Wood End Primary School

Inspection of Wood End Primary School Wood End Road, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV11 1YQ

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 February 2025

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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 Good 11 and 12 February 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Wood End Primary has high aspirations for all pupils and staff. Pupils enjoy coming to school and attend regularly. The environment is calm, welcoming and showcases children’s work. Pupils express a sense of belonging. One pupil, who reflected the views of many, stated, ‘We are one big community.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of how pupils should behave, and pupils rise to these both in and outside of the classroom. Pupils are caring and friendly towards each other and to visitors. They are polite and respectful. They have positive attitudes towards their learning and achieve well in most subjects. Pupils feel safe coming to school and know who they would go to if they had a problem. They are confident that any issues with bullying are dealt with quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ personal development is a strength. They have many opportunities to take responsibility. Pupils lead lunchtime clubs such as running and basketball and take great pride in their librarian roles. Pupils take part in activities such as Shakespeare and poetry workshops and recorder recitals. These experiences help pupils to develop into confident and responsible young people.

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

The school continues to make improvements in the quality of education for pupils. Pupils achieve broadly in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. However, there are a few curriculum areas where further work is still required. In some subjects, the school has not considered well enough how prior knowledge connects to new learning. This prevents pupils from deepening their understanding over time. Furthermore, the school does not always check pupils’ learning well enough, including in the early years. Therefore, some pupils make repeated errors over time, particularly in their number and letter formation.

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

The school recognises the value of reading and is committed to ensuring all pupils learn to read. Children in the early years get off to a good start learning phonics straight away. Staff are well trained to deliver the phonics programme well. Staff identify pupils that need extra support and put this swiftly into place. This helps pupils, especially those who are at the early stages of learning to read, to catch up. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well in the phonics screening check and learn to read well.

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

The needs of pupils with SEND are quickly identified and well supported. Staff have been identified as ‘intervention champions’ to spread good practice. In class, teachers usually adapt learning well. Consequently, pupils with SEND are making good progress towards their targets.

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

Children in the early years have settled well into school life and are beginning to develop essential social skills such as sharing and taking turns. Children in Nursery get off to a good start and are learning their numbers well. Children in Reception use their knowledge 11 and 12 February 2025

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of letter sounds to write simple words. However, sometimes activities are not consistently well thought through and do not provide opportunities to practise the skills that children have been taught. This means that by the end of the Reception Year, many children are not as well prepared for the next stage of learning as they could be.

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Pupils benefit from a well-structured personal, social and health education curriculum that teaches them about the importance of healthy relationships and online safety. They have a good understanding of how to manage their own emotions, such as stress and anger. Pupils learn not to discriminate and show high levels of mutual respect. They talk knowledgeably about diversity and demonstrate inclusivity, particularly by including all their peers at lunchtime. Consequently, pupils are increasingly prepared for later life.

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Staff make sure that the well-established behaviour policy is implemented consistently across the school. This helps to maintain a calm and positive school environment. The school is working closely with parents and families to improve attendance. It also addresses issues that prevent pupils from attending regularly and supports families in helping their children to attend school more often.

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Teachers echo the pupils’ sentiments that the school is one big community. They appreciate the support offered by school leaders around their well-being and are proud to work at the school.

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Governors understand their duties well. Between them, they offer a diverse range of skills and knowledge, which means that they provide a good level of support and challenge to the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subject areas, the school has not considered well enough how prior knowledge connects to new learning. As a result, pupils do not develop the depth of knowledge intended to meet the aims of the curriculum. The school needs to ensure that the curriculum clearly and sequentially identifies the knowledge and skills that pupils should build over time.  The school does not always check pupils’ learning well enough, including in the early years. As a result, children and pupils make the same errors over time, particularly in the formation of numbers and letters. The school needs to ensure that teachers use assessment more effectively to address errors.  Activities in early years do not always support children to develop the skills and knowledge that they need to be ready for Year 1 and beyond. As a result, children are not always strongly prepared for their next steps. The school should design activities

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that ensure that children acquire secure foundational skills and knowledge by the end of their time in early years.

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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 10 and 11 December 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use alternative provision.  There is a before- and after-school club managed by the school.  The school has Nursery provision for three-year-old children.

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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 and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 11 and 12 February 2025

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 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 met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, senior leaders and members of staff. The lead inspector held a meeting with members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and science. For deep dives, 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 discussed the curriculum in some other subjects and reviewed pupils’ work.  A range of documents were scrutinised, including leaders’ self-evaluation, improvement and curriculum documents, and the school website. Minutes of governors’ meetings

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were also considered. The inspectors also looked at pupils’ attendance and behaviour records.  Inspectors considered responses to the online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View. This included free-text comments. They also took account of responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys.  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

Melonie Davies, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Elaine Williams Ofsted 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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