Sharley Park Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the weaker aspects of teaching in key stages 1 and 2 by ensuring that: in all classes, the activities pupils work on are always purposeful and match the lesson’s learning objectives in all subjects, teachers have high expectations of their pupils and provide sufficient challenge for the different ability groups all teachers track pupils’ personal reading closely and encourage them to read a wider range of books.
• Improve the outcomes for disadvantaged children by the end of Reception Year by: working with the local pre-school providers so that the children have better developed skills when they start at Sharley Park encouraging more parents to follow the online records of their children’s learning and to contribute their own observations to these records working with parents to ensure that disadvantaged children attend as regularly as other children.
• Improve communications with parents to gain the confidence and the full support of the small minority of parents who have concerns about behaviour and currently would not recommend the school to others.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The two headteachers are ambitious leaders. Their expectation is that pupils will reach standards in reading, writing and mathematics at least as high as the national averages. This ambition is realised because of an unremitting focus on how well pupils are learning.
• All staff know that nothing less than consistently good teaching is acceptable at Sharley Park. Leaders give plenty of support to staff to help them improve their teaching. As a result, the school has built upon the strengths in teaching identified at the previous inspection.
• Leadership is shared effectively through senior and middle leaders. Leadership of early years, English, mathematics and special educational needs is particularly effective. The strong contribution that these leaders make to school improvement means that the school is well placed to continue improving.
• The school uses the pupil premium successfully to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make good progress. The progress of each disadvantaged pupil is checked closely. If there are signs of underachievement, staff know that they must adjust their teaching to make it more effective.
• The curriculum includes a wealth of enrichment activities. These include forest school, prayer space, educational visits, opportunities for residential experiences throughout key stage 2, and a trip to The Netherlands. Pupils and parents both value highly these aspects of the curriculum. They make a strong contribution to pupils’ learning and to their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used well. Many pupils, in all key stages, take part in sporting and other physical activities. Disadvantaged pupils participate in high numbers. This is a good example of the school’s commitment to equality of opportunity for all.
• Funding to support pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities helps them succeed at school just as well as other pupils. Parents of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities value the expertise and the care their children receive at Sharley Park. External agencies too, such as educational psychologists, are full of praise for the quality of the school’s work. They say that the school is very successful in ensuring the well-being of all of its pupils as well as their good personal and academic progress.
• Displays around the school and in classrooms show the school’s commitment to promoting equality and British values. Pupils learn about democracy when they decide upon their class charter and when they vote for their representatives on the school council. Throughout the school, there are many respectful references to Remembrance Day.
• A small minority of parents are critical of how school leaders respond to issues they raise and the standard of behaviour in the school. Inspectors looked into these concerns. They found that while a handful of pupils do present challenging behaviour, overall behaviour is good and that the school does take into account the views of parents. However, leaders recognise that a review of the strategies they use to communicate with parents would be valuable.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They gain first-hand insight into the school’s effectiveness through regular visits to see the school at work and to meet with staff.
• Governors have a range of skills and experience. They use these to support senior leaders in their efforts to raise attendance, ensure the well-being of vulnerable pupils and to hold the school’s headteachers to account through rigorous performance management.
• Governors keep a close eye on the finances of the school. They check very carefully that the school is getting good value for money when making significant spending decisions. They know how funding for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities is used and its impact upon these groups of pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has a team of four designated safeguarding leaders. They work closely with all staff to ensure that everyone is alert to any signs that may suggest possible neglect or abuse.
• Staff are unswerving in their commitment to the safety of children. They challenge any external agencies whom they judge do not respond appropriately to their referrals. Staff are resilient when dealing with the challenges that are often faced by those working to protect young children.
• The school has successfully fostered a culture that ensures that pupils are comfortable in seeking support from a range of staff. Staff work effectively with families and other agencies to ensure the well-being of children whose circumstances may make them particularly vulnerable. Representatives of these agencies commented very positively on the quality of the school’s work to protect children.
• The school’s safer recruitment procedures and records are fully compliant with the government’s requirements.
