Bordesley Village Primary School

Bordesley Village Primary School Emmeline Street, Bordesley Village, Birmingham B9 4NG

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is an inadequate school

 Pupils’ outcomes at this school have been too low for too long. Many pupils at the end of Year 6 have not made enough progress and are not well prepared for learning in secondary education.  Leaders have done too little to check the impact of the actions they have taken to improve teaching or pupils’ behaviour. Consequently, ineffective practice and some unkind behaviour has been allowed to continue.  There is only one subject leader in post, for English, so other subject areas do not have the level of coordination required to deliver improvements in teaching and learning. This also puts added pressure on the headteacher and her deputy, who cannot rely on middle leaders to monitor teaching and learning.  In lessons, work designed for pupils of different abilities does not adequately address their learning needs. This is especially the case for less able pupils, who often make slower progress than other pupils in the school.

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This is an inadequate school

 The new assessment system used across the school is not rigorous enough to provide accurate information about pupils’ progress. Consequently, leaders do not know how well pupils are doing.  Lesson time is not used effectively enough. Pupils often spend too much time waiting for teachers or teaching assistants to come and help them. As a result, they become distracted and spend parts of lessons doing no work.  The early years provision is inadequate. Leadership is not strong enough and assessment information is unreliable.  Governors do not challenge leaders enough to bring about rapid improvements. They rely on information about pupils’ progress which is not accurate. This means they are unable to judge the impact of actions taken to improve outcomes for pupils.  The required checks on newly appointed staff are not always completed on time.  Some pupils are worried about bullying and do not feel confident to report it.

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The school has the following strengths

 The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) is effective.  The spiritual and cultural development of pupils is a positive feature of the school’s curriculum.

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that all pupils make rapid progress by making sure that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– teachers prepare learning activities that address the needs of groups of different abilities – lesson time is used effectively so that pupils do not have to spend parts of lessons waiting for teachers to come and support them – teaching assistants are deployed effectively in order to provide help and support for pupils who otherwise would not be able to keep up with the progress of other pupils in the class – teachers and teaching assistants have access to good-quality professional development to improve their knowledge, skills and understanding of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities – teachers improve pupils’ ability to use and apply their mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding by giving them opportunities to reason mathematically, solve problems and to go into greater depth in each topic, both in mathematics lessons and in other subjects – teachers improve pupils’ reading skills by ensuring that pupils understand what they have read

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– teachers ensure pupils have the necessary learning skills, such as resilience, perseverance and problem solving, and encourage them to exercise initiative.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leaders at all levels, including governors, by making sure that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– leaders monitor closely the impact of the actions they take to improve the quality of teaching and learning to make sure that sustained improvement is taking place as a result of their actions – leaders implement a system of assessment that provides reliable and accurate information about pupils’ progress in order to plan and put in place effective intervention strategies and improve outcomes – leaders ensure that the information available is shared with staff and analysed to inform strategic plans that have a clear focus on impact and drive rapid improvement – senior leaders provide more accurate information to governors about pupils’ progress – governors hold leaders to account and strike a better balance between support and challenge – senior leaders and governors ensure that the required checks on newly appointed staff are completed on time – staff training and training records are kept up to date

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– leaders, governors, staff and pupils work together to establish a culture in the school where everyone feels confident to report bullying if it happens.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by making sure that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– all staff apply the school’s behaviour policy consistently – staff teach pupils the skills required to learn and play together – pupils feel confident to raise concerns about poor behaviour with staff and know that any unkind behaviour that does happen will be stopped – school leaders evaluate information about incidents of poor behaviour so that causes or patterns can be spotted and constructive action taken – pupils attend school more regularly as a result of more effective work with parents and carers.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– strengthening the quality of leadership so that staff have access to regular training and get feedback and guidance about the quality of their work – making sure that adults provide children with the opportunities to develop the necessary skills to learn and make decisions – improving the accuracy of assessment so that activities are more carefully matched to children’s needs.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

