Grove Wood Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of outstanding as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school's next inspection will be a graded inspection.

The headteacher of this school is Richard Green. This school is the only school that is part of The Grove Wood Academy Trust. Trustees also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Guy Blakesley.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils arrive excited to start the day. They are enthuse...d by their lessons and try hard.

When asked about their learning, pupils are exuberant in their responses. Most pupils learn and achieve well.

Pupils enjoy the facilities, resources and opportunities provided for them.

In addition to the wide range of well-considered trips, visits and visiting speakers, pupils access a huge array of clubs. Pupils appreciate that the school listens to them and creates the clubs that match their interests.

Pupils show exceptional kindness and care to each other and their staff.

They role model the school's SPARK values (strive, positivity, achieve, respect and kindness). Pupils strive to be positive members of their school community. Pupils' behaviour is exemplary.

As they get older, pupils value the array of opportunities to take on roles and responsibilities, such as reading ambassadors, house captains and school council executives. They act as excellent role models for younger pupils.

Pupils feel safe because they trust staff to look after them.

They say that staff help pupils to sort out any minor disagreements. Most feel that bullying never happens. When asked what could be improved about the school, many pupils told inspectors, 'Nothing, it's perfect here.

We don't want to leave.'

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

Since the previous inspection, the school has continued to develop the scope and breadth of the curriculum, especially extra-curricular opportunities. This is a remarkable strength of the offer to pupils.

Staff, many of whom have been at the school for some time, teach areas such as early reading, English and mathematics effectively. As a result, most pupils learn and achieve very well in these areas. However, in some subjects, curriculum planning, staff training and the school's monitoring are less well developed.

In these subjects, pupils do not develop the same deep understanding they achieve in the other subject areas. This prevents them from applying learning in more complex ways.

Starting in Reception, pupils of all ages and abilities enjoy rhymes, stories and reading.

Staff deliver the school's chosen phonics programme effectively. Books and resources that pupils use closely match the sounds they are learning. The youngest pupils access daily phonics sessions, one-to-one reading with adults and wider reading opportunities.

Many pupils go on to read fluently and independently. As pupils get older, they have many opportunities to read, including in the school's two well-used libraries.

The provision for pupils' well-being is exceptional.

This includes for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Over time, the school has worked tenaciously to increase the support on offer to pupils, including through additional speech and language therapy and the well-trained inclusion team. Staff help pupils to develop independence and confidence.

Pupils, parents, staff and leaders are part of a close, and remarkably caring, community that supports and helps each other. Parents and staff are overwhelmingly positive. Parents value the welcome given by the staff, especially the inclusion team, who they say are readily available to help make the start of the day a positive one.

Staff value leaders' calm and measured approach to their workload.

Trustees and governors bring a wide range of expertise and undertake many aspects of their work with precision and incisiveness. However, the school's approach to monitoring does not provide them with sufficiently precise information about the difference work is making to those pupils who need help to catch up academically, including some pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some areas of the curriculum are not precisely planned, delivered and monitored. In these areas, teachers make decisions about the content that is taught, without sufficient training and oversight from the school.

As a result, pupils are completing tasks that do not provide them with a rich understanding of the subject. The school should ensure that curriculum planning, staff training and leaders' monitoring improve the quality of pupils' learning in these subjects. ? The school, including trustees and governors, does not know precisely the difference that intervention, extra help, one-to-one support or additional funding make to those pupils who need extra help to catch up, including for some disadvantaged pupils.

This is especially the case in reading and mathematics. The school and those responsible for governance should ensure that there are mechanisms to check on the effectiveness of additional support and funding in helping the most vulnerable pupils to learn and achieve well.

Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.

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 would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which 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 outstanding in June 2017.

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