Colley Lane Primary Academy

Inspection of Colley Lane Primary Academy Colley Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 2TN

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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

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 4–5 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school with a super climate for learning. Alert, enthusiastic pupils enjoy the wide range of opportunities provided. This supports their good all-round development. Pupils are energised by teachers who help them to have the confidence to succeed. Positive attitudes to learning are abundant. Pupils know that they are expected to put in maximum effort, and most do. At Colley Lane, learning is not just about academic development. An extensive variety of extra-curricular activities promote pupils’ personal growth very well. This enables pupils to build resilience. It also prepares them for challenges that they are likely to encounter later in life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a caring ethos throughout the school. Pupils are safe and well looked after. Leaders listen to what pupils tell them about the school and make changes to make it better. The celebration of pupils’ achievements, such as eye-catching art, adorns the corridor walls. This makes pupils proud. There is a buzz of excitement in classrooms with pupils learning. Pupils act sensibly and usually behave well. When an incident of bullying occurs, leaders deal with it quickly. This greatly reduces the chance of it happening again.

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better?

Leaders have worked hard to improve the curriculum. It provides pupils with the skills and knowledge they need to achieve well. In some subjects, pupils learn through captivating themes. For example, in history, pupils learn about chronology though the theme ‘a journey through time’. The curriculum is carefully planned and sequenced. Teachers ensure that pupils build new knowledge on what they have learned before. This enables most pupils, including those with special educational needs and or/disabilities (SEND), to deepen their knowledge and understanding.

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better?

This effective work starts in the early years. In Nursery and Reception, staff develop nurturing relationships with children. Routines are quickly established. Children show good levels of independence. They start to learn about taking responsibility. Children develop good early reading and mathematical skills. This sets them up well for when they enter Year 1.

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better?

Teachers use their good subject knowledge to plan lessons that ensure that learning is accessible to all pupils. Teachers’ expectations of the least able and those with SEND are appropriately high. Teaching assistants usually provide good-quality support to help struggling pupils get on. However, occasionally, teachers are less successful at adapting learning to meet the needs of the most able pupils. Conversely, in other subjects, such as physical education (PE), pupils, including the most able, excel.

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better?

Teachers make learning memorable for pupils by organising visits and visitors linked to themes. For example, pupils visited Dudley Zoo as part of their geography work. 4–5 February 2020

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These experiences make a strong contribution to pupils’ learning and personal development. Pupils extend their understanding of ethical issues, such as climate change. They respect the beliefs of others. The school also gives pupils access to a wide range of sports, like golf and athletics. There is a very good uptake for extra- curricular activity clubs.

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The supreme importance the school places on reading is very apparent. For some pupils in the past, achievement in reading had not been good enough. Now, the approach to teaching early reading is working well. Well-trained staff teach phonics effectively. They develop pupils’ enjoyment of reading through story time and visits to the local library. But a few inconsistencies remain in supporting those who need to catch up with their reading. Some pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, sometimes find it hard to read with good fluency.

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Pupils enjoy coming to school. Staff and pupils get along well together. This helps pupils to feel safe. They know they have someone to go to if they are worried or concerned. Leaders’ efforts to improve attendance have paid off. Attendance is now broadly in line with the national average. In classrooms, pupils are responsive and engaged. There is very little low-level disruption. Pupils are keen to learn and to please adults. They are polite and respectful towards each other and adults. Pupils report low levels of bullying. They are confident that teachers will resolve any issues. Emotional support for pupils who struggle with their behaviour is strong.

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The school is well led and managed. Leaders care about their staff. The staff’s well- being is important to leaders. They help them to enjoy their job and support them to do it well. Leaders and other staff benefit from the strong support that they receive from the trust. This helps to further improve the quality of education pupils receive.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils have a good awareness about how to keep themselves safe, both online and offline. They know the importance of not sharing personal information in online chat. The curriculum, supported by special assemblies, enables pupils to learn these vital skills.

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Safeguarding

All staff understand and fulfil their responsibilities to try and keep pupils safe from harm. When they have concerns, they let leaders know promptly. Action is taken in the best interests of the child to protect them. School has forged good relationships with parents. Leaders are effective in supporting vulnerable families, enabling them to access the help they need. 4–5 February 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Despite the school’s focus on reading, further curriculum refinements are needed to ensure that all pupils make good progress in this area. This is particularly in relation to intervention programmes for struggling readers. Some pupils who begin to fall behind do not catch up as quickly as they could. This is because the interventions they do are not always matched closely enough to their specific needs. For example, a few older readers still have a few gaps in their phonics knowledge. Leaders need to ensure that interventions programmes, especially for disadvantaged pupils in key stage 2, enable them to read confidently, with good fluency.  Most subjects are planned and taught well. In a few subjects, curriculum plans are not as ambitious as they could be. This means that the most able pupils do not always get the chance to do demanding enough work. Leaders need to ensure that end points are suitably challenging and clearly defined. They also

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

need to help less confident teachers to adapt and implement plans, so the most able pupils work towards achieving a greater depth of understanding.

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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. 4–5 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122420 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

 Colley Lane Primary Academy converted to become an academy on 6 April 2017. When its predecessor school, Colley Lane Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to require improvement overall.  The school is part of the Windsor Academy Trust (WAT). It is one of five primaries within the trust. There are also four secondary schools. Colley Lane benefits from school improvement support and advice from specialist trust staff.  The school has a breakfast and after-school 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 met with the headteacher, two deputy headteachers, an assistant headteacher and subject leaders. We met with trustees of the WAT, members of the school’s local advisory board, and some of the WAT executive team.  Subjects considered in depth as part of this inspection were reading, art and design, PE and mathematics. We carried out lesson visits to see these subjects being taught and looked at pupils’ work. We talked to pupils about their work. We 4–5 February 2020

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spoke to teachers who taught these subjects and held discussions with subject leaders. We listened to many pupils read.  We considered 102 responses to Ofsted Parent View and 71 free-text comments from parents. There were 28 responses to the Ofsted pupil survey. We considered 42 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  We examined safeguarding arrangements by reviewing safeguarding records, checking the safety of the school site, talking to staff and pupils about how they keep safe and checking the school’s single central record. We met with the school’s designated safeguarding lead.

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Inspection team

Tim Hill, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Janet Lewis Ofsted Inspector 4–5 February 2020

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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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