Lawrence View Primary and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve attainment, especially in writing and mathematics, by ensuring that:
  • all teachers set sufficiently challenging work for the most able pupils to extend their thinking consistently
  • teachers focus on the learning of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 2 so that they make accelerated progress
  • staff training on the teaching of mathematics focuses on improving pupils’ problem-solving and reasoning skills in all classes.
• Improve communication with parents and parental support for the school and continue to minimise disruptions to teaching and learning brought about by staffing changes.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• There are three key reasons why the school has improved since the previous inspection. The first of these is because the school has strong procedures for using its assessments of pupils to allocate additional support where it is most needed. The second is that teachers’ performance is very well managed. The third reason is that pupils’ attitudes to learning and their behaviour have improved. These improvements, despite staffing disruptions in some classes, have led to better teaching and to pupils making faster progress.
• Senior leaders, with the effective support of the local authority, have established strong procedures so that they and class teachers know how well pupils are learning and developing personally. Pupils’ attainment and progress are carefully tracked. Teachers’ assessments are compared with those made in other schools and with nationally produced materials to ensure that they remain accurate. Inspectors also found the school’s assessments of pupils’ attainment to be accurate.
• The school uses its knowledge of the development of each pupil to allocate additional support to those at risk of not doing their best. Effective support for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, especially in key stage 1, has accelerated the progress of these pupils.
• The school’s systems for managing the performance of staff, including teaching assistants, are good. There is a clear link between the needs of individual members of staff and the training they receive. The headteacher holds high expectations of staff and weak teaching is not accepted. The two assistant headteachers have been trained to provide good-quality coaching to teachers and teaching assistants, and staff say that this has improved their work.
• Pupils’ behaviour and their attitudes to learning have improved. Senior leaders expect a lot of pupils in the way they conduct themselves and ensure that staff implement the behaviour policy consistently. Pupils rise to this challenge and behave well around school.
• The great priority given to pupils’ welfare and personal development helps pupils’ learning. For example, high-quality nurture provision for those with particular barriers to their learning helps these pupils relate well to others, enjoy learning and aim to do their best. As a result, they achieve well in school.
• Too many parents, mainly those with children in Year 4, are critical of the way that the school communicates with them. In particular, they are insufficiently aware of how the school has worked to minimise the effect of staffing changes on their children’s learning.
• Senior and subject leaders frequently analyse pupils’ work and observe lessons. Clear reports and oral feedback are given to staff, which they say they find helpful in improving their teaching. Reports of these checks, however, too rarely focus on the progress of different groups of pupils.
• Support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is strong. The leaders of this aspect of the school ensure that additional funding for these pupils is used effectively. The good-quality support pupils receive helps them make good progress.
• The curriculum and other provision are mostly modified effectively to meet the needs of groups of pupils of differing abilities and needs. The school is fully committed to providing equal opportunities for all. The main remaining weakness in the curriculum is that work is sometimes not sufficiently modified in lessons to fully challenge the most able pupils. This slows their progress so they do not achieve as highly as they could.
• The school successfully uses pupil premium funding to support the learning of disadvantaged pupils. These pupils have made much accelerated progress in the younger classes. Leaders are aware that, in key stage 2, disadvantaged pupils are making better progress than previously, but are still not catching up with other pupils at a fast enough rate.
• Primary physical education and sport premium funding is also used well. The quality of teaching and pupils’ participation and enjoyment of sport have been enhanced by the work of the sports coach who is in the school for half the week.
• The curriculum provides good support for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This is effectively promoted through lessons and the school’s values. British values are promoted well through special events and in lessons when, for example, pupils in Year 6 debated the impact of immigration in Britain. Pupils are knowledgeable about other faiths and ways of life and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Although staff have received training in helping pupils’ reasoning, investigative and problem-solving skills in mathematics, this training has still not had its full impact and pupils’ overall attainment in mathematics is behind their skills in calculation and number.

Governance of the school

• Governance is much improved since the previous inspection and the governing body focuses closely on helping the school move forward. The governing body has a detailed and accurate view of the school. It has established good systems to challenge and support leaders.
• Governors have a clear and detailed view of the quality of teaching throughout the school. They oversee the school’s procedures for performance management and ensure that good teaching is recognised and rewarded, and that weaknesses are tackled.
• The governing body also monitors pupils’ personal development and checks that pupils are kept safe. It ensures that child protection and safeguarding are given high priority by staff, and that procedures fully meet requirements and that policies and practices are kept up to date.
