Pennyman Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that:
  • pupils in key stage 2, in particular, have more opportunities to develop and deepen their writing skills across the whole curriculum through writing at greater length in a range of styles to suit different purposes and audiences.
  • staff use regular assessment of how individual pupils and groups of pupils are doing to focus their teaching so that pupils make more rapid progress, especially in key stage 2.
  • the outstanding practice in the school, particularly in the early years and the specialist unit provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, is systematically and regularly shared across the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

• In all of their actions, leaders focus on ensuring that all pupils, whatever their starting points, ability or circumstances, have equal opportunities to learn and thrive. Leaders are imaginative, energetic and have high expectations of themselves and of all at the school. As a result, staff morale is high.
• Performance management systems are effective. Teachers, including the headteacher, receive appropriate targets relating to specific areas in the school development plan. All staff training is carefully linked to improving pupils’ outcomes. As a result, the quality of teaching is good and improving.
• Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is strong. Anti-bullying and equality messages are clear throughout the school. Behaviour is outstanding because leaders and staff are single-minded in ensuring that pupils understand the links between the needs of the few and those of the many. Serving others is encouraged. Pupils are trained to become play leaders at lunchtime.
• The stimulating curriculum is a strength of the school and is complemented well by a range of extra-curricular activities. This is demonstrated in the many high-quality displays around the school. Pupils have various opportunities to develop their sporting, musical and artistic skills. For example, inspectors were able to hear two of the school’s high-quality choirs practising for a trust-wide musical performance.
• The school has a very high proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals. Leaders have ensured that pupil premium funding is deployed effectively to remove barriers to learning. The funding is focused on providing additional staff to ensure that pupils receive high-quality teaching. It is also targeted carefully to ensure that all pupils, whatever their circumstances, have access to the full range of curricular and extra-curricular activities that the school has to offer. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make good progress in their learning.
• Middle leaders, including those responsible for particular subjects, the early years and special educational needs, are clear about the strengths and development points in their particular areas of responsibility in the school. They are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and effectively supported and challenged by senior leaders and governors. As a result, these areas continue to grow in effectiveness.
• Leaders have robust systems in place for the allocation and monitoring of pupil premium and physical education (PE) and sports funding. Plans are clear and the suggested actions are having a positive impact on pupils’ educational and physical progress.
• Both inspectors’ conversations with parents, and the school’s own very regular canvassing of parents’ views, show that the vast majority of parents hold the school and its staff and leadership in high esteem. A common feature of parental comments was their praise for the quality and regularity of the school’s contact with parents. Parents were also very satisfied with the way ‘staff go out of their way’ to support their children.
• Leaders have recently changed their systems for monitoring the impact of teaching so that it can be more detailed and more effectively reflects the breadth of the curriculum. However, insufficient time has passed for these new systems to take root. As a result, particularly in key stage 2, some aspects of leaders’ judgements of how the school was performing lacked rigour and detail. Leaders are aware of this and addressing it effectively.

