Langold Dyscarr Community School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of 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.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders and governors introduce effective policies and systems and that these are understood and consistently applied by all staff
  • senior leaders, middle leaders and governors understand their roles and responsibilities and have the skills to lead improvements to rapidly improve pupils‟ outcomes leaders‟ and governors‟ evaluation of the school‟s performance is accurate and rigorous leaders quickly and effectively tackle weak teaching and underperformance of teachers
  • senior and middle leaders use information about pupils‟ performance to inform their actions to rapidly improve pupils‟ progress and attainment, especially for disadvantaged pupils
  • senior and middle leaders‟ identification of pupils‟ barriers to learning is accurate
  • and timely, to inform effective support for pupils, especially for pupils with complex needs leaders‟ plans for school improvement sharply identify actions and set measurable milestones for improvement that are checked frequently by governors to ensure they are having the intended impact leaders establish a well-considered curriculum that systematically builds the skills and knowledge pupils need to succeed and enhances their understanding of British values leaders insist that all staff manage behaviour consistently well across the school, including at lunchtimes leaders and governors take effective action to improve pupils‟ attendance, particularly that of disadvantaged pupils leaders and governors strengthen and improve links and communication with parents and the wider community, so they can be active partners in improving pupils‟ outcomes.
• Strengthen the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that pupils make progress that is at least good, regardless of their background or ability, through:
  • teachers using and improving their subject knowledge, especially in reading and mathematics, so that they skilfully adapt their planning and lessons to meet pupils‟ learning needs
  • teachers making accurate assessments of pupils‟ progress and attainment that are rooted in secure evidence of pupils‟ knowledge and skills.
• Improve the personal, social and emotional development of pupils, through:
  • all staff having high aspirations for pupils, including attitudes to, and the presentation of, their work leaders and teachers ensuring pupils have well-planned opportunities to develop their personal skills, for example leadership, team work and problem solving.
• Improve the early years provision through:
  • the early years leader ensuring that the provision and teaching the approaches used across Nursery and Reception classes are consistent and promote high standards for all children leaders making sure that the information gathered about the progress children make from their varying starting points is accurate
  • teachers carefully planning purposeful activities that build on and extend what children can do. An external review of governance and of the school‟s use of the pupil premium funding should be undertaken to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Since the previous inspection there has been a marked decline in outcomes for pupils. School leaders and governors have not sustained a good quality of education for pupils.
• The headteacher was appointed in February 2016. Since then, he has failed to ensure that rigorous management systems are in place to inform effective school improvement.
• Middle and subject leadership is underdeveloped because senior leaders have failed to provide these colleagues with effective guidance and training to ensure they have the skills to fulfil their responsibilities.
• Over time, leaders have not routinely checked the quality of teaching or pupils‟ outcomes with sufficient rigour. Strategies to improve weaker teaching have lacked the precision and urgency needed to secure effective teaching, learning and assessment across the school.
• Leaders have failed to put in place a curriculum that consistently builds and deepens the knowledge and skills of pupils of different ages, especially in reading and mathematics.
• Assessment practices are particularly weak across the school. Senior leaders have not accurately analysed assessment information. They have not ensured that teachers‟ assessments against the school‟s tracking system are consistently accurate. Coupled with weak monitoring information, this means that leaders‟ self-assessment of the school‟s performance has not been accurate enough to inform actions for rapid and effective improvement.
• The lack of timely and accurate assessment by leaders and teachers has impeded the progress of disadvantaged pupils, and pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, in particular. Leaders have not identified with clarity the barriers to learning faced by pupils with complex needs. This means that teaching interventions are not consistently the most appropriate for the needs of individual pupils. Leaders are then slow to check the impact of support and are not clear about what is, or is not, working.
• The school does not meet statutory requirements regarding reporting on its use of the pupil premium or the PE and sport premium. The school received £100,000 in pupil premium funding last year, but leaders have not carefully analysed what difference the spending made to the achievement of eligible pupils. This limits leaders‟ ability to make timely adjustments and improvements where spending has been ineffective, or to build upon strategies which have worked.
• The local authority has attempted to provide a range of potentially effective support to the school and has carefully brokered external support from a local academy. A range of appropriate training and guidance has been provided. However senior leaders have not consistently followed advice or implemented planned changes sufficiently well to secure the rapid improvement necessary.
• Pupils enjoy some of the topics they are learning, such as Macbeth in Year 6. However, leaders and teachers are not sufficiently aspirational, and the current curriculum does not ensure pupils are equipped to thrive beyond their local community. Pupils spoken to were unclear about British values and had limited opportunities to reflect and develop their awareness of the world around them.
• In the early years, parents welcome the opportunities to find out how to help their children to improve. This is not consistent across the school and not all parents are confident that current leaders deal effectively with issues that arise regarding the education and welfare of their children.
• Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) may not be appointed.

