Water Mill Primary School

Inspection of Water Mill Primary School Water Mill Close, Selly Oak, Birmingham, West Midlands B29 6TS

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Good

Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 24 and 25 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love school life at Water Mill. They work hard and learn well. Leaders are aspirational for every pupil and seek to unlock their potential. The school’s ‘Owl- standing skills’ and their values motivate pupils. On a daily basis, pupils reflect on the application of these skills and values.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their diverse school community. Diversity is built into the curriculum and celebrated. The school recently hosted an international week and invited parents along. They enjoyed a variety of experiences, such as playing musical instruments and sampling food from a range of countries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value the education they receive and want to do their best. The school motto, ‘Anything is possible’, underpins pupils’ aspirations to be prepared for and positive about the future.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s work to support pupils’ personal development is exceptional. Pupils enjoy experiences that build their character. Pupils take on a range of extra responsibilities, for example being a school councillor and consulting with all classes about developing areas of the playground.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Around school, pupils are clear about the school’s rules and routines. They behave well. Pupils are not worried about bullying. They feel safe and know they could call on any adult to help them.

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better?

The headteacher and her leadership team have made significant improvements across the school. Leaders have redesigned the curriculum, which is suitably ambitious. Leaders ensure that the curriculum enables all pupils to achieve well.

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better?

Children get off to a good start in their education. They learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception Year. Teachers regularly check which sounds pupils can remember. Pupils who are not sure about a sound receive extra support to help them catch up quickly. Staff match reading books to the sounds that pupils know. This helps pupils to develop their confidence and reading fluency. Reading and a love of books are promoted throughout the school. Pupils read books by a range of authors. They know why it is important to be a good reader.

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better?

In mathematics, curriculum plans set out the key knowledge and skills pupils should learn, from early years to Year 6. Leaders ensure that pupils have a secure understanding of basic concepts. Pupils’ books show that they learn content in a systematic way and know and remember more over time. Teachers benefit from training to help them teach mathematics well.

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better?

Subjects are taught through themes. Each theme overview breaks down the knowledge and skills taught as well as exciting activities. Subject leaders support 24 and 25 May 2022

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their colleagues to develop the subject knowledge they need to teach. Most have a clear overview of what is going well in their subject and what needs to be done to improve it further. Some subject leaders, who are new to role, have only recently started to check the implementation of the curriculum. This means that they are not yet able to measure the effectiveness of the curriculum in their subjects. Leaders are working to improve this.

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Teachers use assessments well in English and mathematics to find out what the pupils know and understand. However, in the foundation subjects, this does not always happen well enough, and teachers do not identify pupils’ misconceptions quickly enough. This leads to gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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The school is an inclusive community. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or those who speak English as an additional language do well in school. Leaders quickly identify any pupils with additional needs. Parents really appreciate the support that pupils with SEND receive.

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Pupils behave well and enjoy their lessons. Leaders monitor pupils’ punctuality and attendance closely. They take positive steps to improve the attendance of pupils whose rate of attendance is lower than that of their peers.

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Throughout the school, teachers plan rich and exciting experiences for pupils. Pupils enjoy a variety of clubs, for example sports, movie making and science. They talk enthusiastically about how they organise events, such as the Jubilee party, for the whole school. Through all these experiences, their awareness of helping others and being a good citizen grows. All pupils have equal access to all opportunities offered.

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Governors know the school well. They are proud of the role that the school has in the community. Governors use their knowledge effectively to hold leaders to account for all aspects of the school’s work, including the quality of education. Governors are mindful of staff’s workload and well-being. Staff feel valued and supported by leaders.

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Parents and carers speak very highly of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders understand their role in keeping children safe. They ensure that staff attend regular safeguarding training. Staff record and report concerns swiftly. Concerns are followed up rigorously. Leaders make referrals to external agencies appropriately to get pupils the help they need, including when pupils need support for their mental health and well-being. Record-keeping is meticulous.

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Safeguarding

Suitable checks are made on all adults who work with the children in school. Pupils feel safe and happy here, and parents confirm this. The curriculum promotes learning how to keep yourself safe, including when online. 24 and 25 May 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers do not always make use of assessment effectively in the foundation subjects to pick up pupils’ misconceptions. Consequently, they do not consistently identify gaps in pupils’ learning. Leaders should continue to support teachers in their use of assessment in order to enable them to make accurate assessments of pupils’ knowledge and understanding in the foundation subjects.  Some subject leaders are new to their roles. They have only recently started to check what happens in their subject. This means that they are not able to evaluate fully the effectiveness of their subject. Leaders should ensure that these subject leaders develop their monitoring and evaluation so that they can provide better support to teachers.

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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. 24 and 25 May 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2 February 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make any use of 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. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and English. For each deep dive, inspectors met 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.  Inspectors met with the leader for early years and observed children within the setting. 24 and 25 May 2022

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 Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school, including at lunchtime. Inspectors also met with groups of pupils to discuss their views of the school and personal development opportunities.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors scrutinised the records for the safer recruitment of staff and held a meeting with the designated safeguarding lead. Inspectors met with staff to check their understanding of safeguarding and the impact of any training received.  Inspectors listened to pupils read and talked to them about their reading.  Inspectors spoke with several members of staff, including those who have recently joined the teaching profession. They considered the responses from staff to the online inspection questionnaire.  Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the day and considered the responses, including written responses, to Ofsted Parent View, the online

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questionnaire.  The views of pupils were also considered through discussions and the Ofsted online questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Lynda Townsend, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Steph Withington Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 May 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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