The school should not make further appointments of newly qualified teachers.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 Although leaders have taken some suitable steps to address the issues that were raised at the previous inspection, they did not monitor sufficiently the implementation and impact of their action. As a result, the quality of education has declined since the last inspection and the progress of pupils currently in the school is inadequate.  Leaders, including governors, have not evaluated accurately the quality of education provided by the school. This failure to analyse the causes of underperformance has limited their ability to draw up precise priorities or sharp enough plans for action that could drive improvement.  Leaders introduced a system of assessment that proved not to be fit for purpose. As a result, they are not able to measure, with consistent accuracy, the progress that current pupils are making from their different starting points. This lack of information also means that leaders and governors are not in a

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

position to make effective checks to improve the quality of teaching and assessment.  Over the last three years there has been a lack of stability of subject leaders. The school has employed middle leaders who have only stayed in their posts for short periods of time. As a consequence, the leadership of subject areas is not strong enough to ensure consistency in the quality of teaching across the school. Currently, there is only a subject leader and this is for English. This leader is not supported enough by senior leaders. An external specialist consultant in mathematics supports teachers in this subject, but she is not in the school often enough to provide sufficient leadership for the subject. This weakness of leadership means that teachers are not given sufficient support and guidance and are not held to account as much as they should be.  Leaders do not ensure that all teachers follow the school’s marking policy and as a result pupils are not

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

provided with the feedback they need to improve.  There is a clear system for managing the performance of teachers, but the lack of accurate information about pupils’ progress and gaps in the middle leadership structure mean that the assessment of teachers’ performance is not rigorous enough. As a consequence, staff training needs are not clearly identified and training is not effective enough in improving the quality of teaching and learning.  The school receives pupil premium funding, which is additional funding from the government to help disadvantaged pupils achieve. This money has been spent on learning mentors, counselling for pupils with emotional and behavioural issues, and support for pupils who speak a language other than English at home. While these actions are clearly making the school a more inclusive environment for disadvantaged pupils, they do not have sufficient impact on the attainment of these pupils. Many of them still do not

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

perform as well as other pupils nationally or their classmates in school. Leaders’ lack of precise information about pupils’ progress does not allow them to accurately monitor the impact the pupil premium money they spend has on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.  The primary school sport funding has been used with some success and has brought some identifiable benefits. The school employs two sport coaches and has purchased a range of sporting equipment that has allowed the development of physical activities not only during physical education lessons, but also at lunchtime and in after-school clubs.  The curriculum has been designed with the needs of the diverse backgrounds of the pupils who attend the school in mind. It includes many opportunities for pupils’ spiritual and cultural development and has a focus on preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. Enrichment activities include visits to a sea-life centre,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

Roman forts and a residential trip for Year 6 pupils. Year 4 pupils have access to musical instrument tuition and can learn the violin or the guitar. There is also a debating club where pupils learn to develop arguments on a range of topics and understand other pupils’ opinions. These activities allow pupils who take part in them to develop their knowledge and interest in the arts and culture of modern Britain.  The school has received support commissioned by the local authority and mainly focused on teaching and learning. This support has not resulted in pupils achieving well enough, although there is evidence of improvement in the skills of individual teachers.  The governance of the school: is ineffective because, over recent years, governors have not been aware of the extent of underachievement in the school. This is because other senior leaders have not provided them with detailed information about the progress of different groups of pupils in all year groups. Long-standing

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

weaknesses have not been tackled effectively. Governors have not provided sufficient challenge to school leaders to promote improvement. Governors have now realised that significant improvements are needed and during this inspection they were realistic about the scale of the school improvement required. fails to keep a close enough check on how teachers and leaders are held to account for their work.  The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Leaders do not always ensure that all the required checks on newly appointed staff are completed on time. During the inspection, some pupils told inspectors that they were too afraid to raise concerns about bullying. Staff know what to do if they have a concern about a child’s safety. However, training records do not enable leaders to check whether all staff have had the most relevant and up-to-date training. Other aspects of record-keeping are also a

