Valence Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Valence Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

The school encourages pupils to be respectful of others and of the differences between people. Through the curriculum, the school motivates pupils to be independent and to work hard. Leaders have high academic expectations of all pupils.

In class, pupils do not disrupt the learning of others and listen keenly to teachers. All pupils enjoy 'going for gold' as part of the school's behaviour rewards system. Pupils are safe.

There are many opportunities for pupils to take up positions of responsibility. For example, pupils have proposed and helped to organise over forty pupil-led clubs..., that include movie-watching, dance and herb growing. Pupil eco-warriors promote healthy living, lead assemblies and recently grew vegetables and sold them at a local market.

Clubs such as multi-sports, ballet, football and mindfulness are popular. The school makes sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully involved in all the personal-development activities that the school has to offer.

Leaders organise regular outings to deepen pupils' knowledge of the curriculum.

For example, pupils in Year 5 attended a sporting residential to build their resilience, and in Year 2 pupils visited a local city farm to expand their knowledge of animals and science.

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

The school has designed an ambitious and broad curriculum for all pupils, including those with SEND. This curriculum includes a new programme for teaching early reading with increased rigour.

Pupils who need help to keep up with their peers receive regular, consistent, high-quality support to help them with their reading. In the early years, the curriculum provides children with the skills, including communication and language, that they need in preparation for Year 1.

Teachers have effective subject knowledge.

In a few subjects where specialist knowledge is needed, including physical education, the school makes use of subject specialists to deliver lessons alongside classroom teachers. Teaching breaks learning into small steps that help pupils to learn and remember key content so that pupils are well prepared to succeed academically. For example in music in Year 2, lyrics, syllables and rhythms of a new song were taught to pupils step by step before pupils learned the song's melody.

In the Nursery across both sites, adults encourage children to use their imagination, expand their vocabulary and to take turns when using resources with others.

Typically, teaching checks that pupils understand what they have been taught. However, occasionally teaching does not check as routinely that all pupils understand and remember what they have been taught.

When this occurs, memorising and building key subject content over time is hindered.

The schools' leaders are highly reflective and accurately aware of the school's strengths and areas for further development. The governing body takes an active role in supporting the school.

During governance 'open days' governors visit the school, and speak to pupils and staff to understand and evaluate the school's work to drive continual improvement. The school regularly checks that teachers' workload is manageable and ensures that the wellbeing of staff is maintained.

The impact of all these strengths is evident in some of the school's published academic outcomes.

For example, outcomes in the phonics check in Year 1 have increased significantly in recent time. Results in the multiplication tables check and in mathematics assessments at the end of Year 6 are significantly above national. Pupils' written work across subjects and outcomes in writing national assessments are not as high.

The support provided for pupils with SEND is routinely strong. In mainstream classes, all staff working with pupils with SEND have detailed knowledge of their specific needs. They use this knowledge to adapt resources effectively and ensure that pupils with SEND are supported effectively.

In the additionally resourced provision, pupils with SEND are particularly well assisted. Staff provide clear structures for pupils and communicate skilfully. Pupils in the provision are happy, calm and focused on their learning.

The Nursery assessment resourced provision is equally well led and managed. Staff here guide children to explore new knowledge, develop new skills and teach the children to communicate clearly.

Pupils' attendance rates are significantly above the national average.

This is because the school has strong professional relationships with families and very high expectations. In addition, the school identifies rapidly any pupils who may require support to attend school, and where necessary quickly provides families with all the support that they need.

Pupils behave very well in class.

They want to do well and take pride in their work. They listen carefully and respond positively to staff and to their peers. Staff sort out any problems that occur, swiftly and thoroughly.

In the early years, children are focused on their learning, both in class and when they deepen their learning through play.

The school council contributes to the school's decision-making. For example, they created a 'quiet zone' in the playground for pupils to relax and play board games.

The school council also organised a 'dress to express' day to raise money for charity. Pupils compete in sports competitions frequently in the borough, including netball, golf and tennis.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. All staff know the pupils well and recognise the signs to look out for to identify a pupil that may be at risk of harm. The school provides pupils identified as being at risk with a range of support, from within the school and through work with external agencies.

However, the processes to ensure that pupils who leave the school mid-year are safe before they are taken off the school's roll are not as rigorous as they should be.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum for developing pupils' writing does not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to master its key building blocks. As a result, the quality of pupils' written work across subjects is not as high as it should be.

This is reflected in the published academic outcomes for writing in key stages 1 and 2. The school should ensure that the writing curriculum supports pupils systematically to develop their transcription, fluency and compositional writing skills across all subjects.

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 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2014.