Crestwood Park Primary School

Crestwood Park Primary School Inspection report

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103790 Unique Reference Number Dudley Local Authority 286760 Inspection number 15 °16 May 2007 Inspection dates Jacqueline Wordsworth HMI Reporting inspector

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

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Primary Type of school Community School category 5 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 202 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Rachel Wright Chair Steve Hudson Headteacher 27 April 2005 Date of previous school inspection Lapwood Avenue School address Crestwood Park Estate Kingswinford DY6 8RP

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01384 818315 Telephone number 01384 818316 Fax number

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5 °11 Age group 15 °16 May 2007 Inspection dates 286760 Inspection number .

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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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

The school serves the mixed residential area of Kingswinford close to Dudley; most children are from White British backgrounds. There are fewer pupils identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities or entitled to free school meals than in other schools. The school has achieved a number of national awards, such as Health Promoting Schools and the Basic Skills quality mark.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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Grade: 2

Crestwood Park is a good school. One parent commented. 'We are proud to say that our children go to Crestwood Park Primary School, it is a happy place for children to be.' a view endorsed by many parents. They value the quality of education offered by the school and the dedication of the staff. The headteacher's vision, together with a strong leadership team, has led to a continuous improvement in standards since the previous inspection, enabling pupils to achieve well. Pupils respond positively to the good teaching they receieve. This results in pupils making good, and sometimes outstanding, progress during their time in the school and reaching well above average standards by the time they leave in Year 6. Pupils enter school in the Foundation Stage with average skills and abilities, and make good progress because of the effective teaching they receive. Teachers plan very carefully to give the pupils lively and practical experiences, on

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Grade: 2

which they thrive. The school builds well on this early success in Years 1 and 2, with pupils attaining above average results in the national tests for seven year olds. Pupils' achievement is further strengthened in Years 3 to 6, especially in mathematics and science where they make significant gains in their understanding and generally meet challenging targets. Attainment in English, whilst still good, is not as strong because fewer pupils attain at the highest level in writing. The pupils benefit from a strong ethos of care, guidance and support within the school, and a commitment by all involved to provide an interesting, enjoyable and effective curriculum for all pupils. However some areas of the curriculum are currently less well developed. For example, there is variation in pupils' use of information and communication technology (ICT) across the school as there are not enough planned opportunities to apply their ICT skills in a

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Grade: 2

range of contexts. Personal, social, health and physical education activities make an effective contribution to the pupils' understanding of the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about being active and the need for a healthy diet. Many pupils participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Pupils respond maturely to opportunities to take responsibility. The members of the school council take their roles seriously and demonstrate their ability to represent and articulate the views of their peers. They are very keen to secure new play equipment for the playground and have been lobbying hard on this issue. There is a genuine regard for every child and as a result, pupils' personal development, including their spiritual, moral and social development, is good. The activities designed to promote cultural development are not planned systematically enough for pupils to be able to understand that cultures are always changing or

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Grade: 2

to appreciate the links between different cultures.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise writing standards, in particular the standards attained by the higher ability pupils. • Review the opportunities provided for cultural development in order to give pupils a greater understanding of their own and other cultures. • Enable pupils to reinforce and apply skills taught in ICT lessons in other areas of the curriculum.

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Grade: 2

Standards in reading, writing and mathematics in Year 2 have shown an improvement each year since the previous inspection. This is a result of effective teaching of the basic skills and good 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007 support. Current standards are above average. Although standards in English are above average across the school, pupils' skills in writing are weaker than in reading. The school is aware of this, and has introduced a systematic programme to teach writing using a carefully structured writing skills ladder that teachers use to plan the next steps in pupils' writing development. As a result of its careful analysis of attainment and progress of specific groups of pupils, it is also appropriately concentrating on developing writing in all year groups in order to continue to improve achievement, and in particular making writing tasks more stimulating and interesting,

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Grade: 2

especially for boys. These initiatives are beginning to bear fruit, but have not yet had the desired impact on standards, especially in terms of ensuring that higher attaining pupils reach their full potential.

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Grade: 2

Pupils like school and find lessons interesting and enjoyable. Parents fully endorse this view; all say their children enjoy school. Behaviour is good and at times outstanding. There are a small number of incidents of inappropriate behaviour but pupils say that staff deal with these quickly and effectively. Attitudes are usually good in lessons. Occasionally, when the pace of teaching is not brisk enough, attention wanders for short periods. All pupils feel safe in school and have an adult they can turn to if they have problems. Pupils show very good regard to school rules and have well-developed moral codes. As one parent commented, 'moral education is great here'. The pupils work together very well and show good social skills. Their cultural development is satisfactory. Pupils are able to talk about their own experience of communities and groups and have an understanding about customs associated with food, dress and daily

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Grade: 2

behaviour but many find it difficult to understand what a culture is. Attendance is satisfactory. The school is doing all it can to ensure all pupils attend regularly and actively discourages parents from arranging holidays in term time.

