Braunstone Frith Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 14 Nov 2006

Inspection Report Braunstone Frith Infant School

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120031 Unique Reference Number Leicester City Local Authority 291610 Inspection number 13 °14 November 2006 Inspection dates Frances Gillam 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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Liberty Road School address Infant Type of school Leicester Community School category LE3 6NN 3 °7 Age range of pupils 0116 2872487 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0116 2872487 Fax number 249 Number on roll (school) Edward Hasman Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Pat Allsopp Headteacher 17 October 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 291610 13 °14 November 2006 3°7 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 is an average sized infant school. Most pupils come from a White British background; 24 per cent of pupils come from minority ethnic groups. A very small number of these are at the early stages of learning English. The proportion of pupils identified with learning difficulties is similar to most schools. Some pupils come from families in disadvantaged circumstances and the proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is higher than average. The school is part of the Riverside and New College Action Zone and Excellence in Cities.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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Grade: 4

In accordance with Section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector 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. The overall effectiveness of the school is inadequate. This does not reflect the school's view of itself, which is more generous. Since the last inspection standards have fallen to significantly lower than the national average. Although children in the Foundation Stage achieve well, this is not built on sufficiently in Years 1 and 2, where pupils' achievement is unsatisfactory and teaching is inadequate. Teachers do not use assessment information well enough to challenge pupils, particularly the more able. These pupils, in particular, are not always sure how they can improve their work as

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Grade: 4

teachers' marking gives insufficient guidance. The overuse of rather mundane worksheets in Year 1 inhibits pupils' opportunities to practise and consolidate their learning, especially in writing and mathematics. Even though standards are well below average by the time children enter Year 1, they make good progress in the Foundation Stage from their very low level of attainment on entry to school. Good teaching and well conceived activities build effectively on children's experiences. Throughout the school, teachers and other adults treat pupils fairly and pupils respond well. This shows in their good behaviour and their respect for one another. Pupils' personal development and well-being and the care, guidance and support they receive are satisfactory. Although pupils say they enjoy school a significant minority have poor attendance, which adversely affects their progress. Pupils are developing a secure

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Grade: 4

understanding of healthy lifestyles and keeping safe. They are beginning to make sensible choices about what they eat and make good use of the sporting clubs on offer. Though the curriculum contributes positively to aspects of pupils' personal development it is inadequate, as it does not meet the needs of all pupils, especially the more able and younger pupils in the mixed Years 1 and 2 classes. Leadership and management are inadequate. The headteacher, governors and staff analyse performance information and this provides them with a clear view of strengths and weaknesses. However, self-evaluation procedures are not rigorous enough in teasing out why some pupils do better than others. This has led to a slower than expected rate of improvement since the last inspection. Action to bring about change for the better has led to improvements in pupils' behaviour but has not been so successful in improving pupils' achievements. Inconsistencies in pupils' progress,

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Grade: 4

especially in Year 1, go unchecked because the school does not have secure procedures to track their progress. In addition, senior managers do not evaluate robustly enough the implementation and effectiveness of whole school strategies to improve teaching and learning, and to raise standards. This leads to underachievement, particularly in writing and mathematics. The school does not have the necessary capacity to improve. 2 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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What the school should do to improve further

• Make better use of assessment information to challenge the more able and ensure that pupils in Year 1 have suitable opportunities to practise and consolidate their learning, particularly in writing and mathematics. • Improve the way pupils' progress is tracked to provide a better understanding of how well they are doing and ensure that whole school strategies are implemented fully and evaluated carefully to check for their effectiveness. • Ensure that all pupils have clear guidance about what they need to do to improve and get better. • Work more closely with parents and carers to promote good attendance.

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Grade: 4

Pupils' achievement, including for those from minority ethnic groups, is inadequate. Standards at the end of Year 2 have fallen since the last inspection. Standards were below average in the 2005 tests but results fell again in 2006 to reach the lowest yet, especially in writing and mathematics. Standards are much lower than expected for pupils by the end of Year 2. A clear focus on improvement targets ensures that pupils with learning difficulties make satisfactory progress but other pupils, particularly the more able, make unsatisfactory progress. This is because the more able pupils are not challenged to do their best and because pupils' progress is uneven and slows down in Year 1. Targets to raise standards seem realistic but these have not been reached in the national tests. One reason is because senior managers do not track pupils' progress carefully enough to check how well pupils are doing and to ensure they provide support

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Grade: 4

for those who are underachieving. A key focus on pupils' speaking skills has proved successful in the Foundation Stage. Here staff encourage children to talk and develop their ideas but elsewhere in the school, pupils spend too much time listening to adults which reduces the time pupils have to practise and use their skills, particularly in writing and mathematics. This does not help pupils prepare as well as they should for the future and slows the progress they make. Children enter school with very low levels of attainment. Staff match tasks well to children's abilities and this ensures they make good progress even though standards are well below average by the end of Reception Year.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' behaviour is good. Many pupils commented that they find other children friendly and they are usually treated kindly. Pupils who attend regularly say that school is fun and they enjoy being there. However, a significant minority of pupils have poor attendance, which adversely affects their achievement. Although the school has worked successfully with families from Traveller backgrounds to improve their children's attendance, senior managers have not investigated fully why they have less success 3 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006 with other groups. Pupils contribute satisfactorily to their school and the wider community. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. Pupils respect and value the views of others and have a keen sense of right and wrong. Opportunities to work and talk together, especially in the Foundation Stage, help them

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Grade: 3

to develop their ideas successfully but in Years 1 and 2 these are more limited.

