Setting

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

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Nicole Fowles Coleshill Heath School Lime Grove Chelmsley Wood Birmingham West Midlands B37 7PY

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School

Following my visit to your school on 10 July 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received three successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.

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School

The school should take further action to:

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School

 continue to embed and build on the improvements already made.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, teachers, two members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. The school improvement plan was evaluated. I visited classes from the Nursery to Year 6 and carried out a learning walk jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. We observed teaching and spoke to pupils about what they were learning to do. I met with a group of nine pupils and, together, we discussed the work in their books. I reviewed reports to governors and information about the impact teaching is having on learning. I scrutinised outcome data for different pupil groups.

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Context

Since the last inspection, a lead practitioner and research leader has been appointed and four newly qualified teachers have joined the school.

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Main findings

Leaders have created a highly effective, learning focused, environment where everyone, pupils and staff alike, see themselves as learners. The passion for learning is tangible across the school. This ethos and culture of learning have enabled the school to successfully overcome the longstanding issues that it has faced over time. High ambition and aspirations for all are driving up standards and ensuring that pupils can succeed.

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Main findings

The determination shown by you and other leaders ensures that pupils attain high outcomes by the time they leave the school. This is reflected in the encouraging provisional 2019 assessment information for pupils in Year 6. There has been a significant increase in the proportion of pupils working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics and more pupils are working at greater depth. Progress and attainment are now in line with, if not better than, the national average.

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Main findings

A similar picture is found across the school. The proportion of pupils reaching a good level of development in the early years has increased again this year. More pupils reach the expected standard in the phonics screening assessment in Year 1, with many achieving high scores. At the end of key stage 1, improvements in attainment in reading, writing and mathematics are clear to see both in pupils’ books and in the assessment information. Pupils are well placed for their move to the next stage of their education.

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Main findings

Improvements are the result of a clear focus from leaders to ensure that teaching sequences are carefully planned to build on what pupils know and can do already. Through your termly learning and standards review with every teacher, staff are held to account and helped to plan next steps in learning for pupils in their class. Teachers now use assessment information effectively to plan work that is not only focused on the needs of pupils but challenges, engages and enables pupils to make strong progress.

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Main findings

Regular book reviews with senior and middle leaders ensure that expectations of basic skills, such as spelling, punctuation and handwriting, are clear. Leaders expect staff to routinely challenge pupils about their use of these basic skills. While this is something that leaders rightly say is ongoing and needs constant reinforcement, the books of current pupils show a huge improvement in the quality of presentation and in the content of pupils’ work. They are books to be proud of.

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Main findings

Ensuring that every child can read is central to all your work. The fact that reading is valued and seen as important is evident from the moment one steps into the school. The learning environment promotes reading at every turn. Leaders ensure that all staff have the skills, knowledge and expertise to teach reading successfully. The work on fluency, accuracy, speed and expression is paying dividends in ensuring that pupils have the skills to be successful readers. Older boys told me they prefer to read the book than see the film because ‘you get the pictures in your head and the vocabulary helps with your writing’. Pupils develop a love of reading and talk knowledgeably about stories and poetry they have read.

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Main findings

School improvement plans are now sharply focused on the areas for improvement and development. All leaders, including governors, and staff have a shared understanding of the priorities and what is being done to address them. Decisions about what action to take are rooted in research and based on careful thought and discussion. You do not take a quick fix approach but ensure that you build layer upon layer of sustainable improvement. Actions are carefully tracked and the impact evaluated because, as senior leaders commented, ‘If there is no impact, there is no point doing it.’

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Main findings

As a result of high-quality training, support and ongoing coaching and mentoring for all leaders, leadership at all levels is very strong. In fact, you ensure that all staff benefit from continuous professional development. This work, together with the ‘relentless routines’ and systems and procedures being embedded in the school, is instrumental in improving the quality of education offered. Highly skilled teachers, planning and delivering high-quality, focused lessons over time, are resulting in pupils making great strides in their learning.

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Main findings

Raising pupils’ aspirations and broadening their horizons are threaded through all that leaders do. Carefully planned opportunities to learn about different cultures are integral to the curriculum and are having a positive impact. Across the learning environment, evidence of a rich curriculum, where different traditions are celebrated and valued, is clear. For example, high-quality art work in the style of a Japanese artist adorns the walls alongside detailed Indian elephant paintings done by the youngest children.

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Main findings

All staff and governors have been trained in the ‘Prevent’ duty and know how to spot signs of radicalisation. Leaders have a comprehensive knowledge of local issues and ensure that these are reflected in the curriculum so that pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. Pupils confidently talk about the similarities and differences between community groups and world religions. They have an inclusive attitude and believe that the school is a good place to be and one where everyone is welcomed. They show respect and act out the school’s values of kindness, confidence, honesty and courage on a daily basis.

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External support

You receive and look for effective support and challenge from a range of sources. Regular monthly challenge meetings with the local authority enable you and governors to discuss the progress you are making to improve the school. These meetings hold you and senior leaders to account for the impact of the actions you have taken as well as identifying the next steps you need to take. Although the local authority recognises the significant progress made and does not consider the school to be at risk any longer, it continues to provide regular opportunities for discussion until the school receives a good judgement from Ofsted. Through the Unity teaching school alliance, you work alongside a range of colleagues to accelerate the rate of improvements and further improve the quality of teaching. You seek out other high- quality professionals both locally and nationally to provide bespoke support where appropriate. This supports the ongoing reflective practice, which is deeply

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Solihull. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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