Yorkswood Primary School

Inspection of Yorkswood Primary School Kingshurst Way, Kingshurst, Birmingham, West Midlands B37 6DF

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 1 and 2 March 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

At Yorkswood Primary School, pupils are happy and enjoy their learning. This shows in how calm, confident and engaged they are in class. Pupils and their parents speak highly of the help and support staff provide. This included when remote learning was in place because of COVID-19 restrictions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their new school building and said that it helps them to learn and stay safe. Pupils are proud to be ‘A.I.C.E’ (achieving, inclusive, committed and enjoying).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and well cared for by a dedicated staff team. Pupils, including those in the early years, behave well and treat one another with kindness, respect and understanding. Bullying is rare, but adults deal with it quickly if it happens. Pupils know that adults will always help them with any problems. However, too many pupils do not come to school as often as they should and so miss learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In some subjects, the curriculum is well planned, but in other subjects this is not the case. As a result, pupils achieve well in some subjects, such as English and Science, but they achieve less well in others.

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better?

Curriculum leaders are ambitious for the curriculum at Yorkswood but are at an early stage of implementing it. In some subjects, leaders have not yet secured the necessary order in which knowledge is taught. This results in children remembering less about their lessons than they should. In subjects where the order of learning is clear, pupils learn and remember more. In these instances, pupils talk confidently about the knowledge and skills they have gained. For instance, the pupils in Year 6 were able to tell inspectors lots of information about their science topics.

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better?

In some mathematics lessons, teachers do not make the key knowledge clear enough to pupils, so they do not always know what they are learning.

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better?

Children get off to a good start in the early years at Yorkswood. Children are well cared for and supported. The curriculum is well ordered. Teachers plan activities that prepare children well for Year 1.

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better?

The teaching of reading has a high priority across the school. Children learn phonics daily from the start of the early years. The school has an embedded and consistent approach to teaching phonics. Teachers track which letter sounds children and pupils know and so know what to teach next. When pupils fall behind, staff provide extra support to help them catch up. Teachers ensure that the books pupils read are well matched to the letter sounds pupils know. This means that pupils make a good start with reading. Pupils enjoy reading and listening to the books that teachers read to them. Teachers provide high-quality books and encourage pupils to read often. 1 and 2 March 2022

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Staff work hard to include and support all pupils in all learning. There is a high number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) at the school. Staff provide them with lots of support. However, at times, the support that pupils get is not well matched to their needs. For example, staff are not using resources as well as they could to support pupils with SEND.

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Pupils get the chance to attend sporting clubs and a range of school trips. They enjoy and appreciate these. Pupils make a positive contribution to the school by joining school councils or becoming sports leaders. Pupils are confident that adults listen to their ideas and make changes because of them. Pupils treat one another with respect and understand the types of discrimination that can occur in society. They were keen to tell inspectors that everybody is important and welcome at their school. However, at playtimes, pupils do not have enough to do and the playground does not offer shade or seating for them.

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Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to their learning. Nevertheless, levels of absence are too high, and pupils are missing important chunks of learning. Leaders and staff work hard to encourage pupils to attend school more often. This is working to some extent, but attendance still needs to improve further.

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All staff are passionate about their school and want the best for all pupils. Leaders have clear plans for improving the school and have already made lots of positive changes. However, they do not always check the impact of the changes they make well enough. This means they do not always know how successful the changes have been. Governors support the school well and share the staff’s passion for the pupils and the community.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Governors, leaders and staff take safeguarding seriously. Leaders have made sure that effective systems are in place to safeguard pupils. Staff are trained regularly and know the procedures to follow if they have a concern about anyone in the school. Leaders follow up concerns rigorously and maintain effective records. School staff work closely with external agencies when required.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to stay safe online and when they are outside of school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe, and that school staff help to keep them safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum planning in some subjects, such as English, is structured well, but in other subjects, such as design and technology, it is at an early stage of development. This means the knowledge and skills that pupils acquire in some 1 and 2 March 2022

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subjects is variable and limited. Leaders need to continue to develop the curriculum so that all subjects are well designed and sequenced.  Leaders at all levels are not using the information they collect to evaluate the school curriculum well enough. This means they do not always know how well the curriculum is being delivered in different classes and in different subjects. Leaders are also unclear about how well pupils, including pupils with SEND or those who are disadvantaged, are remembering what they have been taught. Leaders need to check how effectively the curriculum is being developed and implemented across the school and how well pupils are learning what has been taught.  Despite the hard work of leaders and staff, levels of pupil absence and persistent absence remain too high. Some pupils miss too much learning and do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders need to work with children and their families to

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develop and use a range of strategies to monitor and improve pupils’ attendance.  In some instances, support for pupils with SEND is variable. Not enough thought is given to matching the support to pupils’ needs. At times, some pupils do not get the support they need at the right time, or they get more support than is necessary at other times. Leaders need to evaluate the effectiveness of some interventions so they know what works well for pupils with SEND. This will enable leaders to deploy additional resources to pupils who need them at the right time and in the right way.

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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. 1 and 2 March 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211764 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 and 16 May 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has moved into a new building since the last inspection.  The school does not 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 that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders, teachers, the chair of the governing body and representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes.  Inspectors talked to parents at the start of the day and considered parents’ responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View. They also considered responses to the Ofsted staff survey and the pupil survey. 1 and 2 March 2022

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, English, history and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors looked at safeguarding records and spoke to leaders and staff about how the school keeps pupils safe.

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Inspection team

Gareth Morgan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Linda Brown Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 March 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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