Orchard Meadow Primary School

Orchard Meadow Primary School Wesley Close, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX4 6BG

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ achievement is inadequate. Across key stages 1 and 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are low, because of inadequate teaching over time.  Leaders have not addressed weaknesses in teaching and learning swiftly or effectively.  Teachers’ expectations are too low. They do not use assessment well enough, so pupils’ progress is limited by the lack of challenge compared with their capabilities. Too few pupils exceed expectations for their age.  Reading and writing are not taught well enough in key stages 1 and 2. Pupils do not instinctively apply their phonics skills when reading. They do not have sufficient opportunities to develop their writing skills.  Pupils are not supported well to develop thinking and problem-solving skills in mathematics.  Additional funding has not been used effectively to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.  Teaching assistants have a limited impact on

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

helping to improve pupils’ learning.  The curriculum is too biased towards English and mathematics, restricting learning in other subjects. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is weak. They are not prepared well for life in modern Britain.  The poor behaviour of too many pupils remains a significant area of concern and has a negative impact on learning across the school.  Governors do not have the information they need to hold senior staff to account. Middle leaders are inexperienced in their roles.  Too many pupils do not attend school regularly.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The new headteacher has quickly and accurately assessed the school’s position and is already taking appropriate and decisive actions to bring about improvement.  Teaching and learning in early years have improved this year as a result of strong leadership.

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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 teaching, learning and assessment, especially in Years 1 to 3, by: – raising teachers’ expectations of the standards pupils can achieve – making effective use of assessment to set tasks that challenge pupils to make good progress from different starting points – stretching the most able pupils so that more exceed expectations for their age – ensuring that teachers’ feedback helps pupils to understand how to improve their work – training and using teaching assistants effectively so that they have a positive impact on pupils’ learning.  Improve behaviour, welfare and personal development by: – using a consistent and effective approach to promoting good behaviour and self- discipline – ensuring that pupils attend school regularly, in particular reducing significantly the proportion of pupils that miss school frequently, especially disadvantaged pupils, and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– keeping the impact of the nurture provision on improving the behaviour and well- being of targeted pupils under review – providing pupils with rich and varied opportunities that effectively promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepare them for life in modern Britain.  Improve pupils’ achievement by: – setting targets that significantly raise everybody’s expectations of the progress pupils can and should make – reviewing how effectively reading, including phonics, is taught – ensuring that pupils have sufficient opportunities to develop and apply their thinking and problem-solving and writing skills.  Improve leadership at all levels by: – monitoring the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning more rigorously and providing focused feedback, support and challenge to teachers – analysing outcomes for different groups of pupils, tracking their progress and taking prompt action to support those who are falling behind, particularly pupils

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

who are disadvantaged and the most able – developing the role of subject leaders to identify priorities and lead improvements – providing a rich, relevant, broad and balanced curriculum – ensuring that the interim executive board has the information it needs to systematically challenge and support school leaders and hold them to account for securing the necessary improvements to teaching and outcomes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

A further external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium funding 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 Inadequate

 Leaders have not secured much-needed improvements to the quality of teaching, learning and assessment since the last inspection. Many of the areas for improvement identified 18 months ago remain priorities.  Leaders have not paid sufficient attention to the quality of teaching and learning, so that weaknesses are not being tackled rapidly enough. Monitoring has not been sufficiently rigorous to identify and ensure that teachers understand what they have to do to improve outcomes for pupils.  Over time, leaders have not ensured that pupils have equal opportunities to succeed, particularly the most able. Targets have lacked aspiration. Systems for tracking pupils’ attainment and progress have not been used effectively by leaders and teachers to ensure that pupils make sufficient progress. Pupil premium funding has not been used effectively to improve the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with that of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

other pupils nationally.  The new headteacher has made a positive start and has already won the support of staff. Her evaluation of the school is accurate and honest. She has shown clarity and resilience in starting to tackle the many areas for improvement. Prompt actions to tackle very poor, disruptive behaviour are just starting to have an impact.  The new senior leadership team has a clear understanding of the school’s current position and is working closely with the headteacher to bring about improvements. However, it is too soon to see a positive impact. Middle leaders responsible for particular subjects, such as English or mathematics, do not yet have sufficient understanding of pupils’ progress across the school to identify effective priorities for action.  The curriculum is heavily weighted towards English and mathematics. This is not having a positive impact on pupils’ acquisition of basic skills and means that they do

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

not have sufficient time or opportunities to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in other subjects. The use of visits and extra-curricular activities to enrich learning and extend pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills is limited.  The primary physical education and sport funding is used by the trust to provide specialist coaches and professional development for teachers in partnership with Oxford Brookes University. Senior leaders have relied on evaluation by the university across the three schools. They have not checked the impact on teaching or on pupils’ skills and physical health in Orchard Meadow.  Leaders have provided appropriate support so far this term for those teachers new to the profession, and in some cases those trained overseas. However, inspectors strongly recommend that the school does not appoint any more newly qualified teachers.