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Grade: 4

Teachers are clear when explaining to pupils what they are going to learn, and this helps to focus pupils' thinking and generate interest. However, whole class introductions often go on for too long. This leads to less time for pupils to practise, consolidate and record their learning. The overuse of unchallenging worksheets also makes it difficult for Year 1 pupils to develop satisfactory writing skills. In writing and mathematics, work is frequently unfinished and untidy, as pupils struggle to complete the task in the time allowed. Teachers' marking is inadequate and often overlooks pupils' efforts. Inaccurate letter formation, incorrect spelling and simple errors persist because teachers provide very little information about how pupils can improve their work. This impacts particularly on the more able, who with guidance could do a great deal better. Teaching assistants play an important part in supporting pupils with learning difficulties or those

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Grade: 4

with disabilities, especially in small group sessions but during lesson introductions and whole class discussions their role is not as supportive. At these times, teaching assistants do not always check that pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities understand what is being discussed or support those pupils who find it more difficult to listen. By comparison, teaching in the Foundation Stage is good. Children are well supported and there is a good emphasis on teaching the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics.

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Grade: 4

The curriculum provides a broad range of experiences for pupils, including after-school clubs. These contribute positively to pupils' understanding of how to keep safe, fit and healthy. Although activities are usually relevant to the ages and interests of the pupils they do not build as well as they should on pupils' previous learning. This is because teachers do not use assessment information as well as they should to adapt curriculum planning to match pupils' abilities more effectively. More able pupils, for example, commented that work is sometimes too easy. This lack of challenge leads to unsatisfactory progress for these pupils. A carefully planned curriculum in the Foundation Stage ensures that children explore, investigate and practise their skills across all the areas of learning. Developments to improve speaking skills have worked particularly well in the Foundation Stage and children are growing in confidence about

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Grade: 4

talking in different situations. 4 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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Grade: 3

Staff show a high level of care for pupils and this develops good relationships and supports pupils' behaviour effectively. Child protection procedures are established and parents and pupils feel the staff are quick to respond to any concerns. Pupils say they feel safe and well cared for and they are developing a clear understanding of how to keep safe and free from harm. Guidance and support from tracking pupils' personal development are successful, especially in promoting good behaviour. Systems for tracking pupils' academic progress are not as rigorous and senior managers do not evaluate carefully enough whether pupils are progressing as well as they should, particularly in Year 1.

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Grade: 4

Although senior managers and governors understand the school's strengths and weaknesses they do not evaluate the impact of whole school strategies to improve provision well enough. Some strategies such as 'The Big Write' are quite recent and have not had time to make an impact. Others such as helping pupils to develop their ideas through talk are not always used effectively in the classroom. This leads to inconsistencies in pupils' experiences and often in their pace of learning, especially in Years 1 and 2 and in writing and mathematics. Weaker aspects of teaching also persist because senior managers do not follow up on lesson observations to check whether all teachers are implementing points for improvement successfully and if the action taken is proving effective. 5 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006 .

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Grade: 4

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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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 4 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 4 The capacity to make any necessary improvements No Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

4 How well do learners achieve? 4 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 4 The attendance of learners 3 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 3 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?

3 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: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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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? Yes Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

15 November 2006 Dear Children Braunstone Frith Infant School, Liberty Road, Leicester LE3 6NN Thank you for making the team of inspectors so welcome when we visited your school recently. You may know by now that your school needs support to help it improve. This is because the people in charge of your school and your teachers are not making sure that you are learning as fast as you can. The work you do is sometimes too easy because often it does not build on what you have learned before. • We found these things are working well in your school. • Children in the Foundation Stage do well because they have good support from their teachers and the teaching assistants. • Throughout the whole school you are well cared for and teachers and other adults treat you fairly. • Your behaviour is good because staff manage your behaviour well. • You make good use of out-of-hours clubs and this is helping you to grow up fit and healthy.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

To help the school to improve we have asked your headteacher, governors and teachers to work together on the following things. • To help pupils in Years 1 and 2 do better in their writing and mathematics. • To make sure that those of you who find work easy are challenged to do your best. • To check you are doing well enough and have good information about how you can improve your work. • To make sure that the things teachers do to help you improve are really working well. • To work more closely with your parents to make sure that all of you come to school regularly. With best wishes for the future Fran Gillam Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Braunstone Frith Infant School, 13 °14 November 2006

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