Hawkesley Church Primary Academy

Inspection of Hawkesley Church Primary Academy 376 Shannon Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham, West Midlands B38 9TR

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 13–14 November 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has been through a difficult time. Standards have suffered. Leaders have come and gone. Recently, the school has turned a corner. Things are improving quickly. But there is more to do. Pupils do better in some subjects than in others. Too few pupils reach the national standards at the end of key stage 2.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The new leadership team is setting a clear and ambitious direction for the school. Leaders are improving the curriculum. Leaders and teachers want to give all pupils the best possible chance to succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school. They are proud of the golden rule, ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated.’ Pupils’ behaviour is getting better all the time. Most pupils listen in lessons and try hard. They are polite and friendly. Pupils’ attendance is improving.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff know pupils well. Relationships are positive and caring. Leaders plan activities to help pupils become effective learners. Pupils grow in self-belief. They learn to keep going when they find things difficult.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in school. They understand what bullying is. They say that it used to be a problem. This has changed. Pupils know that staff will not tolerate bullying.

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better?

This is an improving school. New leaders are providing much-needed stability and drive. They have made a significant difference to pupils’ behaviour. However, leaders do not yet provide pupils with a good-quality curriculum. Older pupils have gaps in their knowledge and skills, particularly in English and mathematics.

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better?

Children in the early years are happy and safe. Adults spend a lot of time talking to children and modelling new words. This improves children’s speaking and listening skills. Although adults plan a broad range of activities, some of these are not demanding enough. In some areas of learning, children in Reception complete the same activities as children in Nursery. These activities do not build on what children already know and can do. Children’s concentration varies. In activities that they choose, children concentrate well. In adult-led activities, some children lose concentration.

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better?

The teaching of phonics is improving. There are examples of strong practice in the school. However, new leaders have not yet had time to share this practice with all staff. Some staff have not had the training they need to teach phonics well and to help pupils who fall behind catch up quickly. Children in Reception make too slow a start in learning to read.

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better?

Leaders have introduced plans that set out what pupils should learn in each subject. These plans are at different stages of development. In subjects such as mathematics, teachers are clear about what they need to cover and in what order. 13–14 November 2019

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Pupils’ knowledge and skills build a step at a time. In subjects such as English and history, plans do not show exactly what pupils will learn and when. They focus on what pupils should be able to do at the end of a topic. They do not break down what pupils need to learn along the way.

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Teachers have received training to improve their skills. Where their subject knowledge is secure, teachers explain things clearly to pupils. They make effective use of resources to support pupils’ understanding. However, teachers’ subject knowledge is not consistently strong. Sometimes, they plan activities that do not link together in a logical order. This makes it difficult for pupils to remember and apply what they have learned.

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In some classes, teachers do not check pupils’ understanding carefully enough. They do not routinely address pupils’ errors and misunderstandings. Teachers do not plan activities that meet the needs of some pupils closely enough. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) sometimes receive work that is either too easy or too difficult. Work for the most able pupils is not demanding enough. These pupils are not achieving as well as they could.

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The school’s values underpin its work. Pupils show respect for the views and beliefs of others. Leaders provide pupils with opportunities to take responsibility, for example delivering class bagels and being a ‘Junior Joe’. Pupils undertake these responsibilities with pride.

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Staff help pupils experience the wider world through trips and visitors. These link closely to the curriculum. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 recently went on a trip to Jaguar Land Rover as part of their work on robots. There is a wide range of clubs to develop pupils’ interests and talents. These have inspired some pupils to pursue an interest in their own time.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff complete appropriate training so that they know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil. Leaders ensure that pupils and families get the help they need. However, they do not routinely record their actions. There are different systems for recording different types of concerns. This makes it difficult for leaders to spot patterns for individual pupils.

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Safeguarding

Leaders understand the risks pupils might face in the local community. Pupils learn how to keep safe, for example when they visit the local shops. They are knowledgeable about how to stay safe online. 13–14 November 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 New leaders have brought much-needed stability to the school. However, not all curriculum leaders have the necessary understanding and skills to evaluate the area for which they have responsibility. Consequently, the curriculum in some subjects is not planned sequentially or delivered effectively. Leaders at all levels now need to sharpen their evaluation of the quality of education so that they can prioritise their actions. Senior leaders should begin to develop the leadership skills of other staff so that they can support driving improvements to the curriculum.  Leaders have designed a curriculum that covers the full range of national curriculum subjects. However, some subject plans focus on final outcomes and do not identify the component parts that need to be taught and in what order. Teachers’ subject knowledge is not consistently strong in all subjects. Therefore, pupils in these subjects do not build on what they already know and can do.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders should further develop curriculum plans so that content is carefully chosen and sequenced in all subjects. They should support teachers to improve their subject knowledge so that they can deliver all aspects of the intended curriculum effectively.  The teaching of phonics is better in some year groups than in others. As a result, some children and pupils do not read as well as they should. Leaders should provide all staff with training in how to teach phonics well. They should ensure that all children in Reception keep pace with the school’s chosen phonics programme.  Teachers do not use assessment information well enough to help them plan for pupils with different needs and abilities. As a result, several pupils in these groups do not do as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment to help them to plan lessons that are suitably ambitious for all pupils, particularly those with SEND and the most able.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff and leaders take appropriate action to keep pupils safe. However, there are too many systems for recording concerns and actions. Leaders do not routinely record the actions they take in response to the concerns they receive. Leaders need to streamline recording systems. Leaders, governors and the trust need to ensure that actions to safeguard pupils are always recorded.  Pupils’ absence has been in the highest 10% of schools for the past three years. Leaders have acted to address this. Staff are working closely with pupils and families to improve attendance. Recently, attendance has risen. Leaders need to continue to work with parents and carers so that their children attend school more regularly. 13–14 November 2019

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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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. 13–14 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111676 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 20–21 June 2017

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Information about this school

 Hawkesley Church Primary Academy is a Church of England and Methodist school. It has a Christian ethos.  The school joined the Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust in September 2017 as a sponsor-led academy.  The school runs a breakfast club.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 We held meetings with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. We also met with a range of staff, including curriculum leaders, teachers and support staff.  I met with the chief executive officer of the Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust and the chief school effectiveness officer. I also met with the chair of the local academy board and one governor.  We looked in depth at early reading, English, mathematics, history, and art and design. In each subject, inspection activities included discussions with the subject leader, visits to lessons, discussions with teachers, scrutiny of pupils’ work and 13–14 November 2019

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discussions with pupils.  We listened to two groups of pupils read and talked to them about their reading.  We observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at breaktime and lunchtime. We spoke formally with two groups of pupils, as well as talking to pupils in lessons and around school.  We met with leaders to discuss the school’s safeguarding procedures. We reviewed policies and records relating to safeguarding. We spoke to pupils, staff and parents about how safe pupils are at school.  We reviewed a wide range of documentation, including the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans, minutes of trust and local academy board meetings and information on the school’s website.  We took into consideration the 11 responses to Parent View, including the 10 free-text comments. Two inspectors spoke to parents at the beginning of the school day. We also took account of the 14 responses to Ofsted’s online staff

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Inspection team

Claire Jones, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Chris Pollitt Her Majesty’s Inspector 13–14 November 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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