Governance of the school

• Governors have previously accepted too readily the views of leaders about the effectiveness of the school. They have not regularly checked for themselves, the impact of actions being taken.
• Governors have not monitored the impact of the pupil premium funding effectively. They have provided insufficient challenge to leaders. As a result, governors have not had an accurate picture of the extent of decline in the school and the underperformance of disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors have not held leaders to account for the spending of the physical education (PE) and sport premium funding.
• Governors have worked effectively with the local authority to reorganise the governing body. They have recruited governors with appropriate skills and expertise. The current chair of governors has been in place since May 2018. Therefore, change is very recent. Although a review of governance has been undertaken in the past, this has not had a positive impact on this aspect of leadership; a further review is, therefore, necessary.
• Governors have embraced the recent training from the local authority and the opportunity to work closely with a local academy. They acknowledge that there has been a decline in the school‟s effectiveness following the previous inspection. They now have a clearer vision, are committed to improve the school and are ambitious for its future.
• Governors are now asking more challenging questions of leaders, more frequently, and undertaking regular monitoring activities to check for themselves that actions are being taken.
• Governors understand their duties regarding the safeguarding of children. The safeguarding governor has diligently audited procedures to ensure that safeguarding is effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There are clear systems and procedures in place, which are understood by all staff. Staff receive regular, relevant training and updates, including on radicalisation and extremism.
• Leaders keep secure records which enable them to work effectively with external agencies to keep pupils safe.
• The school‟s external behavioural support adviser complimented the school on its commitment to work with them to support and improve outcomes for pupils with challenging behaviour. Leaders‟ and teachers‟ willingness to take on advice has led to a reduction in fixed term exclusions this year.
• Governors audit and check safeguarding procedures to identify further training needs. Leaders carry out all necessary checks before adults begin to work or to volunteer at the school.
• Pupils and parents express confidence in the school‟s ability to keep pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

• Overall, the quality of teaching is inadequate because it is too inconsistent and leads to too much variability in the progress that pupils make over time. A number of teaching staff are temporary supply teachers or on short-term contracts. Pupils in some classes have had several different teachers in the past year and work in pupils‟ books shows that this instability has impacted on their learning over time.
• The majority of teaching is characterised by teachers‟ poor use of assessment, resulting in work often being either too easy or too hard for pupils.
• There has been particularly weak teaching in Year 3 and Year 4. This has been recently replaced with better teaching, especially in Year 4. However, the extent of decline for these year groups has been such that a large majority of pupils, who were already attaining at standards below those expected for their age, have fallen further behind.
• Provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is inadequate. The support they receive fails to take account of what they know and can do. The strategies used by staff to support pupils who have specific needs are not consistently effective. The support for pupils in Years 5 and 6 results in better progress than elsewhere in the school. However, pupils‟ specific needs are not always met because the process of identifying their needs has been slow, primarily as a result of inadequate leadership.
• The teaching of mathematics is particularly weak across the school. This was an area for improvement at the last inspection that has not been addressed effectively. There has been a lack of consistent leadership of mathematics. The current leader of mathematics has only been in place since January 2018. The framework for mathematics has been changed several times over the past two years. Despite recent training and external support, teachers‟ subject knowledge and their ability to adapt the plans for learning are inconsistent. In many classes, all pupils are completing the same worksheets, regardless of their starting points. Teachers do not provide pupils with regular or well-matched opportunities to apply number skills or develop their ability to reason confidently and accurately.
• Leaders have put in place additional training to improve phonics teaching in the early years and key stage 1. However, observations of teaching, scrutiny of pupils‟ work and pupils‟ reading aloud do not show that improvements to teaching phonics are rapid enough.
• Leaders have reviewed the teaching of reading in the light of falling standards in reading in key stages 1 and 2. Teachers have increased their focus on developing pupils‟ language skills and have received appropriate training to improve the teaching of reading across the school. However, this is very recent and has not yet had sufficient impact to rapidly improve pupils‟ comprehension skills, especially their confidence to formulate written answers to more complex questions. This is limiting pupils‟ ability to develop deeper comprehension skills and attain at the higher standard in reading by the end of Year 2.
• In recent years, pupils have made better progress in writing than in reading or mathematics by the end of key stage 2. This continues to be the case. However, not all teaching of writing is currently ensuring that pupils make the progress necessary to be ready to take on the next steps in learning that are appropriate for their age or ability.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

