Greenmeadow Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Greenmeadow Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 June 2017, 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 October 2012. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school. Since the last inspection, you have ensured that pupils continue to achieve well. For example, in 2016, the proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching the expected level for their age in the combined subjects of reading, writing and mathematics was considerably higher than at the... national level.

As headteacher you have high aspirations for pupils. You challenge both teachers and pupils to continue to improve their work to ensure that pupils reach the best outcomes. You, your senior leaders and governors evaluate the school's performance accurately and identify clear actions to raise standards.

You track and monitor pupils' progress during the year and hold teachers robustly to account for the progress of pupils in their classes. This means that the progress pupils make continues to improve. Pupils say they enjoy learning and many are keen to improve their work.

The broad curriculum helps pupils to learn well. For example, during the inspection a number of classes were taking part in dance lessons with evident enjoyment and skill. Pupils mention English, mathematics, science, art and physical education as subjects they particularly enjoy learning about.

The school is a calm and orderly environment where pupils behave well around the school building, at lunchtimes and within lessons. At the time of the last inspection one of the things the school was asked to do was to improve the reading of boys, particularly those of middle ability. Pupils across the school, including boys, read well and with enjoyment.

For example, in Year 2, pupils read confidently to me from their reading books and from a complex text on dinosaurs, making good use of phonics to work out any unfamiliar words. Boys in Year 4 were able to accurately identify the information they needed from a text to answer comprehension questions. Pupils are regularly challenged to extend their reading skills.

For example, in Year 5, pupils were challenged to use their skills of inference and deduction when writing questions of their own based on a passage from 'Oliver Twist'. Year 6 pupils told me they felt that their reading has improved, because they are now reading more complex texts. Safeguarding is effective.

Leaders have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed, up to date and carefully maintained. The training they receive means that staff and governors know what to do if they have a concern about a child. The recruitment and induction arrangements for new staff are effective and emphasise the school's culture of safeguarding children, so that any risk is minimised.

Pupils strongly state that they feel safe, happy and enjoy school. They are very clear that they know who to talk to if they have a worry or concern and that adults will quickly help them. Parents agree that their children are happy, safe and well looked after in school.

Although some parents who responded to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, felt that the school does not deal well with issues of bullying, this was not substantiated during the inspection. Pupils of different ages have a clear understanding of what bullying is and say it does not happen often, if at all. They are very sure that adults will help them sort it out.

Inspection findings ? My first line of enquiry was to check on the progress pupils make across key stage 2. Since the last inspection, pupils have achieved highly in reading, writing and mathematics. However, in 2016, Year 6 pupils' progress in reading and writing was slightly below the national level.

In reading and mathematics, fewer most-able pupils reached higher standards than nationally. Through their analysis, leaders have clearly identified this group as a key focus for the school. However, my visit highlighted that while pupils are very clear about what they need to do to reach the expected standard, it is less clear for the most able pupils what they need to do to improve their work further.

• You identified that pupils need to widen the vocabulary they use in their writing, and in response you have increased the range of good-quality texts that pupils use. This has resulted in improvements in pupils' writing; for example, in Year 6, the use of 'The Arrival' has led to quality writing from pupils of all abilities using a range of genres. The use of appropriate texts for reading comprehension means that pupils' reading and writing are both improving further.

However, there are occasions in their writing when pupils do not spell correctly the words they learn as a part of their English work. ? I looked in particular at how well boys write. Many boys write well, particularly by the end of key stage 2.

Pupils' current progress in writing shows that boys and girls are making similar progress. However, while pupils are clear about what they need to do to reach the expected standard in writing, it is less clear for the most able writers what they need to do to improve their work further. Scrutiny of pupils' work across the school shows that, for both boys and girls, the quality of handwriting is not high enough.

There have been some improvements in pupils' handwriting recently but these are not yet consistent across the school. You agree that the quality of pupils' presentation of their work can vary from subject to subject. This is because teachers do not always ensure that the skills pupils learn in their English lessons are successfully transferred into their learning in other subjects.

In some classes, this is particularly visible in mathematics and science books. ? The school has recently changed the way mathematics is taught, in order to increase pupils' depth of mathematical understanding. This change in approach includes support for those who need to catch up.

Across the school, pupils are very enthusiastic about the way mathematics is now taught. They say that the more pictorial methods really help them understand new concepts soundly and quickly. Talking with pupils and looking at their work shows that they have a good grasp of number and calculation in particular.

Pupils can increasingly explain their understanding in mathematics. For example, pupils in Year 4 could talk to me about how and why they had ordered the angles of a quadrilateral using their knowledge of the properties of angles. ? My next line of enquiry was to check how well disadvantaged pupils do in the school.

Leaders monitor carefully the progress of disadvantaged pupils. They put in place effective strategies, such as additional opportunities to read to adults in school. Because of these strategies, disadvantaged pupils are making more rapid progress.

Teachers' expectations for disadvantaged pupils are high and, as a result, there are times when their progress is stronger than that of other pupils, for example in writing at key stage 2 and in all three subjects at key stage 1. Disadvantaged pupils' attendance is improving so that it is closer to that of other pupils. Governors have a clear rationale for the allocation of the additional funds for disadvantaged pupils and have ensured that this money is effectively spent.

• Finally, I looked at how well the school supports pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Evidence seen during the inspection showed that these pupils often make progress from their relative starting points similar to their peers. The school's leader for special educational needs and/or disabilities monitors carefully pupils' progress and evaluates the impact of the additional programmes pupils receive.

She makes sure these are changed to match pupils' needs. For example, the move to a different intervention for phonics has resulted in a marked increase in pupils' skills this year. Additional adults are used effectively, striking a delicate balance between supporting pupils and promoting pupils' independent skills.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the quality of pupils' handwriting and presentation is improved and becomes consistent across curriculum subjects ? pupils' spelling is improved so that they use accurately the words they learn to spell ? pupils, including the most able pupils, know exactly what they need to do to work at a higher level, particularly in writing. I am copying this letter to the chair of governors, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Swindon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Sarah O'Donnell Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and other senior leaders. We talked about developments in the school since the last inspection. I looked at safeguarding records and tested out your recruitment and vetting procedures.

I held discussions with governors, including the chair of governors, and talked with a representative of the local authority. I talked to teachers and support staff around the school. Together, we visited lessons and carried out a learning walk across the school.

We talked to pupils about their learning and looked at their books. I heard a group of pupils read and asked other pupils to read to me from the texts they were working on in their classes. I observed pupils at lunchtime.

I met with groups of pupils to talk about their life at school. I considered the 16 responses to Parent View and the 12 comments submitted. I received a letter from a parent.

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