Springfield Primary School

Inspection of Springfield Primary School Dudley Road, Rowley Regis, West Midlands B65 8JY

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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 Good Previous inspection grade Good 3–4 November 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and enjoy being in school. They talk enthusiastically about the different things they do. For example , the youngest children enjoy going to ‘forest school’ and Year 6 are looking forward to their residential trip.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and well looked after by staff. They are confident that staff will help them with any concerns they have. A typical comment was: ‘All our teachers care about us.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff manage behaviour in a consistent and positive way. As a result , the school is calm, and pupils behave well. Pupils know how to follow the school’s STOP1 and STOP2 systems for sorting out bullying. They are confident that staff will deal with bullying if it happens.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of all pupils and want the best for them. Pupils make good progress in reading and mathematics. Although pupils remember their learning over time in subjects such as history and geography, this is not always the case in other subjects. This is because the curriculum does not always build on what pupils already know. In some subjects, such as music and religious education (RE), some teachers lack the detailed subject knowledge they need.

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better?

Senior leaders have rightly focused on developing pupils’ learning in reading and mathematics. As a result, teachers ensure that knowledge in these subjects is taught in the right order. This helps pupils remember their learning. Some pupils did not learn as much as others when the school closed due to the pandemic. Leaders plan work carefully so that these pupils can catch up quickly.

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better?

History and geography learning is also carefully planned. However, teachers are not always clear about what they need to teach in other subjects. This is because curriculum plans are not specific enough. As a result, pupils’ knowledge and skills do not build well over time. Although curriculum leaders are keen to improve their subjects, not all have the leadership skills to develop their subjects. Some staff lack the detailed knowledge they need to teach subjects such as music and RE.

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better?

Children begin to learn phonics from their first days in Reception. They quickly learn the sounds they need to read fluently and confidently. If pupils need extra help, staff provide support straight away. Pupils enjoy hearing their teachers read to them. Pupils have lots of opportunities to practise their reading. Teachers make sure that pupils read books that match their interests and reading skills. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about different authors and the books they enjoy.

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better?

Teachers understand how to adapt their plans for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Adults provide extra help both in lessons and in 3–4 November 2021

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small group ‘afternoon surgeries’. This ensures that pupils with SEND gain confidence and achieve well.

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Pupils behave well. In lessons, they pay attention, share resources and help one another. On the few occasions when pupils lose concentration, teachers use a quiet word to help pupils refocus. This does not interrupt lessons. At breaktimes, behaviour can be boisterous, but it is safe and well supervised. Lunchtime supervisors provide good support; they include everyone in games and join in themselves.

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Pupils know and understand the school’s values of respect, resilience, empathy and reflection. For example, one pupil explained resilience as ‘don’t give up; keep trying’. Pupils learn about writers, musicians and sports people from different backgrounds. Older pupils have lessons in which they consider current events in the news. These promote pupils’ moral, social and cultural development well.

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Staff value the way in which senior leaders consider their workload and well-being. For example, they appreciated a recent mental health workshop. Leaders provide good support for teachers at the beginning of their careers.

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Parents and carers spoken to during the inspection were happy with the school. Teachers contacted pupils regularly during the pandemic when they were not in school. Parents particularly valued this.

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Governors hold leaders to account effectively. They know the strengths of the school and what needs improving. They undertake regular training. They are mindful of staff workload and well-being.

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Children in the early years enjoy school. This is because adults plan interesting and exciting learning activities. Adults know the children well and help them feel safe. Adults understand how children learn. They prioritise children’s language skills. For example, children talked confidently about colours as they painted the models they had made. Children enjoy exploring and investigating in the woodland area. They counted the acorns they had found and talked about what acorns could become.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Keeping pupils safe is a high priority. Regular training for all staff and governors ensures that they know what to do if a pupil may be at risk. Staff report concerns about pupils’ well-being quickly. Where pupils need extra help, leaders work well with outside agencies. Checks on new staff and their suitability to work with children are thorough. Pupils feel safe. They know staff will help them when required. Pupils know how to manage risks. For example, pupils have a good understanding of the NSPCC ‘PANTS’ rules about keeping themselves safe. They also know how to stay safe when online. 3–4 November 2021

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum plans in subjects such as science, music, physical education (PE) and RE are not as carefully developed as they are in other subjects. Plans are not sequenced well enough to enable pupils to build and remember knowledge. Leaders should continue the work they have started to improve these plans so that pupils know more and remember more over time.  Some subject leaders do not have the leadership skills they need to develop their subjects effectively. This limits the development of the curriculum in these subjects. Leaders should provide subject leaders with the training and support they need, so that they can lead the development of their curriculum area more effectively.  In some subjects, teachers’ subject knowledge is not thorough enough. This means that teachers do not deliver the curriculum with the necessary confidence and expertise. Consequently, pupils do not make consistently good progress.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders should provide staff with the training and support they need to enable them to teach to the depth required.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 3–4 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10199949 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.springfield.sandwell.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 and 13 July 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current headteacher joined the school in September 2017.  A deputy headteacher joined the school in April 2019 and left in July 2021. The current deputy headteacher teaches Year 6 and will take up leadership duties full time when an assistant headteacher joins the school in January 2022.  The chair of the governing body took up this role in October 2021.  The school is one of five primary schools in the Rowley Learning Trust. The schools share some policies, but suspended other collaborative work at the beginning of the pandemic.  The school no longer provides specialist provision for pupils with complex communication difficulties.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 3–4 November 2021

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the early years leader and the family support worker.  The lead inspector met two members of the governing body, including the newly appointed chair. She took into account written information from another governor.  The lead inspector met with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in: reading, mathematics, history, PE and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans and spoke to teachers. They visited a sample of lessons and spoke to some pupils about their learning. They looked at samples of pupils’

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work. One inspector listened to groups of pupils read.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about science, music and RE.  Inspectors checked the work that the school does to keep pupils safe. The lead inspector looked at safeguarding policies and procedures. She looked at the checks leaders make on staff to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. Inspectors talked to pupils about safeguarding and behaviour. Inspectors also spoke to staff to check they know what to do if they had a safeguarding concern about a pupil.  Inspectors considered a range of information about the school, including content on the school’s website. They also checked records relating to behaviour and attendance.  An inspector spoke to parents at the start of the school day. There were not enough responses on Ofsted Parent View to draw any meaningful conclusions. However, inspectors considered the seven comments parents made to the free-

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text service.  Inspectors took into account 20 responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Helen Morrison, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Susan Hughes Ofsted Inspector 3–4 November 2021

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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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