Florendine Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Florendine Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work and play together happily. They say that they feel safe in school because staff take time to get to know them well. Pupils know how to stay safe, for example when they use the internet, because they are taught about it in school.

Pupils say that bullying is rare. They know that if it does happen, adults would deal with it quickly. Pupils behave well in class and around school and everyone understands the clear behaviour code based on respect.

Pupils show caring attitudes towards each other. Older pupils like to help younger ones, for example as play leaders.

...>Teachers have high expectations.

They plan interesting ways to help pupils to learn about the world, such as the Earth Week focus on the environment. This helps pupils to see a real purpose for their learning, so they work hard and achieve well. Teachers encourage pupils to read lots of good-quality books.

Leaders have developed a curriculum that focuses on developing pupils' personal values. They have drawn up a list of character traits to aspire to as a person, learner and citizen. These are promoted well in lessons and around school.

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

Leaders want every pupil to do well. Curriculum leaders are enthusiastic about their subjects and develop them well. They have drawn up a curriculum which helps teachers to link subjects together.

Teachers plan the order in which pupils learn and practise their skills. This is so that pupils build up their knowledge and remember more. This works well in most subjects, but the way pupils build up their skills and knowledge in geography and history does not work as well as in other subjects.

Leaders make sure that pupils have experiences that help to develop them, such as the Year 6 residential visit to Shugborough. Visitors and special events such as the 'hello yellow' mindfulness day also add to pupils' enjoyment of school. Occasionally, the pupils organise special weeks themselves, for example the 'Flogwarts' activities.

Pupils also raise money for charity, take part in concerts and productions and learn about other faiths and cultures. They work well in pairs and groups and show respect to adults and each other. Pupils know the difference between right and wrong.

They respond to teachers' high expectations and behave well in class.

The teaching of mathematics has been reviewed by leaders. They knew pupils were not achieving well enough in the past.

Teachers now plan work to build up pupils' knowledge over time. They set problems and ask pupils to explain their answers. They match tasks to different pupils' abilities.

Mathematics is now taught well. This helps all pupils to achieve well. Results in 2019 show that standards in Year 2 were above the national average in mathematics.

By the end of Year 6 standards were still below average, but work I saw in current pupils' books shows they are achieving well.

Teachers help children to learn phonics as soon as they start school. The teaching of phonics is strong and ensures that children gain the understanding of sounds and the words they need to read fluently.

Pupils in Years 1 and 2 have reading lessons every day and older pupils read regularly. Teachers read aloud at story times. This helps pupils to develop a love of reading.

Adults notice when any children fall behind, and they help them to catch up quickly. In reading lessons, pupils read from books that match their knowledge. This is not always the case in some other lessons in key stage 1.

Leaders need to make sure that questions and tasks in lessons other than reading also match pupils' reading abilities.

Children make a strong start to their learning in Reception and settle quickly into school. Adults understand how children learn and help children to feel safe and secure.

Staff create interesting learning activities. These encourage children to learn about the world around them. Adults encourage children to be independent, for example when recording their work on tablet computers.

The leader for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) looks after pupils with SEND very well. Individual plans and targets are created for them to work on. The extra help from teachers and teaching assistants ensures that these pupils know and do more in lessons and over time.

Staff morale is high. This is shown by the very positive responses to the staff survey. Staff value the way leaders ensure that their workload is manageable, for example by changing the way teachers mark pupils' work.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The leader for safeguarding ensures that all staff have the training and up-to-date information they need to keep pupils safe. Staff know their responsibilities and how to report any concerns they have.

Leaders act quickly to deal with concerns and work well with agencies that can provide help. Leaders carry out all the required checks to ensure that adults are safe to work with children. Leaders carry out thorough risk assessments to identify potential hazards in school.

Every parent who responded to the online survey Parent View said that their child feels safe in school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Pupils' reading books are carefully matched to their phonic knowledge. They provide opportunities for pupils to practise their phonic knowledge before moving to the next stage of reading.

However, in lessons other than reading some of the weakest readers in key stage 1 are expected to read words that are too difficult for them. Leaders should ensure that tasks and questions set for these pupils more accurately match their stage of reading. .

Much of the curriculum is taught through themes that link subjects together. The themes are carefully planned to ensure that pupils enjoy learning, see its relevance to the real world and build their knowledge and skills as they move through the school. Within some themes, learning in history and geography is not always as clearly ordered as it is in other subjects, and the breadth of these subjects is not fully covered.

Leaders need to ensure that the curriculum is planned so that pupils build their knowledge and skills in history and geography sequentially. They should ensure that all the aspects of these subjects set out in the national curriculum are taught.

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 Florendine Primary School to be good on 20–21 January 2016.