Park Hill Primary School

Park Hill Primary School Alcester Road, Birmingham, West Midlands B13 8BB

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Park Hill Primary School is a caring, compassionate community where its pupils are at the heart of the school. All members of the school community feel welcomed and valued.  Leaders, including governors, have responded effectively and swiftly to the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection. Consequently, the school has improved. For example, their approach to supporting disadvantaged pupils is resulting in improved outcomes for these pupils.  The good quality of teaching and learning is ensuring that the progress pupils make across a range of subjects is improving. However, the school’s good practice is not yet fully embedded across the school. As a result, not all pupils, including the most able pupils, make the progress of which they are capable.  The headteacher, her senior leaders and governors, have sought and acted on support from other agencies. They are honest and reflective leaders dedicated to improving

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

standards across the school.  Leaders work hard to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As a result, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They have a very good understanding of British values.  Leaders have introduced new assessment systems to the school. These are helping teachers to focus more specifically on pupils’ progress. But they are not yet sufficiently developed, or shared across the school, to support middle leaders in evaluating progress.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning and their behaviour are very positive. They are extremely polite and welcome everyone with respect and care. The school has a calm and orderly atmosphere where everyone speaks politely to each other.  Parents are overwhelmingly happy with the school. They know that their children are safe in school and very well cared for. They particularly appreciate the support they receive, as families, from the school at difficult

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

times.  Many children join the school in the early years with skills below those typical for their age. However, they quickly make good progress from their starting points.  Middle and subject leaders have good subject knowledge and are ambitious for their pupils. However, they are not yet as well versed as they could be in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in their subject areas.  Leaders have started to develop a rich, broad and balanced curriculum that builds on the cultural heritage of the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership by:  embedding the recent developments in whole-school assessment systems, so that they are more systematically used by all staff, to support improving outcomes for pupils  developing the role of middle leaders in monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility.  Improve the quality of teaching and learning by sharpening and embedding the existing good practice, so that all pupils, from their differing starting points, especially the most able pupils, make the progress they are capable of and are fully prepared for their next stage of education.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 School leaders are passionate about the school. The headteacher, supported by her deputy and senior leaders, knows the diverse community of the school deeply. The team have worked well together to create a culture and ethos that values everyone. Diversity is truly appreciated and the school is a family community.  School leaders, including governors, have high expectations of each other and are aspirational for their pupils. They have worked unceasingly to address the areas for improvement cited at the time of the previous inspection. Staff share these high aspirations and are very proud to be part of the school. All the staff responding to Ofsted’s staff survey said they enjoy working at the school and are proud to be a member of staff. Staff morale is very high, they know leaders support them and care about their welfare.  Following the previous inspection, school leaders have actively, honestly and swiftly

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

sought advice to bring about rapid improvements. They have worked hard with outside agencies to develop systems that support pupils’ progress and strategic leadership. This means that pupils are now making better progress in reading, writing and mathematics and the quality of teaching and learning has improved. Leaders now plan more effectively based on a clear assessment of pupils’ needs and strong evaluation of impact. However, there is still scope to ensure that middle leaders and subject leaders can use any data analysis to carefully track the progress of year groups, pupil groups and individuals.  Leaders have a secure understanding of the needs of disadvantaged pupils and have acted on advice to carefully analyse the barriers to learning for these pupils. As a result, they are more successful in effectively using the pupil premium funding to match interventions and support pupils’ needs. These actions are helping

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

disadvantaged pupils make progress that is at least in line with other pupils in school and sometimes better. The pastoral care offered to disadvantaged pupils provides very strong support that is welcomed and valued by parents.  Middle and subject leaders have good subject knowledge and offer support for teaching and learning. They know the needs of the pupils and work hard to ensure teaching, learning and assessment meet these needs. Currently, however, they are not all significantly involved in systematically monitoring or evaluating their areas of responsibility, which reduces the impact they have on school improvement. They are fully aware of whole-school information tracking systems. However, they are not yet secure in using these systems to carefully identify strengths and weaknesses in their subjects to support and enhance progress at year group, group or individual pupil level.  The deputy headteacher leads on curriculum development. He is passionate about