• Training for governors is effective and regular. The good links that have been established between governors and subject leaders have helped both groups carry out their roles more effectively.
• The governing body ensures that additional funds are well spent. Governors are knowledgeable about the effect that additional funds, such as those to support disadvantaged pupils or those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, have on pupils’ progress.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. A strong culture of safeguarding exists throughout the school. The governing body and staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously and robust procedures are in place to ensure that any safeguarding concerns are effectively and urgently addressed.
• Safeguarding training and records are up to date and are carefully managed.
• Those with specific responsibilities for safeguarding ensure that they and others carry out their roles effectively.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Despite staff changes, teaching and the use of assessment have improved since the previous inspection and are now good. Consequently, standards are rising. Staffing changes have been greatest in Year 4 and some parents expressed their concerns about these. Effective induction and good-quality support for new teachers have helped minimise the effect of changes on pupils’ learning, and work in pupils’ books show that pupils in Year 4 have made good progress this year.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and are corrected if they are not concentrating on their work. Staff use the school’s behaviour policy to good effect and pupils understand what is expected of them.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are harmonious. Most pupils work hard in lessons and enjoy their learning. They often find lessons interesting and fun. Sometimes, when the work is not hard enough, a few pupils lose concentration. The most able pupils sometimes do not do their best when the work does not fully extend their thinking. This is particularly the case in mathematics.
• Guidance for learning is good. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to make it clear to pupils exactly where they should focus their efforts in lessons. Pupils are often given clear criteria and checklists to help them assess their own work and see how to improve it. This helps them to make good progress in their learning.
• Reading is well taught throughout the school and many pupils enjoy reading. Older pupils, especially the most able, read fluently and with confidence, and some read for pleasure at home. From the early years, pupils are taught to use their knowledge of phonics to support their reading of new words and phonics skills have improved since the previous inspection. Daily reading lessons help pupils make good progress in their reading. The pupils respond well to the school’s reward system that encourages pupils to read more frequently. In reading, the most able pupils are suitably challenged and provision meets their needs.
• Pupils’ writing skills are effectively developed, not only in English lessons, but also in other subjects.
• Teaching assistants are well trained and effectively deployed. They have the strongest impact on the learning of those who find learning more difficult. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils are given frequent additional support in class or in additional sessions outside the classroom in reading, writing and mathematics. The work of teaching assistants has helped minimise the effect of staffing changes on pupils’ learning.
• The daily nurture provision helps pupils improve their attitudes to learning, their work habits, their ability to concentrate and their relationships with others. This helps those supported by this provision make good progress in their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Because the quality of teaching has improved, pupils’ attitudes to learning are better than at the time of the previous inspection. Teachers and teaching assistants expect pupils to behave well and the pupils have risen to this challenge. As a consequence, pupils enjoy school and achieve more.
• The school has also been successful in helping pupils aim higher. Many pupils are confident that they can be successful and they enjoy school and learning. Only rarely, where the teacher does not expect enough, is there any low-level disruption in class.
• Pupils told inspectors that the school looks after them well and that they feel safe at school. They make good progress in their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Their social development is a particular strength and pupils relate well to one another, staff and visitors. They demonstrate secure knowledge and experience of other ways of life and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Many pupils benefit from the daily good-quality breakfast club and the effective nurture provision held each afternoon.
• Pupils, especially the older pupils, enjoy taking responsibility for helping the school run smoothly, for example as members of the school council.
• Pupils understand what bullying is and are proud to say that bullying is very rare in their school. They are confident that adults would quickly deal with any bullying that did occur.
• Pupils know about safety and are aware of many potential dangers in modern life. They are, for example, clear about how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils said that behaviour at their school is always up to the standards of the good behaviour evident during the inspection.
• In the dining room, at playtimes on the playground and around the school, pupils behave and relate to each other well. Disruption in lessons is rare because staff mostly expect pupils to work hard and do their best.
• Pupils are aware of the school’s behaviour policy and staff implement the policy effectively.
• The vast majority of pupils attend regularly and arrive punctually at school. Rates of attendance of all groups of pupils have improved this year. Although rates of persistent absence have reduced this year, they remain above national averages. The school is working effectively to reduce persistent absence further and has good procedures to do this. Pupils have responded well to the school’s rewards for regular attendance and value the recognition and treats they receive when they attend well.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Children in the early years make good progress from their starting points, although their attainment at the end of the Reception Year is below the national average.
