Coppice Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Coppice Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their lessons and are happy.

Pupils know they are well looked after by staff and feel safe.

The school has lofty expectations for all pupils' achievement. Pupils know they must aim high.

In lessons, pupils work hard and successfully reach the high expectations.

Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They are polite and well mannered.

Pupils have respect for each other and the adults in school. Pupils speak eloquently about knowing they can turn to a teacher if they need he...lp or support. Bullying is rare.

When it happens, the school acts diligently and resolves any issues quickly.

Pupils enjoy the many extra activities provided. These include an annual skiing trip to Italy, visits to theatres in London and sleepovers in a local aquarium.

The school works with several musical centres of excellence. Performers from the Welsh National Opera provide pupils with opportunities to learn from the best. Pupils play a wide range of musical instruments in school.

There are plans for them to perform confidently at venues such as the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and work with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. These activities help build independence and life skills in pupils.

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

Children get off to a positive start to their learning in the early years.

Parents and carers appreciate the support provided by school before children start in September. Children settle quickly because they know the routines and what the school expects of them.

Children start to learn the basics of reading as soon as they join the school.

Phonics is well taught and helps children to flourish and become confident, fluent readers. The teaching of early writing and mathematics is effective. It provides children with firm foundations for their future learning.

When leaving Reception, children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Reading is a high priority in school. The school carefully tracks the progress pupils make in learning to read.

Staff skilfully identify those who fall behind and provides swift help so pupils catch up rapidly.

The revised school curriculum introduced last academic year is broad and ambitious. It is carefully sequenced and enables pupils to build on their prior learning.

This is helping pupils to know and remember more. Pupils speak with confidence about what they have learned before and how it helps their current learning. At the end of Year 6, pupils achieve high outcomes.

They are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Teachers have good subject knowledge. 'Knowledge organisers' provide key learning reminders for pupils across the curriculum.

Many teachers use assessment well to check on learning. Occasionally, teachers do not check pupils' understanding systematically enough so do not clearly understand what pupils have learned or what they should do next. This hinders opportunities for pupils to fully deepen their knowledge and understanding.

Subject-specific vocabulary is not always modelled precisely enough in a few lessons. Sometimes, staff do not explain fully what they expect pupils to do in their learning tasks. This leads to some confusion among pupils around completing learning tasks.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are swiftly identified by the school. The school puts carefully designed programmes of support into place for these pupils. These interventions impact positively on pupils' learning.

The school works well with many external partners to successfully support pupils with SEND.

The school forensically tracks pupil attendance to help check that all pupils attend school regularly. It follows up any absence trends it identifies diligently.

The school provides highly tailored extra support for pupils and families when needed. This has helped the school to increase the attendance of specific groups of pupils.

The school provides many wider development opportunities for pupils, including taking on extra responsibilities.

These include house captains and vice-captains, who check on behaviour at the end of breaktimes. There is a head boy and a head girl, who build leadership skills in their roles. The route to these sought-after positions is through application and interview.

Pupils enjoy conducting research in the local community. This helps them to confidently strike up conversations with adults.

Leaders have sustained the school's performance during a period of change.

The introduction of the new curriculum and other changes the school has made have reduced workload for staff. Parents are enthusiastic about the school. This parental comment is typical: 'Awesome school! I love dropping my child off knowing they are safe, that they love their teachers and have a smile on their face at the end of every day.'



Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not consistently model subject-specific vocabulary with enough precision when explaining learning tasks to pupils. This means a few pupils cannot clearly understand what teachers expect of them.

The school should ensure greater precision in the use of subject-specific vocabulary. ? Occasionally, teachers do not routinely assess what pupils know with enough accuracy. As a result, some pupils have too few opportunities to fully deepen their knowledge and understanding.

The school should ensure ongoing checking is accurate so all pupils can deepen their knowledge and understanding.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website.

From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection.

A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in April 2019.

How can I feedback my views?

You can use Ofsted Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school, or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school's pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route).

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