Tenacres First School

Inspection Report Redditch, Tenacres First School

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116729 Unique Reference Number Worcestershire Local Authority 290614 Inspection number 21 February 2007 Inspection date Peter Callow 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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Quibery Close School address First Type of school Winyates East Community School category Redditch B98 0PB 4 °9 Age range of pupils 01527 528872 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01527 515277 Fax number 270 Number on roll (school) Steven Walker Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Annette Shillaker Headteacher 11 November 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 290614 21 February 2007 4 °9 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 one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Tenacres First School serves a mixed district of housing on the eastern outskirts of Redditch. The increasing proportion of pupils coming from areas of deprivation is reflected in the growing number entitled to free school meals. The proportion of pupils leaving or joining the school other than at the usual time is below average, but increasing. The proportion of pupils identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities has increased from the time of the last inspection and is now average. Children's attainment on entry to the Reception Year is below national expectations.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Good leadership and management contribute significantly to the good overall effectiveness of Tenacres First School and to its continued improvement since it was last inspected. The headteacher, together with senior staff, have a very clear focus on ensuring that the personal development of pupils, as well as their academic progress, has high priority. It is a school where, as one parent said, 'Pupils are enthusiastic about learning.' The care, guidance and support given to pupils are good overall, and the pastoral care they receive is outstanding. This helps pupils to really enjoy school, with the result that attendance is above average. They also feel extremely safe and happy. Pupils respond with excellent behaviour in and out of class and exemplary attitudes to their work and to each other. These are strong elements of their good personal development and well-being. One reason pupils give for enjoying school so much is that they are

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Grade: 2

given a considerable amount of responsibility, particularly those who are members of the very effective school council, the Ten Acres Problem Solvers (TAPS). Consistently good, and sometimes outstanding, teaching results in work that is always very carefully matched to pupils' different needs and abilities. As a result achievement is good throughout the school. Children start school with standards that are below national expectations and many have particular weaknesses in speaking and listening and writing. Good provision in the Reception classes helps to address the weaknesses but also to give these young children the enthusiasm and confidence to be good learners. Pupils continue to make good progress in all year groups so that standards are broadly average at the end of the Reception Year and Year 2 and above national expectations overall by the end of Year 4. The school rightly concentrates on ensuring that pupils' skills in speaking and listening

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Grade: 2

and writing catch up by the time they leave in Year 4. However, standards are not yet as high in writing as they are in reading and mathematics. Activities such as role-play and drama help pupils to develop their speaking and listening skills but they could be used more widely across the school to help pupils improve their use of language in preparation for writing. Leaders' good self-evaluation has led to positive developments in the curriculum and demonstrates the good capacity of the school to improve even further. The curriculum is already good but it is improving rapidly as planning around a theme takes increasing account of important links between different subjects. Pupils enjoy this approach very much because it makes learning much more relevant to their interests and they make better progress. The school has identified the need to ensure that planning for these themes provides every opportunity for pupils to practise their skills in literacy and

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in writing, particularly through a greater emphasis on speaking and listening activities. 2 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007 • Ensure that teaching uses every opportunity to reinforce links between subjects and helps pupils to practise their skills in literacy and numeracy across the curriculum.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' achievement is good throughout the school because work is very carefully matched to their different needs and abilities. Standards on entry to Reception are not as high as they were at the time of the last inspection. The majority of children now start school with standards that are below national expectations, particularly in speaking and listening and in writing. Children make good progress in all areas of learning so that by the time they leave the Reception Year standards are broadly average. This good progress continues, with pupils reaching broadly average standards by the end of Year 2 and standards overall that are above national expectations by the end of Year 4. The school is taking positive action to help pupils catch up on their skills in speaking and listening and in writing as they move up through the school. Nevertheless, standards have been slower to improve in writing and they are not yet as high as in

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Grade: 2

reading and mathematics by the end of Year 4.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. An assembly, for example, was used very well to really develop pupils' understanding of the significance of Lent to Christians and what it means to make a sacrifice. Pupils have a good understanding, and can give a wide range of examples, of how to lead a healthy lifestyle and to keep safe. There are a number of opportunities for pupils to contribute to the wider community, particularly through the school's fund raising for charity. The school is aware that pupils have fewer opportunities to contribute to the local community and is seeking to improve this element of their personal development through, for example, the Better Ways to School campaign. Good social skills such as taking responsibility and working well in a team, combined with skills that are developing well in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) mean that pupils are well prepared to begin the next

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Grade: 2

stage of their education. Those who are members of TAPS take on a lot of responsibility, for example, by responding to pupils' views gathered from a suggestion box. Their actions have resulted in the purchase of games for wet playtimes as well as the creation of a 'Friendship Stop' for those in the playground who might be lonely or want someone to play with. 3 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007