• Results in the national phonics screening check in Year 1 have improved over the last three years so that these are now in line with national averages. This is due to daily good-quality teaching of phonics in younger classes. Results in national assessments at the end of Year 2 in reading, writing and mathematics were below average in 2016. This year, the attainment of pupils in Year 2 is in line with the expected standard.
• In 2015, pupils left the school at the end of Year 6 with average attainment. In 2016, they reached average standards in reading and writing, although attainment dipped in mathematics.
• Work in pupils’ books and the school’s accurate records show that current pupils are making good progress throughout the school and that pupils are being prepared well for the next stage of their education. Pupils are making slower progress in mathematics, although it is faster than last year, than they are in reading and writing. This is because pupils’ skills in problem solving are not as good as their number and calculation skills.
• Well-spent pupil premium funding means that disadvantaged pupils are making better progress than previously, especially up to the end of key stage 1. In key stage 1, disadvantaged pupils now attain similar standards to other pupils in the school and nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. In key stage 2, although rates of progress made by disadvantaged pupils have increased, they are still not making the accelerated progress needed to ensure that they fully catch up with other pupils nationally by the end of Year 6.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Their needs are quickly identified by staff and they are effectively supported in their learning. Some parents of these pupils told inspectors that they were very pleased with the way that the school helps their children.
• The few pupils who join the school with little or no written or spoken English are supported well. Because they make good progress in both spoken and written English, they are soon able to benefit from the school’s full curriculum.
• Although the most able, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make the expected progress in most classes, they are sometimes not fully challenged. This means that they do not consistently reach the higher standards they could achieve.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders and managers have an accurate and detailed knowledge of the quality of provision in the early years. Adults work effectively as a team. All adults working in the early years are united in their aim of providing high-quality care and effective guidance for learning.
• Children join the early years with knowledge and skills that are well below those typical for their ages. They make good progress from their starting points, but do not manage to reach national averages in their attainment by the end of the Reception Year.
• Progress is particularly good in language development and in personal development. Early reading skills are well taught and effectively developed. Emphasis on these aspects helps prepare children for Year 1.
• The curriculum is also broad and provides a wide range of interesting learning activities. Children learn through play and well-designed learning activities. For example, children are asked to write shopping lists in the home corner.
• Special educational needs are identified accurately and at an early stage and children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are given the support they need to help them make good progress from their starting points.
• The school works effectively with outside agencies, such as the speech and language therapy service, to help children overcome learning difficulties.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is well spent and these children, including the most able disadvantaged children, make good progress.
• Adults know the children well. They make regular assessments and use these assessments to modify activities and their teaching to meet the children’s needs in both indoor and outdoor learning. The most able children make good progress in their learning.
• On occasions, children work and play independently without sufficient adult intervention when adults are working intensively with other children. Children also move from one activity to another occasionally without spending sufficient time to gain fully from the activity. This slows the progress of these children.
• Parents regard the early years highly and feel fully involved by the school in their children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number 122571 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 10023106 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 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 188 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Hill Headteacher Emma McGrenaghan Telephone number 01773 719463 Website www.lynncroftprimary.co.uk Email address head@lynncroft.notts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4 February 2015

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than most primary schools.
• The school meets the requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• A below average proportion of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds. A few pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average for primary schools. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has risen to above the average level.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• Some classes have had several changes of teacher this year, caused by resignation, long-term absence or difficulties in recruitment.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes. Some lessons were observed jointly with a senior leader. In addition, shorter visits to classrooms were carried out to see particular aspects of the school’s work, such as the teaching of reading, or the provision of nurture guidance.
• A range of other school activities, including playtimes and lunchtimes, was observed.
• Inspectors scrutinised past and current work of pupils of different abilities in all year groups, sometimes with senior leaders. Inspectors also heard pupils reading.
• A meeting was held with three governors, including the chair of the governing body. A meeting was held with a representative of the local authority. Pre-arranged and informal discussions were held with members of staff and pupils.
• Inspectors analysed documents, including the school’s plans for improvement and reports showing the school’s view of its own performance. The school’s website was evaluated. Safeguarding documents and policies, and records relating to pupils’ personal development, behaviour, welfare, safety and attendance were inspected.
• Inspectors analysed information on the performance of the school in comparison with other schools nationally and the school’s own records of pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Inspectors took account of the 30 responses to the online survey, Parent View. Inspectors also took account of the results of the school’s most recent survey of parents and spoke with parents at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Roger Sadler, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Graham Boyd Ofsted Inspector