St George's CofE School

Inspection of St George’s CofE School Birmingham Road, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY10 2BX

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Inspection dates: 23 and 24 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

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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 Clare Snape. This school is part of The Black Pear Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Emma Pritchard, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Paul Shoesmith. 23 and 24 January 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

St George’s is a warm and friendly school. The corridors beautifully celebrate the ethos of the school and the pupils’ work. Staff know pupils and their families well. They look after pupils and make sure they feel safe and happy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils receive positive recognition when they demonstrate the school values through their everyday actions. They wear their ‘star badges’ with pride. Pupils understand that everyone is equal: ‘We are all different, but we are all human’. This is evident in the way that they treat others in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders from across the trust are aspirational for every pupil to achieve their full potential. Trust and school leaders work together to ensure that all pupils have access to an ambitious curriculum that enables pupils to achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils embrace opportunities to contribute to their school. They become reading ambassadors, members of the school council or young translators. Peer mentors take their duties seriously and have a valuable role in supporting other children at playtime.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that when bullying happens, their teachers deal with it well. They say that they have trusted adults they can talk to if they have a problem. Pupils say they enjoy school and understand how to keep themselves safe, including online.

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better?

The school has adopted an ambitious curriculum that provides pupils with the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage of their education. The curriculum is carefully sequenced for all pupils, and assessment tasks help teachers to identify pupils who need additional support. However, some subjects have had more attention than others. This means that, sometimes, the work that pupils are asked to complete is not well matched to the intended learning.

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better?

Phonics is of the highest priority. Teaching begins in the Nursery Year, where children learn songs and rhymes and enjoy listening to stories. All staff have been trained well to teach phonics, and it is taught consistently well across all groups. Effective checking procedures quickly identify pupils who have fallen behind, which is then addressed swiftly. The books that pupils read match the sounds they have learned. This supports them in becoming confident, fluent readers by the end of Year 2. The school library has recently been refurbished. Pupils are encouraged to read a wide variety of books and are given opportunities to read in class. They are expected to use the vocabulary modelled by teachers, and they do.

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better?

Pupils get off to a good start in the early years. The curriculum is well designed, and clear thought has been given to the small steps in learning. The outdoor environment matches the high quality of the indoors. Children learn important skills, 23 and 24 January 2024

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including how to work together and follow instructions, through purposeful tasks such as working out how to cross a puddle without getting their feet wet.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly and supported effectively. Staff know the pupils well and make use of additional teaching sessions to help pupils who need to catch up. As a result, pupils with SEND make good progress.

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Recently, there has been an increase in pupils joining the school who are new to English. The school makes sure that these pupils feel included from the very start. Young translators are used to help pupils settle into school life. However, there is not a consistent approach to teaching these pupils the English language. Pupils who are new to English successfully decode written words but do not understand what they are reading. They also do not understand the meaning of the spellings they take home. This means that this group of pupils are not developing their understanding as well as they could be.

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Pupils benefit from a range of clubs, including bell ringing, Lego and tag rugby. Pupils also take part in a range of experiences that enhance the curriculum, including visits to places of worship. During the inspection, pupils spoke excitedly to inspectors about taking part in a choral experience.

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The school has high expectations for pupils’ attendance. Most pupils attend well. There are clear actions in place to support pupils to improve attendance and come to school every day, such as a school minibus service. These actions are having a positive impact on these pupils, and attendance figures have significantly improved.

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Leaders and governors know the school well. Staff are proud to work at the school and describe themselves as a ‘family’. They value the way that leaders consider their workload, and they value also the support and development they receive from the school and colleagues across the trust. Parents are positive about the work of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some subjects are not as well embedded as others. This means that the work pupils are asked to complete is not always well matched to the intended learning. The school should ensure that it continues to develop these subjects so that the learning of pupils is of equally high quality in all subjects.  Pupils who are new to English are not developing their understanding as well as they could be. This is because the school has not given enough thought to how it 23 and 24 January 2024

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will teach these pupils words and their meaning. The school should ensure that it continues to develop induction strategies so that there is a clear plan for acquisition of the English language for this group of pupils.

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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). 23 and 24 January 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Diocese of Worcestershire. A section 48 inspection since academisation is yet to take place.  The school joined the Black Pear Trust in September 2019.  The school has a nursery provision.  The school does not use 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.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in her evaluation of the school. 23 and 24 January 2024

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 The inspectors met with the CEO, trust leader for school improvement, headteacher, deputy headteachers, senior leaders and members of staff. The lead inspector held a meeting with members of the governing body and the trust board.  Deep dives were carried out in reading, mathematics, history and modern foreign languages. These included discussions with subject leaders, visits to lessons and scrutiny of work. The inspectors also spoke to pupils and listened to pupils read to a staff member. The inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects and reviewed pupils’ work.  Various documents were scrutinised, including leaders’ self-evaluation, improvement and curriculum documents, as well as the school website. Minutes of governors’ meetings were also considered. The inspector also looked at pupils’ attendance and behaviour records.  Inspectors considered responses to the online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View.

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This included free-text comments. They also took account of responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey and responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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.

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Inspection team

Mel Davies, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

John Bates Ofsted Inspector 23 and 24 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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