Grassmoor Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Grassmoor Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Grassmoor Primary School is a happy school where staff listen to and care about the pupils. Relationships throughout the school are positive.

Pupils are welcoming and respectful. They have good manners and appreciate the positive experiences they enjoy every day.

Leaders are determined that all pupils achieve well.

Teachers make learning interesting. Pupils are keen to learn and approach their work with enthusiasm. In most subjects they learn well.

Most pupils conduct themselves well in lessons and around the school. Pupils told me that they can get on and learn.... On occasion, a few pupils disturb learning.

Staff support pupils who need extra help to improve their behaviour. Pupils feel safe and know that staff are there to talk to. They told me that bullying rarely happens.

They are confident that staff deal with it when it does occur.

Leaders nurture pupils' individual talents and skills, especially in sport and music. For those with a skill for leading others, the school parliament is a favourite.

Pupils enjoy taking on the role of health, arts or environment minister. They also enjoy workshops where they learn about chocolate or mini-beasts. Pupils develop into thoughtful, mature and caring citizens.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

As soon as children start school, books surround them. Leaders and other staff make sure that children practise their communication skills. Children in Nursery join in with rhymes and stories and begin to learn letters and sounds.

Leaders provide activities for children to be physically active in their play. They make children's personal development a priority. For instance, every morning, staff teach the Nursery children how to clean their teeth.

Overall, children make a good start to their education in early years. Leaders are taking effective action to further improve children's experiences in Reception.Leaders have taken action to improve the teaching of phonics.

They have trained staff to deliver the phonics sessions with precision and rigour. The books pupils read match the sounds and words they have learned. If pupils fall behind, staff use smaller steps in learning to help them keep up.

However, leaders have not ensured that all staff teach the phonics programme consistently well.

For older pupils, teachers choose books and activities carefully to help pupils learn new skills. Most pupils enjoy reading.

They make good use of the school's stock of interesting books. Pupils shared with me the books and authors they enjoy reading. Teachers choose exciting books to read to their classes.

Pupils build up mathematical knowledge and skills well over time. Teaching plans set out what pupils will learn in a well-structured way. Pupils practise what they learn to help them remember.

They apply their learning to solve problems. Teachers spot when pupils need more support and help them catch up.

In many other subjects, teachers plan carefully what pupils need to know.

Teachers have good subject knowledge and are enthusiastic when teaching different subjects. They are skilled at introducing pupils to new vocabulary. Pupils listen to each other and share differing views.

In a few subjects, pupils' learning is not structured so well. In geography, for instance, plans do not make clear what pupils need to know and how they will learn it. As a result, pupils do not learn as well as they could.

Leaders have introduced new expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils know what staff expect of them and get along together. Staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well.

Leaders and teachers make sure that support plans match pupils' individual needs. All pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, achieve well.

Pupils' personal development is strong.

Assemblies deliver important messages about the school's values. Visits provide pupils with new experiences. Trips are varied, ranging from butterfly parks to space exploration centres.

Residential trips, for several year groups, help pupils build their resilience and perseverance.

Leaders are bringing about improvements to the quality of education. Leaders look after staff so that they enjoy working at the school.

Most parents and carers are happy with the work of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know pupils well and have clear procedures to keep them safe.

Leaders make sure that they carry out all the required checks on staff to work with pupils. They train staff well to spot early signs that pupils may be at risk. Staff know how to act on any concerns they may have.

Leaders work with families and other professionals to ensure that pupils are safe. They take swift action to ensure that pupils receive the help that they need. The curriculum helps pupils learn how to stay safe, be healthy and keep fit.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Reading is now stronger across the school. However, staff have not implemented the school's phonics programme consistently well. Pupils have not become as fluent in early reading as quickly as they should.

Leaders have recently made some important changes to the teaching of phonics. They should check carefully that the changes made are applied consistently by all staff. .

Leaders have taken steps to put in place an ambitious and balanced curriculum. The planning and sequencing for some subjects, however, are new. In these subjects, pupils do not learn new content and skills in a well-structured and clearly defined order.

This is especially true for geography, history and modern foreign languages. Leaders should improve the subject plans so that they identify the knowledge and skills they want pupils to know and remember.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2010.