Governance of the school

• Governors are skilled, knowledgeable and experienced. They have strong systems in place to hold senior leaders rigorously to account for their actions. Governors make frequent visits to the school and undertake monitoring activities to ensure that necessary improvements are being made.
• Governors have an accurate and realistic view of the school. They receive high-quality reports from the headteacher on key aspects of the school’s work. They ask relevant and perceptive questions during meetings and provide effective support and challenge to leaders.
• Governors track the impact of the additional funding that the school receives effectively. This includes the pupil premium, primary sports funding and funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Governors have received appropriate training in safer recruitment and the analysis of pupils’ attainment and progress information. This training helps them to discharge their statutory duties effectively.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• A strong safeguarding culture exists within the school. Rigorous checks are made on staff and volunteers before they are allowed to work alongside pupils. The single central record meets statutory requirements.
• All staff are regularly trained to ensure that they are up to date with the latest safeguarding requirements. This training is carefully logged and regularly reviewed. The designated safeguarding leaders are well trained and ensure that families or pupils who require support from outside agencies receive this promptly. Safeguarding records are very well kept.
• Leaders and governors see safeguarding as their highest priority. Staff create a secure and safe environment where pupils’ welfare is paramount. Consequently, parents know that their children are kept safe and pupils overwhelmingly reported that they feel safe and secure in school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers demonstrate strong subject knowledge. They communicate their enthusiasm and love of learning effectively to their pupils. Pupils report that lessons are generally lively, fast-moving and fun.
• Assessment is used effectively by staff to check regularly in the lesson where individual pupils and groups of pupils are in their learning. This regular checking informs staff actions in the lesson and also next steps in more considered planning for next time. At times, particularly in key stage 2, assessments are not focused precisely enough to ensure that pupils make rapid progress.
• There is a strong culture of developing positive behaviour to support and underpin learning. This is particularly the case in the specialist provision classes for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. In these lessons pupils are used to making decisions about their learning and use their initiative to find alternative ways to untangle knotty problems.
• Staff use questioning effectively to deepen and extend pupils’ learning. Starting in the early years, staff encourage children to ask questions about the topic they are looking at and explore knowledge. At its best staff use questioning deftly, focusing on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ rather than on the more mundane ‘what’.
• Staff draw effectively on what pupils already know and can do. This is particularly the case in the early years and in the specialist provision. This clear reference to prior learning helps pupils link their learning together and see it as part of their growing understanding of the world and their place in it, rather than as a series of tasks to be completed.
• Pupils talk fluently and enthusiastically about their learning. They take genuine delight in learning and playing with knowledge. For example, in one session, pupils became enthralled by the links they made between a project about the moon and the derivation of the word ‘Monday’. They went on to explore what the rest of the week had to offer!
• The systematic, whole-school approach to improving skills is increasingly effective. Reading and mental arithmetic are approached with creativity and a sense of fun. For example, in a times-table session, the teacher used a range of sensory devices, including standing up and passing plastic number devices around to help fix the six times table in her pupils’ minds.
• Teaching assistants and additional adults are very well deployed and make a positive contribution to pupils’ good progress. They take a full part in the planning of teaching and in the assessment of its impact on pupils’ progress. Teaching assistants are a real strength of the school and are afforded the same opportunities for career development as other adults on the staff.
• Parents are kept regularly informed about the progress, achievements and well-being of their children. They told inspectors that this was a particular strength of the school and that they welcomed the regular contact they had with the school. Homework is regularly set and reading at home is carefully monitored through the home/school reading logs.
• Writing is not consistently as well developed as mathematics and reading because opportunities are missed in some classes and in subjects beyond English to extend and deepen pupils’ understanding by writing at greater length. Pupils are not always clear about the needs and expectations of the writer’s audience.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are confident and self-assured and have a very strong sense of community. They take real pride in their school. Pupils are highly engaged in lessons and careful and understanding of each other as they move around the school, both inside and out.
• The school provides many opportunities for pupils to take on responsibilities. The junior leadership team is a key aspect of the school’s work and a focus for its charitable activity. Playtime ‘buddies’ work to ensure that all are included and feel part of the school at play.
• Pupils feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. They report that if they had an issue or concerns, they would tell an adult and it would be dealt with promptly and well. Pupils know and have an extremely good understanding of the forms that bullying can take. They report that bullying is unknown to them but that, if it were to occur, they were sure it would be dealt with very effectively by adults at the school.
• The school provides pupils with many opportunities to extend their understanding of the world through trips and other extra-curricular experiences. Leaders are dedicated to ensuring that all pupils have access to these opportunities, including disadvantaged pupils and those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, the school has a rich and varied spiritual and cultural life where the arts and music go hand in hand with a keen sense of community service and identity. Pupils are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils look smart in the school uniform and attend school punctually.
• The school works very effectively and closely with outside agencies and partners when additional support is necessary for pupils and their families. This support is monitored carefully by leaders to assure its positive impact. Leaders are both imaginative and single-minded in their pursuit of the highest-quality support for pupils and families. Families recognise and welcome this aspect of the school’s work.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ behaviour is impeccable. This is because relationships between pupils and between adults and pupils are excellent. As a result of the school’s work, pupils are respectful of difference and celebrate diversity and the strength it brings to the community.
• In class pupils are alert, engaged and enquiring. At play they are thoughtful, interested and collaborative. They move between lessons with determination and a sense of purpose.
• Inspectors saw no examples of low-level disruption during the inspection. The school’s own detailed records show that disruption and poor behaviour are very rare.
• The school works very hard and imaginatively to ensure that barriers to good attendance are identified and, as far as is possible, removed. The significant medical requirements of pupils, however, do have an impact on overall attendance. As a result of the school’s forthright and focused actions, attendance is improving and is close to national averages.

Outcomes for pupils Good

understanding that are below those typical for their age. As a result of the very high quality of the early years provision children make assured and outstanding progress from these starting points. By the end of the Reception Year almost all children are working at levels typical for their age.

• Most children enter the school’s early years provision with knowledge, skills and
• By the end of Year 1 in 2016 66% of pupils achieved the expected standard in the phonics check. Inspection evidence and the school’s own information shows that reading is very effectively taught and this is having a significant and positive impact on pupils’ writing. The school’s own information following the 2017 Year 1 check suggests that 88% of pupils will reach the expected standard this year.
• Outcomes at the end of key stage 1 in 2016 showed that the majority of pupils, including those who were disadvantaged, performed in line with other pupils nationally in reading and writing and better in mathematics. Inspection evidence in pupils’ books and the school’s own information shows that, as a result of good and better teaching, pupils are performing better this year. Many pupils are demonstrating skills in reading, writing and mathematics that show real understanding and depth. There is also clear evidence of developing richness in the curriculum beyond English and mathematics.
• Evidence seen in pupils’ books, in lessons and information provided by the school indicates that the majority of current key stage 2 pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points in reading and mathematics. Progress is less rapid in writing in some classes in key stage 2 because pupils do not have frequent enough opportunities to write at length in a wide range of subjects beyond English. This is particularly the case for some of the most able pupils.
• The whole-school approach to reading is having a positive impact on pupils’ pleasure in reading. Pupils spoke with real enthusiasm about the increased access they now have to books. They were also appropriately enthusiastic about the possibility of winning books through the weekly raffle of ‘golden tickets’ for those pupils who read regularly. The home-school reading record booklet helps families engage with their children’s reading.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make very good and often outstanding progress at the school. The combination of high expectations, the careful focusing of support by expert staff and the engagement of families has been very effective. Pupils demonstrate initiative, tenacity and independence in their learning. These outcomes constitute good use of additional funding.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make good progress and more pupils are attaining above-average standards as the quality of teaching continues to improve rapidly.

