Preston Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Enhance the quality of teaching to further strengthen pupils’ progress by:
  • providing learning experiences and tasks that enable increasing proportions of pupils, particularly the most able pupils, to work at greater depth across all year groups, particularly in mathematics
  • moving pupils on in their learning as soon as they are ready to acquire new knowledge and skills
  • further enhancing initiatives to enable teachers to learn from the best practice at the school and from wider partnership work.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher and her team have built a strong and distinctive ethos that embraces the wider development of pupils. The ‘Preston curriculum’ develops pupils’ learning skills in a tangible way, enabling them to become more independent and reflective in their learning.
• School leaders maintain a constant focus upon improvement. They monitor pupils’ progress closely and review any areas of underachievement thoroughly with all staff. As a result of this tracking, teachers are able to respond promptly in order to modify teaching or plan interventions to support pupils to make better progress.
• Leaders have responded purposefully to the heightened demands and more rigorous assessment of the new national curriculum. It is significant that in 2016 pupils achieved higher levels of attainment and progress at key stage 2 that were often well above those seen nationally in a far more demanding assessment environment.
• Leaders engender a culture of respect and support that is shared by pupils, who display consistent levels of courtesy towards one another and adults. Behaviour in lessons and around the site is consistently positive because teachers actively develop positive behaviour from an early stage.
• Senior leaders ensure that teachers closely monitor the progress of disadvantaged pupils and act to address underachievement. Governors work with senior leaders to evaluate the impact of additional funding on teaching, interventions and pupils’ progress. The school’s current tracking information shows that disadvantaged pupils continue to make good progress and that differences in attainment are also diminishing against non-disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders and governors have a good understanding of the school’s overall strengths and areas for improvement. They have developed well-considered improvement plans that support progress, as reflected in the strong provision in the early years. Senior leaders have extended the monitoring of the quality of teaching and the standard of work in books to middle leaders, contributing to the high standards of work and presentation from pupils.
• Teachers value their professional development and opportunities to work with their colleagues and external partners to review standards and improve teaching. This is contributing to effective teaching and strong outcomes, although initiatives to increase opportunities for pupils to work at greater depth are not fully developed.
• Performance management arrangements are robust. The headteacher reviews all aspects of teachers’ performance regularly against their targets, their teaching and the progress pupils make. Governors review performance management recommendations closely and work with school improvement partners to objectively evaluate performance, including that of the headteacher.
• The leadership of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is highly effective. Leaders have a close understanding of pupils’ needs and address these needs through well-tailored provision in the classroom and additional interventions. Leaders provide a balance of specific care and integrated support that enables pupils to make good progress.
• Leaders provide a distinctive curriculum that addresses the whole needs of pupils. Personal, social and emotional development is valued as much as academic development. A range of extra-curricular experiences, including trips, residential opportunities and a Year 3 and Year 4 school ‘sleepover’, provide wider experiences that enhance self-confidence.
• The strong focus upon literacy and numeracy does not come at the expense of other subjects. Thorough access to the curriculum is provided in science, history and religious studies. Pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills are embedded strongly across the curriculum, with high standards of spelling, punctuation and grammar consistently in evidence. The school commission specialist provision in physical education and French to ensure high-quality provision across the curriculum.
• The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is exceptional. Pupils show considerable respect for equality and have recently been acknowledged as a UNICEF rights respecting school. Pupils explore democracy through their own school council and school questionnaires, with Year 6 exploring the process of law making on a recent trip to the Houses of Parliament. Pupils demonstrate a commitment to their local community, visiting local care homes in cross-generational work at Christmas and through their charity work.
• Leaders’ work to promote close partnerships with families is extremely strong. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire would recommend the school to others. Governors have set up a system of parental ambassadors so that they can be continually mindful of parental perceptions. One parent wrote: ‘The school focuses on more than teaching the curriculum. It teaches the whole child – it helps build confidence, friendships and it integrates all children by having a family-focused ethos.’
• Funding from the government to promote sport and increase physical activity is being used highly successfully. Pupils participate in a wide range of sports and competitions, including gymnastics, netball, tag rugby, tennis, cricket, football, athletics and hockey. A close partnership with Middlesbrough Football Club provides specialist physical education teaching and also provides additional access to after-school clubs.
