Inkersall Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • giving effective support to those teachers whose teaching is not yet good so that they can quickly improve
  • developing the skills of middle leaders so that they can improve the quality of teaching and raise standards in their areas of responsibility
  • ensuring that the trust provides sufficient support and training for the recently formed local governing body as it takes on a more focused responsibility for governance.
• Improve the quality of teaching in order to accelerate pupils’ progress and raise standards by:
  • setting work that offers sufficient and appropriate challenge, particularly for pupils of average ability and the most able pupils
  • ensuring that pupils have sufficient opportunities to write at length
  • promoting a love of reading that extends beyond the classroom.
• Improve pupils’ behaviour and attendance by:
  • ensuring that all teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour
  • continuing to reduce the proportion of pupils who are regularly absent from school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Although only formally appointed in March 2018, the principal is already at the heart of the school. With a clear vision and a culture of raised expectations, she has won the respect of the trust and the governors, as well as many pupils, staff and parents. The principal is ably supported by two deputy headteachers. She has restructured the leadership team so that responsibilities and lines of accountability are clear. After a period of staffing turbulence, the principal’s integrity and dynamic leadership are already beginning to have a positive impact.
• Leaders know the school well. They have identified the school’s strengths and weaknesses precisely. They have an accurate view of the quality of teaching and those subjects and year groups where improvements are required. With clearly identified priorities, the school’s rapid improvement plan meticulously tracks progress towards meeting each one. Leaders know what they need to do to make the school better and have taken action to bring about changes. As a result, pupils’ outcomes are beginning to improve.
• The trust is providing school leaders with good support and appropriate resources. The director of primary education works closely with the new principal, providing her with support. The director of quality and standards carries out audits to check leaders’ judgements. The trust has provided the school with staff and governor training. The work of the trust has been successful in stabilising the staffing and starting to bring about sustainable improvements.
• Senior leaders are increasingly sharing responsibilities with key stage leaders and working together with team coordinators. These middle leaders are very positive about taking on these roles and are keen to develop their skills and expertise. However, to date they have only had limited impact on improving the quality of teaching and learning. Senior leaders recognise the need to develop further their leadership skills.
• Leaders use the additional funding for physical education and sports effectively. In addition to providing good-quality teaching and coaching skills, there are increased opportunities for pupils to participate in a range of sporting activities and competitions.
• Newly qualified teachers are positive about the support they are receiving from leaders and the impact that this has had on their practice.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education well through the curriculum. Pupils have a good understanding of fundamental British values and of different faiths and cultures. They are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders use ‘live’ information to track the precise progress of different groups of pupils in reading, writing and mathematics at any time. However, not all teachers are using the information precisely enough to bring about consistent improvements in pupils’ outcomes across all years and in all subjects.
• Leaders’ use of the school’s pupil premium funding has led to some improvements in the progress and attainment made by disadvantaged pupils. However, some gaps remain in some classes and in some subject areas when comparing the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils with those of their peers.
• Leaders have introduced changes to the curriculum which place a stronger emphasis on improving reading and enriching the learning experience with educational visits. It is too early to evaluate the impact that these changes are having on pupils’ outcomes.
• Staff and parents who responded to their respective Ofsted surveys are very positive about the school. Staff feel respected, motivated and supported well by leaders. Parents welcome the increased number of opportunities for them to get involved in the life of the school. An overwhelming majority of parents would recommend the school to others.

Governance of the school

• The trust is ambitious for what the pupils and the school can achieve. Representatives of the trust work in close partnership with the principal. They know the school’s strengths and the areas needing improvements very well. They rigorously evaluate the progress of school leaders’ actions to achieve the priorities identified on the school’s improvement plan. The trust also provides many professional development opportunities for staff. It supports and challenges school leaders to continue to raise standards and improve pupils’ outcomes.
• The local governing board is new. The trust has recently delegated some responsibilities to the governors. Governors are ambitious for the school and have high expectations. However, governors are not yet able to hold school leaders to account and accurately evaluate the quality of the provision because they do not ask questions that are challenging enough. However, with trust support, the governors are eager to extend and fulfil their responsibilities.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a strong safeguarding culture in school. The school’s team of safeguarding leaders works closely with all staff to ensure that everyone is able to identify possible signs of neglect or abuse. Staff, governors and trust representatives have received appropriate training, including with regard to radicalisation and extremism. They also receive regular safeguarding updates.
• The safeguarding team meets regularly to review the support in place for pupils who are vulnerable. It ensures that the school’s own nurture provision and the work of external agencies are being used to best effect to keep the pupils safe.
• Staff have clear procedures in place for transferring pupils’ safeguarding files to and from the school. They also follow a clear system to ensure that no child is able to go missing from education.
• Pupils’ safeguarding records are kept securely online. They are comprehensive and demonstrate that leaders take timely actions when staff raise any concerns.
• Leaders ensure that the single central register is accurate and up to date. They carry out all necessary checks before adults begin to work or to volunteer at the school. The school’s safeguarding policy is up to date and thorough.
• Parents, staff and pupils agree that the school is a safe place for pupils to be.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching in key stages 1 and 2 is not consistently good. Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of what the pupils are able to achieve. They miss opportunities when pupils could be encouraged to provide explanations and reasons for their answers to deepen their learning. Teachers do not always intervene and move pupils’ learning on quickly enough. When time is wasted, learning is not purposeful and pupils do not make the strong progress over time of which they are capable.
• Leaders are not fully confident in the accuracy of the assessments that some teachers are making of pupils’ progress, particularly at the higher standards. Where teachers are not certain of what pupils are required to achieve at this level, they give pupils work that lacks challenge. As a result, too few of the most able pupils make good progress and achieve high standards.
• Some teachers are not making consistent use of the school’s information about pupils’ progress to inform their planning. As a result, pupils’ learning is not always well matched to their needs. Teachers often give all pupils the same activities, regardless of their earlier learning, and do not move them on to more challenging work quickly enough. This has a particularly negative impact on pupils of average ability and the most able pupils.
• The assessment ‘toolkit’ that leaders have implemented to give pupils feedback about their progress does not always provide teachers with the information that they need. Leaders recognise that the use of the system must be improved so that teachers are able to plan more accurately the next steps in pupils’ learning.
• Too few teachers give pupils opportunities to write at length across the curriculum, with clear guidance and support as to how to do this. Pupils, particularly the most able, do not make the progress of which they are capable in writing.
• Some teachers do not consistently reinforce high expectations for pupils’ behaviour for learning. Consequently, learning opportunities are missed and pupils do not always make good progress over time.
• A notable minority of parents would like to receive more information about how well their children are progressing with their learning.
• Where the teaching of reading is most effective, pupils are able to have meaningful discussions with their peers about the text being studied. They respond to probing questions from the teacher to check their comprehension and they are regularly asked to explain their thinking. Leaders recognise that there is much more work to do if pupils are to read more widely and develop a genuine love of reading.
• Teachers set homework in line with the school’s policy to consolidate pupils’ learning or prepare them for lessons. However, teachers do not consistently monitor pupils’ reading outside of the classroom.
• Where teaching is effective, teachers have secure subject knowledge, helping learning to move on well. Teachers know pupils’ abilities well and deal with any misconceptions that the pupils have.
• Pupils receive good-quality phonics teaching which has a positive impact on their reading and writing skills. Pupils who read to inspectors were able to use their phonics knowledge to read unfamiliar words.
• Most teaching assistants work well with specific groups of pupils and provide valuable support to pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. They have good relationships with pupils and contribute effectively to the progress that these pupils make over time.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school has a friendly atmosphere, where staff nurture pupils so that they can become confident and happy learners. As one parent commented, ‘They go to school happy and they come home happy.’ Relationships between pupils and staff are warm and caring. Pupils say that their teachers help them with any worries or problems they might have. Pupils feel confident that they are safe in school and they look after each other.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. They can explain how to stay safe when using the internet. They have also enjoyed a range of different workshops from external agencies related to, for example, gangs, ‘stranger danger’, safe litter, being healthy and anti-social behaviour.