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Governance of the school

 The trust and interim executive board of governors did not act rapidly enough to improve leadership or teaching and learning after the last full inspection.  Following the monitoring inspection led by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors earlier this year, the trust changed its senior structure, having recognised the need to provide better focused leadership for each school.  Trustees and governors are realistic, honest and knowledgeable about Orchard Meadow’s current position and the significant challenges it still faces. They are optimistic about the recent leadership appointments that they have made, although it is too early to tell whether this confidence is well founded.  Governors understand that their role is to challenge school leaders and hold them to account for bringing about necessary improvement. However, they do not yet have a sufficiently wide range of evidence, including the analysis of assessment data, to

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Governance of the school

evaluate the impact of leaders on teaching and pupils’ outcomes.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Training for all staff this term has ensured a consistent understanding within the largely new team of its responsibilities to keep children safe and procedures to follow should staff have a concern. Appropriate measures are in place to keep pupils safely on the premises during the school day.  Leaders are careful to make sure that staff are kept appropriately informed about children receiving support or new concerns that arise. Weekly meetings with the home–school link workers keep cases under review. Partnerships with external agencies allow for both informal discussions about concerns and formal referrals.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 The quality of teaching is too variable across the school. It is especially weak in Years 1 to 3, partly due to the challenges of managing pupils’ very poor attitudes to learning that are the legacy of previous poor teaching.  Teachers do not use information about pupils’ existing skills and knowledge well enough to plan future work. As a result, tasks are not matched to pupils’ starting points and their progress falters. This is particularly true for the most able pupils. Some pupils commented that they find the tasks that they are given too easy.  Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has been weak. Staff have not been sufficiently trained to meet different needs on a day-to-day basis. Any additional support has been used to try to help other pupils who are falling behind to catch up, rather than for interventions for those with specific learning needs. Plans are in place to improve provision for this group, but are at an early stage.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 The teaching of reading is poor. Younger pupils do not see the connection between what they learn in phonics sessions and reading. Books are not matched to their interests or, in some cases, to their abilities. In key stage 2, teaching is not improving low standards in reading. Pupils are unclear about how to choose a book at the right level for them. The least able lack strategies for tackling unfamiliar words and are working at a level that is well below that expected for their age. Reading is not a favourite activity even for pupils who are competent.  The teaching of mathematics is weak overall. There are too few opportunities for pupils to develop and apply thinking and problem-solving skills. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to develop their writing skills by writing for a variety of purposes in different subjects. They are not given sufficient help to improve their handwriting or the presentation of written work. Teachers are not proactive in helping younger pupils

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

to form letters and numerals correctly.  The very poor quality of pupils’ work, particularly in key stage 1, indicates that teachers’ expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving are too low. There is very little evidence that any feedback offered by teachers helps pupils to improve. Teachers do not model good standards of presentation or, in some cases, correct spelling and punctuation.  The use of teaching assistants is variable. Too often, they are used to manage behaviour rather than to support pupils in their learning. Some teaching assistants are new and inexperienced and need further training to become more effective.  There is some stronger teaching evident in upper key stage 2. In these classes, pupils’ work indicates that they take greater care and pride in their work and are supported by more incisive feedback that helps them improve. External support has helped to develop more effective mathematics teaching in the older classes.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Pupils are enthusiastic about those opportunities that they do have to enrich their learning. Year 4 pupils talked about the excitement provided by clues they found in their classroom, linked to writing about a dragon called the Oxford Ridgeback. Year 6 pupils spoke about their enjoyment of the work linked to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Pupils of all ages talked animatedly about science and art, although there is insufficient time allocated to these subjects.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  The curriculum does not adequately promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, so they are not being prepared to be reflective about and responsible for their actions as good citizens. Older pupils say that they used to learn about British values, but that this does not happen now.  A significant minority of pupils show a lack of respect or consideration for each other.  Pupils say that they feel safe. They recognise the ways that staff help to keep them safe, such as checking that they all come back from playtime, lunchtime or the toilet. They are confident that any arguments or scuffles are sorted out straightaway and that any bullying is dealt with quickly. Pupils are developing their awareness of how to keep themselves safe. They understand about the safe use of technology, including

