Prince Albert Junior and Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school. Every aspect of this school's work is exceptional.

Outstanding leaders at all levels work exceptionally well together to ensure high quality teaching throughout the school. As a result, teaching is outstanding and pupils achieve exceptionally well. Governors have rightly supported the school's innovative approaches to organising the way pupils are taught.

They have equally held senior leaders sharply to account for the impact of these decisions. Hence, governors have played a key role in the school's success. Leaders maintain a strong focus on continually improving the school.

It has improved in every area of its work si...nce the last inspection. Pupils' behaviour is impeccable. They work extremely hard in lessons and conduct themselves sensibly around the school.

Pupils make a significant contribution to the life of the school by carrying out responsibilities with great maturity. The school does everything possible to prepare all pupils for life in modern democratic Britain. The core values of commitment, respect, friendship, honesty, equality and understanding permeate all that the school does.

Teaching is precisely focused on the needs of each and every pupil. Teachers are exceptionally skilled at identifying what each pupil needs to learn next. Learning activities are skilfully designed so each pupil is suitably challenged.

Pupils' newly acquired skills are reinforced through interesting activities which allow them to explore and investigate purposefully. Teachers and teaching assistants work very hard to ensure all pupils speak and understand English very well. The emphasis on building pupils' spoken language helps them become capable readers and writers.

Teachers use pupils' good speaking, listening and thinking skills to help pupils learn successfully in mathematics, science and a wide range of other subjects. Procedures for keeping pupils safe and secure are of the highest quality. The Early Years Foundation Stage provides an exceptionally good start for children.

They settle in and start learning English quickly. Children make excellent progress, so by the time they complete the Reception year, they are exceptionally well-prepared to start Year 1.

Information about this school

This is a very large primary school located to the North of Birmingham city centre.

Most pupils are of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin and speak English as an additional language. The very large majority are beginners in English when they join the school. Just under half of the pupils are disadvantaged and eligible for support through the pupil premium (additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or in care).

This is higher than that in most schools. Just over a third of the pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. This is much higher than in other schools.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is made up of six Nursery groups and six Reception groups known as 'family groups'. Children attend both full-time. A breakfast and after school club, managed by the governing body, operates on the school site.

The school has a large team of pastoral staff that supports the welfare and wellbeing of pupils and families. This team is based in a designated area of the school, known as 'The Arches'. The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.

The school has established a teacher recruitment programme in conjunction with a number of local universities and works closely with a local grammar school to provide broader experiences for pupils. The school has been visited by headteachers and other senior education professionals from across the West Midlands to learn from the school's approach to teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language. Learning for pupils in Years 1 to 3 is organised in the same way as in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

This means pupils experience a combination of adult-led activities, including direct teaching, and opportunities to identify what they wish to do for themselves. In January 2013, the, then, headteacher was asked by the local authority to provide support to address weaknesses at Heathfield Primary School in Handsworth. After a period of significant turbulence within Heathfield School, the two schools are now fully federated.

The federation is governed by a single governing body. The former headteacher is now executive headteacher at both schools. The previous deputy headteacher is now head of school at Prince Albert.

Other senior staff have specific roles within Prince Albert and across the federation. The executive headteacher is a local leader in education (LLE). This is a designation awarded by the National College for Teaching and Leadership in acknowledgement of a headteacher's proven capacity to lead successful school improvement.

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