Albert Village Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Albert Village Primary School Occupation Road, Albert Village, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 8HA

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Outcome

Albert Village Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work hard and have fun at school. They enjoy their learning because lessons are interesting. Pupils follow instructions carefully and work hard. They appreciate the help they get if they find something tricky.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils gets on well together. They are very sensible when they move around the school or play outside. They say that incidents of bullying are rare and quickly sorted. Pupils know that adults will help them if they have any worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s motto is ‘Working our way to wisdom; Learning our way for life’. Leaders want the pupils’ confidence and personalities to flourish. These aspirations shape the lessons, assemblies and relationships pupils experience each day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Almost all pupils join school clubs that help them to keep fit or to follow an activity that interests them. Pupils love the various trips, including the residential week in Bude, that take place. They have many opportunities to contribute to the life of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff and governors have high expectations of the pupils. In their work and conduct, pupils do their best to live up to these expectations. They are well prepared for their secondary schools.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have ensured that the school has continued to improve in recent years. They have delivered high-quality training to staff at Albert Village Primary and in other schools.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Subject plans identify the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn. They lay down the sequence in which these are taught. This means that pupils can make connections between current and past learning. For example, in history, pupils studying Victorian Britain made connections with what they learned about Anglo-Saxon Britain. Pupils achieve well across a broad range of subjects because of this careful planning. There are 23–24 October 2019

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two subjects where the quality of the curriculum is not as good. These are computing and French.

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The school’s programme for teaching phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) gives pupils a good start in reading. Children begin to learn phonics in Nursery. From the first week of Reception Year, they start taking picture- and reading books home. There is good support for pupils who might be at risk of falling behind.

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Pupils practise their reading in subjects such as history, geography and science. Almost all pupils become fluent, confident readers. Most enjoy reading. They say that the stories teachers read to them in class are exciting and leave them wanting more. Pupils told me how teachers encourage them to read at home.

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Leaders have high ambitions for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers ensure that pupils with SEND work on the same, or very similar, tasks as others. They get all the additional help they need.

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Pupils’ good behaviour means that they can get on with their work and teachers can get on with teaching. The quality of pupils’ work in history, mathematics, physical education (PE) and the artwork on display reflects their positive attitudes to learning. Pupils show respect to adults and to one another. Lunchtimes are active and harmonious. However, quite a few pupils miss school through taking holidays during term time. Attendance is below the national average.

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Children get off to a good start in early years. Nursery and Reception staff work well together. Children soon settle into school life. They love the ‘help’ the adults get from characters such as ‘Freddy Frog’ and ‘Max’ when they are teaching. These toys capture the children’s interest and make learning fun. Children listen carefully to stories and enjoy learning and playing together in the outside area. Parents and carers value the kindness and care that adults show to their children. They appreciate the guidance they receive on how to support their children’s learning.

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Teachers provide many opportunities for pupils to reflect and share their views. In the ‘Send a light’ assembly, pupils lit candles and spoke about the tragic loss of life of 39 migrants that had been on the news overnight. Pupils hold class discussions that show their maturity. An example of this is a discussion one class had about the ethics of using scientific advances to bring a woolly mammoth back to life.

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Leaders and governors put the interests of the pupils and staff at the heart of every decision. Staff, including those new to the profession, appreciate the consideration leaders give to their well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that there are clear arrangements for keeping pupils safe. Staff are 23–24 October 2019

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well trained in how to spot that a child may be at risk of harm. They know what to if they have concerns about a pupil.

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Teachers ensure that pupils learn about the steps that they can take to keep themselves safe. Pupils have frequent lessons on safeguarding tailored to their different ages. These include lessons on how use digital technology safely.

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Pupils say that they know that staff would listen carefully, and help them, if they wanted to talk about something that was making them anxious.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Over the last two years, senior leaders have revised the curriculum to make sure that it is ambitious and builds knowledge progressively. Curriculum plans are in place and being implemented for all subjects. In subjects such mathematics, reading, PE, history, science and geography, these plans are particularly well developed. They are being implemented effectively and are having a positive impact on learning. The plans for computing and French are less effective. Leaders should ensure that the plans for these subjects are sufficiently precise about exactly what pupils should know and remember at the end of each unit of work.  Attendance is below average. A small minority of parents take their children on holiday during term times. Senior leaders need to work more effectively with these parents to ensure that they understand the negative impact of absence on pupils’ academic and personal development.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Albert Village Community Primary School, to be good in September 2013.

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find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 23–24 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110115 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school joined the Oval Learning Trust in January 2017.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, I spoke with pupils, both formally and informally, about their work and school life.  I spoke with the chair of the local governing body, the chief executive officer of Oval Learning Trust, the executive headteacher, other senior leaders and members of staff.  I reviewed a range of documentation, including documentation about attendance, safeguarding and checks undertaken on newly appointed staff. I spoke with the person responsible for safeguarding to discuss how pupils are kept safe.  I considered the 25 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 23 responses to the online staff survey.  I looked in depth at reading, PE, mathematics and history. This entailed discussions with subject leaders, visits to lessons, looking at examples of pupils’ work, discussions with teachers, discussions with pupils and listening to pupils read. 23–24 October 2019

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Inspection team

Anthony O’Malley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 23–24 October 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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