Wheatfield Primary School

Wheatfield Primary School Inspection report

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131705 Unique Reference Number South Gloucestershire Local Authority 293821 Inspection number 20 °21 June 2007 Inspection dates Janet Simms 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 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 396 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Deborah Hilliam Chair Christine Dursley Headteacher 29 January 2001 Date of previous school inspection Wheatfield Drive School address Bradley Stoke Bristol BS32 9DB

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01454 868610 Telephone number 01454 868611 Fax number

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4 °11 Age group 20 °21 June 2007 Inspection dates 293821 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This large primary school serves a relatively advantaged area to the north of Bristol. Few families claim free school meals. Although numbers are rising, fewer pupils than average speak languages other than English or come from minority ethnic backgrounds Average numbers of pupils have learning difficulties and disabilities.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007

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Grade: 2

Wheatfield is a good and improving school with some outstanding features. These include pupils' exceptional personal development which comes about through outstanding care, guidance and support about which the school judges itself modestly. Pupils settle quickly and are happy, confident representatives of their school. Parents value these strengths highly and are very supportive of the school's provision. Recent improvements in the systems used to check how well pupils are achieving, as well as in the quality of teaching, have led to pupils in Years 1 and 2 reaching higher standards than previously, particularly in English, where higher attaining pupils have not achieved as well as they should. Circumstances beyond the school's control adversely affected Year 2 pupils' achievement in the first term this year, but they have now settled well and abler pupils have now caught up with where they should be. Year 6 pupils, who were average when they entered

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Grade: 2

Year 3, are now above average and those in other years are doing well. Although this is improving, teachers do not always plan lessons to provide enough challenge for abler pupils. Expectations of independent or group research work, for example, are limited. Teaching and learning are good. Strong leadership and management have had a positive impact on improving the skills of inexperienced staff. Lengthy, planned staff absences have been managed skilfully to minimise the impact on learning. Teachers are very effectively supported by a strong team of teaching assistants who are instrumental in providing the support which ensures that pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities achieve well. A good, rich curriculum provides a wealth of opportunity for pupils to further their academic and personal development through lessons and visits. These contribute significantly to preparing pupils for their future,

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Grade: 2

for instance through very good cooperation and teamwork and participation in an interesting range of sports. The outstanding care, guidance and support includes significantly improved academic guidance which includes good marking and the setting of very focused targets for pupils' improvement. Staff make sure that pupils understand these targets well, so most know what they need to do to improve and can discuss this sensibly. Good leadership and governance through this fairly new school's initial years have led to the strong position in which it now finds itself. Partnerships, including those with parents, are robust. The school uses these imaginatively to analyse and understand its strengths and weaknesses and its view of itself is honest and accurate. A strong leadership team, refreshingly open to ideas about how to improve the school, is developing successfully. While there is still some way to go to ensure that higher attaining pupils achieve better, the wide range of

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Grade: 2

improvements since the last inspection shows good capacity to improve further.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the achievement of higher attaining pupils, especially at Key Stage 1 in English; in particular, ensure that teachers plan all lessons to cater more closely for the needs of all pupils and to challenge abler pupils to achieve their potential. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007

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Grade: 2

Achievement is good across the school. Progress had been satisfactory to Year 2, but has improved in the last six months. Progress of pupils in Years 3 to 6 is good. Children's standards on entry to Reception have declined lately and are now broadly similar to those found nationally. Writing, communication and social skills are weaker and mathematics especially strong. In the 2006 national tests, Year 2 pupils' standards were average overall, with very few reaching high levels in reading or writing. Boys were above average for boys, and girls below average for girls. Current Year 2 pupils are now making good progress, although there is room for more able pupils to improve further. In the 2006 national tests, Year 6 pupils did well in English and standards were above average overall, matching the potential they showed at Year 2. Boys did particularly well and achieved better than girls. There are now no discernable differences in

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Grade: 2

boys' and girls' achievement and standards in Year 6 are above average. Pupils with learning disabilities and difficulties and those with English as an additional language do well throughout the school because of good support.

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Grade: 1

The school is a happy and harmonious community where pupils get on very well together. Relationships are excellent and pupils feel valued, knowing that adults have their best interests at heart. Behaviour is exemplary and pupils concentrate well on their tasks. They enjoy school very much and are keen to learn. Consequently, the attendance rate is above average. As one parent commented, 'My son loves it here. He has lots of friends and misses school during holidays.' Pupils' spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is outstanding. They work together amicably, respect the feelings of others and have a very well developed sense of fair play. They respond very positively when given responsibility, for example as members of the active school council, or as buddies for those who need extra support at break times. Pupils show outstanding initiative, for example Year 6 pupils have organised and helped to lead sports days for younger

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Grade: 1

pupils and have successfully helped to select new staff. Pupils are very safety conscious and are greatly concerned for the welfare of others. They participate enthusiastically in a rich range of physical activities and understand the importance of healthy eating. Pupils have very strong social and community awareness and are keen fund raisers for many good causes. Pupils' ability to work constructively with others and their good progress in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) mean they are well prepared for their future.

