Palfrey Infant School

104161 Unique Reference Number Walsall LEA 277088 Inspection number 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006 Inspection dates John Eadie AI Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Bescot Street School address Infant Type of school Walsall Community School category West Midlands WS1 4HY 3 to 7 Age range of pupils 01922 720713 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01922 720104 Fax number 349 Number on roll Cllr M Yasin Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Maria Raybould Headteacher 15 May 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 277088 20 March 2006 - 3 to 7 21 March 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This large infant school is situated in a disadvantaged area and serves a predominantly Asian community in Walsall. More than a third of the children are of Pakistani background, about a third Bangladeshi and a quarter Indian. There are very small numbers from a range of other heritages. Very few children speak English at home and most start school with a very limited command of English. The school has satisfied the standards necessary for the Investors in People award.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. It provides well for the children and gives good value for money. The school’s own evaluation of its effectiveness is more modest, as it recognises that although much work has been done, there are still improvements to be made. Children are making good progress as they start school with little English and low levels of skills and knowledge. Standards are in line with national averages by the time they leave and have improved in the last year as a result of school initiatives. However, standards of spoken English are not progressing as fast as standards in reading and writing and the school needs to ‘go the extra mile’ to overcome this barrier to progress. Provision in the nursery and reception classes is very good and these children make good progress, although standards reached are still below average by the time children start in Year 1. Progress throughout the school is hampered by the numbers who take

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Grade: 2

extended holidays and some children’s persistent lateness. The progress made is largely due to the school’s good leadership and management. This has led to improvements in the quality of teaching and learning, which is now good. Children’s personal development is good due to good levels of care and guidance. There is a rich and varied curriculum, suited well to children’s particular needs. Bearing in mind the good leadership and management, the good progress made since the previous inspection and the very obvious commitment to continuous improvement, the school is well placed to move forward.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Focus more rigorously on developing children’s skills in spoken English. • Work to improve rates of attendance and particularly children’s punctuality.

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Grade: 2

Children achieve well. They start school with low levels of skills and knowledge and make good progress to reach average standards in the national tests in Year 2. Children make a particularly good start in the Nursery and Reception classes. The provision in these classes is very well organised and these children make good progress. By the time they start in Year 1, standards reached are below average overall. Their personal development is the strongest aspect and standards are almost up to the expected levels. Although good progress is made in their language and mathematical development, standards in these areas remain below average. Children continue to make good progress through Years 1 and 2. This is particularly noticeable in their language development, where many children are making exceptional progress in reading, for example. However, their relatively weak skills in spoken English are holding

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Grade: 2

back their overall progress. Challenging targets are set for children’s progress and they are on track to meet these targets. The school is particularly careful to ensure that all groups, including those with learning difficulties or disabilities, make the same progress. 2 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006

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Grade: 2

The personal development and well-being of children, including their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development, are good. Children know that they and their work are very highly valued and so they grow in self-worth and work hard. Children work and play well together and there is a high level of racial harmony. As a result, children feel safe and equally accepted; they and their parents say they enjoy coming to school. Children talk about their school as ‘brilliant’. Attendance figures have improved significantly in recent years and are now average. However, there is still a high number of absences for extended and religious holidays. Also, many children arrive late each morning. Many children lack confidence and clarity in the way they speak and this holds back their contribution to the school community. They raise money for a number of charities, and increasing opportunities to work with partners and in a group are helping them

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Grade: 2

to learn about living together in the wider community. The relatively weak development of speaking skills is also hindering children’s preparation for future life, but this is balanced by the good progress they make with their basic literacy and numeracy skills. Children make healthy choices at lunchtime and have a good awareness of the need for a healthy lifestyle. Behaviour in lessons and in the school is always good and sometimes outstanding. Children follow routines safely and this helps to create a calm and orderly school. Even so, the behaviour of some children at playtime is boisterous and they are unaware that their actions can sometimes result in minor injuries to themselves or others.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching is good and children are learning well. A particular strength of teaching is the way that teachers strive to meet the varying needs of the children in their classes. Children are treated very much as individuals and teachers plan work carefully to meet their needs. Relationships are good and lead to children working hard and wanting to do their best for their teachers. Teaching assistants make a very valuable contribution to children’s learning, particularly for those who do not speak English at home and for those with learning difficulties or disabilities. In the Nursery class, teaching is often outstanding and all adults make very clear assessments for the thoroughly planned range of activities. This enables them to plan work very effectively to meet the needs of these young children. This good provision continues into the Reception classes, where assessments allow teachers to group

