Shield Road Primary School

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

p.1

Mr Jim Mepham Headteacher Shield Road Primary School Shields Avenue Northville Bristol South Gloucestershire BS7 0RR

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 March 2018, 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 September 2013.

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have appointed a number of teachers to the school and support staff in that time. This includes sports coaches who are working with pupils to build their self- confidence and ensure that they are ready to learn. Both the chair and vice-chair of the governing body are new in their roles.

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

You have taken action to address the areas for improvement at the previous inspection. Teaching assistants work well with class teachers to support pupils. Increasingly, they are developing their skills so that they are highly effective. Your work on improving pupils’ attendance continues. Although there are a number of strategies in place, attendance still falls below the level typically seen nationally.

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

You have identified a number of additional priorities for the continued improvement of the school’s performance. These principally focus on raising pupils’ literacy skills further and improving the outcomes for the younger boys.

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

I found the school to be calm and orderly. Pupils engage in their learning well and show enthusiasm in their learning. They particularly enjoy solving problems in mathematics and are keen to practise their reading. Many of the pupils were keen to talk to me about how much they enjoy school. They feel they are both challenged to achieve highly and supported well to be successful. Year 6 pupils were particularly appreciative of the school’s approach to preparing them for the upcoming assessments and in moving on to secondary school. Safeguarding is effective.

p.1

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

You have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are suitably rigorous, creating a culture where pupils are safe and staff are alert to early signs of distress. You have arranged frequent training for staff and governors in a wide range of aspects of safeguarding, including about the risks that pupils may face from female genital mutilation and from radicalisation and extremism. They use this knowledge to identify any signs of harm and take action when they are concerned.

p.2

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

Pupils are prepared well about the risks they may face in society. When speaking with pupils, they explained how they keep themselves safe, including when using the internet and social media.

p.2

Short inspection of Shield Road Primary School

Pupils play well together. They had no recollection of any incidents of bullying and feel that school staff expect pupils to show respect to one another.

p.2

Inspection findings

 The first aspect of the school’s work I explored concentrated on boys’ reading. In three of the last four years, boys had not reached as high standards as the girls in the key stage 1 phonics screening check. In 2017, boys made markedly less progress that the girls by the end of key stage 2.  As a result of the school’s focus on reading, boys, in all years, now use their phonic knowledge to good effect. They systematically approach new words and achieve a high level of accuracy in their pronunciation. For those boys who struggle, teaching assistants and class teachers help them to recognise different sounds and when they are used. The boys are confident to read aloud. They read with intonation and take the punctuation used by the author into account when they are reading. Teaching staff are accurate in their assessment of pupils’ skills, which they use when planning learning. Consequently, pupils, particularly those in key stage 2, are able to infer

p.2

Inspection findings

meaning and ‘read between the lines’.  The second area that I scrutinised regarded the school’s use of the pupil premium. In recent years, disadvantaged pupils had not reached the same standards as their classmates in science, phonics or in the early years. Plans for spending this funding on the school’s website lack clarity.  You had already recognised this and put measures in place to improve disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. Inspection evidence shows that disadvantaged pupils, on the whole, are making good progress in their academic studies. The additional activities which disadvantaged pupils are encouraged to be part of, such as forest schools, drama and additional sporting activities, are effective. This is especially the case in raising pupils’ self-esteem, reducing their anxiety and broadening their experiences.  The provision of breakfast club, which disadvantaged pupils can attend free of charge,

p.2

Inspection findings

is helping improve disadvantaged pupils’ attendance and punctuality. However, disadvantaged pupils continue to attend school less frequently than other pupils. Some pupils have gaps in their knowledge, as they do not routinely catch up on work missed. Part of the funding has been invested in working more closely with families. The work has not yielded the positive outcomes you had hoped for.  Leaders’ monitoring and analysis of the impact of strategies on pupils’ academic progress are still too loose. Consequently, governors do not have the depth of information they need to be able to evaluate critically the impact of the funding.  Next I looked at the work of middle leaders on ensuring that all pupils have the full range of experiences set out in the national curriculum. Information on the school’s website about many of the foundation subjects, such as history and geography, lacks any detail about the knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils should have in

p.2

Inspection findings

each class. No information could be found about the teaching of modern foreign languages.  Middle leaders are passionate about their subject and have a strong desire to design a curriculum that gives pupils a holistic understanding of their studies. Work began earlier this term to develop a more coordinated approach to the teaching of foundation subjects. Until recently, the school’s focus has been on pupils’ skill development. Schemes of learning and teachers’ planning currently lack sufficient focus on the knowledge and understanding of concepts that pupils are expected to have by the end of each key stage.  The assessment of skills is strong in science but the new arrangements in other subjects are very recent and it is too early to see the impact of these developments. Middle leaders have plans in place to develop the assessment of knowledge and conceptual understanding but at the time of inspection this was not in place. The

p.3

Inspection findings

teaching of modern languages in key stage 2 is limited and does not fully meet the requirements set out in the national curriculum.  Finally, I reviewed the school’s work to improve the attendance of all pupils. Attendance continues to be at levels lower than those seen typically. This has been the case each year since the previous inspection.  You work closely with the education welfare officer from the local authority to improve attendance. This work has had positive impact with many of the families of children with the poorest attendance. As a result, persistent absenteeism (pupils who attend less than 90%) is reducing. Two-thirds of pupils with the lowest attendance rates have improved their attendance.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.3

Next steps for the school

 teaching and assessment in the foundation subjects is appropriately balanced between skills, subject knowledge and understanding of concepts  disadvantaged pupils make accelerated progress in their academic studies.

p.3

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 South Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.3

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, you joined me in observing learning and looking at pupils’ work. I also looked at work with you and your special educational needs coordinator. I spoke with pupils in lessons and at morning break. I met with you, your deputy headteacher and the senior school administrator. I also met with a representative of the local authority. I listened to pupils in key stages 1 and 2 read.

p.4

Information about the inspection

I scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including the school’s own self-evaluation and development plan, assessment information, attendance analyses and safeguarding records. I considered the views of 57 parents who responded to Parent View and the views of 28 members of staff who completed Ofsted’s questionnaire.

p.4