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

using the school’s cultural heritage to plan a rich, broad and memorable curriculum. For example, pupils in Year 5 study World War II and the bombing of the local area and the school site. In Year 6, when pupils study railways in history, they again use the local area to investigate the development of railways and travel by members of their families in the past. Trips and visitors are well planned to support the curriculum and help pupils learn from their own cultures and the cultures and history of others. Currently, although topic work is monitored against standards of reading, writing and mathematics, other subjects, for example history and geography, are not evaluated effectively.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is very well developed across the school. Pupils enjoy learning about different faiths and places of worship, and they are very respectful of each other’s beliefs. Teachers use visits, for example to Cannon Hill Park,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

Sea Life Centre and Think Tank, to support pupils’ learning and progress. Leaders actively promote charity work, fair trade links and, through the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award scheme, respect and compassion for everyone. The school is a happy, caring community where all are warmly welcomed.  The physical education (PE) and sports premium funding is well used to support pupils’ personal development. The sports leader is very enthusiastic and dedicated. Pupils take part in a wide range of sporting activities during and after the school day. The leader uses the school website to raise the profile of sporting activity and its impact on staying healthy.

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Governance of the school

 Following external advice, governors have improved the ways in which they find out for themselves about the school. They are now more able to effectively challenge and hold leaders to account. They have developed the role of link-governors and ensured that there are key questions to be asked when any governor visits the school to undertake monitoring and evaluation activities. This ensures that priorities are regularly reviewed, and that strengths and areas for development are clearly identified and tenaciously followed up.  Governors are dedicated to the school and know the community well. They are ambitious for all the pupils in the school. They work well with the headteacher and other leaders to ensure that pupils and staff are well cared for.  Governors have made good use of a skills audit to appoint new governors to roles where their experience and professional expertise can be well used.  The governing body has decided to appoint two co-chairs. These two governors work

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Governance of the school

extremely well together to support and challenge school leaders and promote the improving standards pupils achieve across the school.  Governors monitor the impact of performance management and professional development opportunities actively.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. All adults are fully aware of their responsibilities and how they should record and report any concerns they may have.  The correct procedures for checking all staff and visitors are carried out. Records are kept up to date and stored securely.  Staff and governors are well trained and receive regular updates.  Leaders work diligently with parents and outside agencies to ensure pupils are safe and follow up any concerns until they are fully satisfied with the outcomes. Leaders know their pupils and families meticulously and use learning mentors and outside agencies very effectively to support vulnerable pupils. Parents comment that they really welcome the advice and support they receive, saying it makes a real difference to their children.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 As a result of more consistency in the quality of teaching and assessment since the previous inspection, work in pupils’ books shows improved standards and greater progress for most pupils.  Leaders have recognised that the development of strong vocabulary is crucial to enable pupils to make good and better progress. They are driving forward a consistent approach across the school that promotes strong vocabulary development and language skills. Classroom displays, including key vocabulary, support pupils in their reading and writing skills. Teachers and leaders have an inclusive approach to teaching pupils with little or no English. Pupils take part in whole-class teaching, followed by targeted support in highly structured intervention activities. Strategies such as ‘talking the sentence’ help pupils acquire strong English skills.  Teacher’s expectations of pupils are high. When teachers use questioning to assess

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

pupils’ learning effectively, progress for pupils is strong. However, occasionally teachers do not challenge pupils sufficiently or develop their thinking skills. This results in weaker progress, especially for the most able pupils.  Teachers have good subject knowledge and plan lessons to meet pupils’ needs. Time is well used and teachers are adept at breaking learning into manageable chunks. This builds pupils’ understanding and provides time for practising skills. Teaching is engaging and pupils’ attitudes to learning are very positive.  Assessment is well used within lessons. Teachers mark pupils’ books in-line with the school’s policy. Pupils respond readily to teachers’ feedback. Routines are well established and classrooms are calm, attractive, purposeful learning environments.  Teaching assistants make valuable contributions to learning when they are working with groups of pupils within the classroom or leading focused intervention groups.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

