Bassett Green Primary School

Bassett Green Primary School Honeysuckle Road, Bassett, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 3BZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement Early years provision Good 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

 Leaders and governors have not tackled the areas requiring improvement identified at the time of the last inspection effectively enough.  Teaching and assessment are too variable to benefit all pupils.  Mathematics teaching in particular has not been effective enough to help pupils make strong progress.  Leaders have not rigorously reviewed the provision for and learning of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  Many pupils with SEND are not making the progress in their learning that they should.  Leaders and governors do not sharply evaluate the use of pupil premium funding. This means that they do not understand well enough whether these funds are being used wisely.  Disadvantaged pupils are underperforming compared with other pupils nationally.  Strategies to improve pupils’ attendance are not effective enough, especially for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.  There is not enough breadth and depth to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Early years provision is well planned and supports children’s learning and development.  Work to improve teaching and learning has picked up pace this year. The precision of the support for teachers and clear focus on pupils’ learning are having a positive impact.  The happy relationships between adults and pupils contribute to a culture of respect and kindness in the school.  Behaviour is good throughout the school. Pupils show themselves to be thoughtful and responsible. They have positive attitudes to their learning.  Safeguarding is effective. Staff work hard to ensure that there is a culture of safety in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ progress, particularly those with SEND or who are disadvantaged, by: – making sure that teachers can accurately assess pupils’ learning – ensuring that teachers provide pupils with the right level of challenge to build on their knowledge and skills – improving pupils’ attendance, particularly those who are disadvantaged and those pupils with SEND.  Increase the effectiveness of leadership and management by: – urgently reviewing leaders’ oversight of pupils with SEND and the quality of provision for this group – building on recent improvements in teaching and learning so that there is a consistently strong picture across the school – ensuring that staff members’ subject knowledge in mathematics is secure – making sure that the development of pupils’ knowledge and skills across the curriculum is carefully planned – reviewing the use of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils so that it is used

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders and governors have not secured consistently effective teaching across all year groups. As a result, pupils do not make the progress they should.  Senior leaders have not had the capacity until recently to focus unequivocally on raising the quality of teaching and learning. Up until this year, their impact on improving the quality of teaching has been limited. With the arrival of the new deputy headteacher this academic year, there is now greater expertise and capacity to develop teaching and learning.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher, with an increasingly capable team of middle leaders, have embarked on an ambitious programme of professional development. Teachers now receive tailored support which focuses on what the pupils need to learn and what skills and knowledge teachers must develop to meet those needs.  The impact of this concerted action has had a palpable and positive effect. It can be

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

seen, for example, in the improved, if not yet consistent, learning that is now happening in mathematics.  The leadership of SEND provision in the school has not been rigorous enough. Learning targets for pupils with SEND have not been ambitious enough. This has hampered their progress. Some annual reviews for pupils with education, health and care plans have not been completed. This is a statutory duty. The omission had not been picked up by the local authority.  Leaders and governors have focused on improving the culture of the school since the last inspection. They have prioritised improving pupils’ behaviour and emotional well- being. This has paid dividends in developing pupils’ positive attitudes towards learning as well as ensuring that they feel safe and nurtured within the school.  In the drive to improve behaviour, leaders have had success, as seen in the steep drop in exclusions as well as the good conduct of pupils about the school. However, leaders

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

have not had sufficient impact on improving attendance, particularly for pupils with SEND and for disadvantaged pupils.  The quality of learning in subjects other than English and mathematics is mixed. Leaders have secured specialist delivery of physical education (PE) which has had a powerful effect on pupils’ learning and motivation. However, elsewhere, in science, geography and history for instance, there is still insufficient structure to allow pupils to build knowledge and increase their skills.  Leaders make good use of additional funding for PE and sports. They have ensured that pupils are given opportunities to participate in a wide range of sports activities and competitions. Leaders have built strong connections with Southampton Football Club, for example, which has given pupils access to a coaching programme.  However, the same is not true of the pupil premium funding. Its use has not resulted in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

rapid enough improvement of attendance or outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. It has not been thoroughly reviewed by leaders and governors in such a way as to evaluate the success of the interventions.

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Governance of the school

 Governors are clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They are committed and loyal, wanting the best for all pupils.  Governors are increasingly providing challenge to senior leaders. As part of an internal review of their work, governors have looked at more effective ways in which they can hold school leaders to account. They have recently formed the standards committee, which focuses sharply on pupils’ outcomes and key performance indicators.  Governors now ask more focused questions about pupils’ progress; for example, the minutes of meetings show that governors are pursuing what current pupils’ assessment reveals and how pupils’ progress is tracked. Governors are aware of the need to address pupils’ underachievement, but their questions about leaders’ actions and intentions are not yet probing enough to hold leaders fully to account.  Governors have not kept close enough oversight of the provision for pupils with SEND.

