Lyng Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Lyng Primary School Horton Street, West Bromwich, West Midlands B70 7SQ

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Inspection dates: 25 and 26 February 2025

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Outcome

Lyng Primary 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?

Staff at Lyng Primary School have created a warm and nurturing environment that embraces and celebrates difference and allows pupils to thrive. Pupils are courteous and behave well in and out of lessons. Any upsets are quickly sorted by staff who know their pupils well. There are high expectations for all pupils, and as a result, pupils try their best and achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

When pupils join the school, they settle quickly and make new friends. From the start, staff make every effort to immerse pupils in activities that spark their interests. This means that pupils quickly develop a love of learning and want to be at school. Pupils attend well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has created a rich curriculum. Pupils experience many exciting learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. For example, pupils recall with pride creating artefacts for the Lyng Museum, learning to fly drones in computing lessons or going to the outside learning area to den build or enjoy a ‘wellie walk’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are many clubs for pupils to develop their talents and interests. Pupils appreciate the benefits they get from attending them.

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

Children joining in the early years benefit from the high-quality provision on offer. They get off to a swift start in learning to read and write and building their skills of concentration and collaboration. Learning and behaviour routines are quickly established. This prepares them well for the subject specific learning in other phases of the school. 25 and 26 February 2025

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The school has ensured that over time its curriculum prepares pupils well for secondary education.

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The reading curriculum is well organised, and staff have the skills and expertise to ensure pupils become fluent and confident readers. The school has considered how it supports pupils who have not secured their reading fluency. These pupils benefit from targeted reading intervention lessons and as a result quickly improve their reading confidence. The school has an extensive library. Pupils learn about diversity through the school’s choice of books.

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Changes to the schools writing curriculum have helped pupils effectively, both at the earliest stages of writing and those who are developing their writing fluency and stamina. Younger children are given plenty of opportunities to practise using their phonics knowledge to write simple words and sentences. Staff pick up and effectively address important errors. This means that pupils can move on quickly to improve their writing further. Older pupils can successfully write at length across a broad range of genres.

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The school has made some sensible changes to its mathematics curriculum. It has clearly set out the key component knowledge pupils need to learn and how teachers should structure their lessons to teach this important knowledge. However, the impact of those changes has yet to be realised. Some pupils still have gaps in their mathematical knowledge that teachers have not addressed. There remains inconsistency in the implementation of the mathematics curriculum because not all teachers are checking pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts before moving on.

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Pupils build a secure understanding in the majority of wider curriculum subjects. However, in a few subjects, pupils are less secure in their subject knowledge. The curriculums in these subjects have been more recently reviewed and are at an earlier stage of implementation. In these subjects, teachers are not always linking prior learning to new learning or addressing gaps in pupil knowledge. This means pupils do not retain all of the important knowledge they have learned over time in some aspects of the curriculum.

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The school quickly identifies the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) pupils may have. Pupils with SEND are well supported. Some pupils with more complex needs are given a carefully designed curriculum that focuses on the most important things they need to learn. Some of their learning happens each day in specially adapted teaching spaces called ‘The Hive’ and ‘Blossoms’. Wherever in the school pupils with SEND are learning, they make good progress through the curriculum and achieve well from their individual starting points.

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The school places great emphasis on developing the whole child and preparing its pupils for life in modern Britain. The personal, social, health and economic education programme covers a wide range of important topics effectively. This includes online safety and forming strong, healthy relationships. Learning outside the classroom is highly valued by pupils. For example, younger children enjoy practising their road safety knowledge when out in the local community. Older pupils appreciate the many visits they go on, such as visiting an Anglo-Saxon settlement. 25 and 26 February 2025

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Governors know the school well and are able to support and challenge leaders at all levels in equal measure. This has ensured that the school’s performance has been maintained and its vision for an inclusive school has been realised. Staff appreciate that leaders consider their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculums in some foundation subjects have not yet shown their full impact. Teachers are not always checking on prior learning or linking new learning to what pupils already know. This means that pupils have some gaps in knowledge in these subjects. The school should continue to strengthen its approach to checking and closing gaps in knowledge in these subjects and ensure that pupils are given regular opportunities to apply and deepen their knowledge.  The new mathematics curriculum is not yet implemented sufficiently well. Teachers are not always addressing gaps in pupils’ knowledge. This means that some pupils do not learn all of the mathematical knowledge they need to achieve well. The school should develop the skills and expertise of teachers to ensure that all pupils acquire the mathematical knowledge they need to be able to achieve well.

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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 good 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. 25 and 26 February 2025

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This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in February 2016.

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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). 25 and 26 February 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 February 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher of the school. The inspector also met with a number of teaching staff.  The inspector had a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority and met with the chair of the governing body.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 25 and 26 February 2025

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 The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site.  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 gathered parents’ views by considering responses to Ofsted Parent View. The inspector also evaluated responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Jane Edgerton, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 25 and 26 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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