Lote Tree Primary School

Lote Tree Primary School 643 Foleshill Road, Coventry, West Midlands CV6 5JQ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Teaching is not consistently good. As a result, pupils’ progress in all subjects is inconsistent.  At times, teachers move on too quickly before some pupils have understood their learning. This slows pupils’ progress.  Pupils do not always have the opportunity to learn from models of good writing and this therefore means that they struggle with aspects of writing.  Pupils are not taught to speak as well as they could and they struggle to spell familiar words. They are rarely encouraged to use adventurous words and phrases.  Teaching does not consistently motivate pupils and therefore some lose focus on their work. This means they do not always learn as much as they should, although this does not lead to disruption in lessons.  Teachers expect too little from the most able pupils. Sometimes, work is too hard for lower- ability pupils. As a result, pupils do not make the progress that they should.  Teachers’ and other adults’ questions do not

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

always make pupils think hard enough about their work. As a result, responses from pupils are sometimes very short.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Senior leaders are having a very positive impact on establishing systems that support improvements in teaching and helping the many inexperienced teachers.  Leaders have made significant improvements to the system for assessment and monitoring pupils’ progress. As a result, leaders can now identify pupils who are falling behind, and help them to improve.  Children make good progress in the early years, where strong teaching is well established.  Behaviour is good and pupils feel safe in school. Caring for everyone is embedded in the pupils’ attitudes to one another.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural teaching supports pupils to develop their understanding of the world.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school meets the requirements of the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by providing the headteacher with clear targets that focus on improving the school further.  Improve teaching and outcomes for pupils by ensuring that:  pupils learn to speak well and use an increasingly well-developed vocabulary  teachers’ and teaching assistants’ questions challenge pupils to think deeply so that answers show a greater depth of understanding  teachers motivate pupils and, as a result, pupils remain engaged throughout their lessons  teachers move pupils on to harder work when they are ready, not too quickly and not too slowly, so that pupils are appropriately challenged according to their abilities.  leaders provide a writing policy that supports consistency in the teaching of writing across the school  teachers ensure that pupils learn to write by studying models of good writing.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 All the independent school standards are met.  There is a huge amount of dedication in the leadership team. The two deputy headteachers support the headteacher very effectively in her determination to improve the school. Their priorities are clear. As a result, the focus of their activities remains strongly on improving teaching. Leadership in the early years foundation stage is strong. Middle leaders in the rest of the school are beginning to have a significant beneficial impact on teaching in their phases as a result of working alongside less experienced teachers and sharing their skills.  At the school’s last inspection, there was no reliable system for assessing pupils’ progress. Since then, leaders have put in place an effective system for assessing, recording and monitoring pupils’ attainment and progress. It is now detailed and enables leaders to identify accurately pupils who fall behind and those pupils who could achieve more. A very clear

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

programme of interventions for pupils ensures that those who need to catch up receive good support. This system is regularly monitored and is working well.  Leaders ensure that they deliver a strong programme of continuous professional development for the adults in the school. As a result, the many new teachers are benefiting from opportunities to improve their practice significantly. Staff also attend external training courses that are appropriate to the needs of the pupils. This has already had a positive effect on teachers’ ability to provide work for different age groups in the same classroom.  An additional middle leader has been employed to act as a mentor to inexperienced teachers. As a result, all teachers are now well supported by middle leaders. This is particularly evident in the quality of questioning. Less experienced teachers are beginning to learn how to question pupils more deeply about their work, their opinions and their reasoning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The headteacher sets annual targets for teachers and teaching assistants. These targets ensure that all adults know how they need to improve. They are linked to school improvement priorities. However, there are no similar arrangements in place for the headteacher.  Leaders encourage parents to be able to support their children’s progress and development by providing workshops within the school. For example, parents have appreciated workshops on how to help their children with phonics and mathematics, and how to keep them safe from radicalisation and while using the internet.  Parents are most appreciative of the support that leaders give their children. Parents say that their children are safe and happy in the family atmosphere of the school.  All staff say that they are very well supported in their school roles and in their personal well- being by leaders. They are proud to work in a school that ‘does its best to provide rich