During whole-class activities, for example at the start of lessons, teaching assistants are less effective. This is because they are not able to support or challenge pupils quickly enough when they are finding the learning too hard or too easy.  The teaching of reading and writing is improving. The recently appointed English lead has swiftly analysed and evaluated provision. He has introduced positive changes to the teaching of reading and writing. Pupils are now given more opportunities to practice and refine their writing skills, followed by several opportunities to write independently. Strong progress in writing is evident in pupils’ books. Pupils across the school read well and told the inspectors they enjoy reading in school and at home. Leaders are providing more challenging texts for pupils. They are ensuring guided reading activities are closely matched to different pupils’ needs. Evidence in books

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

shows a wide coverage of reading genres. Useful feedback to pupils supports their understanding and progress.  The mathematics leader is strong and effective. She supports teachers to plan effectively to meet the needs of pupils. Teachers are now providing more opportunities for pupils to practise their basic skills more frequently and apply them in problem- solving activities more fluently. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson pupils were able to tackle challenging number problems because of the skilful modelling, use of prior learning and insightful questioning. This led to strong progress and positive outcomes.  The teaching of phonics in early years and Year 1 is a strength of the school. Pupils are taught in whole-class groups with extra support given daily to pupils who are at risk of falling behind. Pupils in the early years were confident in the use of phonics to read and spell words. For example, after spelling the word correctly, a child in Reception

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

told the inspector, ‘I segmented green to spell it.’  As a result of more consistency in the quality of teaching and higher expectations, work in pupils’ books show that most pupils are making strong progress across a range of subjects. However, more able pupils could make stronger progress if they were challenged more effectively.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Park Hill Primary is a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and these values are embedded across the whole school. Pupils know and understand what it means to be a compassionate school, a key UNICEF value. Staff and pupils demonstrate these values in all their actions, which creates a happy, caring, family community.  Pupils have extremely positive attitudes to learning. They work hard in lessons, concentrating fully. Classrooms are calm and purposeful learning environments. Presentation in books is of a high standard and this supports pupils’ learning.  Pupils are exceedingly proud of their school. They feel valued and are confident, articulate learners. They enjoy their learning and want to do their best and achieve highly.  All staff know their pupils and families extremely well. The school’s mentoring and pastoral care support systems are of an exceptionally high standard, which means that

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Personal development and welfare

pupils are very ably supported. Pupils are confident to seek advice when needed and to support each other.  Pupils feel safe in school and are very confident about the importance of staying safe on line and how to do this. They learn how to keep themselves safe in a variety of ways, including road safety and stranger danger. The school uses the website and twitter feed to provide parents with information about keeping safe, especially e-safety.  Pupils say that bullying is very rare and they know that teachers and support staff will deal with any incident quickly and in a ‘nice’ way. They feel able to talk to adults in school if they are worried about anything. Each class creates their own class pledge based on their compassionate values, and pupils were eager to tell inspectors that, ‘We treat each other the way we want to be treated ourselves.’  Pupils contribute to the school in a variety of ways, including the school council and

