Foxyards Primary School

Inspection of Foxyards Primary School Foxyards Road, Tipton, West Midlands DY4 8BH

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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 Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Wendy Jackson. This school is part of Manor Multi Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Anita Cliff, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by David Coles. 7 and 8 November 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Foxyards is a warm and welcoming school. Leaders have worked extensively to successfully transform the curriculum, the school environment and to raise expectations of pupils. This means that significant improvements have been made to pupils’ learning and enjoyment of school. Pupils are happy and speak positively of the opportunities provided for them, including leadership opportunities, sports and school visits.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and staff live out the school’s values: caring, respectful, creative and resilient. This means that pupils respect and welcome how their diverse community enriches them all. Pupils enjoy their learning across their subjects and want to succeed. Well- established routines mean typically pupils behave well. They are well mannered and respectful in class and as they move around the school site. They understand that adults will support them should they have a concern.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children in the early years are very well supported to respond to the school’s routines. Skilled adults encourage language development in a variety of ways. The pupils enjoy taking advantage of the opportunities provided for them, including the play kitchen, number games and scooping and pouring activities.

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better?

The curriculum at Foxyards has been extensively improved through collaborative work between leaders and teachers. It is ambitious, and leaders have carefully considered the order in which pupils learn key knowledge. Teachers generally use assessment effectively to check that pupils have understood their learning. However, checking of pupils’ understanding is less effective during lessons. This can mean that opportunities to adapt the activities to respond to pupils’ misconceptions can be missed. The teaching of early reading is very effective. Staff are well trained in delivering the phonics programme which starts from the very beginning of Reception. Effective teaching and well-structured resources enable pupils to read with accuracy. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have their needs identified accurately and appropriate adaptations and support are put in place. Therefore, they achieve well.

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better?

Leaders have put considerable thought into the early years curriculum to successfully ensure that the children can progress well to key stage 1. Developing social interactions is modelled effectively by adults, and children learn well thanks to clear and simple instructions. In Reception, positive progress in writing can been seen, which reflects leaders’ work on literacy. Key texts are identified which underpin the children’s learning. Songs and rhymes are also a regular feature of lessons, which the children enjoy.

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better?

Leaders have worked effectively to improve pupils’ attendance, especially those who most struggle to attend school. They are aware that there remains work to do on the oversight of attendance, and ensuring the most effective actions are taken in a 7 and 8 November 2023

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timely fashion, to ensure that all pupils attend regularly. Around the school, pupils behave with respect for each other. They are confident that adults will intervene should the school’s expectations not be met. Leaders are rewriting the school’s behaviour policy to further raise expectations and increase consistency in standards.

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The personal, social and health and economic education curriculum is well designed and comprehensive. For example, pupils learn about different faiths and cultures, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Judaism. Pupils have good opportunities to join a variety of leadership teams. They put themselves forward, write speeches and are voted for by their peers. In this way they learn about democracy and how to represent the views of others. Pupils have the opportunity to take part in a variety of educational visits. Visitors also come to the school to engage the pupils in music, plays and to discuss books. There is also a wide variety of sports opportunities. Leaders are aiming to increase the range of pupils who take up the opportunities they provide.

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Leaders are supported by a knowledgeable governance team. They are aware of the challenges facing the school and have a realistic view of its strengths and areas for development. Trust leaders have changed the governance model to ensure leaders in school have even more focused support. Staff are positive about how leaders work with them to manage workload and how leaders in school and the trust provide for their professional development. Leaders in school are aware that they need to further develop leadership in the school to ensure that all aspects of their provision are as effective as possible.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 On occasion, assessment is not used precisely enough during learning to identify pupils’ misconceptions. This means that teachers can miss opportunities to better adapt and support pupils’ learning. Leaders need to ensure that all teachers are skilled in using assessment effectively to adapt learning for pupils and address misconceptions.  Leaders are developing a full strategic oversight of attendance. This means that some aspects of attendance that could be further improved are yet to be addressed. Leaders need to ensure there is ongoing detailed analysis to inform their actions to continue to improve attendance.  Some leaders are still gaining a detailed oversight of their areas of responsibility. This means that some aspects of the school are yet to be fully developed. The trust should continue to develop their effective work to support and develop leaders at all levels. 7 and 8 November 2023

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 7 and 8 November 2023

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school joined Manor Multi Academy Trust in January 2021.  The school uses one registered alternative provider.

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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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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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 the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first. 7 and 8 November 2023

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 As a part of this inspection, inspectors met with governors, the trust chief executive officer (CEO) and deputy CEO, senior leaders, subject leaders, teaching staff as well as other employees in the school. They also scrutinised governor and trustee minutes.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in: early reading, mathematics, art, geography and physical education. They also looked at examples of extended writing in pupils’ books in English. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also visited lessons in some other subjects.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s extra-curricular activities, enrichment programme and their careers and personal development programmes with leaders and pupils.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s behaviour and attendance records with school

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leaders.  Inspectors met with members of staff and spoke to pupils, both formally and informally, at various points in the inspection. They took account of responses to a staff survey and Ofsted Parent View, including a number of free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Andrew Madden, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paul Newby Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 November 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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