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

concern. For example, there are two designated safeguarding leads, but there are gaps in the records of attendance at child protection meetings. The majority of parents who expressed an opinion, either in surveys or in discussions with inspectors, believe that their child is safe at school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

 Since the previous inspection, senior leaders have not done enough to improve the quality of teaching. They took action to address issues that were identified by inspectors, but did not follow up their actions to check that improvements were being made. As a result, teaching is still too weak to ensure that pupils make the necessary progress to reach the standards of which they are capable, particularly in reading and mathematics.  Pupils of different abilities are given work at different levels, following the school’s policy, but most of the time these different activities are not sufficiently thought through to ensure that pupils’ learning is developed well. This is because either the more demanding tasks are too easy for the most able pupils or the easiest tasks are too hard for the least able pupils. As a consequence, many pupils, especially the least able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not make sufficient

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

progress.  Teaching assistants who support groups or individual pupils who require additional help are not deployed effectively enough to fulfil their roles. In some cases, they clearly support pupils’ progress, for example by supporting pupils in small groups. However, at other times their role is unclear and their support is not targeted at any particular pupils. This lack of focus means that pupils who need support do not receive it in a sustained way and therefore make slower progress.  Teachers do not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to reason mathematically, solve increasingly difficult problems or deepen their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. In some cases, teachers and teaching assistants do not have sufficient subject knowledge. In a Year 4 mathematics lessons, for example, the teacher and teaching assistant did not have a solid grasp of fractions and appeared confused in their explanations. As a result, pupils in this class were not focused on

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

the activity, started to become distracted and did not learn well enough.  Lesson time is not always used as effectively as it should be. In many lessons observed during the inspection, pupils who were experiencing difficulties with their work would stop work and wait for teachers or teaching assistants to come and help them. As a result, many pupils spent large parts of lessons not doing anything productive and lost interest in what they were meant to be doing. Pupils’ books show that this lack of challenge and low expectations are typical features of teaching.  The teaching of reading is inconsistent. The majority of pupils are able to use phonics to sound out words and develop their reading through reading sessions led by teachers. The steadily improving phonics scores in key stage 1 are indicative of the increasingly effective teaching of phonics. However, teaching sometimes fails to give pupils opportunities to develop their comprehension skills and understanding of

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.  A significant minority of pupils are overly reliant on their teachers to guide their work and learning. They do not have skills, such as resilience, perseverance or self-awareness, to be able to learn effectively. As a result, they give up or are easily distracted when the work is too easy or too hard.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe is inconsistent. Pupils are clear about how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, including on the internet. However, many pupils consider that bullying is not a rare occurrence in the school and some said that they would be afraid to report it when it happened.  The school has a strong focus on the spiritual and cultural development of pupils. Some older pupils are keen to take on responsibilities as mentors for other pupils, prefects or librarians. Pupils are generally

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.  School leaders do not rigorously evaluate the records of behaviour incidents. As a result, they do not know if the school’s actions to improve pupils’ behaviour are having an impact, or how well vulnerable pupils behave, for example.  Leaders do not make sure that staff help all pupils to develop their social skills when learning and playing together. Some unkind behaviour between pupils persists.  A significant minority of pupils do not behave well and have to be reminded to concentrate during lessons. As a consequence, some lesson time is not used effectively, especially when lessons are taught by less experienced members of staff who do not always enforce the school’s behaviour code consistently.  The majority of pupils generally conduct themselves well during lunchtimes. However, behaviour is more boisterous at breaktimes when there are fewer members of staff to supervise pupils and less access to

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Behaviour

organised activities than is the case at lunchtimes. Movement back to lessons at the end of both break and lunchtimes is not swift enough, mainly because not all staff on duty take responsibility for organising pupils.  Pupils’ attendance is still below national figures. This is in spite of vigorous actions taken by leaders to track pupils’ attendance and to make parents aware of their responsibility to send their children to school regularly. Leaders have tried to engage parents and use a wide range of rewards and sanctions, including legal action, to improve pupils’ attendance, but little progress has been made so far.