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

learning and care for all pupils’.  A broad and balanced curriculum ensures that pupils enjoy learning about a wide range of subjects. This curriculum is enhanced by a variety of special events  for example, world religions’ day, history of England week, world peace day and Roald Dahl day. They also celebrate Black History month and enjoy school visits, for example to Coventry Cathedral, the Sea Life Centre, Warwick University or the local supermarket. As a result, pupils have many opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world.  The pupils benefit from a strong programme of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through personal, social, health and economic education and citizenship lessons. These lessons are supported by a wide variety of assembly themes, for example favourite poets, Hajj week, appreciating health, friendship and feelings, orphans and Hadith. Pupils have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

the opportunity to take on responsibilities within their classrooms and across the school.  Pupils have good opportunities to learn about caring for wider society by raising money for a variety of charities. They learn about democracy and British values. The school’s ethos is clearly embedded in the minds of the pupils. As one said, ‘If you don’t respect others, others will not respect you.’  The school has recently changed its name from Coventry Muslim School to Lote Tree Primary School. Governors and the senior management team ensured that the pupils were strongly involved in this name change. Pupils on the school council were asked to find a variety of different images for the school logo. Members of the school council said that they changed the name of the school because they wanted to welcome children of all faiths to the school.  Funding for children in the Nursery and for pupils who have special educational needs and/or

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

disabilities is spent well. As a result, these pupils make good progress. The management of support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well documented.

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Governance

 The governance of the school is fully involved in the management of the school.  Governors attend fortnightly meetings and use their individual skills to support the headteacher. For example, one of the governors works as an accountant and is well qualified to monitor the school’s finances. Governors make recommendations and ask challenging questions about pupils’ progress.  Governors made a recent significant contribution by developing a bid for a new school building.  Governors do not provide performance management for the headteacher. This means that the headteacher does not have clear targets to aim for nor the benefit of support from objective educational professionals.

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Safeguarding

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is effective. Pupils feel very safe at school because they trust the adults working with them to help them deal with any problems.  Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. They do not feel that bullying or bad behaviour is an issue in their school.  Safeguarding policies and procedures are effective. Any accidents or behavioural incidents are carefully recorded and followed up efficiently by staff.  All staff are trained regularly in how to keep children safe.  A copy of the school’s safeguarding policy, which complies with the independent school standards, is published on the school’s website.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teaching is not consistently good throughout the school. Not all teachers have accurate expectations of what pupils can achieve. Sometimes the work set is too difficult for the least able pupils and teachers move on without checking the pupils’ understanding. This holds back these pupils’ progress. On other occasions, the most able pupils become frustrated because they are not moved on quickly enough in their learning, even in lessons where they have already shown that they can do the work set.  Teachers do not make sure that pupils are suitably motivated and concentrating hard. As a result, a minority of pupils sometimes lose focus and do not work hard enough. These pupils, however, do not interfere with the learning of others.  Teachers do not place enough importance on showing pupils how to write or how to make good spoken contributions, and there is no policy for the teaching of writing. They do not

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

make sure that pupils have a clear model to follow, either in teaching them to write or in teaching them to use spoken language effectively. As a result, pupils are not able to express themselves effectively or to spell accurately. They are often unclear about what to write or how to make a spoken presentation.  Teachers have good relationships with their pupils and often reward them with praise. However, sometimes teachers praised pupils who had given a wrong answer. As a result, the pupils learned something that was inaccurate. This happened when a teacher’s subject knowledge was not good enough.  In some lessons, pupils are expected to explain their thinking. For example, in a Year 6 English lesson, all pupils were challenged to give their opinions about the effectiveness of two different instruction texts. They also had to give their reasons, speaking clearly. The least-able learners in the class made good contributions in their group because their teacher expected

