St Barnabas CofE Primary Drakes Broughton

Inspection of St Barnabas CofE First and Middle School Stonebow Road, Drakes Broughton, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 2AW

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 14–15 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at St Barnabas are very polite and welcoming. They promote the school’s values of ‘respect, generosity, love, thankfulness, honesty and courage’ through their positive behaviours in lessons and breaktimes. Pupils support and care for one another. This means that bullying is rare. If it does happen pupils can talk to one of the ‘well-being’ team who support them with any problems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Over the last year, leaders have replanned the school’s curriculum. The planning sets out what pupils should learn in a logical order. While pupils show an interest in their work and are keen to learn, some teachers are not using the curriculum planning well enough to teach pupils what they need to know. This means that some pupils are not achieving as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a specialist centre for the use of technology. Pupils use a wide range of technology well to support their learning. They have a strong understanding of how to use this technology safely. But leaders have not ensured that the personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) curriculum covers wider aspects of teaching pupils how to keep safe, especially when they are outside school.

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better?

The school has experienced significant change over the last year. The acting headteacher and deputy headteacher have successfully stemmed any further decline in the school’s performance during this period. Along with the support of the multi- academy trust, they are already implementing suitable plans to drive improvements across the school.

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better?

The early years provision is very effective. Staff gain a strong understanding of children’s needs quickly and plan to meet these needs very well. Staff model language carefully to help children develop their communication skills rapidly. Children have a wide range of learning experiences to develop all areas of their learning. For example, forest school sessions develop children’s understanding of the wider world. Staff and children develop warm and supportive relationships. Because of this, children are confident and are not afraid to tackle the challenges of the ambitious and well-sequenced early years curriculum.

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better?

The reading leaders have revised the planning for the phonics curriculum. The planning sequences learning logically and provides a clear structure to teach phonics. But this planning is very new. Staff have only received training on how to teach the revised planning this term. In Reception, the teaching of phonics is very effective. Children learn new sounds quickly and have many opportunities to practise them. This helps children to make strong progress in learning to read. But in key stage 1, staff do not yet have the knowledge and skills to teach phonics well enough. This results in some pupils in key stage 1 not making as much progress as they should in reading. 14–15 January 2020

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Curriculum leaders have revised the planning in their subjects. Planning is now sequenced to enable pupils to build on their prior learning. But leaders have not checked how well teachers are using this curriculum planning. Many leaders are new to their roles and are developing their leadership skills. This means that weaknesses in how well teachers are delivering the curriculum have not been identified. For example, in English some teachers pay little regard to what pupils have previously learned and what they have remembered. This results in some pupils finding the work too challenging. Others, especially the most able, find the work too easy. Older pupils make better progress because teachers use the curriculum planning more effectively. This helps more pupils to achieve the standards they are capable of by the end of Year 7. Even so, some of the most able pupils do not achieve as highly as they should.

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The special educational needs leader has worked with staff to develop a range of support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including their social and emotional needs. However, the leader has not checked if support for pupils’ academic needs is effective. Some teachers do not adapt planning well enough to meet their needs. For example, in English pupils with SEND who have not grasped how to write simple sentences are expected to write expanded noun phrases. Other pupils who struggle to read and write simple words are expected to write extended descriptions without the support they need to achieve this.

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Pupils have a range of opportunities to develop their musical and sporting talents. For example, the school choir performs at events such as Young Voices. Staff respond to incidents such as homophobic insults to help pupils understand and respect diversity. But there is no PSHE curriculum planning in place. This means that there is no coherent approach to developing pupils’ understanding of other cultures, faiths or diversity. Pupils are not prepared well enough for life in modern Britain.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff take safeguarding seriously. They make sure they understand policies and procedures for reporting concerns. Leaders follow up concerns quickly and work with external agencies to provide any additional support if needed. Leaders undertake all necessary checks on staff who work in the school. This robust approach to safeguarding minimises any potential risks pupils may be exposed to.

