Fourfields Community Primary School

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

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Mrs Sue Blyth Headteacher Fourfields Community Primary School Bentley Avenue Yaxley Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE7 3ZT

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 9 May 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 2014.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community 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 Fourfields Community Primary School

You and your leaders have continued to work effectively to improve the school since the previous inspection. Your leadership and commitment to your community are clear throughout the school. The staff are a well-established team who support you in your dedication to school improvement. Your mantra ‘Shine’ (success, happiness, inspiration, nurture and excitement) is clear to see in the day-to-day work of the school. Staff who responded to the online questionnaire are proud to work at Fourfields and agree that it has improved since the previous inspection. They also feel that they are trusted to innovate and take risks in ways that are best for pupils. This has resulted in a confident, positive staff who put pupils first. All of the parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, would recommend the school to others. One parent’s comment summed this up by saying, ‘There is a strong sense of leadership and you can feel that the school is constantly striving to improve.’

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

You have invested time and resources into developing the curriculum so that it offers ‘wow’ moments to excite pupils at the beginning of a topic. You also encourage pupils to have a say in what they learn in order to ensure that it sparks their interests and inspires them. The pupils that I spoke to enjoyed the range of curriculum opportunities offered to them, particularly in English, mathematics, art and physical education. This was also evident when walking around the school, where examples of high-quality artwork are framed and displayed. Some pieces are based on recent topics such as ‘the blue planet’. Pupils’ enjoyment and excitement are also evident on the school’s social media accounts, which celebrate the experiences and successes of day-to-day life at Fourfields Primary.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

Pupils say that the clubs which the school provides are a particularly enjoyable part of the curriculum because they are open to everyone. One pupil commented: ‘Everyone can get involved. There are boys’ and girls’ football teams. No one feels left out.’ Other pupils made similarly positive comments.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

The good behaviour and attitudes to learning of pupils noted during the previous inspection remain good. Pupils have very positive relationships with each other and their teachers. This supports their well-being and results in a happy and supportive environment in which to learn.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

Writing, which was an area for improvement identified at the previous inspection, has been a strong focus of the school’s work. This has led to improved outcomes for pupils as a result of better progress. This is because you have reviewed your approach to phonics and the teaching of handwriting. The improvements you have made have had a positive impact on pupils’ spelling and presentation. Pupils now address spelling issues in their writing with confidence. Pupils, including the higher- attaining pupils, are also expected to write more accurately as they progress through the school, and they respond well to this.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

Teaching remains good. Teachers work collaboratively and share good practice, including through looking at pupils’ books together to identify effective strategies and the progress pupils are making. Leaders successfully give responsibility for training and development to teachers so that they identify what they need to do to raise the quality of their teaching. This is supporting further improvement because teachers are becoming increasingly active and engaged in leading their own development.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

You and your leaders accurately evaluate the school and have good capacity to make further improvements successfully. However, despite some strong recent improvements, the progress of disadvantaged pupils over time is not consistently good. This is because you and your leadership team, including the governing body, have not been rigorous enough in monitoring the quality of provision for this group of pupils and the outcomes they achieve. Without this information, actions to improve the quality of learning and outcomes further for these pupils have been limited.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

You place a high priority on the well-being and safety of your pupils. You ensure that staff are well trained and updated regularly. As the school’s designated safeguarding lead, you keep your own knowledge current. You have also made sure that other senior leaders are trained for this role so that pupils are safe when you are not there. The checks that are made by the school to ensure that people who work with pupils are safe are thorough and fit for purpose. Records kept are updated regularly and reviewed and monitored by you and governors. These include training records, which are readily accessible so that updates are not missed.

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Short inspection of Fourfields Community Primary School

Pupils feel safe and say that bullying is rare but, if it happens, it is effectively dealt with by adults. Older pupils are also aware of what cyber bullying is and how it can happen. They talked enthusiastically about their recent learning about online safety. One pupil referred to keeping information about himself private and only talking with trusted people. He commented, ‘You might as well leave your front door open if you don’t protect your private information.’