• Leaders are outward-looking and receive effective support from a school improvement partner who reviews pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching. The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide leadership support and training for colleagues in other schools and subject leaders carry out moderation roles to check standards across the local authority.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. The governing body brings considerable specialist perspectives from a range of areas, including policing, education, and speech and language development. Governors also have close community awareness as parents and long established members of the community, giving them a strong set of skills with which to hold leaders to account.
• Governors share the headteacher’s high standards and expectations. They supported the headteacher in actions to improve attendance and punctuality. Despite some initial opposition from some parents, this led to significant improvements.
• The chair of governors closely examines the impact of pupil premium spending on pupils’ progress. Governors meet the special educational needs coordinator to check the impact of additional spending upon the quality of support and pupils’ progress. A wider range of governors now have specific areas of responsibility. Governors are using their links with parent ambassadors to gather parents’ views and develop future governance.
• Governor committees provide a regular focus on pupils’ progress and curriculum provision. Through their work with the school improvement partners, they gather additional objective information. Governors also look at pupils’ work with school leaders to gain first-hand experience of pupils’ progress.
• Governors are committed to the ethos of the school and support the headteacher in her commitment to the development of the whole child. They ask challenging questions but are also highly supportive of the school and its values.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The headteacher has fortified all aspects of the school’s safeguarding work to ensure a continual focus upon safety and welfare. All staff take their safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Safeguarding training for all staff and governors is extensive and up to date.
• Leaders carry out extremely rigorous checks to ensure the suitability of adults working on-site. Governors with safeguarding expertise provide additional checks. Governors have training in safer recruitment. Concerns over pupils’ welfare are pursued swiftly and documented thoroughly.
• Leaders have carried out innovative work to develop pupils’ abilities to stay safe online. They have worked with Lancashire University to carry out research and train pupils. Pupils have been trained as digital leaders and provide training to pupils, governors and parents. As a result, pupils are keenly aware of both the potential hazards and the actions they can take to address them if they arise.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have developed high standards of teaching and learning. Pupils are encouraged to apply the learning skills developed by the ‘Preston curriculum’ in their daily lessons. As a result, they routinely show independence and the ability to self-manage by consulting their peers, prompt cards and dictionaries for additional help before asking their teachers.
• Pupils are encouraged to regularly discuss their learning and this develops their articulacy and self-confidence. The school adopts a ‘no passengers’ approach where pupils are actively encouraged to participate in their learning. In a Year 5 English lesson, a wide range of pupils were willing to read their work from the front of the class because they are used to sharing their work and receiving constructive feedback from their peers.
• Teachers use their strong subject expertise to support pupils in achieving good rates of progress. This is particularly apparent in English, where pupils develop an excellent understanding of grammar, spelling and punctuation. They use this to considerable effect in well-crafted pieces of creative writing. Themed projects, such as work on Norse myths, give contexts that make writing purposeful and exciting. This was reflected in some extremely strong responses from pupils of all abilities in retelling aspects of myth. These high standards are also evident in pupils’ writing in science and topic books.
• Learning is effectively managed as pupils are quick to settle and eager to learn as a result of clear classroom routines and good teaching. Time is generally used well but on occasions teachers allow pupils to dwell too long on individual tasks when they are ready to move on to new tasks and further challenge.
• Teachers promote the key skills in mathematics from an early age and pupils’ awareness of number and place value is built upon as they progress through the school. Pupils develop confidence and fluency in their approach to arithmetic methods. When pupils are given opportunities to apply their reasoning skills, they can thrive and this was apparent in Years 4 and 5. However, these opportunities are not consistent across all year groups and classes, contributing to variance in the proportions of pupils working at greater depth.
• Teachers and teaching assistants develop pupils’ reading skills effectively. There is a clear focus on phonics which is contributing to improving outcomes in 2017. Inspectors listened to a range of pupils read and were impressed by the clarity of their reading and their enthusiasm for their favourite books and authors.
• Teachers assess pupils’ work promptly and effectively and this informs their planning. They know their pupils extremely well and are able to modify teaching to meet their needs, although opportunities for greater depth are not consistently set across all classes.
• Teachers effectively address the requirements of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities through effective classroom provision and additional support and intervention. Parents are encouraged to review their children’s learning and respond in great detail to the pupil profiles that monitor progress. This strong school-based provision, enhanced by external partnerships and the involvement of parents, enables these pupils to make good progress.