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 At the end of key stages 1 and 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are low. Many pupils do not make the progress that they should.  Pupils’ progress across the school is too slow because of variations in the quality of teaching in different classes. Weaknesses in leadership and the school’s assessment systems have allowed this situation to continue without improvement. At all levels of leadership, the monitoring of how well pupils are doing has failed. Slow progress and poor attainment have not been tackled effectively in this school since the previous inspection.  Over time, the most able pupils have made better progress than other pupils, but even they could reach higher standards if they were given suitably challenging work. In several classes, the most able pupils complete their work quickly and easily and then mark time.  The less able pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have fallen further

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

behind other pupils because they have not been given the work or support they need in order to do well at school. In some cases, additional support does meet learning needs and instances of this were observed by inspectors; both when pupils were receiving tuition away from the main class and receiving extra help in class. On too many occasions, however, pupils who are struggling in lessons go unnoticed and fail to manage the work they are given.  Disadvantaged pupils, like others in the school, are not doing well enough. In 2015, disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils left Year 6 with low standards of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics. While the disadvantaged pupils were not far behind others in their year group, both groups underachieve. This has been the case for some time now.  On a more positive note, the proportions of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

screening check have increased year after year. In 2015, the figure was just above the national figure and is the result of some effective phonics teaching.

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Early years provision is inadequate

 There is a lack of leadership within the early years and the provision does not meet children’s needs. The classroom environment is not as stimulating as it could be and this also restricts children’s learning. The recently refurbished outdoors area, for instance, is not yet fully usable.  Weak leadership means that staff do not receive enough regular training or feedback about the quality of their work. This limits the quality of the provision and the capacity for ongoing improvement.  The majority of children start school with levels of knowledge and skill below those typical for their age. The school is not currently helping these children to catch up with other children nationally. Over the last three years, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development has declined and, in 2015, the proportion was substantially below average.  Assessments of current children’s progress show a slight improvement, but there is still a large gap

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Early years provision is inadequate

between the performance of boys and girls.  The quality of teaching is weak. There is a lack of consistency in the way teachers assess children’s progress, which makes progress records unreliable and the impact of teaching difficult to evaluate.  Class activities do not allow for children to investigate and discover for themselves how things can be done. There are too few opportunities for children to develop their natural curiosity and learn to interact with one another through play and creative activities.  Children are kept safe and usually behave well. Staff maintain good communication with parents and this helps children to settle in and feel secure at school.

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School details

Unique reference number 103153 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 10012381 This inspection 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 470 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Yusuf Shah Headteacher Alayne Clowes Telephone number 0121 675 1392 Website www.bvcs-bham.co.uk Email address enquiry@bvcs.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 2–3 July 2014

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Information about this school

 Bordesley Village Primary School is larger than the average primary school.  Children in Reception attend full-time.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, supported by the pupil premium funding, is above average. The pupil premium provides additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average. More than 70% of pupils have a language other than English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities supported and need extra help with their learning is below average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils in Year 6.  The school does not fully meet requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. Information about the school’s policy for charging and remission is not published.  Both the headteacher and her deputy are long serving and were in post at the last inspection. They have made a number of appointments since the last inspection including a new inclusion leader.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 25 lessons and, in addition, made a number of short visits to lessons. A number of lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met two groups of pupils to gain their views of the school. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime, lunchtime, and at the start and end of the school day, as well as in lessons.  The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the following: assessments and records of pupils’ progress, the school’s checks and records related to safeguarding, child protection and attendance, records of how teaching is managed, and the school’s improvement plans.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the inclusion leader, the early years leader, the physical education coordinator, the subject leader for literacy, and an external primary

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Information about this inspection

mathematics consultant. The lead inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body. There were also meetings with three representatives of the Birmingham Education Partnership who have been involved in supporting the school.  There were too few responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, for any conclusions to be drawn. However, inspectors considered the school’s own information about the views of parents and carers and talked to parents at the start and the end of the school day.

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Inspection team

Patrick Amieli, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Deborah Jenkins Ofsted Inspector Nicola Harwood Ofsted 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

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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