Franche Primary School

Inspection of Franche Primary School Chestnut Grove, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY11 5QB ________________________________________________________________

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 1 and 2 April 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and friendly. They enjoy school and attend regularly. The school ensures that everyone understands its golden rule to, ‘treat other people as you would like them to treat you’. Its ethos focuses on care and nurture. Pupils feel safe and relationships with staff are positive and supportive. This starts in the two-year-old provision, where adults are attentive and responsive to children’s needs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Following an unsettled period, the school has begun to address previous weaknesses evident in the below average results in published data. Some of these changes, particularly in reading, have been successful. However, the school’s expectations of what pupils should achieve are not consistently high enough. This results in variation in pupils’ learning across subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They know that adults and pupils, including the ‘safeguarding action squad (SAS)’, are there to support them at all times. This helps pupils to feel safe at school. Most parents and carers are positive about the school’s caring and supportive culture.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the range of clubs, visits and events the school offers. They readily take on additional roles and responsibilities, such as house captains and reading champions, to develop their leadership skills.

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

The school has prioritised developments in reading and mathematics. Current pupils are now making better progress through the curriculum due to the changes that the school has made. However, the school’s expectations of pupils’ achievement in writing are too low, especially for older pupils. Children in the early years learn to position letters correctly on the line. However, as they move through school, they do not develop a fluent, legible handwriting style or have the strategies needed to use the correct spelling and punctuation for their age. This mars the quality of their written work in all subjects. Additionally, the school’s approach to teaching writing hinders the ability of some pupils to write as well and as much as they should.

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

In other subjects, the school has developed a comprehensive and well-sequenced curriculum. However, there is variation in the implementation of the curriculum in some subjects. For example, there is limited time spent on some subjects in some year groups. This means that pupils do not cover the full content of the school’s intended curriculum in sufficient detail. As a result, pupils do not develop a secure understanding of some areas and have gaps in their learning. This affects their achievement over time.

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

In some subjects, teachers do not routinely check pupils’ understanding closely enough. As a result, mistakes made by pupils are not addressed and gaps in their knowledge go undetected. For example, some pupils do not understand new vocabulary introduced. This includes in the early years.

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

Children in the early years make a positive start to school life. Staff help children build their communication and language skills securely. When required, the school provides speech 1 and 2 April 2025

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and language support for any children who need it. The outdoor and indoor environments are well resourced to promote children’s physical and social skills well. However, on occasion, tasks provided for children in the Reception Year lack a clear learning focus. Consequently, some children do not learn as well as they could to prepare them fully for Year 1.

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The school uses a variety of information to identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers are particularly effective in detecting and meeting the needs of children with speech and language difficulties, or social, emotional and mental health needs. However, the school is less effective in identifying and addressing pupils’ specific weaknesses in English and mathematics. This affects the achievement of pupils with SEND.

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The school has prioritised reading, including teaching early reading. Staff deliver the phonics programme effectively. They ensure that pupils practise their reading using books that are well matched to the sounds they learn. Staff provide effective, frequent support for those pupils who need help to catch up. Most pupils learn to read fluently and reach the expected standard in phonics at the end of Year 1.

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The school is a calm and orderly place. There are high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. In class, learning is mostly purposeful, and staff manage any disruptions or incidents effectively. Suspensions are only issued where necessary and have reduced dramatically in the last two years.

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The school extends pupils’ learning beyond the classroom. Well-considered trips, clubs and school events complement the curriculum and broaden pupils’ interests and experiences. Pupils learn about different faiths and cultures. They have a strong understanding of equality and diversity and know that discrimination in any form is wrong. This helps prepare them well for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn the importance of good mental and physical health and also how to keep themselves safe, for example, when online.

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Governors understand their responsibilities. They provide an effective level of challenge and support and carry out their statutory duties effectively. Staff appreciate the school’s consideration of 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 school has not addressed some weaknesses in pupils’ spelling, handwriting and punctuation, which hinders the quality of writing in English and other subjects. Additionally, older pupils have limited opportunities to write independently or at length 1 and 2 April 2025

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because staff’s expectations of them are too low. The school should ensure that the curriculum supports pupils to write with increasing accuracy and confidence over time.  There are inconsistencies in the delivery of the curriculum in some foundation subjects and some areas of learning in the early years. This is due to insufficient curriculum coverage and limited expectations of what pupils should achieve. This restricts pupils’ ability to secure key knowledge and deepen their understanding so that they achieve well. The school should ensure that the curriculum provides sufficient breadth and depth to enable pupils to be successful in all subjects, including in the early years.  The school’s approach to checking pupils’ learning is not precise enough. This means that misconceptions and gaps in pupils’ learning are not consistently identified or addressed. The school should ensure that staff check pupils’ knowledge and work systematically to

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raise outcomes and ensure that pupils know and remember more over time.  Some pupils with SEND do not have their academic needs identified swiftly or accurately enough. This has an impact on pupils’ achievement, especially in English and mathematics. The school should ensure that pupils’ needs are identified early and that learning plans identify the support needed to learn well across the curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

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). 1 and 2 April 2025

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School details

Inspection number 10378250 Type of school Primary

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 6 and 7 November 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed in October 2020, following a year of working as the acting headteacher.  There are currently three classes in the Reception Year. All other year groups have four classes.  The school uses two registered alternative provisions.

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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). 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. 1 and 2 April 2025

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with the headteacher and senior leaders. They also spoke to members of the governing body, including the chair and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading, mathematics, geography, history and physical education. For each deep dive, 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 also looked at the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors considered a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans. Reports from external reviews and governing body meetings were

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also scrutinised.  Inspectors looked at records of attendance and behaviour. They observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school and talked to them informally about behaviour, bullying and welfare.  The inspectors talked to parents at the start of the school day and considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View and the free-text responses. They also reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey and gathered the views of staff and pupils through discussion.  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.

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Inspection team

Heather Simpson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Benjamin Taylor Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 April 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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