Westlands First School

Inspection of Westlands First School Farmers Way, Westlands, Droitwich, Worcestershire WR9 9EQ

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 28–29 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Westlands First School’s motto is ‘Together, we are a rainbow of possibilities.’ This captures exactly what the school is all about. Pupils are happy, polite, well behaved and keen to learn. Leaders and staff have created a safe space for pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders work with parents, carers and pupils to ensure that everyone knows what bullying is. Bullying is rare and pupils say that they know staff will sort it out if it does happen. One parent, reflecting the view of many, told us that ‘Staff are kind, caring and considerate, and work closely with me to ensure my child’s happiness and safety.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff expect the very best of the pupils. Pupils rise to meet these expectations. Paintings of ‘Pepe the Penguin’ pop up around the school to remind pupils and visitors of the school’s values. These paintings help pupils to remember the standard of behaviour staff expect from them. Leaders provide a good quality of education. More pupils are working at the expected level for their age.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are rightly proud of the school. One parent said: ‘I would wish that every child could come here so everyone can see what an amazing place it is!’

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better?

Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils will learn and experience during their time at the school. This is clear in reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. It is less clear in other subjects, such as geography and art. In some subjects, pupils can remember things they have learned earlier. For example, when learning about animals in science, a child talked knowledgeably about reptiles. Pupils enjoy talking about their learning.

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better?

Leaders’ focus on improving reading is having a positive impact. Leaders give careful thought to the sounds pupils learn when they begin to read. All staff have been trained to know what sounds pupils should learn by when. As they move through the school, pupils become fluent readers who know the importance of reading. Most pupils enjoy reading but leaders are striving so that all pupils feel the same. Pupils enjoy listening to their teachers reading stories to them. In 2019, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 was well above the national average. This was a big improvement from the previous year.

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better?

Adults support children in the Nursery and Reception well. They help them to settle quickly. Children know how to behave and learn confidently and independently. There is a strong focus on developing social and language skills, as well as reading and writing. However, some areas of the curriculum, such as understanding the world and art and design, are less developed. 28–29 January 2020

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Staff say they want pupils to ‘live it to learn it’, and this underpins the curriculum. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy the visits they go on. These include visits to farms, museums, Tudor houses and theatres. There are regular visitors to the school who speak to pupils about a range of topics, including rainforests, personal safety and sport. This helps to bring learning to life.

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In many subjects, leaders and staff regularly check how well pupils are doing. Staff are quick to spot pupils that begin to fall behind. They act quickly to help them catch up.

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Staff and pupils enjoy positive relationships. They are respectful towards each other in lessons and during playtime and lunchtime. Pupils know how they should behave. They behave well in lessons and this helps them to focus. Sometimes, the work pupils – and, in particular, high-attaining pupils – are given is too easy. This is noticeable in writing lessons. But, even then, pupils maintain their positive attitudes and behave well.

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Leaders, including governors, lead and manage the school well. One way they do this is by making sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are achieving well. The work to help these pupils is coordinated effectively by the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). Staff know how to help pupils learn.

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All pupils join in a wide range of activities to help them understand their place in the wider world. Leaders open pupils’ hearts and minds to life beyond their local community, for example by learning to play an instrument, by singing in public in a choir and by visiting different places of worship.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders check and support pupils who are known to be vulnerable. Leaders know the context of the school community well. They work tirelessly to engage parents. The families and safeguarding lead makes a real difference to keeping pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

Staff know who to go to if they have a concern. Leaders follow up any concerns rapidly. Systems of monitoring absence and lateness are robust. They are making a difference.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They spoke to inspectors about fire safety, bicycle safety and learning to swim. 28–29 January 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is not yet sufficiently well planned and sequenced in all subjects, for example geography and art. However, leaders are in the process of improving this. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum plans for all subjects are sequenced in a logical way to help pupils know more and remember more over time.  Teachers do not always provide work that challenges high-attaining pupils. This means these pupils do not always achieve as well as they should. Leaders should ensure that the ambitious curriculum is consistently implemented to support the highest-attaining pupils.  The school’s curriculum in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) is not yet sufficiently well planned and sequenced in some areas, such as understanding the world and expressive arts and design. Some children do not have the building blocks on which to base future learning. Leaders should ensure that all areas of

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

the EYFS curriculum are equally well developed.

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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 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. 28–29 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122446 Type of school First

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15–16 November 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses the ‘The Green Fingers Project’ as an alternative provider.

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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 focused on the following subjects during the inspection: reading, English, geography and science. We visited lessons, looked at pupils’ work and examined curriculum plans. We talked with pupils and staff about the way these subjects are planned and taught. We also looked at work from other subjects and spoke with pupils, staff and parents about the school.  We examined the external performance data for the school and looked at the school’s website.  We spoke to pupils, parents and a range of staff about the school’s safeguarding arrangements. We examined the record of employment checks on school staff. 28–29 January 2020

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 We observed pupils’ behaviour in class and at other times of the day, and spoke to parents, staff and pupils about behaviour.  During the inspection, we had formal meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, the SENCo, the families and safeguarding lead, governors, teachers and pupils. I met with the school improvement adviser. We also talked informally to pupils and parents to gather information about the school.  By the end of the inspection, there were 12 recent responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. We also considered 47 responses to the pupil survey and 11 responses to the staff survey.  I visited ‘The Green Fingers Project’, which the school currently uses for alternative provision.

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Inspection team

Kirsty Foulkes, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Maneer Samad Ofsted Inspector 28–29 January 2020

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