Three Spiresschool

School report

Three SpiresSchool

Kingsbury Road, Coventry, CV6 1PJ

Inspection dates: 3-4 October 2012

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2

This inspection: Inadequate 4

Achievement of pupils: Inadequate 4

Quality of teaching: Inadequate 4

Behaviour and safety of pupils: Good 2

Leadership and management: Inadequate 4

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires special measures.

Too many pupils do not learn to read, write, communicate or do mathematics well enough during their time at the school.
Teaching is inadequate. Lessons are often enjoyable for pupils but teachers do not plan well enough to make sure that pupils are gaining the most important skills and knowledge that they need.
Leaders and teachers do not know enough about what pupils can do and what they need to learn next. Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ learning and progress are inaccurate and have been for some time.
Because assessment is weak, teachers do not receive good enough information about their new classes each year. This is a particular problem when children move from the Reception class.
The headteacher has been too generous in the judgements she has made about the quality of teaching. This is not helping teachers to improve their practice so that pupils learn better. Governors have not been aware of this weakness.
Pupils with the most complex needs are often busy but teachers are not clear about what they want them to learn. The school has not been decisive enough about what should be happening in these classes.

The school has the following strengths

The school has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Pupils are keen to come into school when they arrive in the morning and settle quickly into their classes.
Pupils’ behaviour is good. Those with behavioural difficulties make good progress with this aspect of their personal development.
The school makes good use of its extensive grounds including the allotment and woods.
Break times and lunchtimes are relaxed and sociable times where many pupils make good progress with their social skills.
Procedures to ensure that pupils are safe are good
The school works well with parents and carers. Those who spoke or wrote to inspectors expressed how pleased they are with how the school helps their children.

Information about this inspection

Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 10 lessons and parts of four other lessons. Four of these observations were joint observations with senior leaders. They also observed break and lunchtimes.
A group of pupils took an inspector on a tour around the school. Inspectors also listened to some pupils read and talked to them about reading.
Inspectors held meetings with senior leaders, staff, three representatives of the local authority and two members of the governing body.
They talked to some of the parents and carers who brought their children into school, and looked at the 10 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and two letters from parents or carers.
They scrutinised a range of documents, including: pupils’ work and the school’s information about pupils’ progress; the school’s evaluations of teaching; the school’s development plan; minutes from governors’ meetings; and information about the school’s management of teachers’ performance.

Inspection team

Sue Morris-King, Lead InspectorHer Majesty's Inspector

Roisin ChambersAdditional Inspector

Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

Information about this school

Three Spires caters for primary aged pupils with moderate or severe learning difficulties. Around half the pupils have autistic spectrum disorder. Many have additional sensory difficulties, emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, physical disabilities, or medical needs.
Over a quarter of pupils are known to be eligible for the Pupil Premium (additional government funding).
While some pupils start at Three Spires in Nursery or Reception, others join later, having previously attended a mainstream school or another special provision.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

Improve the quality of teaching so that pupils of all abilities learn more by:
- accurately assessing pupils’ current levels of attainment and any barriers to their learning
- ensuring that this accurate assessment information is used to identify the next steps that pupils need to take in their learning
- making sure that teachers are clear about what they want pupils to learn in each lesson and that the activities they plan help the learning to take place
- developing an appropriate curriculum to meet the needs of all pupils, initially concentrating on the curriculum for those with the most complex needs
- consistently using signing and symbols with children who need these to support their learning.
Improve leadership and management at all levels, including leadership in the classroom, by:
- improving the rigour with which assessment records about pupils’ learning and progress are collated, moderated and analysed
- using this improved information to analyse where further or different action is needed to enable pupils to learn more across the curriculum
- using a broad range of evidence to make robust judgements about the quality of teaching
- using this range of evidence to provide teachers and other staff with the appropriate level of training, support or challenge, according to their individual needs
- ensuring that governors receive accurate information about pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance so that they can challenge and support the school appropriately.
An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

Inspection judgements

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

Overall the progress that pupils make is too patchy. The school is not clear enough about what it wants pupils to achieve in English, mathematics or other subjects. Neither leaders nor teachers track the development of these skills properly so they are unclear about how well pupils are achieving. Some pupils make good progress with aspects of their learning, such as their personal and social skills.
Pupils do not make enough progress with their communication skills. Pupils who need to learn to sign in order to support their language development do not have enough opportunities to develop and practise this skill. In turn, this hampers their ability to express their needs and to make choices.
Some pupils with moderate learning difficulties make steady or good progress with aspects of their reading and writing. The English books of some of the older pupils showed that they were learning the skills of writing; for example, writing from left to right, forming letters clearly, using a range of vocabulary and spelling with increasing accuracy.
Pupils whose needs are more complex, including many of the pupils who have autistic spectrum disorder, do not make enough progress because the school is not clear enough about what they should be learning.
More able pupils, including those in the Reception class, do not always achieve enough in lessons because the work is not sufficiently challenging for them or because teachers do not notice quickly enough when pupils have mastered a new skill.
There is no discernible difference in the achievement of pupils for whom the local authority receives additional funding through the Pupil Premium, and that of other pupils.
Pupils who join the school having experienced difficulties at another school or setting often achieve well once they have settled, because they enjoy the positive atmosphere and the small classes.
Many pupils respond very well to music sessions and to music in physical education lessons. As well as developing new listening and social skills, music supports pupils’ spiritual and cultural development effectively.

