Bushfield School

110256 Unique Reference Number Milton Keynes LEA LEA 278392 Inspection number 11 July 2006 to 12 July 2006 Inspection dates Mike Thompson AI Reporting inspector

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

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Moon Street School address Junior Type of school Wolverton Community School category Milton Keynes MK12 5JG 7 to 11 Age range of pupils 01908 314876 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01908 314876 Fax number 297 Number on roll Sue Gatehouse Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority David Rose Headteacher 20 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 278392 11 July 2006 - 7 to 11 12 July 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

Bushfield is a larger than average junior school, located in Wolverton on the outskirts of Milton Keynes. Prior to September 2005, it was a Middle School for pupils aged 8 to 12. In September 2005 it admitted pupils in Year 3 for the first time, in addition to its usual intake of Year 4 pupils. The home circumstances of pupils are broadly average. They are mainly drawn from two local first schools. Two-thirds are of White British heritage, and the remainder are from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds. Of these, the largest group is of Pakistani heritage. A few pupils are in the early stages of learning to communicate in English. The headteacher has been in post for five years, but there is a high turnover of teaching staff.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 2006

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Grade: 4

The school judges its effectiveness to be satisfactory but, given its significant weaknesses in a number of key areas, the inspection shows it to be inadequate. The school gives unsatisfactory value for money. Consequently, in accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that, this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. For a number of years, the school has been unable to make inroads into a considerable backlog of underachievement. This is due to inadequate leadership and management at all levels. The school is unable to provide evidence to show that its actions have had a significant impact on achievement and standards. The school knows that

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Grade: 4

standards are unacceptably low and has put in place a raft of initiatives to bring about the improvements needed. However, the impact of previous initiatives was dissipated because of the high turnover of staff, and further staff changes will occur at the end of the term. The school's most successful recent initiative has been to raise standards in reading. While this resulted in some improvement, standards remain unacceptably low and a third of the pupils in Year 6 still do not make enough progress. The key reason for the low standards and slow progress made by pupils is that teaching is inadequate. There are pockets of good practice, but there is not enough good teaching and too much that is inadequate. In particular, teachers do not generally pitch work at the right level for pupils, and their expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. Previously, there was a lack of detailed and reliable information

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Grade: 4

about precisely what pupils know and can do. New systems have been put into place to remedy this, but these are in the early stages of development and have yet to have any impact on learning. The most significant achievement of the staff team has been to improve pupils' behaviour and create a positive climate for learning, and this is appreciated by parents, as is the good quality of care that the school gives to pupils. The school has not made enough progress since its last inspection. The required improvements in English and mathematics highlighted at that time have not been achieved, and standards are now lower than they were.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in English, mathematics and science, and ensure that pupils reach their potential. • Make significant improvements to the quality of teaching and learning. Ensure that teachers have higher expectations of their pupils and provide achievable challenges to pupils of all levels of ability. 2 Inspection Report: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 2006 • Improve the quality of leadership all levels. Ensure that information from data and monitoring is used rigorously to bring about demonstrable improvements. Ensure that self-evaluation focuses sharply on the impact of initiatives on achievement and standards. • Make rigorous use of the new systems for checking pupils' progress to set and constantly review challenging targets for pupils to meet.

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Grade: 4

The school recognises that its pupils are underachieving. This is widespread and most pupils, regardless of ability, gender or ethnicity have not made enough progress in many aspects of their work for a number of years. This is the consequence of low expectations and inadequate checks on their development, which often result in undemanding targets being set for pupils to achieve. When they enter the school at the start of Year 3, standards are just below average overall. When they leave at the end of Year 6, standards in English, mathematics and science are consistently well below the national average. This decline occurs because the school is failing to build on pupils' achievements successfully. The significant weaknesses in its assessments of pupils' capabilities have led to lack of challenge in the work set for them. This situation is compounded by a lack of understanding by many teachers of what their pupils could reasonably be expected to achieve.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are good. Pupils understand how to behave and devise their own classroom 'golden rules'. The vast majority abide by them, though a few occasionally display immature behaviour. Relationships are very good, and pupils from different backgrounds usually work well together in class and play sensibly together in the playground. They show a good understanding of the diversity of cultures within the school and the benefits of living in such a community. Bullying and racism are rare and pupils know that any incidents that occur are dealt with promptly. Pupils and parents feel very positive about the school. Pupils enjoy coming to school, as reflected by their good attendance and high levels of participation in out-of-class activities, especially in sport and music. When asked to describe their thoughts about their first year in school, the response for pupils in Year 3 was, 'Everything is brilliant!'

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Grade: 2

Pupils know how to keep safe, for instance through the input from the local 'Hazard Alley' team, and have good knowledge of the importance of healthy eating and regular exercise. Pupils know that their views are sought and acted upon, such as when they helped select new playground furniture and markings. They participate well in the local community through musical and charity events. Overall, pupils are satisfactorily prepared for the next stage of their education and to become life-long learners. They 3 Inspection Report: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 2006 develop good personal and social skills, but are held back by their inadequate basic skills in numeracy and literacy.