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Governance of the school

As a result, they were not aware of the failure of timely annual reviews to be conducted.  The governors are not rigorous enough when monitoring the use of pupil premium funding and its impact on disadvantaged pupils’ learning and attendance.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Staff and governors are well trained and keep up to date with current requirements and guidance.  The culture in the school is one of nurture and care. Pupils’ needs and well-being are put first. This is evident in many aspects of the school’s work and is praised by parents, who speak fervently about how well the staff know their children.  Leaders work effectively with external agencies responsible for keeping children safe and are persistent in following up any concerns. Governors have invested in this area of the school’s work by employing a full-time designated safeguarding lead, a family link worker and an educational welfare officer. Together with senior leaders, the safeguarding team within the school puts children’s safety at the heart of its work.  The governor responsible for safeguarding regularly oversees the statutory checks that the school carries out, to ensure that they are in place.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teaching does not routinely meet the needs of pupils of different abilities. Where teaching is stronger, teachers are skilled at checking what pupils know and can do and use the information to plan carefully what pupils need to learn next. Where this happens, pupils make good gains in their learning. However, this quality is not yet embedded in the teaching across the school.  The recently introduced intensive programme of support and development for teachers is having a positive impact on teaching. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are rising and they are more consistently planning appropriate learning activities. Nonetheless, there are still gaps in pupils’ learning which are not always picked up in the teaching.  School leaders have improved the teaching of mathematics somewhat of late, particularly in relation to reasoning skills. Where teachers use skilful questioning to promote thinking, pupils are better able to make leaps in their understanding. On

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

occasions, however, teachers’ subject knowledge is not strong enough. This lack of teacher knowledge sometimes leads to pupils’ misconceptions and confusion.  In English, pupils show engagement and interest in reading and writing activities. Their progress, though, is hampered by weaknesses in basic skills such as spelling and punctuation. Pupils are given vocabulary to use to develop their writing, but often they do not have a secure understanding of the meaning of the words they are using. This lack of depth in their knowledge hampers their progress.  Expectations of what pupils with SEND can achieve are often too low. The provision that they receive is uneven in quality. On occasions, their learning is well developed and high aspirations are set, but this is not the case for all.  School leaders and staff have begun to look at ways to support disadvantaged pupils’ learning better by considering research into the most effective teaching strategies for

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

them. Although much has been learned, changes have not yet been fully implemented and therefore there has been insufficient impact on disadvantaged pupils, who continue to underachieve.  The gaps in learning for those pupils whose absence rates are high are not being closed rigorously. It is clear from pupils’ work that teachers are not routinely following up what a pupil has missed when they return from a period of absence. As a result, the pupils are not able to make the necessary progress in their knowledge and skills.  School leaders have made efforts to add breadth and depth to the curriculum beyond English and mathematics. They have developed new ways of delivering religious education, for example, that give pupils space to discuss and discover new ideas. Another strength of the curriculum is the delivery of PE. However, school leaders recognise that there is more to do in order to build pupils’ knowledge, skills and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

understanding in science, geography and history.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils talk with confidence and understanding about the values of the school. These ideas of respect, challenge, resilience and teamwork underpin many of the conversations in the school about pupils making good decisions concerning how they learn and how they treat each other.  Parents and carers praise the way pupils know and understand the meaning and importance of the values. They gave inspectors examples of how their children apply the different values, such as resilience, to how they take on new challenges.  Relationships in the school are a strength. The whole-school value of respect was observed to be a source of discussion and consideration. Pupils were able to articulate well the importance of mutual respect for each other’s differences.  Pupils in class work collaboratively very well. They show a sense of responsibility

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Personal development and welfare

towards helping each other. An example of this is the mathematics champions who go out of their way to help others who are struggling with their learning. This is typical of the way pupils look after each other.  Pupils’ leadership abilities are developed through a range of opportunities such as being eco-warriors, play leaders, librarians and sports leaders. They relish these experiences.  Pupils have a secure understanding of how to keep healthy. An example of this is the commitment the school has shown to the development of fitness. Pupils take part in a range of fitness activities and can explain what the health benefits are of exercise and diet.  School leaders have ensured that pupils have a raft of experiences that take them beyond the school gate. Every pupil from Year 3 to Year 6 has a residential trip opportunity. Visits to places of local interest to add stimulus to the learning activities in

