Burnwood Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Burnwood Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love Burnwood Community Primary School. They brim with pride when they talk about their school.

Pupils value how much staff want them to succeed. Leaders, staff and governors are ambitious for all pupils.

Pupils thrive in school and achieve well.

Pupils focus on 'working together to achieve our best'. Teachers have high expectations of pupils. Pupils appreciate a sense of urgency to use their time well in school, learn more and make a difference.

Pupils are rightly proud of their 'Wellbeing Award for Schools' from the National Children's Bureau.<...br/>
Pupils are very well mannered and most behave exceptionally well. Staff celebrate when pupils show acts of kindness to others.

Pupils are confident and resilient. Two children summed up the views of many when they said our school is 'amazing and really encouraging'.

Pupils enjoy exciting activities beyond the school.

They take part in reading and sports competitions, and musicians sing and perform at events. Clubs, trips and visitors help to widen pupils' experiences.

Bullying is rare.

Pupils say staff listen to them and act quickly if there are any problems. Many parents and carers said how caring staff are. The atmosphere in school is calm and purposeful.

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

A strength of this school is that it is such a positive place with a can-do attitude. All pupils, whatever their abilities, are inspired to develop new skills and talents. Staff take them out to see new things.

Every day, pupils are welcomed into school with breakfast, where they talk about how they feel and have an immediate confidence boost.Pupils enjoy reading. They particularly enjoy it when teachers read books to them.

These books are carefully chosen and linked to their learning in other lessons. For example, pupils in a Year 6 class said that reading 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' helped them when studying the Second World War. Pupils could explain and understand the feelings of characters in the book.

Reading for pleasure at home is celebrated and rewarded widely across school.

Phonics is taught well in school. As a result, most pupils are gaining confidence as fluent readers.

Pupils are given books that allow them to practise their developing reading skills. Books are well matched to the stage of phonics they are learning. However, sometimes, pupils are able to read the words in books out loud but they do not always know what the words or phrases mean.

Pupils are confident when explaining their thinking and reasoning. In mathematics and music, pupils show maturity in their explanations. They are linking what they already know to new learning.

For example, in music, pupils show a depth of music appreciation. Pupils know how to read musical notes.

The curriculum broadens the ambitions of pupils.

Teachers make learning exciting. Skilled leadership in subjects such as science, history and music means that pupils succeed. The curriculum develops the pupils' pride in their community and the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

Pupils enjoy thinking like scientists through practical experiments. Lessons build on what they already know. The school has good links with universities to show pupils what opportunities there are locally.

Leaders are now in the process of reviewing other subjects, such as geography and modern foreign languages. Leaders are helping staff to know what to teach and how this links to what has been taught before.

Teachers appreciate the work of leaders and governors in promoting their well-being and mental health.

Teachers say that leaders care about their workload. Teachers and leaders appreciate how much the school invests in their professional development.

In Nursery and Reception, children get off to a great start in a creative, stimulating, welcoming environment.

Efficient routines are established from the outset in the early years. Learning captures the children's interests and involves parents. During the inspection, for instance, parents were invited to see phonics lessons in Reception.

The children concentrated so hard as they taught their parents the games they play in phonics. Parents say this helps them when they read with their children at home. The school's strong practice in the early years is shared with other schools locally and in the wider area.

The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and pastoral team are highly skilled in nurturing and helping children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Relationships between staff and pupils are very positive. Pupils with SEND are making strong progress as they move through school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The strong culture of safeguarding is secure in all aspects of school life. Leaders carefully monitor pupils who are known to be vulnerable.

Record-keeping is detailed. Leaders know the school community. They work tirelessly to engage parents.

This fosters positive relationships. Staff know who to go to if they have a concern. Leaders follow up any concerns rapidly.

Systems of recruitment and induction of new staff are robust.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Some pupils are able to read words but they do not understand what they mean. This limits their comprehension.

In order to improve this, leaders should continue to share the good practice in many classes to make sure that all staff check for understanding when reading with pupils. . Leaders are in the process of bringing about improvements in some foundation subjects.

Leaders are using the high-quality science and music curriculum as exemplars. Leaders should continue to develop the remaining foundation subjects to ensure that they are as strong as the best.

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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 7–8 October 2015.