Greenholm Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Greenholm Primary School Greenholm Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands B44 8HS

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Inspection dates: 22 and 23 November 2022

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Outcome

Greenholm Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in their education at this school. Governors, school leaders and staff have high expectations of pupils’ learning. To fulfil these expectations, pupils’ work hard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Around school and in lessons, pupils behave well. They are polite and respectful. This good behaviour helps learning in lessons proceed without interruption. Occasionally, there are instances of bullying in school. Staff deal well with such incidents. Leaders have ensured that learning how to stay safe is woven through the curriculum. This gives pupils an informed knowledge of safety matters. Pupils are safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Education at Greenholm School is about much more than lessons. The ‘Greenholm Guarantee’ ensures that pupils enjoy a wide range of experiences beyond the classroom. All pupils visit the school farm, where they look after the animals. Staff have made close links with a local theatre. During this inspection, Year 2 pupils were looking forward to a visit to see ‘The Nutcracker’. Visitors to school also support learning. A recent visit from a local poet, for example, brought poetry to life for pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s well-planned curriculum and culture of high expectation for all help pupils to achieve well and enjoy learning. However, aspects of assessment could be even better.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

When children first join the school, they get off to a flying start in their education. Staff work well with parents to ensure children are well prepared to join the school. Classrooms are set up carefully to support learning, including through the use of an outdoor classroom. Children start learning to read shortly after they begin Reception. Teachers read high-quality texts to children daily. Story times are magical moments. These help children to develop a love of reading. By the end of Reception, children are well prepared to continue learning in Year 1. 22 and 23 November 2022

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Pupils learn to read well. This is a priority for the school leadership. All adults teaching phonics are quick to identify any pupils who are falling behind with their reading. They provide extra support which helps those pupils to catch up. There are frequent opportunities for adults to read to pupils. These engaging sessions inspire pupils to enjoy reading books. Teachers and teaching assistants are well trained to teach pupils to read. They make good use of online training resources, for example, to support the teaching of phonics. Their effective work enables pupils to become fluent readers.

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The curriculum is ambitious for all pupils. Learning in different subjects is carefully sequenced. Teachers deliver the planned curriculum effectively. They have good knowledge of what pupils should learn in each subject. In turn, they ensure pupils’ knowledge builds as they progress through the school. Assessment is regular and ongoing in lessons. Before moving on to learning new learning, many teachers check what pupils have remembered from earlier lessons. However, this is not consistently the case across the whole curriculum. This leads to some pupils not remembering key knowledge they need to know for future learning in some subjects.

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In lessons, pupils are attentive and keen to learn. They have positive attitudes to their learning and work hard.

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Learning goes well beyond the classroom at Greenholm Primary School. Staff take many opportunities to provide a wide range of experiences and opportunities for pupils. Teaching an appreciation of music and learning to play an instrument are important in the school. Pupils receive free guitar, clarinet, piano and trumpet lessons. The school council is very active in decision-making in school. Pupils attend a wide range of clubs including art, French and cooking. Breakfast and after-school clubs are well attended.

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Those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. Their extra needs are identified accurately by skilled members of the SEND team. Leaders work effectively with outside agencies to provide any additional support required. School leaders and staff go the extra mile for this specific group of pupils.

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Governors provide clear strategic direction for the school. They provide appropriate challenge and support to school leaders and want the best quality of education for all pupils. For example, governors check on the use and impact of extra funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Together with school leaders, they have ensured that robust plans for further improvement are in place. The headteacher runs a well-designed development programme for early career teachers. This programme enables teachers to grow in confidence and flourish at the school.

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Leaders are considerate of staff well-being and take action to minimise unnecessary workload. Staff are grateful for this consideration. 22 and 23 November 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a robust culture of safeguarding throughout school life. Governors and staff undertake regular safeguarding training. They know and understand what they must do to keep pupils safe. Staff record all identified safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding leaders in school are quick to follow these up. They also check carefully for any emerging patterns. Safeguarding leaders work well with other key partners to keep pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

The well-planned curriculum includes safeguarding information at appropriate points for pupils. This means pupils know what they should do to remain safe. Leaders make sure that all the required pre-employment safeguarding checks on staff take place and are recorded.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects within the wider curriculum, teachers do not check well enough on the key knowledge pupils have learned and can remember. This means some pupils do not remember important knowledge to build upon in their future learning. Leaders should provide teachers with further support and training to ensure that they check carefully on what pupils know and remember. They should do this in order to emphasise and embed the important knowledge that pupils need in the future.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2014. 22 and 23 November 2022

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How can I feed back my views?

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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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. 22 and 23 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10240925 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 19 September 2017

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Information about this school

 The school runs a before- and after-school club managed by the governing body.  School leaders do not use any alternate provision.

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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.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics English and languages. For each deep dive, the 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.  The inspectors spoke with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and assistant headteachers.  The lead inspector met with five governors, including the chair of the governing body. He also spoke with a school improvement partner who works with the school. 22 and 23 November 2022

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 The lead inspector met with the SEND coordinator and some pupils. The inspector reviewed samples of their work.  The inspectors met with those responsible for leading safeguarding arrangements in the school. They also discussed arrangements for safeguarding with a range of staff to check the effectiveness of safeguarding in the school. In addition, they scrutinised training logs and records of actions taken to keep pupils safe.  The inspectors spoke with a range of staff and pupils. They also reviewed attendance records and behaviour logs.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted surveys of staff, pupils’ and parents’ views.

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Inspection team

Declan McCauley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Lisa Buffery Ofsted Inspector 22 and 23 November 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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