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Grade: 2

Good teaching is a key feature of the school's ongoing improvement. Detailed planning is underpinned by secure subject knowledge. Such features, together with clear introductory explanations at the start of lessons, result in pupils' enthusiastic participation in learning. Occasionally, though, too much time is spent giving overlong introductions leaving too little 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007 time for active learning. Teachers mostly provide tasks well matched to pupils' stages of learning, but this is not always the case. At times they provide insufficient challenge for more able pupils, reducing the quality and extent of their learning. Teachers use recently acquired interactive whiteboards well to provide effective visual stimuli to learning. In most instances their perceptive questioning, together with the frequent use of 'talk partners', helps pupils to clarify their thinking and consider their responses carefully. There

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Grade: 2

are times, however, when questions are not sufficiently well focused, leaving some pupils confused. Throughout the school, teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to pupils' learning, particularly for those with learning difficulties and disabilities and those at the early stages of learning English. Thorough marking helps pupils understand what they should do to improve. Knowledge of their learning targets for literacy and numeracy, together with pupils' increasing involvement in evaluating their own progress, helps them to become more involved in their own learning and to achieve even better.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good, although more detailed planning is needed to challenge the ablest pupils. In Reception, a well judged balance between teacher-directed activities and opportunities for children to learn through purposeful play promote children's good learning well. In Years 1 to 6, the rich, well balanced curriculum stimulates pupils' interests. During the inspection, for example, Year 6 pupils achieved well when working in groups to solve a fictional crime. This activity fostered interpersonal and reasoning skills particularly effectively. The curriculum enhances pupils' personal development well through many enjoyable educational visits, visitors and clubs. After reflecting on a visit to Swindon railway museum as part of a World War II project, one pupil commented: 'It made you realise how hard it must have been to arrive somewhere new as an evacuee'.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support are outstanding. Pupils feel safe, knowing that the staff will listen if they have any problems. 'The teachers are really kind and make sure you are happy', commented one pupil. Parents are justifiably confident that their children are extremely well looked after at school. Safeguarding procedures are robust, including very regular health and safety checks, and staff have benefited from first aid training. Thorough and effective procedures help children to settle in quickly whenever they start at the school and help those in Year 6 to prepare well for their next stage of education. Pupils benefit from first-rate support and guidance for their personal development which reflects in their outstandingly positive attitudes and exemplary behaviour. Their academic support and guidance are very good, including assessment and marking which have improved significantly. Pupils know their next steps in learning, and are helped to evaluate their progress

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Grade: 1

towards these targets. These factors are increasingly helping pupils to make good progress, although not quite as effectively for pupils with the potential for higher achievement. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007

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Grade: 2

The headteacher provides strong leadership. With good support from other senior leaders, she has overseen substantial improvements in teaching, the curriculum and procedures to monitor and track pupil performance. These, together with successful initiatives to improve reading and writing, have led to higher standards, better achievement and learners' exceptionally strong personal development. This has resulted in the eradication of past instances of underachievement for some pupils in Years 1 and 2. Senior leaders recognise what needs to be done to improve, for example the achievement of abler pupils. The school has an accurate understanding of its strengths and areas for improvement, and development planning is thorough. This enables challenging targets for improvements to be set which take into account properly the views of all associated with the school. Subject leaders are increasingly playing their full part in managing the subjects for which they are responsible.

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Grade: 2

Governors carry out their duties well. They play a full and effective part in strategic and financial planning, and are purposeful as 'critical friends' in challenging the school to do its best. The school has good capacity for further improvement. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 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. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 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?

1 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 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 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?

1 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

04 July 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Wheatfield Primary School, Bradley Stoke, BS32 9DB Thank you very much for welcoming all the inspectors to Wheatfield on 20 °21 June. We learned a lot about the school and about your work while we were there, partly because you were very friendly and polite when you talked to us about it. I am writing to tell you the main things we found out. Your school is good, with well organised lessons which make it fun for you to learn. The way the school is organised and run is good too. We were very pleased to see that you are making good progress. We know that you understand much better now how to improve your work, especially as you get older and you know your targets well. This is because teachers mark your work helpfully and talk with you about what your targets should be. It is really good that many of you could talk to us sensibly about how you can reach these. We were extremely impressed by your excellent behaviour. This was clear to us when you were

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

in school, but we know that when you go out, as Year 6 and Reception did on Thursday, you behave just as well; other people have told us so. It is also really good that you get on so well together and work in very friendly teams and groups so often to do your work. This will help you a lot in future learning and work. All the adults in the school take excellent care of you all and make sure you are safe and happy. This is partly what makes you such confident, sociable children. You are learning well because teaching is good. Most of your lessons are interesting and staff make sure you concentrate well. Your headteacher and others make sure that your learning stays good and they do this well. To make your school even better we have asked the teachers to help those of you who learn more quickly to reach even higher standards. It will be nearly the summer break when you get this letter and we hope you enjoy your holiday and your next year in school. We also hope that

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Year 6 enjoy their secondary schools. Thank you again. Janet Simms Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Wheatfield Primary School, 20 °21 June 2007

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