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Safeguarding

E-safety is taught well. Pupils have a sophisticated understanding of how to use technology safely. But, their understanding of how to keep safe outside school is limited. They are not taught about the dangers of being radicalised by extremist views, or how to protect themselves from becoming involved in county lines or being sexually exploited. 14–15 January 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The quality of phonics teaching in key stage 1 is not effective. Some staff do not have the necessary knowledge or skills to teach phonics well, so pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders need to review the quality of phonics teaching in key stage 1 to identify, and then provide, the additional training and support that is needed to improve the quality of teaching. This will enable pupils to make stronger progress and achieve the standards of which they are capable.  Leaders have developed curriculum planning which sequences pupils’ learning in a logical order. But leaders have not checked that teachers are following the sequences of learning set out in this planning, so have not identified that some teachers are not doing so. This means that pupils are not able to build on prior learning to enable them to know and remember more. Leaders need to monitor teaching more closely and identify weaknesses in the delivery of the curriculum.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

They should then provide teachers with support and training to improve the implementation of the curriculum, in order to enable pupils, especially the most able, to make stronger progress in all subjects.  Some leaders are very new to their roles and require further support to help them check how well the curriculum planning is being implemented. Senior leaders and the multi-academy trust should provide new leaders with support and training to enable them to develop their leadership skills, to enable them to identify what actions they need to take to further improve the quality of education.  Some teachers do not take the additional needs of pupils with SEND into consideration well enough when planning their work. Some of these pupils are not given appropriate resources to support their learning, which limits the progress they make. Leaders should provide all staff with additional training and support to help them understand how to plan to meet the needs of pupils with

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

SEND to enable them to make better progress.  The PSHE curriculum is not planned coherently across the school. Leaders have paid insufficient attention to this aspect of pupils’ education. Pupils’ understanding of other cultures, faiths and diversity is limited. While pupils have a very secure understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using technology, their understanding of how to keep safe outside school is more limited. To better prepare pupils for the next steps of their education and life in modern Britain leaders need to develop the PSHE curriculum to ensure that pupils have a much wider understanding of other cultures, faiths and diversity and how to protect themselves when not in school.

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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. 14–15 January 2020

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

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If you are the school and you are 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. 14–15 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122422 Type of school Middle deemed primary

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School details

Headteacher Stephen Booth (Acting Headteacher)

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School details

Website www.st-barnabas.dowmat.education

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is the school’s first inspection since converting to an academy.  St Barnabas CofE First and Middle School converted to become an academy school on 1 March 2017. When its predecessor school, Drakes’ Broughton St Barnabas CofE First and Middle School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged as requires improvement.  There is an acting headteacher in post.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school provides a breakfast and after-school-club for pupils.  The school provides provision for two-year-olds.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 14–15 January 2020

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 We met with the acting headteacher and deputy headteacher, the designated safeguarding leader, the attendance officer and the English, phonics, geography, religious education, PSHE and mathematics leaders.  We met with three members of the local governing body and three representatives from the multi-academy trust.  We reviewed a range of documentation provided by the school. We looked at school policies, curriculum documents and documents relating to behaviour and attendance.  We reviewed a range of safeguarding information, including the checks that leaders make on staff prior to employment. We checked the school’s safeguarding policy and spoke to staff about the school’s safeguarding procedures. We checked staff’s safeguarding training. We also checked the school’s procedures for keeping pupils safe when in school, including when using computers.  We took into consideration 63 free-text responses and 62 responses to Parent

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View. We spoke to parents before school.  We considered the 34 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and 170 responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.  We met formally with two groups of pupils from Years 2 to 7. We spoke informally to pupils throughout the inspection.  We met with staff to discuss their views about the school.  We focused on reading and phonics, mathematics, English and geography as part of this inspection. We discussed the curriculum design with the headteacher and subject leaders, reviewed pupils’ work in these subjects, spoke to teachers about pupils’ learning and visited a number of lessons, including phonics and reading sessions. We listened to key stage 1 and 2 pupils reading.  We also met with pupils to discuss their history and science learning, reviewed their work in these subjects and visited history and science lessons.  We discussed the PSHE curriculum with leaders and talked to pupils about their

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Inspection team

Ann Pritchard, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Janet Tibbits Ofsted Inspector 14–15 January 2020

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