West Heath Primary School

Inspection of a good school: West Heath Primary School Rednal Road, West Heath Primary, Birmingham, West Midlands B38 8HU

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Outcome

West Heath Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and adults laugh and smile a lot at West Heath Primary. It is a friendly, happy school. Pupils say they enjoy coming to school because they feel cared for and valued. They really like the music playing in the morning when they arrive at school because it, ‘puts us in a good mood and gets us ready for learning’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well almost all of the time. They play happily together at break- and lunchtimes. Pupils said that they rarely have ‘fall-outs’, but if they do, they make up quickly. Pupils know the adults in school are there to help and look after them. They trust them to keep them safe. Bullying hardly ever happens, and if it does, it gets sorted out very quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their lessons and work hard. They say teachers plan exciting, interesting lessons that help them to learn. Teachers have high expectations of pupils. They rarely have to remind pupils to listen or how to behave. This means that pupils concentrate and learn well.

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

Reading is mostly taught well. Teachers are well trained to use the school’s phonic programme and make sure pupils start to learn to read and write as soon as possible. Teachers spot quickly if a pupil starts to fall behind and know what to do to help them catch up. This means that pupils in Years 1 and 2 learn to read fluently and understand what they are reading. A small number of older pupils, though, do not develop their reading skills well enough. These pupils do not achieve as well as they should in reading by the time they leave the school in Year 6. Pupils say they enjoy reading and love listening to their teachers read to them. In Year 6, pupils were very excited to discover that the book their teacher was reading to them was linked to their Second World War history topic.

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

Writing is also mostly taught well. Teachers use the school’s writing curriculum to plan 25–26 September 2019

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interesting lessons that help pupils get better at writing over time. For example, pupils were using the information they had learned in their history lessons to write letters, postcards and diary entries. Sometimes though, pupils who could develop their writing more are not supported well enough by teachers. This means that the pupils who could achieve higher standards in writing do not always do so.

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The curriculum is well planned in physical education (PE), science, mathematics, religious education (RE) and computing. The curriculum planning for these subjects shows exactly what pupils should learn each term and in each year. Teachers use the planning to make sure pupils learn what they need to and develop their learning from one year to the next. Other curriculum areas have not yet been planned as carefully. These include history, geography, music and art. In these subjects, teachers are not given enough guidance about what pupils need to learn. In history, for instance, the curriculum planning does not tell teachers what knowledge pupils need to learn about in each of the periods of history they study. For example, pupils studying the Ancient Egyptians had made jewellery out of pasta, but they could not recall any knowledge about the jewellery Ancient Egyptians wore. Pupils do not develop a clear understanding of the sequence of events in history.

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This is because the curriculum planning does not currently emphasise this important aspect of the subject.

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Teachers feel well supported by senior leaders. They value the training they receive to develop their skills. Leaders consider teachers’ workload when making changes in the school.

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The school’s leader of special educational needs supports teachers well. This means teachers have a good understanding of the difficulties faced by some pupils. They plan the learning carefully, which helps these pupils to achieve well.

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The school aims for all children to become valuable members of society. Teachers support pupils’ personal development very well. Through the curriculum, pupils learn about a range of different values such as respect and collaboration. They learn how to be resilient. They work well with others, respond well to a challenge and are kind and caring. They believe everyone is equal and should be treated with respect. As one pupil explained: ‘Everyone gets treated equally, but when it comes to learning, we get what we need to help us be equal.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All adults in school are well trained and understand how to keep children safe. They know the pupils well and know what to do if they have any concerns. This means that leaders are quickly able to help pupils who may be at risk of harm.

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Safeguarding

The five designated leaders for safeguarding in the school work very well together. They also work well with the local authority and other professionals to make sure that pupils and families get the help they need. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe out of school. For example, they know 25–26 September 2019

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they must never give out personal information when they are using the internet.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is not yet fully coherently planned and sequenced in all subjects. It is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken to plan subjects and train staff in how to deliver them that they are in the process of bringing this about. Leaders need to continue and complete their work to develop the school’s curriculum.  Leaders need to make sure when they complete the school’s history planning that they include the knowledge they want pupils to learn for each period of history they study. They should also show how the skills they want pupils to develop will be taught and extended in each year group.  Leaders need to review the reading and writing curriculum to make sure that the planning supports teachers to match learning to all pupils’ needs, particularly the most able, so that all pupils can achieve the progress in these subjects that they are capable of.

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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 school to be good in June 2015.

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How can I feed back my views?

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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How can I feed back my views?

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

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 25–26 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10088562 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.westheathprimary.bham.sch.uk

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the school has moved to a brand-new building. It is still on the same site.  The school runs a before- and after-school club.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, teachers and members of the governing body to discuss a range of aspects of the school’s work, including safeguarding.  To consider the quality of education, the inspector looked in detail at three subjects: reading, writing and history. This included 14 classroom visits with senior leaders. The inspector also met with senior and subject leaders, class teachers and pupils, and looked at a sample of pupils’ work in each of these subjects.  The inspector considered the 54 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and the 24 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.  The inspector spoke to pupils in lessons and during breaks about how they learn to 25–26 September 2019

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keep themselves safe.  The inspector looked at a range of documentation, including that relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance. Leaders’ plans for improvement and their evaluation of the school’s performance were also looked at, as was the information provided on the school’s website.

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Inspection team

Janet Satchwell, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 25–26 September 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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