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

them to answer fully. However, this is not yet a routine feature of all lessons and sometimes teachers accept very short, one-word answers.  In Years 1 and 2 and Years 5 and 6, pupils of different ages are taught together in the same classroom. Teachers plan these lessons well and, as a result, pupils have work that is matched to their abilities. Teachers and teaching assistants in these classrooms demonstrate good teamwork.  The teaching of mathematics is well supported by physical and visual resources to help pupils understand mathematical concepts. However, there is little evidence that teachers place strong emphasis on mathematical reasoning, except in Year 6. This means that Year 6 teachers have a lot to do to help pupils catch up and prepare them for their end of year exams.  The school has recently introduced an effective system of giving feedback to pupils so that they can improve their work. This system is in its infancy but pupils are responding well,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

including when they help each other to improve. Consequently, pupils are becoming more clearly focused on their goals.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils have good opportunities to take on responsibilities and influence the work of the school. Playground buddies, school councillors, eco champions, e-safety champions and pupil librarians all contribute to the running of the school.  British values, such as respect for law and democracy, are clearly reflected in the way that pupils are involved in their school community, for example as elected school councillors or as responsible monitors who care for others. The Islamic ethos of hospitality and care for others underpins everything that happens in the school.  Staff make sure that pupils are taught how to stay safe. The pupils who spoke with inspectors confirmed that they feel safe in school. They get on well with each other and they say that everyone there is a friend. They told the inspector that they know how to stay safe online.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils collaborate well together in the playground and in the classroom because the staff at the school have created an environment where everyone is respected.  The school works well with other agencies to support the health and welfare of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Leaders have made considerable efforts to ensure that staff are trained in the ‘Prevent’ duty to keep pupils safe from radicalisation. As a result, pupils know that they should respect all people in society.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are polite and courteous. They move about the school sensibly and calmly. This is particularly noticeable when whole classes need to walk through the classrooms of others without disturbing them.  There is a clear system of rewards and sanctions that pupils understand well. It is based on the school’s core values of ‘RESPECT: respect, excellence, sincerity, patience, equality, charity and teamwork’. These ideals represent the teachings of the Islamic faith.  Parents who spoke to inspectors said that pupils in the school behave well. Parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were also positive about the pupils’ behaviour. Pupils themselves said that poor behaviour is not an issue in this school.  The vast majority of pupils attend regularly. The school makes considerable efforts to improve the attendance of the few who attend less often.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Evidence in the books of current pupils shows that progress from Year 5 to Year 6 is good for some pupils. However, in writing, some Year 6 pupils appear to have made slow progress over a period of months. Progress over time from Year 1 to Year 2 is more consistent.  Information from the previous Year 6 cohort, which is based on a very small number of pupils, shows good progress, particularly in reading.  The school’s new system for monitoring and tracking progress is ensuring that fewer pupils fall behind. However, a legacy of inconsistent teaching means that some pupils need to work harder to catch up.  The very few pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making strong progress from their starting points. They are well supported by teaching assistants, teachers and outside agencies.  Pupils experience a wide range of subjects and activities during their time at the school that

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

prepare them well for the next stage of their education. In this school, the pupils also benefit from learning about Islam as well as other world religions.

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Early years provision Good

 Children often join the Nursery class with skills and abilities that are well below what is typical for their age. However, by the time that they leave the Reception class and move into Year 1, most have caught up and are working at the standard expected for their age.  Staff make sure that children and parents feel confident in school by visiting them in their homes before they start coming to school. A ‘stay and play’ routine encourages the parents to remain in the Nursery on the first day and ensures that the children feel secure.  The children in the Nursery and Reception classes make strong progress in early phonics, reading, writing and mathematics. This prepares them well for Year 1. When children join the Nursery, they are often not able to communicate clearly but by the time they leave the Reception class their spoken language is catching up. This is because the teachers work hard to encourage them to speak about their learning and because they sing songs, learn rhymes

