Forest Glade Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Forest Glade Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 November 2018, 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 November 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

Forest Glade is a warm, happy and welcoming school. Since your appointment to executive headship, you have appointed a strong head of school, who is ably supported by a passionate and knowledgeable team. You have continued to provid...e drive, ambition and focus, resulting in improvements in all aspects of school life.

You put the safety and welfare of pupils and families at the centre of all you do, and this approach is valued by all members of the school community. You and your team have built upon the strengths identified at the previous inspection, undertaking research to bring about further improvement. The governors are knowledgeable and are committed to supporting and enhancing the provision in school.

They engage with staff and pupils and are a visible presence in school. There is a strong sense of community which permeates the school's ethos and is rooted in the motto, 'Family, Growth, Potential'. The aims of the school are embedded throughout the curriculum, ensuring that pupils receive a rich and rewarding learning experience.

The Victorian building has been expanded and modernised and all spaces are used creatively with displays of recent learning throughout the school. On my visit to classes, pupils were engaged and focused on their activity and interested in their learning. Pupils could tell me about what they were learning and why they were undertaking the activity.

One pupil explained, 'Everything is interesting and fun; it makes me want to learn.' As a consequence of the enjoyable learning environment, attendance is high because pupils want to come to school. Leaders have made good progress towards the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection.

As a team, you have developed the concept of 'responsive learning' to quickly identify where pupils are succeeding or falling behind, and adapt teaching to meet the learning needs of individuals. Lessons are structured around 'super challenges' and 'awesome tasks', which provide a scaffold for pupils to strive for the highest levels of learning. The introduction of 'learning powers' has been instrumental in pupils taking more responsibility for their own efforts in learning.

The redesign of the curriculum has allowed for a more thematic, cross-curricular approach to writing, incorporating different styles and genres of writing in all year groups. These changes have culminated in much-improved progress and improved results in national tests for pupils throughout the school. You have considered how to increase opportunities for problem solving in mathematics, which is beginning to have a positive impact on developing reasoning skills for older pupils and those who are the most able.

However, further development is needed in this area to bring about even more opportunities for pupils of all abilities to practise applying their knowledge to tackle mathematical problems and develop their reasoning skills further. Affording equal opportunities for all pupils is at the heart of your vision for Forest Glade School. Your staff are highly skilled at supporting individuals with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and are passionate about helping pupils who have been excluded from other schools to integrate and succeed.

One parent explained, 'The school have gone above and beyond to help our child and have been most supportive when things have been rough.' The responses from parents on Parent View, and in conversations during the inspection, were overwhelmingly positive and full of praise for the approachable, caring and committed staff. Governors have a range of skills that they use effectively to develop and enhance provision and systems in school.

They have a secure understanding of the strengths and areas for development, detailed in the strategic planning for the school. They are adept at managing money and have increased staffing to successfully support vulnerable pupils throughout the school. The demand for a Nursery facility has increased over the last few years and well-managed funds were directed to redesign space to allow this to happen.

The new Nursery provision opened in September 2018; it is extremely popular and almost at capacity for the start of the spring term 2019. Indoor space for all of the early years is purposeful, but the outdoor space does not yet contribute as effectively as it could to children's development. Safeguarding is effective.

There is a vigilant culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff and governors are well trained and have a thorough knowledge of the indicators of abuse, as well as the potential local concerns in the community. Key members of the safeguarding team undertake extensive training to help them provide effective support for pupils and families from complex and difficult circumstances.

Policies and procedures are current and staff know the importance of following the school's protocols, which they do conscientiously. Records are meticulously kept and stored securely. Governors routinely audit the records, policies and provision to improve the safeguarding arrangements throughout the school.

Pupils feel safe and trust their teachers to keep them safe. If there is any kind of incident, such as a 'lock-down' practice, teachers keep pupils calm, tell them what to do and reassure them. Pupils have a good understanding of what is meant by bullying and were adamant that this hardly ever happens.

If there is a rare incident, staff react quickly and parents appreciate the good communication to keep them informed as to how things have been resolved. During my visit, conduct in and around school was of a high standard and pupils played cooperatively during breaktimes. Parents confirmed that they are confident that their children are safe at school.

There was a very strong recommendation of the school to other parents from the Parent View responses. Inspection findings ? Most pupils at Forest Glade make good progress. Tracking systems have been improved to allow teachers to quickly identify if a pupil is not making expected progress.

Teachers are skilled at analysing individual needs and ensure that effective provision is swiftly allocated to help pupils make better progress. As a result, there have been marked improvements in progress and attainment in key stage 2 over the past few years. Provisional information would suggest that in 2018, outcomes in reading and writing were significantly above national expectations, both at the age-related expectation and at the higher level.

• The development of a rich and wide-ranging curriculum, which is uncompromising in promoting British values and the arts, has been instrumental in inspiring pupils to engage in their learning. The recognition by leaders that the teaching of science was not as effective as other subjects prompted a major review and change to the curriculum. By following the Science Quality Mark, the school has developed a vision based on clear principles that has significantly improved scientific knowledge and understanding for both staff and pupils.

First-hand experiences that create awe and wonder are now at the core of the science curriculum. ? Cross-curricular writing with a purpose, such as creating poems for Remembrance Day or writing a letter to the Queen, has significantly improved the quality of writing at key stage 2 and is beginning to have an impact in key stage 1. The recent initiative to increase vocabulary and develop pupils' more sophisticated language is also having a strong effect on improving the quality of writing in all subjects.

• There has been a considerable focus on developing the teaching of mathematics throughout the school. As with other subjects, the emphasis has been on reducing 'teacher talk' and encouraging pupils to discuss their learning to advance their thinking. In many classes, this is effective, and evidence of mathematical reasoning can be seen in pupils' books.

However, progress in mathematics, as well as the number of pupils reaching the higher levels at the end of key stage 2, were not as strong as for other subjects. ? The early years foundation stage team is skilled and enthusiastic and aims to provide children with a highly effective beginning to their school journey. Its members make every effort to get to know the children well and build positive relationships with families.

Parents are thrilled with the care that is given to their children to help them settle quickly and enjoy their school experience. There have been steady improvements in the number of children reaching a good level of development, which in 2018 was in line with national levels. ? The recent formal collaboration between local schools is seen as an exciting opportunity by staff to extend networking and develop their practice.

They are already committed to using research methods to improve learning and teaching and regularly engage in professional dialogue to tease out how to bring about improvement. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? there are increased opportunities for pupils of all abilities use their knowledge and understanding to develop mathematical reasoning skills and reach the higher levels of learning ? the provision in the outdoor early years setting matches the quality of that indoors. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Nottinghamshire.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Kate Nash Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, we discussed your own evaluation of the school, and I shared my key lines of enquiry with you. You and your senior leadership team accompanied inspectors as we visited each class, spending a short time in each.

We met with several other members of staff, three governors (including the chair of the governing body), a group of pupils and a number of parents. We held discussions with different leaders about safeguarding, attendance, behaviour, the curriculum and measuring pupils' progress. We viewed a range of documents and considered information related to attendance and how the pupil premium funding is spent.

Together with your leadership team, we looked at a wide range of pupils' work. I examined the school's website to check that it meets the requirements on the publication of specified information. I analysed the 13 responses to Ofsted's questionnaires for parents, Parent View, and the 20 staff responses and 34 pupil responses to the Ofsted questionnaire.