• All staff and governors attend safeguarding and child protection training on a regular basis. They fully understand how to keep children safe in education.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching in mathematics is strong throughout the school. Teachers have good subject knowledge. They explain ideas carefully and provide a good range of resources to help pupils deepen their understanding of the concepts being taught. Pupils who spoke with inspectors all said that they enjoy mathematics lessons. This was shown in an outdoor lesson where pupils worked together on measuring activities. The lesson was lively and fun and the standard of work was high.
• To improve outcomes in writing, teachers have increased the amount of time pupils spend talking and reading about the topics they are going to write about. This means that pupils are better prepared for writing independently than in the past. There is encouraging evidence that they are writing more confidently. They are using a wider range of vocabulary and applying their knowledge of punctuation and grammar accurately.
• Pupils enjoy reading. The great majority of those heard reading were fluent and expressive readers. They could self-correct when necessary. The time spent reading in preparation for written work is helping pupils to understand the key features of different types of texts.
• Some teachers do not monitor pupils’ personal reading closely. This means that opportunities are lost to encourage pupils to read a wider range of authors and types of books.
• Pupils’ books show that in English and mathematics, work is pitched well to meet the range of abilities in each class. Lower attaining pupils make good progress because teachers use questions and reassuring words to keep them focused and confident in lessons.
• Pupils record their work in subjects other than English and mathematics in a single book. In some classes, the quality of work in these books indicates that teachers lower their expectations. For example, often pupils all have the same learning objectives despite their different abilities. This means that the most able pupils do not gain the subject-specific skills and knowledge of which they are capable.
• Pupils were full of praise for the help they get in class from teaching assistants. Both lower- and higher ability pupils benefit from their skilful support.
• Teaching in science has improved following feedback from pupils. Pupils told the subject leader that they wanted more opportunities to work scientifically. There are some good examples in books of pupils conducting their own experiments and finding things out for themselves.
• Phonics lessons are planned carefully to build upon the pupils’ earlier learning. Adults model the sounds that letters represent confidently. They target questions carefully to keep all pupils on task. They successfully motivate pupils and use a variety of methods to encourage and reward pupils. This is helping pupils who find the work challenging to master the skills being taught.
• There is a good range of helpful additional support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Staff know the precise needs of individual pupils well and draw upon a wide range of resources and expertise to ensure that they all make good progress.
• In a small minority of lessons, pupils work on tasks that do not help them gain the skills identified in the lesson’s learning objectives.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The curriculum includes a range of topics and visitors to help pupils deal with anxiety and to promote good mental health. The school uses specialist staff to work with individual pupils. This work includes helping individuals to cope more successfully with situations that make them feel frustrated or angry.
• There are plenty of different ways for pupils to contribute positively to the life of the school. The school values their opinions and ideas. Members of the school council have a keen awareness that their role is one of service. They can give strong examples of how they have acted on the views of others.
• Discussions with pupils show the value of sessions they have about ‘stranger danger’ and personal safety while online. They also benefit from having road safety information from the local police community support officer, fire safety talks from the local fire service and visits from the NSPCC. The school has good links with the local healthy schools team. The team delivers workshops on dental hygiene, an area of particular relevance in the school.
• The pupils have a good understanding of the unfairness and hurt caused by racist and other prejudiced attitudes. The curriculum and school assemblies give a high priority to highlighting the consequences of morally right and wrong actions. These contribute to the pupils’ generosity when fund-raising and the warmth of relationships throughout the school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and during the less structured times of the school day. They understand and support the school’s clear expectations of behaviour.
• A handful of pupils in the school have great difficulty managing their behaviour. Their peers speak with maturity and sensitivity about the issues that make it so difficult for these pupils to follow the school’s clear rules about behaviour. Pupils praised the effective ways that staff deal with challenging behaviour.
• Pupils say that generally they all get along very well. Staff, including mid-day staff, deal quickly with any arguments that occur and any bullying is soon sorted out. Pupils who are upset by any less serious issues on the playground get helpful support from the Year 6 pupils in their role as ‘peer listeners’.
• Overall attendance is in line with the national average. Medical conditions result in a handful of pupils missing a considerable number of days. The school works tirelessly to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is improving but is below that of other pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Work in pupils’ books and the school’s own records of their performance show that pupils currently in the school are making good progress.
• Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, whether it is in a new class, a new key stage or a new school.
• In 2017, the progress of pupils in mathematics and reading through key stage 2 was significantly above average. Progress in reading was average.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2, in 2017, was above the national average.
• In 2017, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the English, grammar, punctuation and spelling assessment at the end of key stage 2 was above average.
• In key stage 1, pupils make good progress. In 2017, Year 2 pupils’ attainment in reading and writing was in line with the national average. In mathematics, their attainment was above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has increased year on year since 2015. In the last two years, it has been close to the national average. However, disadvantaged pupils did not attain as well as other pupils. The school is successfully improving the phonic skills of disadvantaged pupils currently in key stage 1.
• The specialist teaching of music, dance and physical education lead to particularly high standards in these subjects.

Early years provision Good

• The early years leader took up her post in September 2015. She has introduced many new ideas to help the children make good progress. Her focus on improving the skills of staff has been very effective. Teaching and non-teaching staff are clear that every moment of the school day is an opportunity to develop the children’s learning. Their outcomes are improving year on year. Children are well prepared for Year 1.
• Teaching, learning and assessment are of a high standard in the Reception classes. Adults use observations of children’s learning effectively to plan each day’s teaching. Both inside and outside the classrooms there are exciting activities for the children to work on. All of these have different levels of challenge to match the children’s abilities.
• The children love learning. Areas such as ‘the construction site’ and ‘the hair salon’ promote good personal and social development. They encourage the children to explore their interests together. Children behave impeccably. It is particularly noticeable how well they concentrate on their tasks and how happy they are to take their turn and share their ideas.
• Early writing skills are well developed in the ‘writing cave’. The ‘squiggle station’ allows children to develop their fine motor skills using marker pens, while the most able children carefully practise their letter formation. These activities build upon high-quality teaching in whole-class and small-group sessions.
• All children are taught directly key skills such as addition, subtraction and writing a sentence. Despite the low starting points of many children, expectations are high. The ambition is that every child will be able to add and subtract numbers and to write a correctly punctuated sentence by the end of Reception Year.
• Many disadvantaged children start Reception Year with lower skills than the other children. They make good progress and their outcomes are improving. However, disadvantaged pupils are still less likely to reach a good level of development by the end of Reception Year than other children. The school is beginning to work more closely with local pre-school providers to improve disadvantaged children’s skills before they join the school.
• Disadvantaged children do not attend school as regularly as other children.
• The children’s progress through Reception Year is recorded online. A strength of the system is that it allows parents to follow and contribute to the record of their children’s progress. The records are of a high quality. They give an excellent account of how each child is getting on. Currently, however, most parents do not contribute their own observations to their child’s ‘learning journey’.
• The school meets the welfare requirements of the early years fully. The indoor and outdoor environments are safe, secure and enticing. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the provision in the Reception classes. They value the opportunities the children have to enjoy after-school activities, such as art, dance and drama clubs.

School details

Unique reference number 135498 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 10037596 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 5 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 407 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Vicky White Headteachers Erika Thornhill and Nicola Stevenson Telephone number 01246 864833 Website www.sharleypark.derbyshire.sch.uk Email address info@sharleypark.derbyshire.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17 October 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The great majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of Year 6.
• The school has two co-headteachers. Erika Thornhill joined the school as headteacher in September 2014. From September 2017, she has shared this role with the former deputy headteacher, Nicola Stevenson.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching in all classes.
• Inspectors looked at work in a range of pupils’ books.
• Inspectors met with pupils and spoke with them about what it is like to be a pupil at Sharley Park Community Primary School. They also heard pupils read and observed their behaviour at breaktimes.
• Inspectors held meetings with senior leaders, other staff, four members of the governing body, the associate school improvement adviser and an educational psychologist who works in the school.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of both school days. They took into account 58 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and 15 written responses made by parents. They also took into account 33 responses by staff to their online questionnaire.
• Inspectors considered a range of documentation, including: the school’s self-evaluation; the school’s improvement plan; the school’s most recent information on pupils’ attainment and progress; and information relating to teaching, attendance, behaviour and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Anthony O’Malley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Paul Tuffin Ofsted Inspector Liz Moore Ofsted Inspector