Early years provision

Outstanding

• The majority of children join the Reception class from the school’s own Nursery. For those that do not, there are good links with other local nurseries that ensure that staff have up-to-date knowledge about each child. Consequently, children settle into routines quickly and make very good progress.
• The quality of teaching and learning over time is outstanding. All teachers and support staff know their children well and use this detailed understanding of children’s prior learning to ensure their teaching is expertly focused. As a result, children make excellent progress from their starting points in Nursery and through to the end of Reception.
• The early years learning environment is well resourced, purposeful and lively. Staff demonstrate a great deal of care for the children. Displays are bright and the layout of the space is carefully considered, making it a calm, fun and inviting place to learn.
• Phonics is taught well. The sessions are well planned and contain purposeful resources that engage and enthuse the children. Misconceptions are addressed quickly. For example, in a session seen, a member of staff made sure that children grasped the subtle but essential differences between consonant sounds. The most able children were successfully applying their phonics knowledge in the same session by writing simple sentences.
• The children’s personal and emotional development is a particular focus and highly successful aspect of the provision. Early years staff are very adept at identifying and successfully addressing the underdeveloped speech and language skills that many children arrive with so that they make excellent progress. The use of this additional funding is effective.
• Children eligible for pupil premium funding achieved a good level of development that was higher than that of other children nationally in 2016. The funding is used to supply children with highly effective support in phonics and speech and language development.
• Children feel safe and secure and are able to explore and develop their skills rapidly. Children show high levels of confidence in social situations. They show a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.
• Children behave well and take care of each other. Carefully supervised by staff, children move seamlessly and confidently around the early years area, making decisions, choosing activities and working together.
• Relationships between children and between children and adults are warm and friendly. The foundations of respect and mutual care that are characteristic of the school as a whole are laid in the early years provision.
• The leadership of the early years is strong. The leader has established and maintains highly effective monitoring systems. Children’s progress and development are tracked carefully and their achievements recorded meticulously in staff records and the children’s learning journals. Timely extra help to support children who may be at risk of falling behind are identified quickly because of this detailed approach. As a result, children make outstanding progress in the early years and are well prepared for Year 1.
• Staff constantly seek to improve their skills. Their continued professional development is carefully focused on what needs to be developed further to ensure the provision continues to improve.
• Early years staff have forged extremely effective and mutually respectful and supportive links with parents and families. Parents reported that communications were ‘brilliant’ and ‘nothing is too much trouble’ for staff if parents had a query or a request about their child.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 138560 Middlesbrough 10033351 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy convertor 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 437 Appropriate authority The board of trustees Chair Executive headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Richard Hodges Miss K Morley 01642 314750 pennyman.teesvalleyeducation.co.uk pennyman@tved.org.uk Date of previous inspection July 2014

Information about this school

• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the impact of pupil premium funding on its website.
• The school is larger than the average primary school.
• The school is part of the Tees Valley Education Trust.
• Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils with disabilities and those who have special educational needs supported by the school is above average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is well above average.
• The school has a large specialist unit provision for children with complex and significant medical, physical and associated learning, language and communication delays. There are currently 53 pupils in this provision. A high proportion of specialist unit provision pupils are taught in inclusive resource classes. Most of these pupils have a statement of special educational needs.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium is well above average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The school has a breakfast club.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classes in the school. On a number of these visits they were accompanied by the executive headteacher and the acting headteacher.
• Inspectors talked with pupils in lessons and around the school. They also looked at a significant sample of their work. They listened to pupils read in Year 6. Inspectors also spoke more formally with pupils from Years 2 and 5 to explore their attitudes to learning and safety.
• Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the acting headteacher and the deputy headteachers, with three members of the Tees Valley Education Trust, with the teacher responsible for supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and with a range of the school’s middle leaders to discuss the school’s progress and the welfare of its pupils.
• There were insufficient responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to register any results; however, inspectors did take into account the results of the school’s own surveys of parental satisfaction. Inspectors also met with a group of parents of children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, as well as meeting parents more informally at the start and end of each school day.
• Inspectors scrutinised documents, including minutes of governing body meetings, the school’s self-evaluation, the development plan, monitoring and assessment information, school policies, behaviour and safety records, safeguarding policies and procedures, and the single central record.

Inspection team

Mark Evans, lead inspector Christopher Pearce Andy Jones Dame Nicola Nelson

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector