Tidbury Green School

Inspection of Tidbury Green School Dickens Heath Road, Tidbury Green, Solihull, West Midlands B90 1QW

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Good 8 and 9 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Tidbury Green is a school where pupils work hard and are taught not to give up.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values promote independence and honesty. Pupils are courteous and kind to others. They behave well. If there are any incidents of off-task behaviour or bullying, then staff notice and help pupils sort it out. The school’s rules are fair, and pupils feel safe in school. Their achievements are celebrated at ‘hot chocolate Fridays’ and weekly ‘tea parties’ with the headteacher.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils care for one another. They also look after Pancake and Waffle, the school guinea pigs. Prefects help younger pupils, for example by organising play activities on the playground. School councillors enjoy debating school matters. Team captains help organise sports events. All pupils learn the importance of taking care of others and their school environment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Reading is at the heart of the school’s work. Pupils read every day and enjoy listening to adults reading to them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an inclusive school where pupils flourish. All pupils have access to a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and events, including singing to a vast audience at Young Voices concerts.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils achieve well and are well prepared for the next stage in their education.

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better?

Leaders and governors are ambitious for all pupils. They have prioritised the teaching of early reading and have made careful decisions about the books pupils read. They ensure that books are a rich source of learning from the moment children join the pre-school or Nursery class.

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better?

From the early years onwards, children learn phonics. Staff support them to develop their confidence and fluency as readers. The books that children take home are carefully matched to the sounds they are being taught. As a result, children get off to a speedy start as readers. Parents praise the way teachers share their passion for reading and bring out the best in each child.

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better?

Leaders set clear expectations about how all staff should support the delivery of the early years curriculum. In response, staff follow a consistent approach and ensure the early years curriculum is language rich. Leaders’ ambitions to develop children’s knowledge and breadth of vocabulary from the start are being realised. Expert staff support children to thrive in a stimulating, caring and creative environment. Supportive early years leadership enables staff to do their best because they know what to prioritise in different areas of learning. 8 and 9 March 2023

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Building on from the early years, leaders have designed a curriculum that identifies what to teach at different points in the school year. In mathematics, for example, teachers follow a consistent and effective approach that builds knowledge over time. They check that pupils can recall prior learning and apply it effectively to new learning. However, in a few other subjects, some teachers are not always sure about the best ways to help pupils know and remember important aspects of their learning. Consequently, some pupils find it difficult to recall earlier learning or to see how it connects to new learning.

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Leaders have effective assessment routines in place. This supports their systems for identifying and supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These systems are particularly effective in the early years and phonics. The school’s pupil records specify individual targets for pupils with SEND and how staff can best help them. Nevertheless, some of these targets are not as precise as they could be. This means that at times, teachers are not sure about the most important aspects of learning to focus on or how often.

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Leaders ensure that regular attendance at school is celebrated. For example, weekly attendance is celebrated with fun activities when two school teddies ‘Markus and Tickus’ are looked after by the classes with the highest attendance. There is a positive school culture where everyone is encouraged to work together for the benefit of all. Classroom recognition boards, for instance, identify an aspect of behaviour that a whole class is working on together. Pupils are proud of their achievements as a team. They behave well in lessons and around school. If any off- task behaviour occurs, staff quickly notice and support pupils to refocus on their work.

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The extra-curricular offer is an important part of school life. A high proportion of pupils attend after-school activities, including sports, arts and computing. Pupils have a strong sense of belonging to the school community. Pupils look forward to exciting residential school trips in Years 5 and 6.

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Leaders think carefully about the workload and staff’s well-being. There is a strong partnership with parents and the local community.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders understand the requirements for keeping pupils safe. They have established a strong culture of safeguarding. Staff know how to raise any concerns by following the school’s systems. Leaders respond promptly and follow things through. Leaders work well with external agencies to help pupils and their families access support.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive regular training to make sure they have the latest updates on safeguarding. Records are maintained with care. 8 and 9 March 2023

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Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. The curriculum teaches pupils about staying safe online. Relationships are positive. Adults listen to pupils and take notice of what they say.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some teachers do not use assessment information well enough to plan future learning for pupils with SEND. Leaders should ensure that staff make better use of assessment information to plan next steps of learning for pupils with SEND. They should do this so that these pupils learn and achieve as well as possible.  In a few foundation subjects, the implementation of the curriculum is not as effective as it could be. Some teachers do not have enough subject knowledge or understanding of how to best teach some content. As a result, some pupils are not learning as well as they could. Leaders should make sure that staff have sufficient subject knowledge to teach these subjects well in order to maximise pupils’ progress across the curriculum.

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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. 8 and 9 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.tidbury-green.solihull.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school operates a breakfast and after-school club.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school provides pre-school education for two-year-olds.

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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, the assistant headteachers, including the special needs coordinator, subject leaders, early years leader, staff and governors.  During the inspection, inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics, English, physical education and design and technology. For each deep dive inspectors met with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to 8 and 9 March 2023

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pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors looked at school documents, including information about the school’s curriculum, behaviour, attendance and governors’ meetings. Inspectors also observed some pupils reading.  To check the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the school’s policies, procedures and records. Inspectors met with safeguarding leaders and spoke to pupils, staff, parents and governors.  Inspectors reviewed information published on the school’s website.  Pupils’ behaviour was observed around school, in classes and at social times.  Inspectors reviewed and discussed records of pupils’ attendance.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s surveys for parents, staff and pupils. Inspectors spoke to parents.

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Inspection team

Pamela Matty, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Anna Smith Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 March 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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