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Early years provision Good

and traditional stories. However, routines for talk-time are not yet well established in the Reception class, so some children choose not to join in.  Two-year-old children have the benefit of working beside the three-year-olds in the Nursery. They are stimulated to try hard by copying the older children. All the Nursery children settle quickly into well-established routines. Inspectors observed them early in the autumn term. The children were already very well settled and calmly absorbed in their learning. They were cooperating well with each other.  Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported and make strong progress.  In both the Nursery and Reception classes, the children were developing good communication and mathematical skills in the many activities on offer. They were enjoying and learning from role play, using the toys to represent story characters, preparing food to be cooked, counting

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Early years provision Good

objects and experimenting with tactile resources such as water, sand, porridge mixture and large construction equipment.  Although playground space is limited, the children have good opportunities to use large climbing equipment and they use the small garden plot to grow plants. However, there is a limited time in which they can enjoy their outdoor learning. This is because staff need to set up the resources every time they go outside and put them away when they have finished.  Records of the children’s work and assessments are kept well in ‘profile’ documents which are accessible to parents. These provide a clear account of the children’s progress and learning.  Leadership of the early years is effective in providing children with a good start to their schooling. Strong leadership and a stable group of qualified staff ensure that planning for learning is effective. Regular assessment helps teachers monitor how well each individual child

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Early years provision Good

is doing, as well as providing parents with evidence of their child’s progress and development. Parents are invited to add to these records by completing ‘wow’ vouchers where they record their child’s learning at home.  The school meets the requirements of the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent standards’) and associated requirements in relation to the early years foundation stage.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5–8 October 2015

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Information about this school

 Lote Tree Primary School has recently changed its name from Coventry Muslim School. This information has been communicated to the Department for Education (DfE). It caters for pupils aged 2 to 11.  At present, there are 63 pupils aged 4 to 11 on roll. In the Nursery, there are 21 children on roll, including nine two-year-old children.  The school’s aim is to ‘instil in children a strong sense of Islamic identity which they can be proud of, while providing them with the highest standards of education’. The school aims ‘to produce responsible and productive, model Muslim citizens who will confidently engage within society and meet the challenges of the future, whilst presenting a positive image of their Islamic personality’.  Until July 2015, the school had secondary-age pupils. The proprietor and the governors have closed the secondary provision and now provide education for Nursery and primary pupils only. The school has informed the DfE about this.

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Information about this school

 A small number of pupils are identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities.  A small number of pupils arrive in the school with little, or no, English.  The proprietor and three governors oversee the leadership and management of the school. The headteacher manages the day-to-day running of the school.  The school was last inspected in October 2015 where its overall effectiveness was judged to require improvement.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors carried out lesson observations in all classrooms and they spoke to pupils about their work. Inspectors also checked samples of pupils’ recorded work and met with groups of pupils to discuss their work, behaviour, safety and responsibilities, or to hear to them read. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and safety in the playground and at other times.  The lead inspector undertook a tour of the school premises with the headteacher.  Inspectors considered a range of school documentation. This included leaders’ evaluation of their own effectiveness; information about pupils’ achievement, progress and performance; and documents and information related to governance, teaching, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, the two deputy headteachers, and members of the teaching and support staff, as well as two governors.  Inspectors spoke to parents and carers to seek their views about the school. Inspectors

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Information about this inspection

considered the 10 responses from parents to Parent View.  Inspectors spoke to nearly all teaching staff to provide feedback on lessons observed. Inspectors also considered the views expressed by some staff about how well they are supported in carrying out their duties and responsibilities, especially safeguarding.  Inspectors analysed staff questionnaires completed by 18 members of staff.

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Inspection team

Mary Maybank, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Patrick Amieli 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

Parent View 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

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Inspection team

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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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