Priory Primary School

Inspection of Priory Primary School Limes Road, Priory Estate, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 4AQ

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 October 2024

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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

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The headteacher of this school is Kelvin Daley. This school is part of Hales Valley Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Rebecca Cox, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Mark Simpson. 15 and 16 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Priory Primary School is a happy school, which serves a richly diverse community. There are warm, nurturing and respectful relationships between staff and pupils. New pupils, whenever they join the school, quickly make friends. Staff work hard to get to know their pupils and offer the right support at the right time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All pupils, including the youngest ones, behave well in and out of lessons. Pupils know and follow the school rules of ‘Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Safe’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Over the last few years, the school has worked hard to raise standards. As a result, standards have improved significantly in English and mathematics. Outcomes are also improving for children in the early years.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers a large number of personal development opportunities for pupils. For example, ‘Prioryfest’, the school’s summer music festival, is now a highlight of the school year for both parents and carers, and pupils. There is also a growing number of popular after-school clubs.

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

From nursery through to Year 6, the school has given clear thought to what it wants pupils to learn. An ambitious curriculum is in place. This includes for those pupils with special needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are assessed as soon as they join the school in order to identify any unmet special needs.

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

Children starting in the nursery are well supported to settle into school life. Parents value the positive relationship they build with nursery staff. This has reduced the anxiety of many parents who worry about their child starting school. Early years staff have rightly prioritised children’s social, emotional and communication skills. Children get to explore a wide variety of interesting activities that help them to do this. Focused adult support then helps build children’s knowledge across all of the seven areas of learning in the early years.

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

The school has prioritised reading. Books are carefully matched to the phonics level of pupils. The school quickly provides pupils, who are at risk of falling behind with their reading, extra phonics and reading sessions. This includes those pupils who need specialist support because they speak English as an additional language. Reading lessons remain in place until pupils become fluent readers. The school is working with parents to build their confidence so that they can support their child with reading at home.

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

The school ensures pupils with SEND get effective support and that they are involved in the full life of the school. A very small number of pupils with the most complex SEND benefit from a bespoke provision. This ‘Sunflowers’ provision is highly effective. The school tracks pupils with SEND to ensure that they are making progress. 15 and 16 October 2024

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Staff have received a wealth of training in the core subjects of mathematics and English. This means that they know how to teach these subjects well. Teachers check pupils’ understanding and fill in any gaps in their knowledge quickly. As a result, pupils perform well in these core subjects. Teachers are still to receive some important training in some other subjects. As a result, they do not always check pupils’ understanding and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge effectively in those subjects.

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Pupils take part in competitive sport and activities that develop their talents and interests. The school’s personal, social, health and economic education curriculum teaches pupils how to be healthy and stay safe, and prepares them for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn about different cultures and religions and understand the importance of tolerance and respect.

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The school recognises the link between poor attendance and safeguarding. When pupils’ attendance falls below the accepted level, the school works with families to provide the right support to bring about improvement. The school has also sought effective external support to help address persistent absence.

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The school has taken action to address historic concerns with behaviour. It has introduced a new approach to behaviour management. Pupils behave well.

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To strengthen its work further, the school has introduced new initiatives. However, the school’s approach is not always well understood by all parents. Leaders know this. They are exploring new ways to communicate with parents using digital technology.

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Trustees and trust executive leaders know the school well. They have effectively supported and challenged the school to improve outcomes. Everyone is determined to improve pupils’ life chances.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not consistently well taught in some non-core subjects. Gaps in pupil knowledge are not always identified. This means that pupils do not learn as well as they should. The school should ensure that staff use assessment effectively in all subjects to identify and then address gaps so that pupils can effectively learn all of the curriculum.  The school does not always share new policies and procedures effectively with parents. This means that some parents are not always clear what is happening in school for their child. The school should continue to improve its communications with parents so that they are fully informed about what is happening in school. 15 and 16 October 2024

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 15 and 16 October 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10 and 11 May 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Hales Valley Trust.  The school has nursery provision for two-year-olds.  The school does not make use of any 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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 15 and 16 October 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, four assistant headteachers, the CEO and the chair of the trustees.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading, English, mathematics, computing and science. For each deep dive, inspectors 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.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in other subjects and looked at a sample of work and documentation from other subjects.  To gather evidence on pupils’ wider development, inspectors met with the deputy

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headteacher, teachers and two groups of pupils.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors checked the school’s single central record; spoke to senior leaders about safeguarding procedures; took account of the views of 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 lead inspector reviewed a range of school documentation and policies, including the school development plan and minutes of governance meetings.  Inspectors spoke to leaders, staff and pupils about the wider work of the school.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s records of behaviour, including bullying, and records of suspensions. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.  The lead inspector considered responses, including free-text comments, to Ofsted Parent View, the online survey. They also reviewed the responses to the staff survey

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and gathered the views of staff and pupils on site through discussions and through information sent to them during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Jane Edgerton, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Gill Turner Ofsted Inspector 15 and 16 October 2024

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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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