• Teaching in the early years is imaginative and engaging, providing appropriate teacher input but continually responsive to the needs and interests of children. The indoor and outdoor environment has been enhanced to provide an exciting and well-resourced base for learning. Children are happy, engaged and curious through the many stimulating opportunities to learn.
• The school commissions specialist teaching from a physical education teacher and a music teacher and this provides pupils with access to expertise that promotes good progress in these subjects.
• Teachers work effectively with teaching assistants to plan and provide well-targeted support that is contributing towards the good progress that pupils make. Teaching assistants know their children well and intervene effectively to provide good support.
• Teaching promotes good rates of progress but does not consistently enable the most able pupils to reach levels of greater depth in their learning. Teachers are actively exploring this and developing new approaches and this is clearly evident in writing and standards of grammar. However, pupils are not yet given consistent opportunities in all year groups or in a wide range of subjects to apply their knowledge, skills and understanding in more advanced ways.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. The ‘Preston curriculum’ and strong routines ensure a constant focus on pupils’ welfare. The wide range of activities to raise self-esteem and promote independence and emotional resilience are a key aspect of the school’s ethos.
• Pupils value the kindness and support of their teachers. They feel that bullying is extremely rare and are confident that adults would address any unacceptable behaviour.
• Pupils feel safe in the school and their parents agree. One parent wrote: ‘This school is so much more than just a school, it is a caring family where each person within looks after the others.’
• Pupils develop physical well-being through regular opportunities to participate in sport. Close partnerships with Middlesbrough Football Club provide specialist physical education teaching and access to many and varied sporting competitions, including hockey, gymnastics, athletics, netball and football. These activities have developed pupils’ skill, stamina and competitive skills.
• Pupils are able to discuss personal safety and the actions that the school has taken to help them keep safe. They have an extremely strong awareness of the actions they can take to remain safe online. Pupils have been trained as digital leaders and provide training to fellow pupils, governors and parents.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Teachers set high expectations from the early years onwards that establish consistency across the school. Older pupils act as role models within family groups and pupils look after one another. Pupils are kind and considerate to one another and work effectively in pairs and groups to share ideas and check the quality of their work.
• Teachers develop positive learning behaviour such as creative and analytical thinking that is enabling pupils to become more astute in their learning. Pupils demonstrated independence in evaluating effective vocabulary and in a range of activities to raise funds for a major Year 6 residential trip to London.
• Pupils show a visible pride in their school and their community. This is reflected in their appearance and the quality of work in the majority of books. Pupils proudly act as pupil ambassadors and represent the school and the views of pupils across the borough.
• Pupils enjoy their learning and work conscientiously. Incidents of low-level disruption are extremely rare. Behaviour systems encourage positive attitudes to learning and the rare instances of misbehaviour are deftly addressed.
• Leaders have worked with parents and carers to stress the importance of attendance and punctuality. They have actively discouraged holidays in term times and, despite some initial opposition, won the support of the vast majority of parents. High attendance is continually celebrated in assemblies and pupils set their own targets for minimum attendance. This work has led to consistent improvements over a three-year period to levels of attendance that are better than that seen nationally. Even so, external factors have contributed to a slight dip in the current academic year.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils achieved extremely good outcomes in the new national assessments at key stage 2 in 2016. Progress in writing was outstanding and pupils made very strong progress in reading and mathematics. The proportion of pupils who achieved expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics combined was well above that seen nationally. Notably, 100% of pupils reached the expected standard in English grammar, punctuation and spelling.
• The quality of writing is exceptional across the school and pupils are continuing to produce work of a high quality, with increasing proportions producing work of depth and maturity. Many pupils are accomplished writers who use their strong awareness of grammar, spelling and punctuation to considerable effect.
• Pupils’ overall progress at key stage 1 is good although the proportion of pupils working at greater depth is lower than at key stage 2. Pupils make better progress in reading than in mathematics at key stage 1.
• Pupils across the school read with clarity and understanding. They demonstrated confidence when reading aloud to inspectors. Current progress continues to be strong. Improvements in phonics teaching have led to increasing numbers achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 to levels in line with those seen nationally.
• Pupils made above-average progress in mathematics at key stage 2 in 2016 and current progress information suggests that they continue to do so. Pupils show confidence in their number work and in employing different methods of calculation. Although some most-able pupils are challenged, the picture is not consistent across all year groups; on occasions, pupils are not moved on swiftly enough to new and deeper problems.
