Castle Bromwich Infant and Nursery School

Castle Bromwich Infant and Nursery School

Address: Green Lane, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, West Midlands, B36 0BX Unique reference number (URN): 149490

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils’ attendance is broadly in line with the national average and continues to improve. The school has appropriate systems in place to track pupils’ attendance. Leaders track patterns carefully and act swiftly where a pupil’s attendance declines. The school works proactively with families to identify possible barriers to attendance. They work together to agree personalised solutions that ensure pupils return to school promptly. This includes securing help from partner organisations such as the local authority. Staff welcome pupils at the start of each day, ensuring that every pupil has a positive start to their school day.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Staff promote clear routines that create a calm and orderly environment. Pupils follow these routines confidently and show positive attitudes to learning. They move around the school sensibly and treat each other with respect. When pupils lose focus, staff respond swiftly and sensitively, enabling them to re-engage in learning without disrupting others. Pupils understand what bullying is and trust staff to resolve any concerns quickly. Leaders reinforce high expectations consistently and ensure that pupils with additional needs receive appropriate adjustments so they can participate fully. As a result, pupils behave well and contribute to a positive school culture.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders prioritise the early years. They set an ambitious vision for the best start. Children experience warm and purposeful relationships with each other and learn to play and cooperate well. Leaders have put in place a progressive curriculum across the Nursery and Reception Years. Staff interact well with children to develop their communication and language skills. They engage children in purposeful talk. Staff model language clearly. They use a range of actions, words and sentences to encourage children to share their learning and thinking. As a result, children grow in confidence over time.

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Early years Expected standard

Reading is a priority. Children follow a structured phonics programme. They start to read and write simple words with increasing accuracy. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged progress well from their individual starting points. Teachers regularly check children’s phonics knowledge to address any individual needs. However, staff do not use the findings from these checks consistently well across other areas of learning to shape children’s progress.

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Early years Expected standard

Staff work closely with parents and carers to support children to settle well in school and to support learning at home. One parent summed up the comments of many by stating, ‘The early years is nurturing and allows children to build the skills needed for later life.'

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders and staff have high expectations for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. They know their pupils well. The school has clear policies and processes in place to identify and support pupils in key groups, such as those who are disadvantaged, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those known (or previously known) to children’s social care.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders ensure that staff are well supported to increase their knowledge and expertise. Training has developed staff’s skills in adapting their teaching to make learning accessible for pupils. As a result, pupils learn the same curriculum as their peers.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders carefully consider the barriers to learning that pupils with SEND face. Leaders monitor the effectiveness of any additional support in place. They take swift action if something is not having the intended impact on pupils’ learning. The school uses the additional funding it receives well. For example, the pupil premium helps to identify, address and reduce barriers to academic or personal development for vulnerable pupils.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The school works with a range of specialist services, professionals and families. This work starts in the early years as children transition into school and continues as pupils move through each phase of their education.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders know the school and its community very well. They use this understanding to identify the school’s priorities and take decisive action to address them. Leaders evaluate the impact of their work. They continually look for ways to enhance and innovate practice so that the school’s work makes the greatest possible difference to pupils’ outcomes. They keep pupils’ needs at the centre of all decision-making, particularly for those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff share this commitment. Clear communication ensures that everyone understands the school’s direction and their role in driving improvement.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The trust board and governors work well together. They maintain effective oversight of the school through regular visits and quality assurance processes. They provide leaders with constructive challenge and support. Trustees and senior trust leaders meet their statutory duties. For example, they monitor standards, budgets and performance.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders provide a well-sequenced professional learning programme that builds staff expertise. They ensure learning opportunities are meaningful and impactful. Early career teachers and those new to the school benefit from mentoring and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues. Staff feel trusted and well supported. Leaders take sensible account of workload and wellbeing when making decisions. This approach contributes to high morale and fosters a culture where staff feel valued and trusted.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Parents and carers speak positively about the school. They appreciate how well the school is led and how caring the staff are. Many parents comment on how happy their children are to attend the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders provide a coherent and thoughtfully sequenced programme for personal development and wellbeing. Their work to develop pupils’ character supports disadvantaged pupils effectively. Pupils learn how to maintain their physical and mental health and how to

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Needs attention

build positive relationships. This begins in the early years, where pupils quickly learn positive cooperation skills. For example, they learn to take turns and share. Pupils learn how to understand risk, both online and in their local community. The relationships and health education programme is age-appropriate.

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Needs attention

Leaders broaden pupils’ horizons through a wide range of enrichment activities. Educational visits, inter-school competitions and visiting authors deepen pupils’ cultural awareness and nurture their curiosity. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged, access a varied menu of clubs and activities. This enables them to develop new talents and interests. For example, signing, cheerleading and football. Leaders track participation in these activities to remove barriers. As a result, many pupils regularly take up the opportunities on offer. Pupils are proud of the roles and responsibilities that they hold. For example, school councillors have discussed how to enhance the school library to promote a love of reading. Pupils understand how these responsibilities support the school community.

