Bearwood Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Bearwood Primary School Bearwood Road, Smethwick, West Midlands B66 4HB

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Outcome

Bearwood Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders at Bearwood Primary School are passionate that every child will be successful at school. They are committed to ensuring that pupils attend school regularly. Leaders make sure that any incidents of bullying or poor behaviour are dealt with quickly and do not happen again. Pupils are happy and safe. They enjoy coming to school. The majority of parents and carers are positive about the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders set high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils know and follow the school rules. Staff apply the school rules consistently and fairly. As a result, pupils behave well. Pupils are highly engaged in their learning and achieve well in lessons. At social times, they enjoy playing games outside and talking to their friends. Adults and playground buddies help pupils to play and make friends.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a wide range of experiences that ‘open a world of opportunity’ both in the local community and beyond. They visit the local library, parks and allotments. Trips to the theatre, museum and farm help them to deepen their learning. Pupils have fun and learn more about coastlines during the family trip to the seaside. A variety of clubs, including those for choir, art, clarinet and sports, allows pupils to develop their talents and interests.

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

Leaders have planned an ambitious curriculum. It sets high expectations for all pupils. Learning is carefully sequenced and builds on what has gone before. Teachers are highly skilled and present learning in a range of exciting ways. They check how well pupils learn in lessons and help pupils to improve their work. Opportunities to recall previous learning help pupils to build on and apply their learning. However, the early years curriculum is not as clearly sequenced in some areas. This means that sometimes, children are not given the opportunity to rehearse and consolidate their learning. Subject leaders generally check how well pupils are learning the curriculum. However, in a few subjects, gaps in learning are not always identified and addressed. This means that, on occasion, pupils do not have the prior knowledge they need in order to access new learning. 4 and 5 May 2023

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported in school and so they are successful. Leaders make sure that their needs are swiftly identified and that they get the support they need to achieve well in school. Adults are highly skilled in making sure that their needs are met. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well in school.

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Leaders prioritise reading. They make sure that reading is taught daily and that children read regularly in school and at home. Staff are highly skilled and teach reading consistently well across the school. Leaders make sure that books match the sounds that pupils are learning. This helps pupils to practise the sounds that they learn in lessons. Leaders provide a range of exciting opportunities to promote a love of reading across the school. The youngest pupils enjoy listening to, and joining in with, songs and rhymes. Author visits deepen pupils’ understanding of how and why books are written. Challenges such as ‘the twelve days of reading’ promote exciting and fun approaches to reading. Leaders make regular checks on how well pupils are learning to read. They make sure that pupils who fall behind are identified and catch up quickly, which they do. As a result, all pupils learn to read fluently and accurately.

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Leaders thoughtfully plan for pupils’ personal and social development. Visits to a range of places of worship help pupils to learn about different religions and cultures, such as Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Pupils enjoy finding out about and sharing their own experiences of different festivals, including Eid, Vaisakhi and Christmas. This helps pupils to recognise and respect difference. Pupils learn to be active citizens through fundraising for the local food bank and finding out about fair trade. They learn about right and wrong through the school’s ‘five golden rules’. Opportunities to take up roles such as school librarian, reading ambassador or school council representative allow pupils to take on responsibilities in school.

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Leaders, including governors, know the school and its community well. They make regular checks on how well the school is performing. This helps them to identify what the school does well and any improvements that need to be made. Leaders make sure that induction procedures for new children are carefully planned so that they settle well. Staff feel valued and listened to. Teachers say that they are well supported by leaders to manage their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders prioritise pupils’ welfare. They make sure that staff are trained to identify and report any safeguarding concerns. Leaders respond swiftly to any concerns that staff raise. They work closely with external agencies to make sure that any child in need of help to keep safe gets the support they need.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know about how to keep safe when online and when out in the community. They learn about road safety and how to ride a bicycle safely. Pupils learn about healthy and safe relationships. 4 and 5 May 2023

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Leaders make sure that all staff undertake rigorous vetting checks prior to working at the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The early years curriculum is not coherently sequenced in some areas of learning. As a result, children do not always have opportunities that help them to practise and apply their learning well. Leaders should further strengthen the early years curriculum so that it is coherently planned and sequenced in all areas, so that children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.  Leaders do not consistently identify and address gaps in learning in a few subjects. This means that sometimes, pupils do not have the prior knowledge or skills they need to access learning. Leaders should make sure that any gaps in learning are consistently identified and addressed, so that all pupils learn the intended curriculum well.

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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 November 2018.

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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. 4 and 5 May 2023

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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. 4 and 5 May 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 March 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses one alternative provider.  The school operates a before- and after-school club 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 inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector 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 inspector observed pupils reading to a familiar adult. The inspector reviewed reading resources.  The inspector reviewed a range of documentation on the school’s website. 4 and 5 May 2023

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 The inspector scrutinised the school’s safeguarding arrangements. This included examining the record of employment checks on school staff.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at other times during the day.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the designated safeguarding lead, curriculum leaders, representatives of the governing body and a local authority representative.  The inspector took account of responses to Ofsted Parent View and staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Lorraine Lord, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 May 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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