• Pupils’ progress in science, religious studies and history is good and pupils acquire extensive and age-appropriate knowledge of scientific processes, and historical periods and themes. On occasions, pupils do not apply the knowledge they have acquired to explain how scientific processes work consistently across all year groups.
• As a result of improving teaching and well-resourced learning, children make good progress in the early years and the proportion achieving a good level of development is in line with that seen nationally.
• The majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress through effective teaching and focused support. It is clear from pupils’ progress in the classroom and from work in their books over time that support enables them to effectively acquire new knowledge and skills.
• In 2016 at key stage 2, disadvantaged pupils made progress in line with other pupils nationally, although in some cases their attainment was lower. A thorough review of their work in books shows that they continue to make good rates of progress across many year groups and subjects, in many cases equalling or surpassing their peers. Differences in attainment are diminishing across the majority of year groups.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are not making as strong progress across a wide range of subjects as others. This is because they are not given sufficiently regular opportunities to apply their learning to different tasks and work at greater depth.

Early years provision Good

• The early years provides a welcoming and well-resourced environment where children are happy and make good progress in their learning. Routines are positive and clear and children are encouraged to learn from the moment they arrive. The positive behaviour nurtured in Years 1 to 6 are just as evident in the early years.
• As a result of better planning and teaching, complemented by improvements to the indoor and outdoor environment, outcomes in the early years have shown consistent improvement over a three-year period. The proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development is currently in line with that seen nationally. Differences in attainment and progress between boys and girls have diminished over this period of time.
• Much productive learning was observed by inspectors. In Nursery class, children reflected upon what they had learned over the course of the year by reviewing a range of experiences captured in their class ‘floor book’. In Reception class, children developed their awareness of letters and sounds by writing sentences with ai/ay sounds and adding further challenge by adding capital letters and full stops.
• Parents and carers value the care their children receive and the progress they make. They feel communication is a strength through daily conversations with staff, monthly newsletters, and a news board at the entrance and online communication. Parents value the improvements to the environment and the stimulating learning opportunities on offer. One parent enthused that her child, ‘wakes on a morning excited to go to school and is often disappointed on a weekend morning to be told that there is no school today!’
• Parents and carers are involved in their children’s learning. Through open sessions, they gain access to their children’s learning activities and the actions they can take to further support these at home.
• Teachers and teaching assistants monitor children’s progress closely and record this accurately. Teachers assess children in the context of the tasks they are completing and use this to modify their planning. The early years leader has a clear understanding of strengths and areas for improvement and works well with her whole team to improve the provision.
• Records of children’s learning across the early years foundation stage show that children make good progress from their starting points. Teachers have an accurate picture of children’s abilities and learning needs. Teaching is precisely tailored and so progress is good.
• Safeguarding practices in the early years are extremely effective. There are no breaches of statutory welfare requirements; children are safe and well supported. The high standards of welfare evident throughout key stages 1 and 2 are equally apparent in the early years.

School details

Unique reference number 111535 Local authority Stockton-on-Tees Inspection number 10032095 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 Community Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 220 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kerry Stockley Headteacher Sue Richardson Telephone number 01642 784735 Website www.prestonprimary.co.uk/ Email address sue.richardson@sbcschools.org.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 December 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Preston Primary School is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is below average.
• The overall proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is below the national average.
• The school’s 2016 results met the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.
• The school has a number of awards, including the Unicef Rights Respecting School Award.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed a wide range of lessons, covering all classes in the school. The headteacher accompanied the lead inspector on a number of observations.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and middle leaders. The lead inspector also met four members of the governing body, including the chair. The lead inspector met a group of pupils at lunchtime on day one of the inspection. The lead inspector met the local authority school improvement partner.
• Inspectors talked to parents of children in the early years as they dropped their children off at school on day two of the inspection.
• Pupils’ behaviour was observed during lessons, lunchtimes and playtimes.
• Inspectors listened to groups of pupils reading and talked to them about their reading.
• Inspectors extensively examined the quality of work in a wide range of books. They discussed pupils’ work and their learning with them in lessons.
• Inspectors looked at the school’s work and considered documents including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, curriculum plans and information relating to pupils’ achievement and safeguarding.
• Inspectors took into account the 50 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 30 free-text responses. They also took into account the 16 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Malcolm Kirtley, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Alison Aitchison Ofsted Inspector Frances Gowland Ofsted Inspector