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Needs attention

The school promotes pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values effectively. The curriculum reinforces pupils’ understanding of diverse cultures and beliefs. Despite being young, pupils know about respecting and treating people fairly. They say respect is ‘helping each other, caring for each other and being kind to each other’.

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Needs attention

Leaders provide effective pastoral support for pupils. Staff receive appropriate training to provide nurturing guidance and support pupils’ social, emotional and mental health needs. This support enables pupils to manage their feelings and be ready to learn and thrive.

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Achievement Needs attention

A significant minority of pupils do not gain the important basic knowledge and skills they need to improve their spelling and handwriting. As a result, they are not able to record and present their learning as well as they might. These gaps affect pupils’ readiness for the next stage of education.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils typically achieve well at the end of the early years and are prepared for the demands of key stage 1. Leaders ensure that staff focus on developing pupils' communication skills. This supports pupils’ learning well. Pupils grasp phonics and the basics of reading and mathematics effectively. Pupils typically achieve well in the phonics screening check. Pupils build knowledge over time across the wider curriculum.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Their needs are understood, enabling them to achieve well from their starting points due to the school’s inclusive practices.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The school’s work to strengthen teaching and learning is still at an early stage. As a result, a significant minority of pupils currently have gaps in essential basic knowledge, such as handwriting and spelling. Some teachers use a variety of assessment types to identify the next steps in pupils’ learning. However, this is not consistently delivered across all subjects. As a result, some pupils, including those who need additional support, engage in learning that does not build precisely on what they already know and can do. This limits how well pupils record, apply and communicate their knowledge.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The school’s curriculum is broad and suitably sequenced across all year groups. Typically, teachers have a secure understanding of the subjects they teach. They deliver the curriculum as intended. Developing pupils’ language is at the heart of this. The curriculum extends pupils’ vocabulary through, for example, the use of talk partners and sentence stems. This promotes pupils’ confidence in spoken communication. In mathematics, the curriculum helps pupils learn important number facts.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have a clear understanding of the quality of the curriculum. They use this insight to shape improvement priorities. As a result, there is a purposeful drive to improve handwriting and spelling across the school. However, these actions have yet to have the intended impact.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are proud to attend Castle Bromwich Infant and Nursery School. They arrive with a smile and receive a warm welcome from staff. Pupils and staff share a deep sense of belonging within the school community, where everyone knows each other well. Pupils know what to do if something is worrying them. They trust that an adult will help them. As a result, they feel safe and valued, and attend regularly.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Staff are ambitious for all pupils. They identify any barriers to learning quickly and provide adaptations so pupils can learn well. As a result, pupils who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receive high-quality support.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils enjoy learning. They appreciate the support that teachers provide in lessons to help them learn. The school emphasises oracy, and this benefits pupils. However, teachers do not consistently address errors in pupils’ basic knowledge and skills, including handwriting and spelling. As a result, pupils develop gaps in their learning which hinder their achievement. Children in the early years learn in a supportive and nurturing environment. They quickly develop the knowledge and skills they need to be ready for key stage 1.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Staff hold high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Behaviour across the school is calm and productive. Pupils demonstrate the school’s values of perseverance, kindness and belonging through their day-to-day interactions with each other. When pupils need extra help to manage their behaviour, staff provide this swiftly. Bullying and discrimination of any kind are rare. Pupils enjoy the range of trips, clubs and experiences which the school offers. They develop their leadership skills through the various roles available to them and carry these roles out with pride. The school ensures that all pupils have equal access to these opportunities.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that assessment is used effectively to identify and address gaps in pupils' basic knowledge and skills in writing, so they can improve their spelling, handwriting and letter formation in a timely manner. Leaders should ensure that teaching across subjects consistently enables pupils to build on their prior learning, enabling pupils to apply their skills and knowledge consistently to deepen their understanding.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Prosper Together Muti Academy Trust, which means that other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Selina Timmins, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Maurice Malone.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with school leaders, including the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other leaders. The lead inspector spoke with representatives of the trust, including trust leaders, trustees and members of the local academy board.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke to pupils in lessons and at social times, and met with groups of pupils.

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About this inspection

Inspectors met with groups of staff and spoke to parents at the start of the school day. They considered the responses to Ofsted’s surveys.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school does not make use of any alternative provision for pupils.

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Team inspectors:

Melonie Davies, Ofsted Inspector Tess Sharman, His Majesty's Inspector Harjit Chahal, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (2 term) 5.3% 5.2% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 5.7% 5.5% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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national average

2024/25 (2 term) 14.4% 13.3% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 15.2% 14.6% Close to average

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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