Personal development and welfare

• The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is inadequate.
• Teachers‟ and teaching assistants‟ aspirations for pupils and their expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. This is evident in the poor overall quality of presentation seen in pupils‟ books. Classrooms and corridors are uninspiring and do not promote excellence.
• Teachers and teaching assistants do not give sufficient opportunities for pupils to extend and develop their personal skills. Pupils do not routinely take on responsibilities or help with routines around the school. Although adults‟ relationships with pupils in classrooms are positive and caring, pupils commented that use of rewards such as „lollypop sticks‟ are not consistently applied.
• Pupils who use the school‟s breakfast club are cared for well and enjoy a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day. However, there is little evidence in books and on displays to show that all pupils are routinely developing an awareness of healthy choices such as diet and nutrition. Indeed, the school tuck shop sells pizzas and muffins at breaktime, without adults checking and challenging pupils who purchase and consume more than one item.
• On occasion, when pupils are interested in their work and the teacher ensures they feel successful, pupils show pride and enthusiasm. In a Year 5 English lesson, pupils could not wait to read their adverts to the inspector. A boy proudly read his favourite sentence, “The mouth-watering caramel drips into your mouth like rain dropping from the sky.” With slight prompting, he was able to tell the inspector he had used a simile.
• Pupils say they feel safe and trust teachers to listen to them and sort things out. Year 6 pupils have undertaken specific workshops to help prepare them for some of the challenges of secondary school.
• Pupils walk around the school respectfully and courteously. They were polite and articulate when they talked to inspectors about their school and work.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.
• Adults do not manage behaviour consistently well across the school. Although pupils say that bullying is reducing, pupils and parents lack confidence in leaders‟ capacity to deal with incidents fairly and consistently.
• Pupils are not confident that adults will deal effectively with incidents at lunchtimes. Inspectors observed pushing and rowdy behaviour on the playground, and in the lunch hall, that was not stopped by adults. Pupils are not provided with the equipment, activities or guidance to enhance their play at lunchtimes.
• In the majority of lessons, pupils are quick to lose focus and low-level disruption was seen in most lessons visited.
• Leaders do not systematically check and analyse the logging of behaviour incidents to ensure patterns are quickly identified and actions taken to address or improve pupils‟ behaviour.
• There are high rates of persistent absence and a low attendance rate, when compared to the national averages. Leaders‟ actions to improve and promote regular attendance have not been effective. Consequently, the current year‟s persistent absence rate has risen and is particularly high for disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders have worked well with the school‟s external behaviour adviser to reduce fixed term exclusions this year. However, pupils still perceive that lessons are too frequently disrupted by poor behaviour. Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

• The progress of pupils from their different starting points is too variable, with many pupils making inadequate progress over time. This is particularly the case for disadvantaged pupils, boys and those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Even where teaching is at its strongest, the most able pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Teachers‟ assessments of pupils‟ current attainment are not secure or checked robustly enough for leaders to accurately identify current rates of progress. Evidence in books shows that progress is not sufficiently rapid for most pupils to achieve as well as they should.
• For two years, pupils‟ outcomes by the end of Year 6 were significantly below average in reading and mathematics. They dropped further in 2017 compared to 2016. Pupils‟ progress in writing rose from being significantly below the national average in 2016, to be broadly average in 2017. However, pupils‟ low attainment in English, grammar, punctuation and spelling tests shows that pupils‟ basic skills in writing were not sufficiently well developed to prepare them adequately for the challenges of the secondary curriculum.
• While attainment has risen this year compared to last year for most Year 6 and some Year 5 pupils, it remains too variable in the rest of the school. This is because the quality of teaching, particularly the teaching of reading and mathematics, is inconsistent. Where there is improvement in attainment for current pupils, their progress is not sufficiently rapid to make up for historic inadequate progress.
• Weaker teaching in some classes, particularly in Years 1, 3 and 4, means that some groups of pupils are not making the progress that they need in order to catch up to the age expectations set out in the national curriculum.
• Attainment in the Year 1 national phonics screening check has remained persistently well below the national average. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard by the end of Year 2 has fallen over the past three years, also to well below average.
• Although the attainment of pupils in key stage 1 has not been as poor as attainment at the end of key stage 2, it is still persistently below national expectations. However, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard also fell from 2016 to 2017 for reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils who previously achieved a good level of development by the end of the early years have consistently attained the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. However, few of the most able pupils make the progress necessary to attain at greater depth.