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Grade: 2

The majority of pupils make good progress because of good teaching. Teachers give pupils many opportunities to be actively involved in lessons. They are positive and encourage pupils to give of their best. As a result, teachers have excellent relationships with pupils. Teachers make their high expectations of pupils very clear, with pupils responding well to teachers' sensitive but demanding suggestions for improvement. The best lessons are well paced and planned carefully to take account of the needs of the pupils. These lessons are interesting and make learning fun. The teachers' knowledge of the subjects they teach is good. For example, all teachers are aware of the need to raise standards in writing and are confident in teaching pupils the skills needed to make progress. Most teachers have a good understanding of the importance of developing pupils' speaking and listening skills in order to develop their writing

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Grade: 2

skills. Assessment information is used well to monitor pupils' progress in achieving challenging targets. The school quite rightly plans to make the information more streamlined and even easier for staff to use on a daily basis. Sometimes, teaching and learning are satisfactory rather than good, when activities do not match the pupils' needs precisely or when teachers spend a little too much time talking; consequently, there are too few opportunities for pupils to learn actively through paired talking, games or practical tasks. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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Grade: 2

Stimulating learning experiences contribute effectively to the good progress pupils make in the Foundation Stage. Pupils benefit from well-planned activities that incorporate all the six areas of learning. The curriculum throughout the school is well enhanced by visits and visitors, including residential visits. The school has carried out a detailed analysis to ensure that the 'Every Child Matters' strands are covered in all aspects of school life. There is particularly good planning to develop pupils' economic well-being in most areas. There are satisfactory links between all subjects, including literacy and numeracy. However, the use of ICT skills across the curriculum is not as well developed. There are some good examples but these are not consistent and not always clearly identified in planning.

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Grade: 2

Pupils feel safe and valued and want to succeed. Vulnerable children and those with learning difficulties are well supported. Parents endorse this, with one parent saying, 'Staff treat me and my children well. They always listen to my problems'. Academic guidance is good. All pupils know their targets. There has been good improvement in the guidance for pupils with learning difficulties since the previous inspection. Parents and pupils are now more involved in target setting. Well-conceived arrangements prepare pupils effectively for the move to the next stage of their education and contribute positively to the pupils' well-being and learning. Child protection, safeguarding and health and safety procedures are robust and clear.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good at all levels. The headteacher has established a leadership team which provides a clear direction for all staff to follow. The staff are rightly proud of their school and there is no doubting their determination to improve even further; they have good capacity to do so. The team takes a firm stance to assure the quality of teaching, with senior leaders adopting a systematic and rigorous approach to monitoring. All staff receive open and honest feedback on the quality of their practice, underpinned by good quality professional development. All staff have a good understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development. The school improvement plan provides a sound basis for future development. The key areas for improvement are firmly rooted in raising standards and promoting the well-being of pupils. Actions to support the identified areas for improvement are well staged and well timed. The

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Grade: 2

governors fulfil their responsibilities well and provide good levels of support, tempered with a well-defined degree of challenge through their well-focused visits to school. The school works hard to live up to its motto: 'Be the best you can be to achieve everything you deserve'. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

17 May 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Crestwood Park Primary School, Kingswinford DY6 8RP Thank you very much for being so welcoming and friendly towards us during our recent visit to your school. We very much enjoyed the opportunity to talk with you and your teachers about how well you are doing. We thought you would like to know what we have said about your school, which we think is a good school. Your parents wrote to us telling us how much the school has improved since its previous inspection and we agree with them. You behave well and you are very kind and considerate to each other. In lessons, we think you listen very carefully to what your teachers have to tell you and you always try hard. You really enjoy coming to school and your attendance is getting better. You have told us you feel safe and secure. We think you know the importance of staying healthy and taking regular exercise because many of you gave us very good reasons

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and advice on eating healthily. Your teachers look after you very well and listen to what you have to say. They work hard to help you learn. We have made some suggestions to help the school get even better. Last year's pupils did very well in their end of Year 6 tests in mathematics and science but not as well in writing. We have asked your teachers to find ways to help you improve your writing. You can help your teachers by really trying to achieve your 'crisp' targets in writing. We have also asked that your teachers give you more opportunities to use the skills you learn in your ICT lessons in other subjects. We were very interested to hear about your Indian Day and the things you learned from this. We have suggested that the school plans more opportunities for you to learn about how people's lives and cultures change over time. Many things are good about your school and you, together with your teachers, can make it

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

even better. Please keep working hard and doing the best you can. We wish you well in the future. Jacqueline Wordsworth Her Majesty's Inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Crestwood Park Primary School, 15 °16 May 2007

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