• Pupils are aware of the different forms that bullying can take. They say that bullying is rare but when it does occur they know that they can talk to someone about their concerns or use the ‘worry monster’ in each room to tell their teachers. Pupils are confident that staff resolve any bullying incidents promptly and effectively.
• The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, confirmed that their children are happy in school, well looked after and feel safe. One parent supported this view by stating, ‘The well-being and happiness of the children are top priority for teachers.’
• Pupils enjoy positions of responsibility which have a positive impact on their self-esteem and personal development. For example, older pupils carry out a dinner supervision in the dining hall, while small groups of pupils from across the year groups share their ideas as part of the ‘working together’ groups.
• Staff support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils spoke to inspectors very respectfully about people with different beliefs and cultures. Pupils are tolerant of others. For example, one pupil said it ‘just wouldn’t matter’ if a pupil had a home lifestyle that was different to their own. Pupils were also able to explain the school’s new ‘starfish’ initiative, which teachers use to encourage pupils to display positive qualities such as tolerance, appreciation and integrity.
• Leaders effectively monitor the attendance, welfare and progress of the small number of pupils who attend part-time, off-site provision.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils’ rates of absence are above the national averages. The proportion of pupils who are regularly absent is too high. This is particularly the case for pupils who are disadvantaged. Too many pupils also arrive late to school each morning. Leaders monitor attendance very closely. They have raised its profile in school and work closely with families to improve their children’s attendance. The attendance of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, while still below that seen nationally, is beginning to improve.
• Instances of exclusion so far this year are higher than in 2017. Leaders have introduced a school nurture group to provide personalised support for pupils’ personal, social, emotional development or specific behaviour needs. Since its introduction, the number of exclusions has fallen.
• A notable minority of parents and pupils commented on poor behaviour in lessons and around the school site, particularly at lunchtimes. Leaders have recently introduced a new behaviour policy so that staff take a consistent approach to pupils’ conduct. As a result, pupils know how to behave well and increasingly do so. Inspectors did not observe any poor behaviour at lunchtimes during the inspection. The school’s behaviour records show that the number of behavioural incidents has decreased.
• Pupils’ conduct in lessons is typically positive where expectations are high and there are clear systems in place. However, in a minority of lessons pupils’ attitudes to learning are not consistently good. In these lessons, pupils are slow to start tasks and low-level disruption sometimes occurs. Where learning is not well matched to their needs, pupils, particularly boys, are easily distracted from their learning. As a result, they do not make the progress that they should.
• Most pupils take pride in their work. In a small number of key stage 1 books, however, the quality of the presentation of pupils’ work is not consistently high enough, although there are more recent signs of improvement.
• The school’s recently introduced ‘SMART’ values help pupils to take responsibility for their actions. They value the awards that they receive and behaviour is improving.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The progress that pupils make is not consistently good in all subjects and all year groups. Too many pupils are not as prepared as they should be for the next stage in their education.
• Pupils’ progress in reading by the end of Year 6 has been below the national average for the last two years and declined in 2017. Pupils, particularly those of average ability, do not make as much progress as they should. Leaders have identified that pupils’ progress in reading across all year groups remains an issue. Their actions to improve reading across the school are beginning to have a positive impact.
• For the past two years, the progress made by Year 6 disadvantaged pupils in reading was significantly below the national average. These pupils also do not make as much progress as other pupils in writing and mathematics.
• The proportions of Year 6 pupils who achieved at the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 were below the national averages.
• Pupils, particularly those of average ability and the most able, are not challenged sufficiently in writing. Consequently, they do not make fast enough progress.
• School assessment information and pupils’ books show that the current progress of pupils in key stages 1 and 2 is inconsistent. For example, while pupils in Year 6 are making stronger progress in reading, writing and mathematics compared to pupils in 2017, the progress of pupils in Year 5 and Year 2 is not rapid enough.
• At the end of key stage 1 in 2017, the proportions of pupils achieving the expected and the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics were at or above the national averages, particularly in mathematics.
• In 2017, the proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check increased compared to 2016 and was higher than the national average. Disadvantaged pupils achieved as well as other pupils.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make progress from their individual starting points that is often good. Staff quickly identify pupils who need to catch up and intervene to ensure that they are taught what they need.

