Salford Priors CofE Primary School

Salford Priors CofE Primary School School Road, Salford Priors, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 8XD

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Standards have fallen since the previous inspection and leaders and governors have failed to stem the decline. Governance has been weak or non-existent for some time.  Leaders and governors have not used additional funding, including the pupil premium, effectively to help pupils who need extra support.  Assessment information is not reliable. Consequently, leaders do not know when pupils are falling behind and teachers do not plan activities that are well matched to pupils’ ability.  Low expectations and weak teaching over time in key stage 1 and lower key stage 2 has slowed pupils’ progress. Consequently, there are gaps in what pupils understand, know and can do.  The teaching of phonics is weak and pupils’ early progress in reading and writing is slow as a result.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make slower progress than they should because they do not receive the extra help they need.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Too many pupils take too much time off school and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is particularly low. Some pupils are regularly late for school in the morning.  Early years provision is inadequate because of weak teaching, low expectations and inaccurate assessment. Children are not well prepared to start Year 1 when they leave Reception.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The new interim headteacher, well supported by all members of staff, has quickly begun to tackle the school’s weaknesses. There is early evidence of improvement in several areas, including behaviour and teaching.  Teaching is stronger in upper key stage 2 and pupils make better progress in these years as a result.  Pupils behave well in lessons and as they move around school. They help and support their peers and they are polite and courteous to adults.  The curriculum helps pupils to develop a good understanding of many issues including British values and personal safety. Pupils are happy and feel safe in school.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of 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 effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that: – the governing body supports and holds leaders to account for the school’s performance – teachers’ assessments of pupils’ attainment are reliable and used to target extra help to where it is needed – the pupil premium grant is spent effectively to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils – leaders correctly identify the needs of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and then provide appropriate support.  Improve attendance and punctuality, especially that of disadvantaged pupils, by reinforcing to parents the importance of attending school regularly and on time.  Improve the early years provision so that all children make good progress by ensuring that: – adults have sufficient expertise to assess children’s attainment accurately – teachers plan activities that engage, inspire and challenge children and help them

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

make rapid progress – the outdoor learning area is well organised and better used to help children learn effectively.  Improve teaching so that all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make consistently good progress by ensuring that: – all teachers have high expectations of the quality and quantity of work that pupils produce in lessons – teachers use information about what pupils already understand, know and can do to plan activities that are well matched to pupils’ ability – adults use information about pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to support them in class – adults are trained to teach phonics effectively. Reviews of governance and the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken to assess how these aspects of leadership may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement have fallen considerably since the school’s previous inspection. Two changes of headteacher and a high turnover of staff have contributed to the school’s decline. Weak governance has failed to support and challenge leaders and has therefore failed to stem the decline.  The local authority has been slow to secure effective governance for the school. Many governors resigned at the end of the summer term 2016 as the local authority planned to replace the governing body with an interim executive board (IEB). Consequently, the school has had no governing body this term and there has been no effective scrutiny of the school’s performance in that time.  There has been no strategic oversight of the use of the pupil premium. Leaders have not targeted it effectively and governors have not monitored its use. Consequently, differences between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

have grown, particularly in key stage 1, and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is very low.  Leaders have no reliable information about pupils’ past and current attainment. Consequently, leaders and teachers do not know when pupils are falling behind in their work and cannot provide extra help for them to catch up. Leaders are currently introducing a new assessment policy across the school, but it is too early to judge its impact.  Identification of, and provision for, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has been weak for some time. Pupils have been incorrectly placed on the school’s special educational needs register while other pupils, who do have special educational needs and/or disabilities, have been omitted. Combined with insufficient support, this means that these pupils make slower progress than they should. Recent new leadership of special educational needs is seeing more accurate identification and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

better provision for these pupils this year.  The leadership of teaching and the development of staff in the school has been weak for some time. Leaders and governors have been over reliant on short-term and ineffective external support rather than developing the expertise of the school’s own staff. For example, leaders and governors brought in external leadership of special educational needs. When this external support ceased, the school was left without expertise in this area and provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities declined as a result.  Leaders have used the sport premium to enhance the school’s physical education lessons and to provide additional extra-curricular sporting opportunities, including athletics and tag rugby. However, leaders have not evaluated the impact of this spending and there has been no attempt to use the funding to ensure sustainable improvement in sporting provision.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The new interim headteacher has quickly and accurately identified those areas most in need of improvement. She has clear plans in place to tackle these and improvement is already evident in safeguarding, behaviour, punctuality, attendance and the quality of teaching. She is beginning to establish a culture of ambition and high expectations, with the enthusiastic support of the school’s other members of staff, who all welcome her strong leadership. Consequently, despite the school’s weaknesses, morale is high. Parents who spoke with inspectors welcomed improved organisation and communication this term, and they expressed optimism for the future.  Leaders have planned a curriculum that provides pupils with an appropriate range of subjects and experiences. The school’s focus on basic skills has not resulted in other subjects being neglected; rather, literacy and numeracy are developed through other

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

subjects as well as in English and mathematics. For example, pupils’ scientific reports help to develop writing skills and inspectors observed a history lesson in which pupils improved their arithmetic skills as they studied Mayan numbers.  The formal, taught curriculum is supplemented by enrichment activities that contribute well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, a ‘week of kindness’ helped pupils to reflect on people that they should be grateful for, and some wrote thank-you notes to their dustbin men. Pupils have a good understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, respect and tolerance. For example, pupils articulately explained their understanding of elections and how they had applied this when voting for house captains.  The school may not employ newly qualified teachers.

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Governance of the school

 Governance has been weak for some time and has failed to hold leaders to account for the school’s declining performance. Governors have not effectively monitored the spending and impact of additional funding including the pupil and sport premiums and funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Governors have failed to ensure that the school’s website meets statutory requirements in several respects.  Most governors resigned at the end of the summer term 2016. At the time of inspection, the IEB had not been established and the school effectively had no governance arrangements.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have addressed previous weaknesses in the school’s safeguarding arrangements. Policies and procedures are now fit for purpose and all staff are well trained and vigilant to potential dangers as a result. All parents who spoke with inspectors said that their children feel safe in school. Pupils feel safe, and are safe in school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers’ expectations are too low in the early years, in key stage 1 and at the start of key stage 2. Teachers are too accepting of insufficient work or work of a poorer quality than pupils are capable of producing. Consequently, pupils make slow progress and there are gaps in their knowledge, skills and understanding. This is especially true for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities who need, but do not receive, extra support.  Several teachers are new to the school. The absence of reliable information about pupils’ prior attainment and special educational needs means that they do not plan activities that are well matched to pupils’ ability. The most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged and disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are not sufficiently supported. This is particularly the case in the lower years of the school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics is weak. Some adults do not have sufficient subject knowledge and confidence to teach phonics with precision. As a result, pupils’ progress in reading and writing is slow in the early years and key stage 1.  Teaching is improving. Teachers, including those new to the school, have quickly established strong relationships and clear routines in classrooms this year. Pupils are respectful and attentive towards their teachers, other adults and each other. There is early evidence, in lessons and in books, of pupils beginning to make up lost ground because of better teaching this year.  Teaching in upper key stage 2 is stronger than elsewhere in the school. Here, expectations are high and pupils begin to catch up the ground they have lost in the earlier years. For example, inspectors observed pupils in Years 5 and 6 tacking difficult, multi-step mathematical problems that meant they had to think hard. Most pupils

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

relished the challenge, although some were too quick to give up when they found it difficult.  Teachers’ explanations are clear and precise and they question skilfully to find out what pupils know and have understood during a lesson. For example, inspectors observed pupils learning about angles. When the teacher’s questions revealed considerable gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding, she changed her plans in order to address these gaps. Pupils made rapid progress as a result.  Teaching assistants effectively support class teachers. They help individual pupils and teach small groups of pupils under the class teacher’s direction.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident, articulate and proud of their school. They care about and support each other. For example, inspectors observed pupils sensitively encouraging their peers to ‘have a go and not give up’ when they were finding work difficult.  The school’s curriculum ensures that pupils know how to keep themselves safe from a range of possible dangers including those that might arise when using the internet. Pupils explained to inspectors, in some detail, the importance of not sharing personal information online and the need to be aware that people in chat rooms might not be who they claim to be.  Pupils told inspectors that bullying is very rare in the school and any that occurs is dealt with well. Pupils feel safe in school and they trust the school’s adults to deal with any problems that do arise.  The wide range of enrichment activities offered in this small school helps to broaden

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Personal development and welfare

pupils’ world view and develop their self-confidence. For example, all pupils learn French, all study Shakespeare’s plays and older pupils benefit from residential visits.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Attendance is well below the national average for primary schools and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is particularly low. Some early signs of improvement are evident at the start of this year.  A minority of pupils are regularly late for school in the morning. Leaders’ focus on punctuality and their increased visibility at the start of the day is beginning to see some improvement.  Pupils are attentive in lessons and most behave very well. However, some pupils give up too quickly when they think that work is difficult, rather than being prepared to think deeply and try hard. Leaders are aware of this and are focusing on improving this aspect of pupils’ attitudes to learning, and some improvement is already apparent.  Pupils are considerate, courteous and polite to each other and to adults. Many pupils were keen to talk to inspectors and to tell them how much they enjoy school.

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Behaviour

 Pupils and parents told inspectors that behaviour is much better this year that it was previously in school. Pupils understand and value the new behaviour and rewards policy that leaders have introduced this term. Consequently, there have been no exclusions this term and the school’s behaviour records indicate that during this time there have been only very minor incidents of poor behaviour.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils make slow progress in the early years, key stage 1 and lower key stage 2, and pupils have gaps in their skills and knowledge as a result. Progress accelerates in upper key stage 2 and gaps begin to close. Consequently, over recent years, pupils have left the school with broadly average attainment, but having made less progress than they could.  Published key stage 2 test results for 2015 showed that pupils achieved broadly average standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Key stage 1 results were below average. Provisional, unvalidated results for 2016 suggest that standards are low in key stage 1 and below average in key stage 2.  Disadvantaged pupils make slower progress than others before they reach upper key stage 2 because the pupil premium is not used effectively to give them extra support. As a result, disadvantaged pupils attain less well than other pupils nationally in the Year 1 phonics check and in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

1. Their progress accelerates by more than other pupils in upper key stage 2 because of strong classroom teaching. Consequently, differences between their attainment and that of other pupils nationally diminish by the end of key stage 2.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make slower progress than they should. Their needs are not always correctly identified and they do not receive the extra support that they need in order to make good progress. Some early evidence of improving identification and provision is evident this year.  The small number of most able pupils make better progress than their peers. In key stage 1 and lower key stage 2, insufficient challenge means that they make less progress than they could. However, they catch up rapidly in upper key stage 2 as they benefit from higher expectations and increased levels of challenge.

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Early years provision Inadequate

 The leadership of the school’s early years setting has been weak for some time and deficiencies are evident in provision, planning and assessment. For example, the outdoor provision is disorganised, under-used and does not inspire children to play, explore and learn. This issue was identified in the school’s previous inspection report, but there has been no improvement.  Teaching in this small early years setting is weak. Learning activities are poorly planned and do not inspire children. Expectations are too low, especially of the most able pupils and progress is slow as a result. Children are not well prepared to start Year 1 when they leave Reception.  The lack of rigour and precision in phonics teaching evident in key stage 1 is also apparent in Reception. Consequently, children’s development in reading and writing is slower than it should be. There are too few opportunities for children to develop their

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Early years provision Inadequate

writing.  Adults’ assessment of children’s achievement is unreliable and adults do not have an accurate view about children’s current attainment, especially their weaknesses. Planning children’s next steps for learning is therefore also weak and progress is too slow as a result.  In common with the rest of the school and over time, leaders have not spent additional funding effectively to improve the progress and attainment of disadvantaged children. Governors have neither checked on how it has been spent, nor evaluated its impact.  Relationships between adults and children are strong. Adults care for and nurture children and they ensure that the children are safe and feel safe.  Children behave well. They are polite to adults and kind to each other. For example, inspectors observed children role playing, where one child played the part of the teacher. All children played their part sensibly and they swapped the teacher role

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Early years provision Inadequate

between themselves without adult prompting.  Relationships with parents are not strong, but are improving rapidly this year because of leaders’ concerted efforts to engage parents more. Parents now visit Reception as they drop their children off and they are increasingly willing to talk to leaders about their children’s progress.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 February 2014

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the pupil premium, the sport premium, the curriculum and special educational needs on its website.  The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is above average.  The school has an above-average proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  The proportion of pupils entering or leaving part way through the school year is well above average. The number of pupils in the school has fallen considerably over recent years.  Since the previous inspection, there has been a high staff turnover and two changes of headteacher. The current interim headteacher joined the school in July 2016.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.  Inspectors observed learning in lessons, and some of these were conducted jointly with the interim headteacher.  Inspectors talked to pupils about their learning and their attitudes to, and opinions about, school. They observed pupils at morning break and lunchtime and as they moved around the school.  Inspectors heard pupils read and talked to them about the books they enjoy.  Inspectors talked to parents about their views about the school.  Meetings were held with the interim headteacher, other members of staff, a consultant who has been supporting the school and a representative of the local authority.  There were insufficient responses to Parent View for these to be taken into account.

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Inspection team

Alun Williams, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Tim Hill 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

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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Inspection team

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, 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.gov.uk/ofsted

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