Amblecote Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Pupils are proud of their good school. Leaders have taken robust action to address the areas for development identified by the previous inspection and, as a result, all aspects of the school's provision have improved strongly.

This has had a significant impact on raising pupils' levels of achievement. The school shows a good capacity to sustain this improvement. Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and pupils speak of their appreciation of the way they are taught and cared for.

The following are typical of comments they made: 'Teachers make learning fun', and 'Teachers always help you when you are stuck and care about you.' Children make an exceptionally good start to school in th...e outstanding Early Years Foundation Stage. Attainment and rates of progress across the school have accelerated rapidly over the past three years.

Pupils are enthusiastic and enjoy the many active and exciting tasks provided for them. Parents and carers expressed their confidence that the school will keep their children safe and pupils share this, showing a good understanding of how to look after themselves. They behave well and are welcoming and confident in speaking to visitors.

Attendance, however has been low, with a higher than average proportion of persistent absentees. Support to promote regular attendance is now beginning to show an impact and the school recognises that this remains an area for improvement. The quality of teaching across the school is good and some is outstanding.

Teachers plan well to meet the differing needs in their classes. They provide a stimulating environment and a range of resources to excite their pupils and stimulate their imagination. When teaching is outstanding, pupils are able to independently evaluate their own work and that of others against clearly stated success criteria.

They are able to identify what they have to do to produce high quality work, and can edit and develop what they have written. However, this is not the case in all lessons. For example, a very small minority of teachers allow an activity to go on for too long before they assess how well pupils are learning.

This results in some pupils losing focus because they do not understand the task or those of higher ability being insufficiently challenged. Marking of pupils' books is likewise inconsistent in the quality of advice provided. Although targets are set for development, sometimes this lacks the detail required to ensure pupils understand what they need to do to reach the next level.

The good curriculum is broad and balanced. Enrichment activities feature strongly and provision in music is a key strength. Some aspects of care, guidance and support are outstanding, particularly in the arrangements to secure a smooth and happy transition to the next class or key stage.

The school provides excellent care for those pupils for whom circumstances may make them vulnerable and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, involving a wide variety of external agencies. As a result, these pupils are well included and achieve well. The headteacher is supported by a dynamic and vibrant team.

Together, they have ensured that the quality of teaching and learning and pupils' achievement have improved. They have achieved this by robustly addressing the issue of assessment, ensuring that teachers have a better understanding of assessment practice and rigorously holding all teachers to account for the progress of their pupils. Progress is well monitored and underachievement identified and addressed.

Although the school's leaders, including the governing body, have effectively addressed the weaknesses identified in the previous inspection and have identified priorities for future development, currently their self-evaluation procedures are insufficiently rigorous to provide an effective overview of the impact of the provision on all pupils' outcomes.

Information about the school

Amblecote is an above average-sized primary school serving a diverse community. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is below that found nationally and there are currently no pupils who speak English as an additional language.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above average and the proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average. The school provides breakfast and after-school clubs and there is a privately-funded pre-school for children aged three to four years on the same site managed by the governing body. The school has Healthy Schools status.