Ashwood Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Ashwood Park is a school where everyone is made to feel welcome and valued for who they are.

This is particularly noticeable in how deaf pupils from the Resource Base for the Deaf (RBD) are actively involved in all aspects of school life. Many pupils and staff use sign language to foster a strong culture of inclusion.

The school has raised its expectations around pupils' behaviour.

Pupils understand why the '4 Rs' rules are important and are keen to follow 'The Ashwood Way'. They learn how to behave and interact well from Nursery onwards. Pupils of all ages play happily together at social times.

Pupils are keen to learn and are attentive in lessons. ...Many take pride in the work they produce. However, a significant number of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, do not achieve well by the time they leave the school.

Pupils are proud of their contribution to school life, including as 'Ashwood Ambassadors' and being part of the school council. They enjoy the clubs on offer and trips that take place, such as the Year 6 outdoor education residential. From the 'toddler library' to the diverse book selection around the school, pupils learn the enjoyment to be found in reading.

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

Children in the early years learn and develop well. The school has thought carefully about the foundations they want to secure for all children to be ready for the move into Year 1. Children benefit from discrete sessions in phonics, literacy and mathematics, alongside well-planned activities to support their learning through play.

Staff skilfully support the development of children's language and communication.

The school has made reading a priority. The new phonics scheme is resulting in stronger outcomes.

Those pupils who are not secure readers receive timely and appropriate support to help them make rapid progress.

There have been several changes to the curriculum in recent years, resulting in a broad and ambitious curriculum in place for all pupils. However, there is variation in how well teachers use this information to design and deliver sequences of learning for their classes.

Pupils' learning does not always build sequentially. Sometimes, the key knowledge that pupils need to secure has not been identified. Sometimes, pupils' knowledge is not checked effectively, either at the point of learning or in formal assessments.

As a result, some pupils move on before they have secured their learning and misconceptions go unnoticed.

Because pupils do not learn the curriculum to a consistently high standard over time, many do not achieve well in the end of key stage 2 tests. This includes a significant proportion of disadvantaged pupils.

The school is working to address this, but outcomes are not improving quickly enough. Many pupils leave the school without the secure reading, writing and mathematics knowledge they will need for future success.

The school ensures that any pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities develop well academically and socially.

Their needs are expertly identified. Staff make appropriate adaptations to their teaching to meet the needs of these pupils. The RBD 'pathways' ensure that deaf pupils can access the curriculum within mainstream lessons as much as possible.

Staff support these pupils exceptionally well, enabling them to use communication methods and language most appropriate to their needs. Deaf pupils also learn about deaf culture and identity.

The school has worked hard to build a stronger culture around good attendance.

Attendance of all groups of pupils has improved and is now broadly in line with the national average. Because of the supportive pastoral work that takes place, the number of persistently absent pupils has significantly reduced.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and understand the risks they need to be aware of.

For example, they recently learned about water safety as the school is bordered by a canal.

Governors and school leaders work hard to support the pupils and families they serve. However, there has not been a rigorous enough focus on ensuring that pupils' outcomes improve quickly.

There is not always a precise understanding of what needs to be improved and how progress will be checked to ensure improvements bring about the desired impact. There are areas of the school where this is done more effectively and improvements are evident, including aspects related to attendance and early years provision.

Parents and carers value the way their children develop at Ashwood Park.

One parent, representative of many, said that their child 'always comes away smiling'. This was evident in the happy, chatty pupils that inspectors met.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There is variation in how well the curriculum is designed and implemented at class level. Key learning is not always clearly identified or sequenced in a way to support the cumulative building of knowledge. Assessment does not always align with the key knowledge pupils need to master.

As a result, pupils do not always secure each stage of their learning. Some gaps in learning or misconceptions go unnoticed. This impacts how well pupils achieve.

The school should ensure that all staff know how to implement the intended curriculum effectively. ? Not all leaders know their areas of responsibility well enough. In some subjects, there is not a secure understanding of how the intended curriculum is being implemented.

Assessment information is not always used regularly enough to know how well pupils are learning and if any changes to the curriculum are needed in response. The school should support all subject leaders in strengthening their knowledge about the pedagogy and assessment specific to their subject area. ? The school knows that pupils' outcomes at the end of Year 6 are too low.

Improvement plans often lack the precision needed and a sense of urgency. As a result, outcomes for pupils are not improving quickly enough, especially for those who are disadvantaged. Governors should ensure that the school improvement strategy is more precise, more rigorously monitored, and that there is a greater sense of pace to improving outcomes for all groups of pupils.