King David Junior and Infant School

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

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Mr Stephen Langford Headteacher King David Junior and Infant School Alcester Road Moseley Birmingham West Midlands B13 8EY

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 5 July 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 May 2012.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant 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 King David Junior and Infant School

Your commitment to high standards is well understood and shared by staff at all levels. You, governors and staff are determined to inspire and motivate pupils to ‘become independent problem solvers who can cooperate and collaborate with others’. The ethos of the Jewish faith forms a platform from which all pupils, regardless of their faith, appreciate the need to be caring, responsible members of the school and wider community and share fundamental British values.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

Pupils are happy to come to school. They approach all learning with enthusiasm and are keen to make good progress. The following comments were typical of the responses to Ofsted’s parent survey: ‘King David’s School is a beacon of how inclusive, progressive and caring a school can be’; ‘the school copes brilliantly with children from a very diverse set of backgrounds, ethnicities and attitudes. The school brings everyone together for the real benefit of children’; and ‘we are very pleased that children from different faiths and backgrounds mix and play so well together’.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

Since the last inspection in May 2012, you revised and renewed all of the school’s systems to assess pupils’ progress. You worked closely with another school to identify the journey of knowledge and skills required for each age group in individual subjects. This approach helpfully enables teachers to track individual pupils’ progress and identify the next steps towards age-related standards. All staff have worked hard to communicate consistently high expectations of pupils so that classroom and playtime routines are firmly established. When the new national curriculum was introduced in 2014 you focused sharply on pupils’ progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics as priorities to ensure that pupils achieved high standards in each subject.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

Attendance has improved year on year but remains below the national average for 2016. You carefully track pupils’ attendance and staff swiftly seek reasons for any absence. You work closely with parents and families to reduce persistent absences.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

Children enjoy learning in Nursery and Reception. Planned topics engage their interest and they are keen to succeed. However, children’s progress in the early years is not ambitious enough to improve the proportion of children who achieve a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

You are continuing to develop approaches to teaching a range of subjects and identify links in topics which inspire pupils’ interest. Nonetheless, subjects are not consistently approached in sufficient depth for pupils to fully develop their knowledge, skills and understanding. The deputy headteacher has successfully improved the progress rates of disadvantaged pupils across a range of classes and subjects. She has rightly identified the need to ensure that a growing proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other pupils nationally.

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Short inspection of King David Junior and Infant School

You, governors and staff are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and well-being of all pupils. Staff are suitably informed about safeguarding issues and regular training ensures that information is up to date and relevant. All new staff are trained as part of their induction so that they are fully aware of safeguarding roles, responsibilities and processes. Procedures following concerns are followed closely and leaders ensure that appropriate external agencies are involved wherever necessary. Thorough recruitment checks are conducted for all new staff and volunteers. Appropriate checks are made on visitors to assure their identity.

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Inspection findings

 The proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of Reception remains below the national average for 2016. A high proportion of children enter Nursery and Reception with knowledge and skills below those expected for their age. Children are speedily assessed on entry so that their individual learning needs are identified and supported. Teachers maintain close links with parents to ensure that children’s needs are understood and support remains relevant. Staff focus effectively on helping children to acquire the language skills necessary to learn key information and express their knowledge. Nevertheless, children’s written and number skills remain at a basic level. They know how to form letters and numbers but they do not apply these skills with consistent care or precision. They are at an early stage of writing sentences with recognisable words, capital letters and full stops. Tasks are not systematically

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Inspection findings

planned over time to ensure that learned skills are sufficiently developed or applied. Leaders have already identified a more systematic approach to teaching phonics and suitable plans are ready to be implemented in September 2017.  The deputy headteacher lost no time in analysing the evidence of outcomes published in 2016. She correctly identified weaknesses in disadvantaged pupils’ progress in all year groups. Staff received training to enable them to identify pupils’ individual learning difficulties and provide effective support wherever necessary. Teachers assess pupils’ progress against three measures: whether they are working towards, meeting or exceeding the standard expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics. Assessment records show that in autumn 2016 there were substantial differences in the achievement of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. Current records indicate significant

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Inspection findings

improvement in disadvantaged pupils’ progress, particularly those pupils at the emerging or exceeding stages. The greatest difference remains in writing achievements. In addition, too few disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 met the standard of greater depth in reading or mathematics this year. Nevertheless, the figures show an improvement since 2016.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Staff quickly identify learning difficulties and carefully consider the barriers to learning to best plan the necessary support. They make sure that parents and pupils contribute to any reviews of pupils’ needs so that support is pertinent and well informed. A significant proportion of those pupils identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities no longer require continued help after a period of effective support.  Following the introduction of the new national curriculum, the school

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Inspection findings

concentrated its efforts on ensuring that reading, writing and mathematics were taught at a suitable standard. You ensured that teachers’ and subject leaders’ knowledge of individual subjects was secure. You identified links across subjects where appropriate and introduced themes to stimulate pupils’ imagination. However, some subjects are not yet taught in sufficient depth so that pupils acquire or apply the necessary skills, for example in science or history.  You, governors and staff actively promote the respect and tolerance of different faiths, views and ways of life. Pupils understand, appreciate and respect that they live in a culturally diverse community where different faiths, beliefs and customs are practised. Pupils are given opportunities to share their own experiences of a range of faiths and explain different celebrations. A group of key stage 2 pupils explained why particular faiths celebrate different festivals at

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Inspection findings

certain times during the year and how religious conflict had escalated into wars in different parts of the world. In discussions with pupils, they stressed their belief that everyone is equal and there was no cause to think less of an individual because of their differences.

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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

 pupils’ attendance continues to improve  children’s progress in the early years is accelerated to better prepare them for the demands of key stage 1  pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills in a range of subjects are further developed  they continue the good work already begun with disadvantaged pupils to reduce the differences in outcomes between them and other pupils nationally.

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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 Birmingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I met with you, the deputy headteacher, two governors and pupils of various ages. We visited lessons together and looked at pupils’ work across a range of subjects. We considered evidence of current pupils’ progress and the outcomes of recent tests and assessments. We considered the current evidence of the progress made by pupils who have special educational needs. I read a range of school policies including those for safeguarding, child protection, curriculum and behaviour. I took account of the school’s self-evaluation, plans for development, safeguarding practices, arrangements for the management of performance of staff and the headteacher and minutes of the governing body. I also considered the responses and messages from Parent View.

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