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Grade: 2

There are very positive relationships in lessons between adults and pupils as well as between the pupils themselves. Their behaviour and attitudes to their work are excellent. The activities teachers plan for pupils of different abilities to do, build effectively on what they have already learned so that they make good progress. Pupils generally have a good understanding of what they are learning and try hard to improve their work. Practical group tasks are used well to help pupils to enjoy their work, to develop their skills of cooperation and to take responsibility. Some teachers also make the most of these opportunities not only to develop speaking and listening skills, but to get pupils to become more active participants in the teaching and learning. For example in a Year 2 lesson, pupils having worked together on collecting data were asked to talk to the class about their work. Others then asked questions and commented on each group's

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Grade: 2

findings. There is scope for teachers to develop more of these sorts of opportunities which allow pupils to contribute more, assess each other's work and to become fully engaged learners.

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Grade: 2

The school constantly evaluates the curriculum to ensure that pupils make good progress and enjoy their learning. Pupils' personal development is well supported through the good provision for their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, their cultural awareness was considerably enhanced during Mardi Gras week when they learned about different customs around the world. A wide range of after-school clubs and specialist teaching such as French also enrich the curriculum. Pupils have good opportunities to develop their skills in art and reach high standards. Well planned themes, carefully linked to the different areas of the early years curriculum, ensure that pupils in Reception achieve well and continue to make good progress as they move into Year 1. This successful approach has recently been extended to Year 2, and will benefit pupils as it is developed in Years 3 and 4 so that teaching

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Grade: 2

constantly reinforces links between different subjects and makes learning relevant and exciting. The school is aware of the need to develop this approach so that pupils also have more opportunity to practise their skills in literacy and numeracy across the curriculum.

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Grade: 2

The outstanding pastoral care given to pupils helps them to really enjoy school and to feel extremely safe and happy. Pupils respond with exemplary behaviour and 4 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007 attitudes. Pupils know that they are always listened to and so they feel confident in talking to adults about any worries they might have. Child protection and health and safety procedures are rigorous and help to ensure pupils' well-being. Teaching assistants provide effective support for pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities which enables them to make good progress. There are well developed systems for setting targets in literacy, mathematics and personal development which some older pupils, in particular, have a good knowledge of. However, not all pupils are sufficiently aware of what their targets are and this limits their ability to understand what they need to do to improve their work.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher provides strong leadership. She recognises the need to develop induction and support for colleagues new to leadership and management responsibilities, in order to strengthen the leadership of the school even further. The leadership team makes good use of assessment information to identify and support any pupils who are at risk of underachievement. They also use it to identify any aspects of teaching and the curriculum that need to be improved. These are significant factors which lead to an accurate evaluation of the school's performance and a well informed school development plan. Whilst governors could play a greater role in the school's self-evaluation, they are very much involved in helping to draw up the school development plan, are well led and provide good support to the school. The views of parents and pupils are actively sought and acted upon as part of the school's self-evaluation. For example, a mathematics workshop to help parents learn

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Grade: 2

about how mathematics is taught and learned in the school came from parental requests and was much appreciated. Parents overwhelmingly have a very positive view of the school with one parent commenting, 'The best decision I ever made was moving my child to this school.' They feel it is a friendly and welcoming environment for them and their children. 5 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 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 quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 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 1 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 3 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. 7 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 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? 8 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for giving me such a warm welcome when I visited Tenacres recently. You were very helpful in answering all my questions about your school and the work that you do. Pupils that I spoke to all said how much they enjoy going to school. They said it was a good school and I agree. All the adults take great care to look after you and help you to feel safe and happy. As a result you respond with excellent behaviour and outstanding attitudes to each other and to your work. The teaching in your school is good which means that the work that you are given to do is carefully planned and that it is at the right level for each one of you. This enables you to achieve well. You have a good curriculum which also enables you to make good progress because teachers go out of their way to try and make it interesting for you. Lots of you, for example, told me how much you were enjoying the Mardi Gras week. The headteacher and other senior staff lead your school well and they are good at continually

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

looking at ways to make your school even better. This is why the curriculum is changing for some of you and you are doing more of your work through themes, which you told me you enjoy. I have asked your school to develop this approach to your learning even more. I have also asked that teachers, when they plan these themes, plan more opportunities for you to practise the skills that you learn in literacy and numeracy. By the time you leave school in Year 4, most of you reach standards that are higher than those normally expected, except in writing. Your teachers have been working hard to raise the standards in writing. I have said that this needs to continue, especially by giving you more opportunities to develop your skills in speaking and listening. Role-play and drama activities, for example, help to give you the language and ideas to express yourselves in writing. I am sure that with your enthusiastic approach to your learning and the high level of

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

responsibility that you show that you will play your part in helping your good school to become even better. 9 Inspection Report: Redditch, Tenacres First School, 21 February 2007

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