Kingsmoor Primary School

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

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Mr Mick Bird Headteacher Kingsmoor Primary School Bawdrip Bridgwater Somerset TA7 8PY

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 May 2017, 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 July 2013.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

Ably supported by your senior leadership team, you lead the school with drive and determination. You and your leaders have an unwavering focus on pupils achieving the best possible outcomes. You have acted decisively to tackle underachievement. Furthermore, the governors possess the necessary skills and expertise to support and challenge you and other leaders. This means that the school is in a stronger position than when it was last inspected.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

You have a plan to bring about continuing improvement that contains appropriate actions. You acknowledge that, as you reorganise the senior leadership team, in your succession planning there is a need to bolster its strength. This will be achieved by developing the roles of the recently appointed middle leaders so that they are able to contribute further to the raising of standards and curriculum development.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They are enthusiastic about their learning and they value the help and support that they receive from their teachers and other adults. Pupils show positive and mature attitudes to learning. Their behaviour in lessons and around the school is excellent. All the pupils who spoke to the inspector or responded to the online questionnaire would recommend their school to another pupil. Parents share their children’s views. At the previous inspection, you were asked to improve teaching by making sure that pupils are clear about the next steps in their learning. You have brought in new strategies to help pupils to understand how to improve their work. Teachers provide pupils with more opportunities to work things out for themselves. It is clear from the work in pupils’ books that teachers are regularly giving them problems to tackle in mathematics. Pupils have plenty of opportunities to practise using their writing

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

skills. Teachers are clear about what pupils need to do to be successful in their work. Pupils gain in confidence as they check for themselves whether their work meets the agreed acceptable standard.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

The pupils that I spoke to agreed unequivocally that they feel safe in school. This is because of the culture of care that you have created. Governors, parents and pupils are united in their praise for you and your staff and your commitment to ensuring that pupils feel safe, both physically and emotionally. The school bus, which brings pupils to the school, is met daily and staff escort pupils into the school.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

Staff know what actions to take if they have any concerns about pupils’ safety or well-being. Staff understand their responsibilities well. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality.

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Short inspection of Kingsmoor Primary School

You keep very thorough records of serious misbehaviour or bullying incidents, although these are very few. You have an effective process for investigating reported bullying incidents.

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Inspection findings

 The inspection focused on several key lines of enquiry that I shared with you. The first was to consider pupils’ progress in mathematics across the school and especially for middle-attaining boys in key stage 2. Your analysis showed that boys needed additional support. You have swiftly arranged interventions for the boys, in several year groups, that focus on their very specific needs. Pupils enjoy these activities and are improving in their mathematics. Work in books reinforces this.  Book analysis and classroom visits demonstrate that learning at a greater depth is a school focus for pupils. The impact on pupil outcomes is evident in current school information. Furthermore, the school-wide focus on mastery in mathematics is evident in teaching across year groups. Teachers use a consistent approach to plan mathematics lessons. Pupils in key stage 1 are making good progress in mathematics. There are regular opportunities for pupils to develop

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Inspection findings

problem-solving and reasoning skills, and pupils acquire appropriate knowledge and understanding. There is, however, a need to ensure that more pupils are working at greater depth in mathematics across the school.  My second line of enquiry was to look into why boys’ achievement, in both key stage 1 and 2, has tended to lag behind that of girls. You have analysed the reasons for this discrepancy and have put in place clear strategies to improve boys’ attainment. This includes providing a range of curriculum opportunities, which are ‘boy friendly’ without losing girls’ enthusiasm, for example studying topics such as ‘King of the Mountains’, ‘Mayans’, and ‘Castles’. The topics have cross-curricular links and develop the core skills well. Staff and pupils have responded very impressively to this approach. It has galvanised them to take a number of actions to develop pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in, using a

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Inspection findings

wide range of vocabulary and different skills. Consequently, the boys are making more rapid progress. However, there is still room for further improvement.  The third line of enquiry was to evaluate the effectiveness of support for the increasing numbers of disadvantaged pupils in the school and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You and your staff are working effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Your support for disadvantaged pupils includes interventions to promote pupils’ social, emotional and mental health as well as academic support. Allied to this, strong professional development for staff gives them a better insight into ways of supporting pupils. The governing body monitors this work closely and is very aware of its responsibility to challenge the school to do as

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Inspection findings

much as it can to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils.  Finally, I focused on the attendance of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The published attendance information indicates that this group has higher-than-average persistent absence. Many of these pupils have specific medical needs, which require them to attend hospital or specialist appointments during the school day. Each pupil’s attendance is tracked carefully. You make good use of external services when necessary, including the educational welfare officer and especially the parent and family support adviser, to improve attendance. Newsletters give constant reminders about the effects of absence on attainment. These actions have resulted in improved attendance.

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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

 recently appointed middle leaders receive support in their roles, so that they are able to develop and contribute further to the raising of standards and curriculum development  standards continue to rise through the development of learning at greater depth in mathematics consistently across year groups  the curriculum used to encourage boys’ learning is closely monitored to maintain the improved outcomes for boys, while maintaining a balance for both boys and girls.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Somerset. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, meetings were held with you, your deputy headteacher, the senior leadership team and other staff members. The inspection involved a meeting with the chair of governors and four other governors, as well as speaking with a representative of the local authority. There were 48 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 21 written responses, 17 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire and 33 responses to the pupils’ questionnaire. Parents’ views were sought when they brought their children to school. We visited the classrooms, together, to observe pupils’ learning and to talk to them about it. Work by pupils across a range of abilities was looked at in mathematics and English and in topic work. I listened to a group of pupils reading. A wide range of documentation and information relating to your self-evaluation, school improvement planning, equalities, assessment, monitoring and evaluation and safeguarding was

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