Lickey End First School

Inspection of Lickey End First School School Lane, Lickey End, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 1JG

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Inspection dates: 30 and 31 January 2024

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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 Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 30 and 31 January 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

This school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Since the last inspection, leaders have taken effective action to improve the curriculum. Overall, pupils now do well. In addition, the school has high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, including those who need support to manage their behaviour. Pupils are polite to each other and courteous to visitors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at school and attend very regularly. They love reading to Doug, the school dog. Staff and pupils form trusting and positive relationships. The culture of safeguarding follows the credo of ‘it could happen here’. Staff are vigilant, believing that ‘nothing is too small’. This means pupils feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils embrace the school values of resilience, teamwork, respect and independence and participate fully in school life. They volunteer as junior leaders, play leaders, librarians in the outside ‘book hotel’ or well-being ambassadors. Pupils participate in a wide range of activities to help broaden their horizons. These include dancing, ballet and designing mosaic patterns. Pupils recently took part in a remembrance coffee morning in school with the British Legion and made an Anderson shelter as part of a World War Two day.

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better?

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum that ensures each subject is logically sequenced and links to other subjects. The school has thought carefully about what it wants pupils to learn, including key vocabulary. For example, in history, pupils understand the meaning of the terms ‘camber’ when learning about Roman roads and ‘the homefront’ when learning about World War Two. The school has carefully chosen the resources and work that pupils will complete. This builds pupils’ knowledge and skills in each subject. Children in the Reception Year, for instance, have successfully learned about their recent family history through photographs provided by their parents.

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better?

The leadership role in some subjects is at an early stage of development. The school has ensured that all staff know what pupils should be learning and when they should be learning. However, the checks that the school makes on how well pupils are learning the curriculum are not sufficiently robust. This means that, in some subjects, leaders are not always clear about how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum.

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better?

Children start learning to read when they join the school in Reception. Pupils learn phonics from a suitable, structured scheme that teachers and other adults closely follow. Until 2023, too few pupils reached the expected standard in phonics by the end of Year 1. At present, however, all pupils, including those who find reading difficult, have fallen behind, or are at an early stage, are able to sound out words using their phonics skills. Pupils are rapidly acquiring the knowledge and skills they 30 and 31 January 2024

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need to be confident and fluent readers. Pupils benefit from well-chosen books that are well matched to the sounds and letters they know and need to practise.

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The mathematics curriculum is structured logically from Reception up to Year 4. Pupils spoken to were able to speak clearly about what they have learned. When pupils struggle with their learning in mathematics, as well as in other subjects, the school makes suitable adaptions. The school plans the curriculum well for pupils with SEND.

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Teachers and adults use questioning to check how pupils are doing in lessons. In some subjects, the checks teachers make on pupils’ learning help them to identify any gaps in their learning, but this information is not always used well enough to identify what pupils need to revisit.

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Almost all older pupils take on an area of responsibility. Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND are well represented. Pupils have a good understanding of both British values and the school values. They have experienced voting and making choices. As part of the work, pupils have had the opportunity to engage with local builders and a local catering company to express their views. Pupils also have a good appreciation of other faiths, including Hinduism. The curriculum is enhanced by trips and events, such as the choir ‘Young Voices’.

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The headteacher leads with clarity and vision. Leaders, alongside school staff and the governors, are taking the right actions at the right time to improve the school. Almost all parents said they would recommend the school to another parent. Staff particularly appreciate the consideration given for their workload. Governors have an accurate view of where the school is now. They are well informed and hold school leaders to account for their actions.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, leadership is still at an early stage of development. As a result, the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of pupils’ learning in these subjects are less well developed. The school should ensure that leadership in each subject is equally well established.  Formal assessment systems in some foundation subjects are underdeveloped. Consequently, in some subjects, leaders are not always clear about how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum. The school should ensure there are systems for checking how pupils are doing in each subject. 30 and 31 January 2024

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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). 30 and 31 January 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 29 and 30 September 2021, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The previous headteacher left in May 2022 after the last inspection. An interim headteacher was appointed until the current headteacher took up his post in September 2023.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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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.  The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and other leaders and staff.  Inspectors spoke to several groups of pupils. 30 and 31 January 2024

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 An inspector met three members of the governing body, including the chair and vice-chair.  An inspector spoke by telephone to the school’s improvement advisor.  Inspectors took account of responses to the Ofsted Parent View free-text service, the online questionnaire and the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. 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 listened to pupils read and discussed the curriculum in some other subjects, including in the early years foundation stage.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Inspection team

Mark Sims, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Liz Vautier-Thomas Ofsted Inspector 30 and 31 January 2024

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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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