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Grade: 2

children according to their stage of learning. Good assessments are made in Years 1 and 2 to demonstrate children’s progress and to help teachers set targets for their future learning. Some of these targets are at an early stage of development. They are 3 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006 not often used in teachers’ marking and children are not always as aware as they might be of what they need to do to improve.

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Grade: 2

The quality of the curriculum is good. Attractive displays around the school provide evidence of the interesting activities that the children enjoy. Provision for literacy and numeracy is good, but is not yet good enough to overcome the barrier to learning presented by the children’s weak skills in spoken English. A large number of teaching assistants provide effective support for children of all abilities. Fifteen members of staff speak a variety of languages in addition to English. The well-planned use of this support ensures that, by the end of Year 2, most children whose home language is not English are able to cope well. The curriculum is enriched by a number of clubs, visits to places of interest and a good range of visitors. The school’s work with ‘Young Enterprise’ projects promotes the children’s self-confidence well.

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Grade: 2

The school provides good care, guidance and support for its children. Staff have consistently high expectations of children’s behaviour in lessons and they treat them equally and fairly. Relationships and racial harmony are promoted well. Together with well-established routines, this makes for a very orderly and calm environment where children feel comfortable and safe, and secure in asking for help when they need it. Targets in English and mathematics are set and reviewed regularly. However, they are in their early stages and are not yet fully effective in aiding children’s progress. Support from parents has been harnessed well, for example through the school’s library service which is used very well by families. Even so, the school has not yet managed to get the support of parents in improving attendance and punctuality. Child protection arrangements are secure and there is a high level of first aid knowledge

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Grade: 2

amongst staff. However, boisterous behaviour in the playground often goes unchecked. Site inspections are regular and risk assessments are thorough. The canteen staff are especially active and effective in promoting healthy eating and related social skills.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management of the school are good. The headteacher provides very clear direction to the school; in this, she is ably supported by her deputy and other staff with management responsibilities. However, not all key subject co-ordinators have sufficient opportunities to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Together, the school team have enthusiastically taken on board a range of strategies to raise standards, for example the initiative to develop reading. This has had an impact in a significant improvement in the national test scores last year, and the challenge 4 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006 to the school is now to apply the same rigorous approach to raise standards in children’s spoken English. The school has worked very hard and successfully to forge links with the local community and other schools. These links, and the way the school has used a range

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Grade: 2

of outside expertise, have had a good impact on improving the quality of provision for the children. Parents are consulted regularly. A number of changes have been made as a result of these consultations, for example an increased range of school clubs and changes to the way that children come into school to make it safer. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school, saying such things as, ‘All staff are helpful and friendly’ and, ‘The school is a safe and friendly environment.’ Governance is satisfactory. Although governors are very supportive of the school, they are not fully involved in checking on its effectiveness. Finances are managed carefully. Taking into account the effectiveness of the school’s self-evaluation in raising standards, the teamwork evident in the school and the support of governors and parents, the school is well placed to continue to improve. 5 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Palfrey Infant School, 20 March 2006 to 21 March 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 3 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 3 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 2 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 3 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse NA Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you so much for welcoming us to your school. We really enjoyed our time with you and listening to you tell us how much you enjoy your school. You are right to be proud as it is a good school. Your school does a number of things well: you are making good progress as your teachers make your lessons interesting and fun you make a very good start in the nursery and reception classes because the adults in these classes are very good at knowing what you need to learn. all adults look after you really well your headteacher and other teachers know clearly how to make your school better there is a good range of activities to help you to learn, such as visits, visitors and clubs the teaching assistants are really good at helping you to learn, particularly those of you who do not speak English very well yet. There are some things that could be better: although you are making really good progress in your reading, your spoken English is not

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

progressing so well some of you are not making such good progress as you could, because you are absent too often or are late coming to school.

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