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Personal development and welfare

positive play leaders. Members of the school council created the Pupils Pledge and Corridor Code and pupils are proud when they have demonstrated these codes by saying hello to a visitor, inviting a new child to join their games or calmly walking down the corridor without a reminder. Pupils also relish opportunities to support charities and the local community. They raise money, for example for Comic Relief, and, as part of the UNICEF code, donate food to a local food bank.  The breakfast club follows the ethos and values of the whole school. Pupils enjoy attending the club where they can take part in a variety of physical, creative, learning and free choice activities. The learning mentor who manages the club is acutely aware of pupils’ needs and actively supports pupils at different times of the day, encouraging them to join lunchtime and after-school clubs.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are very happy in school and work well together in class. Behaviour, at the time of the inspection, at playtimes, lunchtimes and in all lessons was very good. Pupils respond quickly and calmly to adults’ instructions and often just a look and a smile will ensure any slight transgression is rectified.  Staff have high expectations of behaviour based on the school’s values, which are consistently applied. Pupils know that sometimes children can misbehave or be a little unkind, but they are confident this does not happen often, and children always say sorry. Learning engages pupils, and the relationships between adults and pupils and between pupils are excellent.  Pupils have a very secure knowledge and understanding of British values. They talk about these values seamlessly in their conversations. The younger pupils were eager to tell the lead inspector what democracy meant. They said it included issues such as

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Behaviour

voting for people, voting for members of the school council, and also voting for which game to play at lunchtime so that it was fair to everyone.  Leaders work tirelessly to promote high attendance, using positive praise and rewards and applying sanctions where necessary, including applying fines. These actions are effective in most cases and attendance for all pupils is close to national averages and improving further. However, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent is remains high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders continue to work with a minority of parents to help them understand the importance of regular attendance.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Evidence in current pupils’ work shows strong progress for the majority of pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. This is reflected in leaders’ analysis of current pupils’ progress.  In mathematics, evidence in pupils’ books at key stage 1 and key stage 2 show strong progress within units of work and over periods of time. For example, pupils in Year 2 developed their skills in data handling swiftly. They moved from simple graphs to creating their own graphs and answering questions on these graphs within a week.  Progress in English books seen by inspectors was strong. Pupils were able to write at greater length using more varied vocabulary and improved punctuation over time. They became more confident in using texts they had read to support and develop their writing.  The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in phonics has improved over the last three years and was slightly above the national average last year. Teachers’

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Outcomes for pupils Good

assessments indicate strong achievements in phonics for current pupils. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieving the expected standard in 2018 was above the national average for other pupils.  In 2018, pupils’ attainment at the expected standard by the end of key stage 1 improved compared with 2017 and was in-line with the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. This was true at the higher standard for reading and mathematics, with attainment slightly above the national average in writing. Disadvantaged pupils attained outcomes at least similar to those obtained by other children in the school in reading, writing and mathematics, and close to the national average for other pupils in reading and writing.  The school has a high proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language. These pupils are well supported and receive very effective, targeted teaching, which allows them to make strong progress in reading, writing and

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Outcomes for pupils Good

mathematics. At the end of key stage 2 in 2018, they had made progress that was above national average in reading, writing and mathematics. They attained in line with their peers at the expected standard and at a higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics.  A higher proportion of pupils attained the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2 in 2018, compared with 2017. This was also true at the higher standard. However, although attainment in writing at the expected standard and higher standard was broadly in line with national averages, this was not the case in reading and mathematics or for reading, writing and mathematics combined at the expected standard. The proportion of pupils who attained at the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined was in line with the national average.  In 2018, pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 was in line with the national

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Outcomes for pupils Good

average in reading, writing and mathematics.  Attainment at the end of key stage 2 for the large number of disadvantaged pupils in the school improved in 2018. Disadvantaged pupils’ progress in reading and writing was above the national average for other pupils in reading and writing. However, it was below the national average in mathematics.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported and make good and sometimes better progress from their individual starting points. The special educational needs coordinator has been very well supported by school leaders and has developed effective systems for the identification and assessment of these pupils.