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Inspection findings

 My first inspection focus related to pupils’ progress and outcomes in reading, and whether these were improving. In 2017, standards in reading at the end of key stage 2 were below the national average. No disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 in 2017 reached the higher standard in reading and standards for this group of pupils overall in reading were low. Fewer pupils in Year 1 achieved the expected standard in the phonics screening check than in the two previous years. The average mark for the pupils who did not achieve the standard (23% of the year group) was very low.  You have reviewed the way that you teach reading in the school and have invested in a broad range of new reading books for pupils to help make reading more inspiring and relevant for them. Teachers use the books effectively and ensure that there is a strong focus on vocabulary during whole-class reading sessions, as well as having higher expectations of what pupils can read and

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Inspection findings

achieve. Teachers now plan for key words that may need explaining and ask questions which make pupils think carefully about the meaning of new vocabulary. As a result, pupils are developing reading skills more quickly. They are gaining a deeper understanding of what they are reading, are being introduced to new authors and are enjoying reading more.  The teaching of phonics has also been reviewed and pupils in Year 1 recognise the different ways that sounds can be represented in writing. This is supporting improvements in their reading. Pupils read regularly to an adult and those who need to read more regularly do so and are making better progress than previously.  My second focus related to the progress made by the school’s most vulnerable pupils and their attendance at school. In 2016 and 2017, disadvantaged pupils at Fourfields Primary were in the bottom 20% nationally for progress in mathematics and in the bottom 10% for reading in 2017. School attendance for

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Inspection findings

vulnerable groups, including pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, was also low and in the bottom 10%. Persistent absence (absence that falls below 90%) was high in 2016 for these pupils.  Disadvantaged pupils’ attendance at Fourfields Primary remains below that of other pupils but has improved by 0.5% during the current year. Leaders track attendance carefully and this increased awareness has helped some pupils improve their attendance. This is because it has helped leaders to identify individual family needs and tailor support to improve attendance. Nevertheless, the school’s systems and processes are not ensuring that all pupils with persistent absence are coming to school more frequently.  You have rightly focused heavily on your strategy to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable pupils by ensuring that all class teaching is of a high quality. This includes teachers prioritising the time they spend with some pupils in key groups

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Inspection findings

during lessons. This is having a strong impact in those lessons where the most disadvantaged have access to feedback and high-quality questioning from the teacher for longer periods of time. However, this practice is not yet fully embedded.  A lack of effective systems and processes to measure the impact of provision on the outcomes of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities was identified as a priority in the SEN audit completed by the local authority in 2017. This remains the case.  The pupil premium statement for 2017/18 is not available on the school website. This is a statutory expectation. The school improvement plan refers to clear and ambitious targets for disadvantaged groups, but governors are not aware of these and so cannot track progress against them or ask challenging questions of school leaders in relation to them.

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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

 information about disadvantaged pupils, including pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, is collated and monitored more closely. This includes the impact of new teaching strategies so that clear actions can be identified to help improve the outcomes for this group of pupils  governors challenge school leaders more effectively about the impact of their work to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, particularly those supported through the pupil premium  the school’s website includes statutory information related to the pupil premium funding  the persistent absence of a minority of pupils reduces significantly and disadvantaged pupils’ attendance improves to be at least in line with the national average. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Cambridgeshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

We discussed the key lines of enquiry for this inspection, areas for further improvement and information about current pupils’ attainment and progress with mathematics and English leads. I visited lessons and held meetings with you and your senior leaders. I also spoke to pupils informally and read with pupils from a range of year groups. I met with four governors and the local authority adviser for the school. Policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils were examined, along with attendance information. I held discussions with the leaders for SEN and the pupil premium. I gathered a range of evidence to evaluate the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. This included joint learning walks with you and your leaders. I looked at a range of pupils’ work from across the school, both in books and on display, which included work from a wide range of subjects and pupil abilities. The views of 56 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire,

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Information about the inspection

Parent View, were taken into account, as well as 47 responses which parents made using the free-text service. The 10 responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey were also considered.

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