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Personal development and welfare

the internet.  There are early signs that the very recently established nurture group is helping some of the pupils who find coping with school life extremely difficult to settle better.  The day gets off to a good start for those that attend the popular breakfast club. Pupils are keen to join in activities that help to develop their social skills.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.  Pupils too readily disengage from learning activities. There is persistent low-level disruption in too many lessons, particularly in Years 1 to 3. Some pupils ignore the directions of the teacher.  There is a direct link between the quality of teaching and the standard of behaviour. Where pupils know what to do and are interested in appropriately challenging tasks, there are fewer instances of pupils being restless or off-task. This better behaviour is seen more often in Years 4 to 6.  Teachers’ expectations of pupils’ behaviour are not consistently high enough. They do not have effective strategies for classroom and behaviour management because the school’s policy provides guidance, rather than a clear, whole-school approach. As a result, different strategies for managing behaviour are used in each class. Pupils find this inconsistency confusing.  Behaviour around the school and at playtimes is largely acceptable, but this is due to

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Behaviour

the high number of staff used to provide support and control, rather than pupils developing self-discipline.  Pupils do not attend regularly enough. The proportion of pupils that are frequently absent is high, especially among disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. A range of strategies to improve attendance, including rewards for good attendance and developing greater collaboration with parents, have not had time to have an impact yet.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Over time, weak teaching means that pupils have underachieved considerably.  Standards in reading, writing and mathematics remain stubbornly low for all pupil groups, including minority ethnic pupils and pupils who speak English as an additional language, across key stages 1 and 2. This is particularly the case for disadvantaged and most-able pupils, who do not reach the standards of which they are capable.  There have been some recent improvements in outcomes, but they are fragile because they are the result of short-term extra help, rather than good-quality teaching on a daily basis. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check in 2016 improved considerably as a result of additional teaching. However, pupils are not able to apply their phonics knowledge to reading. Few self- correct or re-read a sentence without prompting.  Provisional results indicate that in 2016, the progress made by Year 6 leavers since the

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

end of Year 2 was closer to that of their peers nationally than it has been in the past. Again, this was due, at least partly, to interventions in their final year in school. Their progress over their time in school was too slow. Two thirds of pupils did not reach the expected level for their age and were ill equipped for the move to secondary school. Standards for disadvantaged pupils were very low; less than a quarter reached the expected level. Too few most-able pupils made enough progress to reach the higher standards.  The narrow curriculum means that pupils do not have sufficient time to develop their knowledge and skills in subjects other than English and mathematics.

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Early years provision Requires improvement

 Recent changes in the early years provision are beginning to have a positive impact on children’s learning and development, but are yet to be embedded or built on successfully as children move to Year 1.  The new early years leader has made many improvements to the learning environment, both outdoors and indoors, since her appointment last term. As a result, children have a broad range of learning experiences, matched to the early years curriculum, which they evidently enjoy.  Children’s behaviour is usually appropriate for their age. They persevere and become engrossed in their activities. The small minority with complex behavioural needs are supported sensitively.  Many children join the early years with skills below those typical for their age, often compounded by poor speech and language skills. All staff work hard to meet the range of needs and, increasingly, additional support for children who have special

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Early years provision Requires improvement

educational needs and/or disabilities is targeted better from an early stage. As in the other key stages, however, there is not enough additional challenge for the most able children.  The proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of Reception Year is improving. A focus on the particular needs of boys and disadvantaged children is reducing differences in attainment, although, as the early years leader recognises, there is still more to do, particularly for boys.  The majority of children are ready for Year 1, in that they are developing the basic skills, attitudes and self-confidence that they will need in the future. However, the school has not yet successfully overcome the barriers to transition and continuity posed, in part, by the physical separation of the early years unit from the main school.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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School details

Email address office.2006@blackbirdacademytrust.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11 March 2015

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Information about this school

 Orchard Meadow is one of three schools in the Blackbird Academy Trust. It is larger than the average-sized primary school.  More than half of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is double the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disability is above average.  There has been a high turnover of staff in recent months. The new headteacher joined the school at the beginning of this term.  The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.  The school does not meet requirements on the publication of the academy annual report and accounts on its website.  The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about the names of the headteacher and special educational needs coordinator, governance and the accessibility plan for pupils who have

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all classes to gather evidence about what teaching and learning are like typically. They spent time observing lessons and an assembly; looked at a range of pupils’ work and displays throughout the school; heard a sample of pupils read; talked to pupils; and discussed with leaders what they had seen. Many of the observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders from the school.  Inspectors observed behaviour around the school at break- and lunchtimes.  The inspection team met with pupils, staff, leaders and members of the Blackbird Academy Trust and the interim executive board to discuss the school’s work. Inspectors also spoke informally to a range of people, including parents, to gather views.  Inspectors analysed nine responses to the Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and took account of 26 questionnaires returned by staff.  Inspectors sampled other aspects of the school’s work, including leaders’ own records

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Information about this inspection

of the school’s effectiveness, and scrutinised safeguarding arrangements.

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Inspection team

Stephanie Fane, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Doug Brawley 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

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

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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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