Doxey Primary and Nursery School

Inspection of Doxey Primary and Nursery School Doxey Road, Doxey, Stafford, Staffordshire ST16 1EG

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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 Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 7 and 8 February 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders want the best for pupils at this school. They have recently developed the curriculum. This is helping pupils to remember their learning and make better progress. There is still more to do, however, to provide pupils with a good quality of education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils say that they enjoy attending school. They help one another and play together well in the playground. Pupils enjoy the rewards they receive when they show the school’s values of respect, self-belief, pride, perseverance and curiosity. The rewards include having hot chocolate with the headteacher or a postcard being sent to their parents or carers. Pupils also talk excitedly about visits to places such as a recording studio in London and to Stafford Castle.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that adults take good care of them and sort out problems such as bullying. When incidents of bullying occur, leaders deal with these quickly and effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders expect pupils to develop considerate relationships and follow the school rules, ‘be ready, be respectful, be safe’. They ensure that pupils are as safe as possible. However, some pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour. Time in the Bottled Room helps these pupils to be calm and ready to learn. However, poor behaviour sometimes interrupts learning.

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better?

Children in the early years are well cared for and enjoy engaging learning activities. Two-year-olds and other children in the Nursery Year join in with songs and rhymes enthusiastically. This develops their speaking and listening skills. Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. Staff recently had training to enable them to teach phonics consistently well. Any pupils who fall behind receive extra help. However, this has not helped them to catch up quickly enough. Older pupils know how reading lessons help them to read more challenging texts and extend their vocabulary.

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better?

The mathematics curriculum is ambitious and carefully sequenced. Teachers have a secure understanding of the subject. This enables them to spot pupils’ errors and provide extra help quickly. Changes to the curriculum are recent, however, and pupils are not able to apply their knowledge to problem-solving and reasoning questions well enough.

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better?

In most subjects, including mathematics and communication and language in early years, leaders have identified and sequenced the knowledge and skills that pupils learn. In these subjects, teachers regularly check that pupils have learned important knowledge. In a few subjects, such as art and religious education (RE), the curriculum is less well developed. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. This is also the case for some areas of learning in the Reception Year, where leaders 7 and 8 February 2023

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are still developing the curriculum. Some pupils give up too easily in lessons and are slow to tackle more difficult work. They wait for adults to help them, which slows their progress. This is not challenged consistently.

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Adults provide extra help for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, in mathematics staff introduce new ideas to pupils in small groups before teaching them to the whole class. This helps these pupils make good progress.

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The behaviour support that some pupils receive is having a positive impact. Pupils in The Den benefit from small-group tuition which helps them concentrate on their learning. Skilled staff help pupils in the Bottled Room to regulate their feelings and behaviour. The majority of pupils behave well. Pupils know the school’s values, but a significant proportion do not link them to their behaviour. Staff do not consistently reinforce expectations regarding good behaviour, so pupils do not learn to follow instructions straight away. For example, staff pick things up that pupils drop, rather than insisting that pupils do so. Where staff challenge misbehaviour, pupils are better behaved.

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Leaders provide opportunities to expand pupils’ horizons and develop their character. For example, pupils enjoyed taking part in outdoor activities during a residential visit. This promoted their physical and mental health well. Trained staff support individual pupils with mental health concerns. Pupils develop their interests and talents in clubs, such as gardening and cooking. Pupils lead some clubs. Pupils raise money for charities. They learn to be tolerant and respectful. They know that not all families are the same as theirs.

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Governors know the school well. They provide appropriate support and challenge. Staff value leaders’ consideration for their workload and well-being. Teachers who are at the early stages of their careers feel well supported.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding is a priority at Doxey. All staff have regular safeguarding training. They can identify signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. They report concerns promptly and leaders follow these up swiftly. Leaders are relentless in seeking support from outside agencies for vulnerable pupils and their families. Leaders carry out appropriate pre-appointment checks on staff.

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Safeguarding

Staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe, for example when using the internet or when crossing a road. Pupils know how to report their worries if someone behaves in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. 7 and 8 February 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum. Some foundation subjects are at an early stage of development. As a result, pupils do not know or remember as much as they could in these subjects. Leaders should clarify the essential knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which to teach it so that pupils remember the intended content over time.  Leaders have not fully reviewed and developed the curriculum in Reception. Opportunities to extend children’s learning and play are limited. Leaders should implement their plans to develop the curriculum in Reception so that it promotes children’s imagination and curiosity.  Low-level misbehaviour is common around school and in lessons. This is because leaders and staff do not always insist that pupils follow the school’s values and behaviour expectations well enough. Some pupils are not sure how adults expect them to behave. Leaders and staff should make their expectations of pupils’

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

behaviour explicit and apply them consistently when managing behaviour.  At times, when pupils find work too difficult or uninteresting, they become disengaged. Rather than having a go, they give up or wait for adult support. This is not consistently challenged. Leaders should raise teachers’ expectations of pupils’ attitudes to learning so that all pupils have positive attitudes to learning.

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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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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. 7 and 8 February 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256947 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 8 July 2021, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The deputy headteacher left the school in September 2021. The school is currently led by the headteacher and an assistant headteacher.  The school has opened the Bottled Room. Pupils who find it difficult to manage their behaviour spend short periods there until they feel calm and ready to return to lessons.  The school has opened The Den. Pupils who find it difficult to manage learning in larger groups have some lessons in The Den and others in the main school.  The governing body manages the before- and after-school provision.  The school uses two registered alternative providers. 7 and 8 February 2023

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded 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.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, the early years leader and the leader for SEND.  The lead inspector met with three governors, including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, geography, RE and art. To do this, 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 lead inspector listened to some pupils read.  Inspectors spoke to leaders about the curriculum and assessment in other

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Information about this inspection

subjects.  The lead inspector checked the work that the school does to keep pupils safe. She examined safeguarding records, including the single central record of recruitment checks on staff. She spoke about safeguarding with leaders. Inspectors checked staff’s knowledge and understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes, lunchtime and during lessons. Pupils also talked to inspectors about their views of the school.  Inspectors considered a range of information about the school, including documentation shared by school leaders or made available on the website.  Inspectors considered the responses, including the free-text comments, to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey. An inspector also spoke with parents as they brought their children to school.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Helen Morrison, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Janet Tibbits Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 February 2023

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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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