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Grade: 4

The quality of teaching and learning is inadequate. There is not enough good teaching to make an impact on the pupils' longstanding underachievement and too many instances of unsatisfactory teaching that hinder pupils' progress. The best teaching is seen in Year 3. Here, teachers make very clear to pupils what they want them to learn, and ensure that the work is challenging. As a result, the pupils are well motivated, listen well and try hard. Teaching is not as good in other year groups, especially in Year 4. The school recognises its weaknesses, in particular teachers' low expectations and sometimes insecure subject knowledge. Teachers do not provide consistently achievable challenges for pupils of different levels of ability because their assessment routines are weak. Pupils interviewed said that they often find that their work is too easy. In attempting to raise standards, the school has grouped pupils into 'sets'

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Grade: 4

according to ability in mathematics. However, teachers generally fail to provide work to meet the range of abilities within each set, and too much work is characterised by the use of the same photo-copied worksheets for all pupils. This adversely affects all ability groups, from the most able to those with learning difficulties and disabilities.

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Grade: 3

The school provides a broad and balanced range of activities for its pupils, with some strengths. However, day-to-day planning does not contain enough detail about how the diverse needs of pupils are to be met through different levels of challenge and support. This is recognised by management, and initiatives to tackle the issue are included in the school improvement plan. In some year groups, the pupils' learning is enhanced by imaginatively planned topics that provide rich, cross-curricular experiences. For example, a topic about 'The Greeks' for Year 3 pupils was greatly enjoyed and had a very positive impact on their achievement and confidence. The curriculum is enriched by a planned programme of visits to places of interest in the locality and by visitors to the school. In addition, it provides an outstanding quality and quantity of extra-curricular activities that are well attended and appreciated by the pupils. The

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Grade: 3

school is rightly proud of its links with the community, and uses them to good effect to enrich the curriculum.

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Grade: 3

The school is very effective in supporting the social and emotional needs of its pupils through its pastoral care programme. The Breakfast Club, for example, offers a 4 Inspection Report: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 2006 nutritious and supportive start to the school day. Child Protection procedures are well established and fully understood by all adults in the school. The pupils feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the adults in the school will treat any difficulties they may experience with kindness and sensitivity. The school has recently introduced a system for tracking pupils' progress, but the information gathered is not used effectively to help raise standards. Pupils know their individual targets for improvement, but teachers do not use these effectively in guiding their pupils' learning activities. The parents value the information provided by the school about what their children are

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Grade: 3

doing, and appreciate the schools' efforts to involve them in their children's learning.

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Grade: 4

Leadership and management are inadequate at all levels. This is because leaders do not monitor and evaluate the work of the school rigorously enough, and their efforts to bring about improvements have been largely ineffective. Consequently, the school does not demonstrate a capacity to improve significantly. To some extent this is the result of a high turnover of teachers, which has led to lack of continuity of subject leadership. There has been some improvement in subject leadership within the past year, notably in mathematics, but the impact of this is yet to be seen in terms of better achievement. Self-evaluation is ineffective. The senior managers have an understanding of what needs to be done to bring about change, but are not focused sharply enough in their actions. For example, work has been done to improve aspects of teaching, but this has yet to tackle its most significant weaknesses, which is the lack of challenge in the work

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Grade: 4

provided. Leaders at all levels are unable to demonstrate that their actions have had a significant impact in achieving clear and sustained progress. The school is good at consulting with pupils and parents, and in responding to their suggestions and concerns. It plays a full part in the life of the local community and its strengths in the personal development and care of pupils are greatly appreciated by parents. Governors work hard to support the school and know a lot about its strengths. However, they are less well informed about the underachievement of pupils and the reasons for this. As a result, they do not properly hold the school to account for its actions. 5 Inspection Report: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 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: Bushfield School, 11 July 2006 to 12 July 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 NA The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 4 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA No The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA No Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 4 How well do learners achieve? NA 4 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 4 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 4 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 2 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 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 3 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 4 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 4 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 4 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 4 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 4 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 Yes 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

Pupils On behalf of the inspectors who visited your school, I would like to tell you what we think about how well you are getting on and how well your school is helping you to learn. There are a number of things that we like about your school. We think that most of you are well behaved and that you get on well with one another. We felt very welcome, because everyone at the school is friendly. We also liked all of the extra activities that are provided for you, from the Breakfast Club to the after school clubs that you enjoy going to. All of the adults in your school take good care of you. However, there are a lot of things that your school needs to do. You need to do better in your work. All the people who run your school know this, but in the past they have not managed to help you do as well as you should. So now, they need to make sure that their plans are properly carried out. We would like to see your teachers make you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

think harder about your work, because quite a few of you told us that it is often too easy. Teachers also need to check far more closely on how well you are getting on. Overall, your school did not do well in its inspection, and needs a lot of extra help in future to help make sure that it becomes good at making things better for you. Yours sincerely, Mike Thompson Lead inspector

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