Stoke Heath Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Stoke Heath Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 27 February 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in March 2015. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Stoke Heath Primary remains a vibrant, fun place to learn and is meeting its aims of being a school where pupils and staff enjoy learning and celebrate success. Since taking up the headship in September, you have got to know the school well....

You work closely with the previous headteacher, who is now the executive headteacher and together you have identified appropriate priorities aimed at improving outcomes for pupils. An example of this is the new provision for two-year-olds. This started in January, following the analysis of the 2017 and 2018 early years assessment results which showed that children now enter the school working at levels well below those typical for their age.

Although in its infancy, this provision is already beginning to have a positive impact on developing young children's personal and social skills. Pupils are happy and proud of their school. They are polite and well mannered, and their conduct around the school is excellent.

They enjoy learning and were enthusiastic to talk to us about their work when we visited them in their classrooms. They were confident when explaining what they were learning about. Classrooms are calm places that contribute to a purposeful learning environment.

The areas for improvement recommended in the school's previous Ofsted inspection have been met. You have worked on improving pupils' handwriting and the presentation of their work. The books we looked at were well presented and pupils from a young age are taught how to form their letters.

You reviewed your marking and feedback policy and ensure that teachers adhere to this. You also strengthened provision in mathematics by ensuring that pupils were provided with more opportunities to solve problems and apply their mathematical skills. This has resulted in improved standards in mathematics across the school so that now, by the end of key stage 2, pupils are making progress that is well above the national average.

You monitor teaching and learning well and use the information you gain to plan effective training and support for teachers and learning support assistants. This has strengthened the quality of teaching and learning. Members of the governing body have a good understanding of the work of the school, including its strengths and areas for development.

They provide robust challenge and hold leaders to account. They are very supportive of you and your leadership team and share your vision of providing high-quality education to all pupils. In the past, pupils did not make strong enough progress through key stage 1.

They did not build well enough on their good level of development in the early years. For instance, those who worked above the expected level by the end of Reception did not achieve greater depth at the end of Year 2. In order to address this, you have made improvements to the teaching in key stage 1 and this is beginning to have a good impact on the progress made by pupils.

However, these new approaches need to be fully embedded to ensure that, in this key stage, all pupils achieve the standards of which they are capable. Although pupils in key stage 2 make broadly average progress in reading and writing, you are now working on improving this to match their progress in mathematics. You and your leadership team have analysed the reasons for the discrepancy and have made improvements to strengthen the teaching of reading and writing.

Evidence from your own assessment information and examples of pupils' written work show that these improvements are beginning to have a positive impact on standards in reading and writing across the school. These approaches need to be fully embedded to ensure that the progress made by pupils in reading and writing matches the strong progress made in mathematics by the end of key stage 2. Safeguarding is effective.

Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements and the school website contains the required information. The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of good quality. Appropriate procedures are followed during the recruitment of staff.

You have established a strong safeguarding culture, ensuring that all staff and governors regularly undertake appropriate, up-to-date training. As a result, your staff are knowledgeable about the procedures for keeping children safe and know what to do if they have any concerns. Pupils say they feel safe in school.

Parents and carers agree. Your 'families' group works very well with parents to ensure that those who are experiencing challenges are well supported. Your designated safeguarding lead and deputy safeguarding leads work well together, and with the local authority, to ensure that pupils are well cared for.

Written records are appropriate and well maintained. Support and advice are sought from external agencies where necessary and referrals are made in a timely way. Pupils demonstrate a clear knowledge and understanding of some of the potential risks they face and how to avoid them.

The pupils I spoke to had a clear knowledge about how to stay safe when using the internet. They also have an age-appropriate understanding of a range of different types of bullying and what to do if it happens to them. They say bullying in school is rare and the school's behaviour logs support this.

Inspection findings ? When they enter the school in Nursery and Reception, children demonstrate skills and abilities that are well below those typical for their age. A good number are learning to speak English as an additional language. As a result of effective teaching throughout Nursery and Reception, children quickly develop their skills, knowledge and understanding across all areas of the early years curriculum.

While the proportion achieving a good level of development at the end of their Reception Year is still below the national average, this represents good progress from their starting points. ? The proportion of children achieving a good level of development fell in 2017 and 2018. Using your monitoring and evaluation systems, you were able to identify the reasons for this and implement the necessary improvements to provision.

Teachers plan the curriculum carefully in order to meet children's individual learning needs. There is a clear focus on developing children's personal and communication skills. Leadership in early years is highly effective.

• In addition, the school's new provision for two-year-olds is providing pre-school children with the experiences and opportunities to strengthen their early skills. This provision is already beginning to have an impact on children's language and their personal and social development. The school's own assessment information shows that children currently in the early years are making good progress towards meeting their end-of-year targets.

• Published data shows that, for at least the last three years, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 has been below that found nationally. Too few pupils make strong progress through Years 1 and 2. In addition, not all of the pupils who achieve the higher standard at the end of their Reception Year go on to achieve greater depth at the end of Year 2.

• You have taken action to address this, including providing training for teachers to enable them to support pupils with high prior attainment more effectively. You deploy staff carefully to ensure that their strengths are well used, and you have enhanced the curriculum to ensure that pupils are more engaged in their learning. You are providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length, across the curriculum, thereby developing their stamina for writing.

In addition, you also ensure that teachers provide greater challenge for pupils in mathematics. ? Your own assessment information shows that, as a result of the actions taken, there are now more pupils in key stage 1 making good progress. There are also more pupils working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

However, this needs to be monitored carefully to ensure that pupils, including those working at greater depth, make the gains they are capable of. ? In 2017, the amount of progress made by pupils in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2 fell. In 2018, progress in mathematics picked up strongly but progress in reading and writing failed to improve to the same degree.

Following analysis of the reasons for this, you implemented improvements to strengthen teaching in reading and writing across key stage 2. There is now a greater emphasis on teaching specific reading skills and developing pupils' understanding of vocabulary. You have raised the profile of reading and provided workshops for parents to enable them to support pupils' reading at home.

To strengthen writing, you ensure that pupils who require additional support receive this quickly. You are also making sure that pupils with high prior attainment acquire the skills they need to be able to write at greater depth. ? You monitor closely the progress made by pupils.

You have identified that standards in reading and writing are improving this year. This is substantiated by evidence in pupils' books which shows the overall quality of pupils' writing is improving. Pupils are able to use a wider range of vocabulary and their use of spelling, punctuation and grammar is also improving.

However, this needs monitoring closely to ensure that the progress made by pupils in reading and writing matches the strong progress they make in mathematics. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the progress made by pupils in key stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics improves so that more pupils are able to achieve the standards they are capable of by the end of Year 2 ? standards in key stage 2 in reading and writing continue to improve so that the progress made by pupils in these subjects matches the strong progress made in mathematics. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Coventry.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Janet Satchwell Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection With a member of the senior leadership team, I visited classrooms and looked at examples of pupils' work. I examined a wide range of documentation, including the school development plan, the school's self-evaluation document and records of safeguarding.

Throughout the inspection, I held discussions with you and your senior leadership team, including the designated safeguarding lead. I met with three members of the governing body, including the chair. I considered the 17 responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, including nine comments sent via free text.

I also reviewed the responses to the pupil survey and 45 responses to the staff survey. I spoke to pupils and observed their behaviour throughout the school day. I reviewed the school's website.