Early years provision

• The early years provision is inadequate.

Inadequate

• Leaders do not ensure that the assessments of children‟s development are sufficiently regular and accurate to help teachers to plan activities that secure the progress of which children are capable. This is particularly the case for lower attaining children, whose learning journals show little progress from their starting points. Teachers are not secure in their understanding of how to assess what children know and can do. Consequently, teachers are not effective enough in identifying the next steps in children‟s learning.
• The leaders responsible for the early years have not analysed rates of progress from children‟s various starting points. They are not able to demonstrate the rate of progress for different groups of children.
• Historically, the proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development by the end of Reception has remained below the national figure and has not improved. Boys achieve less well than girls. The difference between boys‟ and girls‟ attainment in the early years is also persistently much greater than that seen nationally.
• Evidence in learning journals shows that higher attaining children are making more progress than others in their reading and writing skills. However, teachers‟ expectations of pupils‟ accuracy are too low, for example children are not encouraged to spell frequently used words correctly or corrected quickly enough.
• Teachers‟ assessments of pupils‟ number skills are particularly low, compared to reading and writing. Teachers lack confidence in accurately planning tasks and questions to extend and deepen children‟s understanding of number. Consequently, the children are not well enough prepared for the demands of the Year 1 curriculum.
• Teachers‟ planning prioritises focused tasks were pupils will work with adults. The quality of planning for other tasks is poor. Although a range of activities is provided, they often lack purpose and do not routinely build on and extend what children know and can do. Adults do not explain intended learning to children, or routinely join-in to question and extend children‟s thinking. Children, therefore, consider the activity as playing, for example “with the trains”.
• The early years leader makes sure that the Nursery area is colourful, welcoming and has more stimulating displays than other areas of the early years. Resources are also better cared for and organised. Nevertheless, she is not ensuring this is consistent across the early years.
• Children benefit from kind, supportive relationships with all adults. As a result, children are secure and happy.
• Children are kept safe in the early years and parents are positive about the provision. Parents welcome opportunities to find out how to help their children‟s learning.

School details

Unique reference number 132814 Local authority Nottinghamshire County Council Inspection number 10047645 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 271 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Ms Nicola Davis Mr Andy Pullin 01909730394 www.langold-dyscarr.org office@langold-dyscarr.notts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6–7 November 2014

Information about this school

• The school is an average-sized primary school.
• Nursery children attend on a part-time basis.
• Most of the 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 below the national average.
• The school has a breakfast club.
• The school meets the government‟s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils‟ attainment and progress.
• The school does not meet the Department for Education‟s definition of a coasting school.
• The current headteacher has been in post since February 2016.
• The school is receiving external support from Sparken Hill Academy.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all the classes, including in the Reception and the Nursery classes. Some of these observations were undertaken with the headteacher. The inspectors talked with pupils about their school and looked at pupils‟ books while visiting lessons. The team scrutinised a large sample of pupils‟ work across all classes to gain a view of the impact of teaching over time.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher and other leaders, including the acting deputy headteacher and leaders responsible for English, mathematics and the provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. A meeting was held with members of the governing body, including the chair. Meetings were held with representatives of the local authority and the consultant headteacher.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day and considered 33 responses to Ofsted‟s online parent questionnaire, ‘Parent View’ and the 28 responses to the free-text service for parents. There were no responses to the online surveys for staff and pupils during the inspection.
• The inspectors observed pupils across the school day, including at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school‟s self-evaluation, the school improvement plans, local authority reviews, the school‟s most recent information on pupils‟ achievement, information related to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance, and the information published on the school‟s website.

Inspection team

Mandy Wilding, lead inspector Moira Dales Jane Moore

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector including the school‟s self-evaluation and improvement plan and records regarding safeguarding and child protection and pupils‟ attendance, behaviour and achievements. In Inspectors considered the views of the 10 parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View. No surveys from staff or pupils were submitted during the inspeInspectors spoke with staff and pupils during the inspection and with parents at the start observed teaching and learning in all of the classes, including in the Reception and the Nursery classes. Some of these observations were undertaken with the headteacher. Inspectors undertook a scrutiny of pupils‟ work, looking at books from a wide range of classes.