Meadows First School

Inspection of a school judged outstanding for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Meadows First School Stourbridge Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B61 0AH

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 February 2025

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Outcome

Meadows First School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish at this school. This is because leaders at all levels reflect deeply about what pupils need. They then ensure that this is systematically reflected in the exceptional provision. This means from the youngest children in Nursery to the oldest, pupils benefit from ambitious learning, considered interactions and high-quality opportunities for their personal development. All this contributes to pupils enjoying their time in the school. As one pupil summarised; ‘This school is respectful, kind and amazing.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for all pupils’ achievement. These are realised, as pupils are known well as individuals, and any barriers to their learning are systematically identified and overcome. The school consistently takes pupils’ starting points into account, ensuring that their learning builds well on what they already know.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is rightly proud of its status as a ‘Rights Respecting School’. This means that pupils across the setting are clear about how they should treat others. Pupils behave with very high levels of respect and courtesy throughout the day. They know that there are adults who will support them if they have any concerns or anxieties.

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

The school has been through a process of rigorous review of its curriculum covering all aspects of the provision. It has clearly identified the key knowledge that pupils need at each stage of their learning, including children in the early years. Early English is a strength, as children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 read with confidence and fluency, thanks to highly effective teaching of the chosen phonics scheme. Staff provide 11 and 12 February 2025

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well-targeted additional support for pupils who find reading difficult. This enables them to catch up rapidly. A curriculum devised around high-quality texts inspires pupils to love reading. The selection of these texts exposes pupils to worlds and cultures beyond the school, and their knowledge of the world is deepened.

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The wider curriculum is of a similarly high quality. The school has considered the key learning pupils need to know in the different subjects. For example, how to think scientifically in the science curriculum as well as learning scientific facts. The school plans various scientific investigations carefully through the curriculum to help pupils to deepen their understanding. All this helps pupils to speak with confidence and depth of understanding about their work in science.

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Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a particular strength. The school identifies the needs of pupils with precision, ensuring that staff have clear information to support their learning. Pupils have consistently appropriate adaptations to their learning whether they are in the resource base, a breakout group or in lessons. All of this helps to ensure that these pupils achieve well.

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Pupils are highly attentive in class and show significant degrees of perseverance and motivation in their learning. This starts right from the early years, where children learn how to take turns and listen attentively. Pupils’ behaviour at social times fully reflects the school’s values and is highly considerate of others. Routines throughout the school are well established, which helps pupils to feel secure.

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The school has extensively mapped out the curriculum for pupils’ personal development to their ‘well-being wheel’. This means that leaders have a comprehensive overview of all the opportunities and learning available to the pupils and children. This includes an impressive array of trips and visits, all of which help to prepare pupils very well for life in modern Britain. The school offers an extensive number of leadership roles to pupils. The pupils in these positions can speak eloquently about how they have worked with leaders on things which matter to them, for example the eco-council’s work on avoiding single-use plastics.

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Governors hold leaders to account effectively and supportively. They have a deep understanding of the school and ensure there are regular external reviews to go alongside the detailed information they receive from leaders. Staff are highly appreciative of the leaders’ engagement with them around developments in provision. This includes discussions around workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 11 and 12 February 2025

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be outstanding for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding for overall effectiveness in March 2019.

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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). 11 and 12 February 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 12 and 13 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use alternative provision.  The school has a specially resourced provision for 10 pupils on the autism spectrum.

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Information about this inspection

 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.  Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  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.  As part of this inspection, the inspector met with senior leaders, subject leaders, teaching staff and other employees in the school. The inspector also talked informally 11 and 12 February 2025

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to pupils to gather general information about school life. The inspector also met the governors. Governor minutes were scrutinised.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector discussed with leaders and pupils the school’s extra-curricular activities, enrichment programme and their personal development programmes.  The inspector reviewed the school’s behaviour and attendance records with school leaders.  A range of documentation was scrutinised, including plans to improve the school, and external reviews of the school. The inspector spoke to a representative of the local authority by telephone.  The inspector met with members of staff and spoke to pupils, both formally and informally, at various points in the inspection. He took account of responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. The

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inspector also spoke with a selection of parents informally.

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Inspection team

Andrew Madden, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 11 and 12 February 2025

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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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