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Personal development and welfare

school are built into the curriculum. For instance, Year 2 pupils visited the Titanic museum in Southampton as part of a writing topic. Pupils and parents spoke with appreciation of this aspect of the school’s provision.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement because some groups of pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should.  Attendance is not good enough for some groups of pupils. Leaders have introduced several strategies, along with support from a school-based educational welfare officer and a family link worker, to improve attendance. Despite these strategies, attendance for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND is showing only small signs of improvement. Attendance for these groups remains below the national average, and this contributes to their underachievement.  Pupils’ conduct is good. They behave well in class and want to learn and to please their teachers. The strength of relationships between pupils and adults is a strength of the school. As a result of this improving culture in the school, the previously high number of fixed-term exclusions has been emphatically reduced.  Pupils are confident and courteous. They support each other in class, working

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Behaviour

collaboratively and with care for each other. A high number of pupils join the school over the course of the year. They are welcomed and included into the community of the school with kindness.  Pupils move about the school in a calm and orderly way. They play well with each other at break and lunchtimes. When taking part in PE activities, pupils show excellent team spirit and a real pleasure in participation.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 While progress in reading and writing was in line with the national average in 2018 for pupils reaching the end of key stage 2, mathematics progress was significantly below the national average. This has been the case for the past three years.  Disadvantaged pupils’ progress in reading is significantly below the national average and this is true also for their progress in mathematics for the past three years. Pupils with SEND have not made any better progress. Their outcomes in mathematics and reading have been very low.  Key stage 1 outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics are variable and in 2018 were well below those seen nationally. In part, this can be explained by the turnover of pupils between Reception and the end of Year 2. It is also undoubtedly a consequence of the inconsistencies in teaching and assessment in the school.  Current pupils in all years, especially those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND,

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

are still not reaching the standards of which they are capable. Scrutiny of their work reveals that, although there have been improvements to teaching, some pupils’ high absence and the resulting gaps in their learning are continuing to impede their progress.  By the end of key stage 2, pupils’ writing skills are stronger than their mathematics and reading skills. This is as a result of a concerted effort to improve the teaching of writing across the school.  Evidence from observations and pupils’ work in books shows that pupils’ learning in the foundation subjects is improving but is still not as good as it could be. The delivery of the subject content does not routinely build on a progression of knowledge and skills.

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Early years provision Good

 Early years provision is good because teaching is among the strongest and most consistent in the school. Leaders effectively use their knowledge of children’s individual progress to adapt learning activities to match their needs.  The early years leader communicates well with parents and other providers to ensure that children have a smooth transition into Reception class. Parents praise the thoughtful and effective way in which children are helped as they start at school. They appreciate the open and welcoming atmosphere of early years and the opportunities to talk with staff about their child. Several volunteer to work in class.  The early years environment is one of care and nurture with an accent on understanding and developing children’s potential. Staff focus well on what children already know and can do and the next steps in their development. As a result, most children make good progress from their starting points and leave well prepared for Year 1.

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Early years provision Good

 There is only a small gap in achievement between disadvantaged children and others at this stage.  Pupils use their phonics skills to sound out words and write with well-developed imagination and interest for their age. Inspectors saw children writing of their own accord. Many write with accuracy and fluency.  Staff plan activities that encourage children to learn and explore. Activities capture children’s interest. For example, inspectors observed children enjoying a sequence of learning all about pirates, which had fired their imagination. Through this stimulating topic, children were able to develop their writing skills in the stories they devised.  Children are confident speakers and can convey their ideas in a persuasive way. They work well with each other. In an activity that asked them to draw pictures of a classmate, they demonstrated very high levels of empathy and regard for each other

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Early years provision Good

as well as competent motor skills.  Children generally behave well. On occasions they get distracted, but staff show skill in the quick and effective way children are re-engaged.  Safeguarding is effective and the statutory welfare requirements are 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

Website www.bassettgreen.southampton.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 February – 1 March 2017

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Information about this school

 Bassett Green is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average.  In the early years provision, children attend the Reception class full time.  The school has a breakfast club that is managed by the governing body.  The new deputy headteacher joined the school in January 2019. For a period of time before this, the school had been without a deputy headteacher.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed learning throughout the school. School leaders accompanied inspectors on many visits to classes.  Inspectors spoke with a wide range of people, including pupils, parents, staff, leaders, governors and the local authority.  A wide range of documentation was scrutinised, including that relating to safeguarding, pupils’ achievement, policies, planning documents, governance, behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors talked to pupils about their learning, listened to some read and looked at the work in their books across a range of subjects. They spoke to pupils on the playground, in the lunch hall and during lessons. They also met with a group of pupils to gather their views. In addition, inspectors analysed the online survey responses from 26 pupils.  Inspectors spoke with parents and considered 108 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, including 40 written comments.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors also considered 58 responses to the online staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Yasmin Maskatiya, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Judith O'Hare 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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