Early years provision Good

• The majority of children enter the early years with skills that are typically below those expected for their age. Most children make good progress from their different starting points, regardless of their different abilities and backgrounds.
• Children’s outcomes at the end of the early years have improved over the last two years. In 2017, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development by the end of Reception was above the national average. The majority of children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Children’s transition into the early years is good. Parents and children have opportunities to visit the school. This ensures that children are well known to adults before they start and so they settle quickly. Staff maintain good communication with parents, keeping them well informed about their children’s progress and developments. This enables parents to discuss any queries regarding their children’s education.
• The learning environment is stimulating and well organised. It supports a high-quality curriculum which meets the needs of the children. Both indoors and outdoors, children are able to develop and hone their skills. As a result, children have rich experiences that ignite their curiosity and imagination. This allows them to make appropriate gains in their learning.
• Children play well together. Well-established routines enable children to move sensibly between different activities. They are able to concentrate for a sustained period of time because the activities are interesting. They demonstrate good behaviour, cooperating effectively and developing positive friendships as a result.
• Leadership and management of the early years are good. Despite recent improvements in the provision, leaders are not complacent. They have high expectations for children’s learning, planning carefully so that children sustain their strong achievements.
• Relationships between adults and children are nurturing and productive. Adults contribute well to building children’s self-confidence and self-esteem. They encourage children to find out for themselves, promoting their thinking. As one child explained, ‘I like this work; it’s fun and I know I’ve done a good job because my teachers will tell me and make me feel proud of myself.’
• Adults’ regular assessments of what children have learned is a growing strength of the provision. They pay close attention to individual children’s needs, using skilful questioning and interventions to move their learning to the next stage. Observations of children who are currently in the early years show that a majority are making consistently good progress.
• Children’s language development is improving. Adults provide well-defined learning opportunities for children to talk with each other. For example, during role play about ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, children engaged confidently, cooperating effectively with each other to create imaginative characters and sustaining their performance to an audience.
• The teaching of phonics is effective. Teachers deploy other adults well to support children of differing abilities and developmental stages. Occasionally, however, adults are not precise in teaching children to use pure sounds. Children leave well equipped to develop their early reading skills when they enter Year 1.
• In 2017, the proportion of disadvantaged children who achieved a good level of development was higher than that of other children. However, current disadvantaged pupils are not making as much progress as their peers.
• Leaders have ensured that there are a wide range of structured activities for children to engage with, both in the indoor and outdoor areas. However, children do not always select some areas of the provision and therefore they miss out on learning opportunities and this slows their progress.
• Safeguarding is effective and statutory duties are met. Adults have had appropriate safeguarding training and take care to ensure that children are kept safe. They are aware of the procedures that are in place to report any welfare concerns they have about a child.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 142043 Derbyshire 10048107 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 416 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Peter Marples Rachel Bailey 01246 472370 www.inkersallprimary.co.uk info@inkersall.derbyshire.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• There have been considerable changes in staffing since the previous inspection. The principal was appointed in March 2018. Since then, responsibilities within the senior leadership team have been reorganised.
• This is the school’s first inspection since becoming an academy. The school has been sponsored by The Spencer Academies Trust since September 2015. The trust holds all of the legal responsibilities for the school. The trust has recently set up a local governing body that is beginning to take on more focused delegated responsibilities for governance of the school.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is above average.
• The school uses the DCAS Centre, Chesterfield as an alternative provider.
• In 2017, the school met the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in 32 lessons. Some of these lessons were visited jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors and senior leaders looked at samples of pupils’ work covering a range of subjects, abilities and year groups.
• Inspectors met with three groups of pupils and spoke informally with pupils during lessons, lunchtimes and breaktimes. An inspector also heard some pupils read.
• Inspectors observed the behaviour of pupils at playtime and lunchtime and as pupils moved around the school.
• Inspectors held a range of meetings, including with: the principal; senior leaders; key stage leaders; subject leaders; leaders responsible for behaviour and attendance; leaders responsible for the early years; the coordinator for the provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities; and newly qualified teachers. The lead inspector met with three representatives of the local governing body, including the chair. The lead inspector also met with three representatives of the multi-academy trust, including the chief executive officer.
• The lead inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of an alternative provider which pupils from the school attend.
• Inspectors met with parents at the start of the school day. They also considered the 52 responses from Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including the 47 responses made through the free-text service.
• Inspectors considered the 24 responses from the pupil survey and the 10 responses from the staff survey.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documents relating to the school’s provision, including: self-evaluation and improvement planning records; minutes of meetings of the local governing body; plans related to additional government funding; behaviour, attendance and exclusion records; information about the attainment and progress of all pupils; safeguarding records; external reports on the work of the school; and information on the school’s website. The lead inspector also checked the school’s single central record and the school’s system for recruiting staff.

Inspection team

Rachel Tordoff, lead inspector Richard Waldron Ann Glynne-Jones

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector