings

stories. One pupil in Year 6 wrote, ‘He was sent soaring through the sky, flapping rapidly, feeling the wind rushing through his wings.’  Some disadvantaged pupils, as well as pupils of lower prior ability and a few who have special educational needs or disability, have not progressed as well as their peers. However, the progress of all these pupils is accelerating. There are also pupils who have special educational needs or disability and a few who are disadvantaged who are exceeding expectations, especially in reading and mathematics.  Published data about the progress of pupils last year showed that many had underachieved by the end of Year 6. The higher quality of teaching and learning in the last nine months has resulted in pupils making good and accelerated progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  You recognise the need to ensure that a greater proportion of pupils exceed age-related expectations across the school. This is already happening, as

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Inspection findings

evidenced in the high quality of some of the work seen in pupils’ books and in lessons, particularly in English in Year 6 and in mathematics in Year 2.  The large majority of pupils in the early years are in line to reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year. Consequently, a much higher proportion than was the case last year will be ready for Year 1.  You and your staff are tackling the need to accelerate the progress that boys make in writing at key stage 1 effectively.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teaching provides the most able pupils with sustained levels of challenge during lessons  governors analyse more rigorously any gaps in pupils’ performance  the school develops its curriculum to offer a wider range of experiences alongside mathematics and English, and tracks the progress that pupils make more formally across all subjects. 

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I met with you, your staff and three governors, including the chair and vice-chair. I spoke to parents informally at the beginning of the school day. I also spoke to pupils at playtime and during lessons. I had a discussion with a representative from the local authority the day before the inspection. You and I visited every class together to observe the quality of teaching and learning. I scrutinised the school’s website. I looked at a range of school documentation including minutes of meetings held by the governing body, the school’s development plan, the school’s information about pupils’ behaviour and their current progress and attendance. I reviewed reports produced by the local authority and an external consultant. Documentation and records about how you keep pupils safe were also reviewed. I took account of 39 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View), nine responses to the questionnaire completed by staff and 18

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Information about the inspection

responses to the questionnaire completed by pupils.

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