Landywood Primary School

Landywood Primary School Inspection report

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124190 Unique Reference Number Staffordshire Local Authority 295434 Inspection number 2 °3 May 2007 Inspection dates Joyce Cox 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 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 350 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority P Renhard Chair A Stockley Headteacher 7 March 2006 Date of previous school inspection Holly Lane School address Great Wyrley Walsall WS6 6AQ

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01922 857020 Telephone number 01922 857021 Fax number

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3 °11 Age group 2 °3 May 2007 Inspection dates 295434 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 an area of mixed housing with some social and economic disadvantages. The majority of the pupils are White British and a very small number come from minority ethnic backgrounds including a few who speak English as an additional language. The school provides a significant number of places for children from a Traveller site adjacent to the school grounds. Attainment when children start in the Nursery is below the levels expected for their age, particularly in communication and literacy skills. In May 2005 the school suffered major fire damage which destroyed nine classrooms, the information and communication technology (ICT) suite, library and toilet facilities together with considerable resources and records. The school has secured many awards for its work including an Active Sports Mark in 2006 and Investors in People. It has twice received the British Council International School Award for its

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Description of the school

work in conjunction with schools from other European countries. When the school was inspected in March 2006, it was judged to require a Notice to Improve in relation to significant improvement being needed in relation to reading and writing in Key Stage 1.

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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: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Grade: 3

In accordance with section 13 (5) of the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement. The school has successfully tackled the issues raised at the last inspection and now provides pupils with a satisfactory education. The key factors in this satisfactory improvement are good leadership and management by the senior leadership team, improved strategic planning and the commitment of staff and governors to embrace change and to do their best for pupils. Good improvement has been made in raising the quality of teaching particularly in Key Stage 1, curriculum planning, and in the way most teachers use assessment information to plan pupils' learning. Consequently, standards have risen to broadly average and pupils' achievement is now satisfactory. There is strong determination and good capacity amongst all staff to ensure that the school will continue to

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Grade: 3

improve and subject leaders are beginning to have a stronger influence on improving standards and achievement. Overall, leadership and management are satisfactory. As a result of good provision, Nursery and Reception children have a happy start to school and nearly all meet the expected levels by the time they enter Year 1. A determination to wipe out underachievement has led to a rise in standards and good improvement in pupils' achievement in the past two years at Key Stage 1. Pupils' achievement is also satisfactory and standards are broadly average at Key Stage 2. In 2006 low results in the Year 6 tests indicated that pupils had underachieved and not made the expected progress between Years 3 and 6 due to inadequate teaching in some junior classes. Over the past year there have been considerable improvements to the quality of teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 due to rigorous monitoring by senior leaders and improved assessment. Teaching and learning are now satisfactory and

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Grade: 3

good in several classes. Some inconsistencies remain, primarily in the way teachers use their skills and resources to engage all pupils and to challenge them to achieve as much as they possibly can. The school has successfully amassed a large amount of valuable assessment and tracking information so staff can track pupils' progress in their individual classes. This is not yet sufficiently analysed to provide senior leaders quickly with a clear overview of pupils' progress throughout the school. Pupils are doing better because they enjoy school more. This is evident in their happy, smiling faces, improved behaviour and their view that Landywood is 'an improved school with improved children'. Overall their personal development is satisfactory. The school's good links with outside agencies and European schools enrich and enliven the satisfactory curriculum. Care, guidance and support for pupils are satisfactory with strong pastoral care making sure pupils feel safe

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Grade: 3

at school. A small proportion of schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the quality of teaching in Key Stage 2 so that it is consistently good, or better, to enable pupils to achieve well and reach increasingly challenging targets in national tests. • Devise a system to enable senior leaders to easily and quickly view pupils' progress between classes and key stages in order to pinpoint any underachievement. • Develop the role of subject leaders so that they are fully involved in raising standards and achievement in their subjects. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Grade: 3

From a below average starting point in the Nursery, children achieve well in the Foundation Stage and most attain the expected levels on entry to Year 1. Key Stage 1 pupils' achievement is satisfactory and pupils attain average, and rapidly improving, standards at the end of Year 2. In Year 6 national tests in 2006, standards were well below average and pupils' achievement was inadequate. This underachievement is now being addressed, and improved teaching and learning are driving up standards in English and mathematics. Pupils' achievement is satisfactory and standards are now broadly average at Key Stage 2. Pupils are set relatively low targets to attain in Year 6 national tests and the school acknowledges that it must raise these targets and teachers' expectations to make sure that all pupils are suitably challenged. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities achieve satisfactorily. Effective extra help for pupils from Travelling

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Grade: 3

families and for the small number of pupils who are at an early stage of learning English enables them to achieve as well as other pupils.

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Grade: 3

Pupils enjoy coming to school. Most find that any incidents of bullying are dealt with quickly and that their problems are 'listened to by adults and sorted out'. They make a sound contribution to the school community. They value their roles as school councillors and are proud of presenting their considerable fundraising achievements to the governing body. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. The school has highly successful links with schools in Europe through the Comenius project, which widens pupils' social and cultural understanding. However, some pupils stated that they would like to know more about the lifestyles of different groups of people who live in nearby towns. Attendance is below average. This is because the travelling lifestyle of some pupils takes them away from school from time to time. A small number of parents expressed concerns regarding pupils' behaviour.

