Emersons Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Emersons Green Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2018 with Elizabeth Jenkins, Ofsted Inspector, 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 2014. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. On your appointment in January 2016, you swiftly identified what the school does well and what needed to improve. You and your leadership team set about making the changes necessary to improve standards an...d build upon the school's strengths.

You set high expectations for all staff and pupils. You hold teachers and leaders to account for pupils' progress. You also ensure that your staff have the necessary skills to carry out their roles well, which they appreciate.

Your constant effort to improve the school is proving very effective. For example, you quickly realised that standards in mathematics in key stage 2 in 2016 were not high enough for the most able pupils. Alongside your mathematics leader, you introduced a new approach to teaching mathematics, focusing on developing pupils' mathematical fluency and reasoning skills.

Leaders ensure that teachers challenge the most able mathematicians in lessons and develop pupils' skills so that they can tackle complex mathematical concepts and problems. In 2017, more pupils achieved the higher standard in mathematics at the end of key stage 2 than in 2016. As a result of your leadership, the majority of pupils, including those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, make strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

The school's inclusive ethos runs through the heart of everything it does. Leaders at all levels are committed to providing the best education for all pupils, no matter what their need. Pupils are very proud of this.

A typical comment made by a pupil was that, 'Our school is inclusive: it's accessible for all pupils.' At breaktimes and in lessons, pupils of all abilities and needs work and play alongside each other. Older pupils know to look after younger children.

Pupils play together readily as a result of the good relationships they have with each other. This has led to a school that is warm and welcoming to all its pupils. Safeguarding is effective.

You and your staff demonstrate a strong commitment to safeguarding pupils' welfare. Regular training and updates ensure that all staff are informed about the latest guidance. You make thorough checks on the suitability of staff, governors and volunteers before they are appointed.

The newly introduced school system enables leaders to access and monitor this information more readily. Governors are aware of their role and come into school to check that the correct systems and procedures are in place. You carry out thorough risk assessments to ensure that the school is a safe place.

Staff know what to do if they have a concern about a child. Leaders act swiftly to address any safeguarding issues that might arise. Pupils say that the behaviour in and around school is good.

They are polite and courteous to adults and each other. Pupils say that bullying is rare and it is dealt with promptly by staff if it does occur. Pupils feel safe in and around school.

Parents are confident that their children are kept safe in school. Pupils know what to do if they have a concern about anything and feel confident that any issues will get sorted out by an adult. Pupils have a good knowledge of how to keep themselves safe online.

Inspection findings ? At the beginning of the inspection, we agreed on the lines of enquiry to consider during the day. These included establishing what actions leaders take to ensure that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities achieve well. We also agreed to see how effectively teaching in key stage 1 ensures that pupils, especially the most able, make good progress.

We agreed that I would explore how well leaders have improved the quality of teaching in writing so that pupils, including boys and the most able, make good progress. Finally, I considered whether safeguarding is effective and steps you have taken to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. ? Emersons Green Primary School has a special educational needs resource base that supports pupils with visual impairments and physical disabilities.

The number of pupils with an education, health and care plan is well above the national average. Many pupils have complex needs and require high levels of additional support. Previously, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities made inconsistent progress as they moved through their time in school.

Leaders rightly identified this as an area of the school to improve. All leaders are fully committed to pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities achieving well and receiving an inclusive education. Teachers set high expectations for all pupils in their class and ensure that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities receive the right support to access the curriculum alongside their peers.

Leaders check on pupils' progress regularly to ensure that learning is well matched and welfare needs are being met. Staff are well trained to support pupils with more complex needs. As a result, the progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is consistently good across the school.

The leader for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has introduced a new approach that monitors these pupils more closely. This gives teachers and leaders clear information to better support pupils' learning. However, this new approach is not fully embedded.

• Following a dip in standards at key stage 1 in 2016, you and your leaders wasted no time in bringing about rapid improvements. Leaders ensured that the quality of teaching improved. They put in place measures to support staff to match work to the new, higher expectations.

Pupils have risen to that challenge and standards in 2017 were above the national average for reading, writing and mathematics at the expected level. However, you were not satisfied with this because standards for the most able pupils did not rise so rapidly. Teachers now challenge the most able pupils more effectively, helping them to achieve the standards they are capable of.

More pupils are working at the higher standard than before. In addition, pupils who have progressed into key stage 2 have caught up to age-related expectations. ? Standards in writing have not always been good enough across the school, especially for boys and the most able pupils.

You accurately identified this upon your appointment and set about doing something about it. With your support, leaders set about changing the curriculum to include high-quality texts that engage reluctant writers. Pupils did not always use punctuation and grammar accurately enough in extended pieces of writing so they did not write as well as they could.

Leaders support teachers to ensure that standards for each year group are clear. Teachers now support pupils to write using good levels of punctuation and grammar for their age. More pupils achieved the expected standard in writing at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2 in 2017 than in 2016.

There is now a strong culture of boys' writing, particularly in the Reception class and in key stage 1. Across the school, standards in boys' writing have risen and the gap between boys' and girls' writing is diminishing as boys catch up. Standards for the most able in key stage 1 are improving but this is not the case throughout the school.

Writing standards for the most able are not as strong in key stage 2, because teachers do not match learning accurately enough for these pupils to achieve well. ? In 2016, attendance figures for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have complex SEN and/or disabilities were below the national average. Leaders keep a close eye on pupils' attendance and support pupils to attend school regularly.

There has been a significant improvement in attendance as a result. Attendance is now above the national average for disadvantaged pupils and is improving for pupils who have complex additional medical needs. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teaching in key stage 2 challenges the most able writers to reach the higher standards they are capable of ? leaders with responsibility for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities embed the school's new approach to assessing their achievement.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for South Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Richard Lucas Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, both inspectors met with you, your senior and middle leaders, governors, staff and pupils.

I also spoke to a local authority adviser for South Gloucestershire on the telephone. We visited lessons jointly with other leaders to observe learning. We looked at pupils' workbooks, together with other middle leaders.

We considered documents relating to the impact of the school's work, including the school's development plan, self-evaluation document, safeguarding documents, attendance information, minutes of governing body meetings and governors' reports. I took into account 94 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, and spoke to parents as they dropped off their children at the beginning of the school day. There were four responses to the pupil survey and I also took into account 21 responses to the staff survey.

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