The quality of teaching is inadequate

Teachers’ planning includes the activities that they want pupils to do in lessons, but too often does not explain what they want them to learn. This is reflected in the lessons themselves, where pupils are busy and often happy but not always learning enough.
The weaker lessons are not structured well enough to meet the needs of different pupils so often all pupils do the same activities. In the stronger lessons, teachers have thought carefully about every pupil’s learning needs, and planned the activities accordingly. For example, in an English lesson observed during the inspection, some pupils had made puppets in pairs, and others had filmed themselves wearing different hats, to explore the concept of playing different roles.
Teachers of the classes with more complex needs are hampered in their work by a lack of clarity
about the curriculum. Since the last inspection, the school has tried various approaches to teaching, but has not robustly monitored and evaluated the impact of different strategies. This has led to some confusion about what pupils should be learning.
Teachers use the woodland and allotment areas well to extend pupils’ learning as well as their social and spiritual development. However, the outdoor spaces outside each classroom are not always used well enough as teaching areas.
Communication skills are promoted well at social times, such as arrival at school, break and lunchtimes. However, in lessons, teaching does not concentrate sufficiently on this crucial aspect of learning. Staff have been trained to use signing systems but do not do so consistently, which means that pupils who need to do not learn to sign as well as they should.
Symbols are used reasonably well in some classrooms to promote understanding and independence, but not in others. They are not used extensively or frequently enough with pupils with the most complex needs.
Teaching assistants and teachers work well together in teams. Teaching assistants have good, supportive relationships with the pupils. Sometimes they are not as effective as they could be because teachers have not planned well enough what they want the pupils to learn when working with the teaching assistants.

The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

Pupils’ behaviour is good. Staff encourage pupils to be considerate towards each other and pupils respond well to this, often treating each other kindly. Older and the more able pupils take a good level of responsibility for their own behaviour.
Pupils respond well to the learning opportunities they are given. They cooperate well together in lessons and try hard to complete their work.
At break times, all children apart from the youngest, play together in the playground. This enables pupils to socialise with those from other classes and develops their understanding of those with different needs to their own. Staff encourage pupils to play cooperatively, which many do, although some prefer to have some time alone.
The school works effectively with pupils who have challenging behaviours related to their learning difficulties. They involve parents and work with outside agencies as necessary. Pupils’ behaviour improves significantly as a result.
A number of pupils join Three Spires from mainstream schools where they have often demonstrated challenging behaviour. These pupils settle quickly and their behaviour improves significantly, which has a positive impact on their learning.
Pupils learn about staying safe, according to their needs and their level of understanding. Older pupils were able to explain to an inspector how they keep themselves safe while using computers.
The school’s records indicate that bullying seldom occurs. Pupils thought that bullying did not happen in their school, but knew what to do if it did.
Important procedures to keep pupils safe are well organised, such as when pupils are arriving at school and leaving at the end of the day or using the outdoor space.

The leadership and management are inadequate

Leadership and management are inadequate because the school’s evaluation of its own performance is inaccurate and generous. Until recently the school has not realised that its own assessments and records about pupils’ progress were inaccurate and based on a weak system of assessment. This means that the school has not accurately identified underachievement of different groups of pupils, for example those who are eligible for Pupil Premium funding.
The process for setting targets for pupils’ progress is very weak. Apart from general targets on individual education plans, targets are only set for pupils from one key stage to another. No milestones are set for the levels that pupils should be reaching by the end of each term in order to reach their end of key stage targets.
Where pupils do not reach their targets at the end of Key Stage 1, a lower target is set for Key Stage 2. This is part of the reason why pupils are underachieving.
There is little evidence of what pupils achieve from one year to the next, which makes it difficult for new class teachers to get off to a good start with new classes each September.
Since her appointment last term, the deputy headteacher has rightly identified that assessment information is inaccurate and that staff’s understanding of assessment is weak. She has taken appropriate steps to begin to put this right. She has started to make links with other schools to set up a process of moderating pupils’ work with other teachers.
Teachers’ performance management arrangements are not rigorous enough because they rely too heavily on single lesson observations and a dialogue with staff. In judging the quality of teaching, the headteacher pays too little attention to how well teachers help pupils to make progress on a day to day basis.
The lack of an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching means that senior leaders have not always given teachers suitable support or challenge to improve aspects of their work. The deputy headteacher supports the newly qualified teachers well in the time that she has available to do so and they appreciate this support.
The deputy headteacher and a member of the extended senior team have made some initial inroads into improving the curriculum, but this work is at a very early stage.
The local authority has not been aware of the serious weaknesses that exist in the school. Recently they have become aware of the flaws in assessment processes and have helped the school to make links with other schools in the authority and in a neighbouring local authority. The support and information from the local authority about moderation of pupils’ work in mathematics has been helpful.
The headteacher and deputy headteacher have good relationships with parents and carers, who as a result feel welcome in the school.

The governance of the school:
- the effectiveness of governance has been hampered by the information the governing body has been given. For example, previous assessments and records about pupils’ learning and progress have given the wrong impression that pupils have been making good progress in English and mathematics. Governors are rightly aware that pupils have been making good progress in their personal development. Minutes of meetings show that governors have asked some appropriate questions about pupils’ progress but have not had the specialist knowledge to probe more deeply
- the governing body ensures that safeguarding procedures meet current government requirements and it pays close attention to pupils’ welfare.

What inspection judgements mean

School

Grade / Judgement / Description
Grade 1 / Outstanding / An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment.
Grade 2 / Good / A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment.
Grade 3 / Requires improvement / A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection.
Grade 4 / Inadequate / A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.
A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

School details