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Grade: 3

Whilst behaviour is satisfactory overall, incidents of restless behaviour hinder the flow of learning in some lessons. Children in the Foundation Stage have a happy and settled start to school life because of the good personal and social provision. Pupils' clear understanding of healthy lifestyles and their knowledge of how to keep safe reflects the good provision for personal, social and health education. Pupils leave with satisfactory basic skills to help them in their next school and with their future economic well-being.

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Grade: 3

Relationships are good and talented teaching assistants in all classes support pupils effectively. Teachers' planning has significantly improved this year. Teaching in the Nursery and Reception classes is good because staff have a good understanding of how young children learn and provide interesting activities to ensure children achieve well. Senior leaders have put many strategies in place to improve teaching and learning and these are beginning to be effective particularly in Key Stage 1 where most lessons are now good. Year 2 pupils say that they really enjoy 'working hard and learning a lot'. There are inconsistencies in the quality of teaching in Key Stage 2. Some Key Stage 2 staff are more successful than others at engaging and challenging 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007 pupils to do as well as they possibly can, to remedy any previous underachievement and to

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Grade: 3

ensure pupils attain really challenging targets in national tests. Dividing the Year 5 and 6 classes into groups for literacy and numeracy means that pupils' different abilities are catered for more readily and the more able pupils are successfully challenged to attain higher levels.

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Grade: 3

Provision in the Foundation Stage is good and children get off to a good start. In the rest of the school the curriculum is satisfactory. There is a good range of clubs and activities to encourage and enliven learning including expert coaching from a local football club and opportunities to work with the 'Green Group' on environmental issues. Information and communication technology resources have improved but are not used consistently in different subjects of the curriculum. A focused emphasis on reading and writing in Key Stage 1 has led to improved standards and achievement. Most parents agree with this. One Key Stage 1 parent suggested that 'reading and writing are coming on in leaps and bounds'. Currently, pupils do not have enough opportunities to explore and investigate in mathematics and science lessons, particularly in Key Stage 2.

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Grade: 3

Staff promote pupils' health, safety and well-being effectively. Child protection arrangements are robust and the school uses outside agencies effectively. Pupils feel safe and secure in school and say they have an adult they could take problems to. Teaching assistants provide well timed and sensitive help to pupils with learning difficulties and, consequently, these pupils make satisfactory progress. Considerable improvement has been made in the way pupils' attainment and achievement is recorded and used effectively to highlight pupils' different learning needs in individual classes. However, this assessment information is quite cumbersome, making it difficult for senior managers to have an overview of the progress pupils make between different key stages or between different year groups to pinpoint potential underachievement. Pupils have individual targets in English, and in some classes in mathematics, which help them improve

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Grade: 3

their work. No other subjects yet benefit from this initiative.

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Grade: 3

Improved and effective leadership and management by the senior leadership team have been the key to the school's improvement. Over the last two years there has been steely determination from the headteacher and all staff to improve reading and writing in Key Stage 1. Senior leaders also identified the urgent need to raise Key Stage 2 pupils' standards and achievement after it was evident that the 2006 Year 6 pupils had made inadequate progress between Years 3 and 6. The leaders swiftly implemented regular and stringent monitoring to improve teaching and learning to stop this underachievement and, as a result, have eliminated inadequate teaching. Although teaching is now satisfactory, senior leaders accept that this not good enough if pupils are to achieve consistently well and make up for inadequate progress in the past. At the moment subject leaders do not have sufficient opportunity to fully develop their own leadership and

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Grade: 3

management skills. Governors are supportive and play an increasing role in keeping a check on pupils' standards and achievement. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 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 quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 3 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

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 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 3 The behaviour of learners 3 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. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 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: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

4 May 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Landywood Primary School, Great Wyrley, Walsall, WS6 6AQ Thank you very much for making us so welcome when we came to inspect your school. We enjoyed joining some of you for lunch, talking with you, and seeing you at work and play. Your school is providing you with a satisfactory standard of education. Here is what we found. • You make the progress that is expected of you and reach average standards. • Children in the Nursery and Reception classes learn well because teachers plan lots of exciting activities for them. • You have good relationships with one another and with the staff and your behaviour is satisfactory and has improved since the last inspection. • You enjoy an interesting and wide range of extra-curricular activities such as the Comenius Project. • All the staff care about you and make sure you are kept safe and well in school. • You like eating healthily and taking lots of exercise, for example joining in so enthusiastically

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

with staff from Walsall FC. The headteacher and staff have been looking closely at how well you are learning in order to decide what needs to be done next. To help them, we have asked them to do the following things. • Make sure all junior pupils achieve well and attain good standards in their work. • Make it easier for senior staff to check quickly that you are making good progress between Year 3 and Year 6. • Have staff help the headteacher to make your work even better in all subjects. You can play your part by always working hard, behaving well and looking after each other. We wish you all the very best for the future and hope you enjoy your new building. Yours sincerely Joyce Cox Lead inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Landywood Primary School, 2 °3 May 2007

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