Yardley Wood Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Yardley Wood Community Primary School School Road, Yardley Wood, Birmingham, West Midlands B14 4ER

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Outcome

Yardley Wood Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone is valued at Yardley Wood Community Primary School. The school serves a diverse community. Relationships between pupils and staff are warm and positive. Pupils know who to talk to if they are worried. As a result, pupils feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has established clear routines and staff teach pupils how to behave well. Consequently, pupils conduct themselves well. Pupils understand the importance of treating others equally. Most focus well on their learning and are polite and respectful of one another and adults. If bullying happens, staff deal with it effectively. Pupils enjoy their lessons and talk about their learning and achievements with pride.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. The curriculum is ambitious for all, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, the good-quality provision in place is not yet reflected in published results. Carefully tailored support and effective teaching ensure that pupils are now achieving well. As a result, outcomes are improving.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a variety of clubs each term, including sports, choir and darts. Pupils are eager to take on positions of responsibility as school councillors and sports leaders. Pupils take part in school productions and represent the school at events in the local community.

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

The school has designed an ambitious, broad and engaging curriculum. This enables pupils to build up their knowledge and understanding of important ideas over time. The school is keen to ensure that pupils are proud of who they are and where they come from. It has made sure the curriculum includes opportunities for pupils to learn about important features and people from the local area. 12 and 13 March 2024

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Children begin to develop their knowledge as soon as they start in the early years. Teachers explain key information clearly and revisit prior learning with pupils. This helps pupils to retain important knowledge and make the progress they should. However, leaders’ checks on pupils’ learning were not as precise as they should have been last year. This means that gaps in pupils’ learning were not picked up and addressed. The school has started to address this issue in some subjects. As a result, an increasing number of pupils are successfully building their learning and retaining key information. For example, pupils can talk confidently about how to calculate the perimeter in mathematics lessons.

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The school has prioritised the teaching of phonics. It is taught well and with consistency. Staff provide pupils with regular opportunities to practise and apply the sounds they learn. Reading books are well matched to the phonic sounds that pupils know. This helps pupils build their confidence and develop their reading fluency. Extra help is provided, if needed, to support some pupils to keep up with the phonics programme. The library provides pupils with a well-resourced reading area. Pupils value this resource and develop a love of reading.

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The school quickly identifies pupils with SEND. Most pupils access the same curriculum as their peers. Pupils with complex needs receive bespoke support from well-trained staff, both in the classroom and in the ‘Rainbow Room’. Adaptations to tasks and additional resources help pupils complete the work set. Leaders use advice from professionals to support pupils with SEND well. As a result, most pupils with SEND make good progress.

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The school monitors pupils’ attendance carefully. It has robust systems in place to make sure it responds to absences. Pupils are also offered exciting rewards such as ‘Hollywood and hotdogs’ when they attend regularly. As a result of this range of strategies, pupils’ overall attendance is improving. However, there are still too many pupils who are frequently absent. This means that they miss key learning. Leaders are determined to continue to work with parents to improve this situation. While most pupils behave well, some pupils find it hard to meet the school’s expectations of behaviour. This has a negative impact on their learning.

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The school places a strong emphasis on providing pupils with a range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests. Pupils take part in many educational visits and are participating in a ‘Proud to be a Brummie’ project with local musicians. Pupils regularly raise money for charity, which helps them develop empathy for others.

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Staff are proud to work in the school. They appreciate leaders’ consideration of their well- being and workload. For example, staff feel that the newly developed marking policy contributes positively to staff work-life balance.

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Governors understand the school’s strengths and areas that need further development well. They challenge and hold leaders to account fully.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 12 and 13 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils have gaps in their learning. This affects their progress as they move through the school. The school should ensure that staff check pupils’ understanding systematically and provide pupils with the support needed to attain well across the curriculum.  Some pupils find it hard to meet the school’s expectations around behaviour. This results in pupils being suspended repeatedly, which has a negative impact on their attendance and achievement. The school should continue to work with all pupils to support them to meet the expectations of the behaviour policy, amending its strategies as needed if they are not proving to be effective.

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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 February 2014.

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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.

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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, 12 and 13 March 2024

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 12 and 13 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language and with SEND has increased.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision for pupils.

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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 inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, senior leaders and governors, including the chair of the governing body. She also had a telephone conversation with a representative from Birmingham Education Partnership.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of 12 and 13 March 2024

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lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector also talked to pupils and examined their work in art.  The inspector observed a selection of pupils reading to a member of staff.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour at playtime and lunchtime, and talked to pupils about behaviour, bullying and welfare.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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.  The inspector reviewed a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan. Records of attendance and behaviour incidents were checked.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent

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View, including any free-text comments, as well as the results of Ofsted’s surveys for school staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Karen O’Keefe, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 March 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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