Foundry Lane Primary School

Inspection of Foundry Lane Primary School Foundry Lane, Shirley, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 3JT

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 January 2022

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 11 and 12 January 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Foundry Lane Primary offers a caring community. Good relationships are epitomised by the warm greetings that pupils receive from teachers each morning. Classrooms and corridors are calm and orderly, and pupils play well together on the playground.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school and learning new things. Leaders have successfully raised expectations in reading and mathematics but have more work to do to ensure that all subjects are appropriately ambitious.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe here. They appreciate the care adults offer, particularly in ‘The Nest’, where counselling and therapeutic support is a priority. Any form of unkindness or bullying is rare, and it is swiftly and effectively dealt with when reported. One parent, typical of many, commented, ‘I have been impressed with the school ever since my first child attended. They are incredibly supportive of all children and have health and well-being at the forefront of everything they do.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an inclusive school. Here, differences are respected, and pupils learn important values, such as honesty and tolerance. Older pupils enjoy taking positions of responsibility and take part in enriching activities, such as the Southampton Civic Award.

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better?

A strengthened senior leadership team is raising expectations across the school. In some subjects, such as mathematics, history and art, the curriculum is ambitious. Here, the teaching of knowledge and skills builds carefully on pupils’ prior learning, but this is not the case in all subjects. Improving subject leadership has been a priority since the last inspection. This has led to progress in curriculum thinking, which is worthy of credit considering it has been achieved while providing learning during the pandemic. Leaders have plans in place where further improvement is needed in other subjects.

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better?

Teachers check what pupils know and can do, but this information is not always informing the next steps of their teaching. For example, in science and geography, pupils’ misconceptions are not always addressed before they move on to learn new content. Some pupils are not clear about what their strengths are, or what they need to do to improve their work.

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better?

The promotion of the love of reading begins from the very first day children join Reception. Staff skilfully assess pupils’ reading skills and adapt their planning to target support where it is needed. Consequently, over time, pupils become confident and fluent readers.

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better?

Pupils’ attendance is high. Staff offer carefully tailored support to any who are finding it hard to attend school. Pupils behave well and generally work hard in class 11 and 12 January 2022

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because staff have high expectations of them. Occasionally, some pupils can lose focus when lesson activities have not been carefully planned to engage and challenge them. When this is the case, pupils can become passive in lessons. Consequently, they do not learn or remember as much as they could.

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The personal development of pupils is a strength of the school. The personal, social, health and economic education curriculum is age-appropriate and comprehensive. Pupils learn about diversity and the reasons that lie behind some of the inequalities that they hear about in the news, such as the impact of slavery on attitudes today towards people of different races. Pupils are taught to understand the need to treat others with respect.

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Foundry Lane offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities, trips and visits. Despite the disruption caused by the pandemic to these activities, the school has made tremendous efforts to continue offering enriching events. Pupils develop confidence and resilience by reading aloud in assemblies and through the many problem-solving activities in lessons. Parents value the support given to their children, reporting, ‘The staff really care about the children and their well-being and do everything they can to support them.’

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Leaders and staff share a moral purpose to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve equally as well as their peers. Staff know these pupils well and identify their needs quickly. Appropriate activities are swiftly delivered to address these needs.

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Governors have worked hard alongside leaders on the improvement made to the school. They prioritise safeguarding and the welfare of pupils and staff. Staff feel that leaders value their workload and support their well-being as best they can.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff build strong relationships with pupils and their families from the moment they join the school. The community feeling is valued by parents and enables the school to offer support to families at times of crisis.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure staff are regularly trained in how to identify and react to safeguarding concerns. There are clear systems in place to record and share any concerns that staff may have about pupils. Staff exchange information in a timely way and the safeguarding team meets regularly to share and respond to emerging issues.

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Safeguarding

New staff undergo the necessary pre-employment checks. However, leaders need to ensure that their record-keeping in this area is thorough so that systems consistently meet statutory requirements. 11 and 12 January 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers are not checking what pupils know and can remember in some subjects effectively. Consequently, some pupils have misconceptions and gaps in their knowledge that are not addressed. Information teachers collect from checking what pupils understand should be used to plan the next steps of teaching across all subjects.  In some subjects, content is not yet sufficiently well planned to enable pupils to know more, remember more and be able to do more. Teachers are not always equipped with sufficient information to deliver intended outcomes. This means pupils cannot always make links between new knowledge and existing knowledge within and across different subjects. Leaders need to review teachers’ subject plans to ensure that the sequence of learning builds on pupils’ prior knowledge more effectively.

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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. 11 and 12 January 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3 July 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the number of pupils on roll has increased significantly. There are now three classes in each year group, from Reception through to Year 6. The increase in the roll has also led to an increase in staffing, particularly in the senior leadership team.  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.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken this into account in their evaluation of the school.  Deep dives were conducted in reading, English, mathematics, history and religious education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 11 and 12 January 2022

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 Inspectors also reviewed plans for the teaching of science, art and geography and spoke with leaders about these. Inspectors sampled pupils’ work in these and other subjects.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders, the early years leader and some teachers and support staff.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the school’s website and policies and met with safeguarding leaders. They also spoke to pupils, staff and governors and scrutinised school records of safeguarding and checks on adults working in the school.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body and reviewed documents relating to governance. An inspector also met with a representative from the local authority.  A meeting was held with a group of pupils to discuss their views about many different aspects of the school. Inspectors also held informal conversations with

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pupils at break and lunchtime.  The inspection team considered the views of parents shared through the Ofsted surveys and spoke to them on the gate. They gathered the views of pupils and staff through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.

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Inspection team

Linda Culling, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Linda Jacobs Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 January 2022

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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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