Oak Wood Primary School

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

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Mr George Smith Executive Headteacher Oak Wood Primary School Morris Drive Nuneaton Warwickshire CV11 4QH

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 18 April 2018 with Lynda Mitchell, Ofsted Inspector, 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 Oak Wood 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 Oak Wood Primary School

You provide decisive and well-informed leadership and as a result your school is a welcoming and safe environment where pupils thrive and enjoy their learning. You and your staff are committed to ensuring that pupils are supported and challenged to achieve well. As a result, pupils in all year groups are making good progress. Pupils told us they felt ‘valued’, ‘looked after well’, ‘really cared for’, and that they were ‘involved in school life’. We found that these comments reflected the positive attitudes we found in lessons.

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

Your staff are involved in the direction and strategy of the school. They say they are well trained, especially in areas such as communication and working in sign language, which have been priorities for you. As a result, we could see that pupils’ learning is effectively planned. Teachers enjoy working together and share information about pupils’ progress efficiently. They have developed whole-school reading schemes, creative writing opportunities and science projects. You have provided some imaginative activities for pupils. These include the use of the forest school that engages pupils’ imagination and develops their enthusiasm for learning. You and your staff are now focused on mathematics, which you want to be as strong as other subject areas. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. These comments from the responses to Parent View were typical of what parents told us: ‘This is an excellent

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

school. The staff go above and beyond the expectations I have.’ Another said: ‘a really fantastic school with an excellent approach to teaching children with a learning disability’.

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

Your governing body is a strength of the school. Governors work closely with you to challenge and support your strategies for the school. They are ambitious for pupils to make the best progress possible and this is reflected in the attitudes staff have to target-setting and monitoring. You work successfully with your partner secondary school. You and your staff transfer information about pupils’ learning needs clearly and in a timely manner, so pupils are well prepared for the next stages of their education. Your relationship with the local authority is good and you can explain how well funding is used for the benefit of pupils.

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

At the last inspection you were asked to improve a number of areas. These included making sure that the targets teachers set out at the beginning of lessons are personalised and clear for each pupil so that each pupil makes as much progress as they can. We could see that pupils have targets given by their teachers that are clear and easy to understand. Teachers explain in a step-by-step manner how pupils can improve their work and pupils make progress as a result. Leaders were also asked to ensure that planning had clear targets for learning and that assessment was consistently linked to lesson planning so that all staff worked together to improve progress. Teachers’ planning currently helps pupils to make consistently good progress from their starting points. Teachers work together to develop teaching materials and discuss pupils’ learning needs as they transition through each stage of the school. You have also made the required improvements

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

to the teaching of reading. There is now a consistent approach to reading in the school that helps pupils develop their skills in learning new words. They are reading with confidence and with interest. You and your staff have reviewed and improved the range of books and magazines available and pupils find them engaging and relevant.

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Staff are well trained and know how to identify any issues that need passing on to relevant agencies and leaders. Inspectors could see from your well- kept records that you follow up any safeguarding concerns promptly and effectively. Any actions you are required to take as a result of planning for pupils’ welfare are addressed well and as a result pupils are safe. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy school; they trust their teachers and know that they are well cared for. There is almost no bullying at the school. When issues of this kind arise, staff deal with them quickly and successfully. You and your staff work well with the local authority to keep pupils safe and to make sure your systems for recording and managing safeguarding are secure.

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Short inspection of Oak Wood Primary School

Staff help pupils know how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils know how to use the internet safely and how to use mobile phones. Pupils know how to protect themselves in familiar and unfamiliar situations.

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Inspection findings

 In 2017, pupils throughout the school made good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. A very few pupils did not make the progress you expected. We discussed the reasons for this and what you have done to make improvements.  Pupils at the school now are making good progress. Your staff assess pupils accurately. You scrutinise your assessments with other schools to make sure progress is swift. You give teachers accurate information about pupils’ starting points and learning needs. Teachers use this information well to plan effectively and make sure that lessons are interesting and challenging.  We could see in pupils’ workbooks that you carefully track what you call pupils’ ‘learning journeys’. These records help pupils, teachers and parents identify early when extra help is needed and you offer this support before pupils fall behind. Inspectors saw teachers and teaching assistants work with pupils in one-to-one,

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Inspection findings

small-group and whole-class settings, adapting their teaching to meet pupils’ widely differing needs.  We could see how education, health and care plans are written with precision. They are regularly reviewed with pupils and parents. This means that pupils’ learning and, where relevant, health needs are well known to your staff. Teachers can then adapt their teaching so that pupils have access to interesting resources no matter what their ability or need.  You have put significant emphasis on communication skills. Teachers are trained in sign communication and in how to help pupils who have autistic spectrum disorder make their needs and interests known. As a result, pupils learn with confidence and successfully tackle new knowledge and develop new skills. You have introduced ‘communication boards’. These allow pupils to show teachers what their feelings are, how much help they need and when they have been

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Inspection findings

successful in learning. So, for example, pupils who have speech and language needs are helped to develop new skills with confidence.  You have an efficient system for communicating which theraputic actions will best help pupils. This means pupils get help such as hydrotherapy, and intensive speech and language support. As a result, pupils cope with the many changing demands of a school day. Staff help pupils organise themselves and stay calm when faced with change. This has been particularly helpful for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs.  You and your staff teach through what you call a ‘nurture’ approach and this means more pupils than last year feel confident and well prepared for the demands of challenging learning in reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils are more willing to read demanding texts because you have made these more accessible through, for example, the use of electronic technology. Pupils are

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Inspection findings

curious about books and are able to cope with challenging comprehension questions. You encourage parents to get involved with pupils’ reading. Staff let parents know quickly what pupils are doing at school, where they have been successful and how parents can help at home.  An area you are eager to develop further is making mathematics even more relevant to pupils’ home, social and, eventually, their work lives. You are planning ways to get the application of mathematics linked into as many areas for learning as is sensible. You believe this will improve pupils’ confidence and interest in mathematics.  The school is a welcoming and thriving learning enviroment and this is the main reason why attendance is generally high for the overwhelming majority of pupils. However, we looked at what you are doing to further improve attendance because last year there were some pupils who did not attend frequently enough

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Inspection findings

and these absences could not be explained by, for example, essential visits to hospital or unforeseen medical issues. You have employed specialist staff with expertise in home–school links and social care who have worked closely with parents. As a result, there are even fewer pupils who do not attend with enough frequency.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:

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Next steps for the school

 improve mathematics learning by helping pupils see the everyday applications of mathematics in other subjects and in real-life situations.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Warwickshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors carried out a scrutiny of the single central record of recruitment checks and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection. We scrutinised the school’s safeguarding policy and other policies relating to governance, pupils’ behaviour and attendance. We held meetings with you, the head of school and other senior leaders. We met with the chair of the academy trust and the chair of the school’s governing committee. We reviewed the school’s self-evaluation documents and improvement plans. We observed learning across the school, and looked at samples of pupils’ writing, reading, mathematics and their wider curriculum books. We observed pupils in a range of situations, including at break and lunchtime. We had conversations with a group of pupils in the school council and with pupils in lessons. We listened to pupils read in lessons. We looked at the 12 parent responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well 11 free-text responses from

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Information about the inspection

parents. We took into account the 20 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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