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Early years provision Good

 The early years learning environments are attractive, purposeful, language-rich areas. Leaders cleverly adjusted learning spaces to best suit their children when the local authority reduced admission numbers. The outdoor areas are inviting and used skilfully to support classroom provision and learning. At the time of the inspection, parents were actively involved, alongside early years staff and children, in further enhancing these spaces.  Relationships between staff and children are of high quality. Staff are caring and know their children well. They plan activities carefully to support all children and help them settle quickly on joining the school. Daily routines have been carefully established and the children know what they should do. They are polite and friendly and enjoy playing and learning together and independently.  Parents are welcomed by early years staff and encouraged to attend workshops to help

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Early years provision Good

them support their children’s learning. Staff use every opportunity to model high quality language development to parents. This was evidenced by an inspector on the ‘environment afternoon’ when staff seamlessly supported parents to develop and extend their children’s language skills.  The early years leader has been well supported by senior leaders. She is confident in her role and engages positively with external support, including that from other local schools. As a result, the quality of assessment of pupils’ abilities on entry to Nursery or Reception class is now more accurate and staff are more carefully matching activities to children’s needs.  A large proportion of children enter early years with little or no English. They are well supported to acquire language skills. Adults effectively model language and develop children’s vocabulary through skilful, focused teaching activities and well-planned

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Early years provision Good

interventions. Teachers and teaching assistants consistently model the use of full sentences and encourage children to speak in full sentences as much as possible.  Many children enter Nursery with skills and abilities that are below those typical for their age. Good subject knowledge, well planned learning activities, including role-play and child-initiated learning, enable most pupils to make good progress from their individual starting points. When adult-led activities do not challenge all pupils, and especially the most able, to develop their skills fully, progress is not as strong.  Staff moderate children’s work together and with outside agencies. This supports the judgements staff make and helps them to plan interventions carefully to ensure that children do not fall behind. Leaders’ information indicates that more children are now on track to achieve a good level of development by the end of Reception class.

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Early years provision Good

 Safeguarding in the early years is effective. All adults know the children in their care and are vigilant in ensuring that children are kept safe. All early years’ welfare requirements are fully met.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address enquiry@parkhill.bham.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 to 22 March 2017

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Information about this school

 Park Hill Primary is a slightly larger-than-average primary school. Following the local authority’s notification that there would be a reduction to admission numbers in 2017, the school will reduce to two-form entry across all years from 2020.  The majority of pupils attending the school are of Pakistani heritage.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is in the top 20% of all schools nationally.  Children attend Nursery provision part-time for 15 hours. The children in the two reception classes attend full-time.  The school has a breakfast club which is managed by the governing body and run by school staff.  The school is a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and received the UNICEF bronze award in July 2018.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  Since the previous inspection in March 2017, leaders and governors have

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Information about this school

commissioned reviews on the use of pupil premium funding, governance, provision for pupils with SEND and early years provision. They have been supported by a representative of Birmingham Education Partnership commissioned by the local authority.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of lessons in all year groups. All the observations were made jointly with members of the senior leadership team.  The lead inspector went on a learning walk with the headteacher.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work in books across a variety of subjects. The majority of this was carried out with subject leaders. Inspectors also looked at work on display in classrooms and corridors.  Inspectors considered a wide range of documentation, including: the school’s own self- evaluation; school leaders’ improvement plans; information and data on pupils’ starting points, achievement and progress; and documents relating to governance, attendance and safeguarding. The lead inspector scrutinised the school website.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and leaders of other aspects of the school’s provision. The lead inspector also held meetings with three members of the governing body, including the two co-chairs of governors. The lead

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Information about this inspection

inspector met with a school improvement adviser from Birmingham Education Partnership, which is commissioned by the local authority.  The lead inspector visited the breakfast club and spoke to the manager of the club and pupils attending the club.  Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons, at playtimes and lunchtimes. Inspectors heard pupils from Years 1 to 6 read and met with pupils from across the school to ask them for their views on the school.  Inspectors spoke to parents as they brought their children to school and to one parent who wanted to speak to inspectors at the end of the school day.  The lead inspector analysed the 37 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, including the 30 free-text comments. The lead inspector also took account of the 39 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and the 40 responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ survey.

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Inspection team

Tina Willmott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Andy Lakatos 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

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

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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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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