Clayton Brook Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that children make good progress in the Nursery and Reception Years by:
  • improving the teaching of phonics
  • creating more opportunities for children to discover numbers, letters and sounds, particularly in the outdoor provision
  • raising the profile of reading at home
  • monitoring the quality of provision more rigorously to see what teaching is typically like.
• Continue to improve pupils’ outcomes in key stages 1 and 2 by:
  • focusing on the teaching of comprehension, spelling and grammar
  • ensuring that teaching consistently challenges the most able pupils.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher and her team have high expectations and care very much about the pupils they serve. They have an accurate view of standards across the school and know the strengths and weaknesses well.
• Parents are very supportive of the school’s work. A typical comment was: ‘I feel Clayton Brook is a really good school. My son has additional needs; they have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and support us the best they can.’
• Leaders and managers have responded well to the dip in reading results. They gave all staff training on high-quality guided reading and the new national expectations. A teacher has been employed to work individually with pupils to boost their reading skills.
• The pupil premium funding is used well to provide very good pastoral support, particularly for pupils whose circumstances may make them potentially vulnerable. It is also used to provide good-quality small-group work, for example for pupils who find mathematics difficult.
• The primary school sport and physical education funding is used to fund lunchtime and after-school clubs to promote fitness and well-being. In addition, Year 5 pupils take part in the ‘run a mile challenge’; they run a timed circuit of the playground every Monday morning with the aim of improving their time.
• The funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used well to provide good-quality support. Leaders and managers are strategically shifting the focus of support back to the classroom to underpin ‘quality first’ teaching. This is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning.
• The creative curriculum engages pupils and offers lots of opportunities for them to explore science and humanities. Leaders have an expectation that teaching will be as consistently good in all subjects as it is in English and mathematics.
• There are many extra-curricular clubs and visits. For example, the whole school went to Tatton Park for the Roald Dahl Day to inspire them to read more. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well. As a result, pupils behave well and show respect for each other.
• The school receives good support from the local authority school improvement partner and benefits from being part of a local cluster to share good practice and moderate assessments.

Governance of the school

• Members of the governing body are highly committed to the school. They have a good understanding of current standards and took swift and decisive action after the disappointing results last year.
• Governors have supported the headteacher well to tackle weaknesses in teaching.
• The governing body has challenged senior leaders effectively about the standards pupils achieve, although minutes of governing body meetings do not always reflect this.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The single central record meets requirements, and policies and procedures are up to date and thorough. All relevant staff have been appropriately trained to deal with all aspects of child protection, including the prevention of terrorism and safer recruitment.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school, and parents agree. The school keeps careful records of child protection issues and involves other agencies in a timely manner. Records show that small concerns are always followed up quickly and can often lead to the discovery of wider concerns. The school engages well with other agencies to support pupils and their families.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Pupils are taught well in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The most able Year 2 pupils learned well in mathematics due to clear exemplification from the teacher, good support from the teaching assistant and a high level of challenge.
• Similarly, in mathematics the most able Year 6 pupils made rapid gains in their learning when they were taught as a separate ability group by a member of the senior leadership team. They were carefully guided through complex methodology with great success.
• Year 6 pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities were observed learning really well due to some very well-targeted support and small-group tuition.
• Spelling and grammar is generally taught well. In Year 1, the most able pupils discussed knowledgeably the use of punctuation in a text. They thoroughly enjoyed their learning and behaved impeccably due to excellent relationships, and the good use of praise and reward. They show a very good understanding of grammar.
• However, there remain occasions where there is not enough attention to accurate spelling and grammar and where the most able pupils unnecessarily repeat learning they already understand, which inhibits their progress. Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils were very polite to inspectors and keen to say how much they enjoyed school. They said that bullying is rare and if it does happen, they tell a teacher and it will be dealt with straight away.
• The many parents spoken with by inspectors and who responded to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, were delighted with the way behaviour is managed at school and say they have not had any issues with bullying. On the rare occasions that bullying does occur, it is dealt with quickly and effectively by the teacher.
• A great deal of time and effort is spent supporting children and families whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. As a result, pupils feel safe in school and teachers are well equipped to support them.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. This is due to engaging teaching and the consistent implementation of the school’s behaviour and reward system.
• In the school hall at lunchtime, pupils eat sensibly and show a great deal of care for others. Lunchtimes are very well supervised. Pupils choose their lunchtime activity and they are well organised into groups. There is plenty for everyone to do so pupils behave well; lunchtimes are harmonious and fun.
• Attendance is in line with the national average overall and continues to be above the national average for many groups, due to the consistent and well-managed approach to following up absences and supporting families.
• Classrooms are bright and welcoming. Pupils behave well and know that if anyone’s behaviour falls short of expectations, they will ‘move to amber’ on the traffic light system. Pupils say that rarely does anyone ‘go on red’ – an indication that good behaviour is typical.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• There is a large amount of inward mobility to school. Last year 38 pupils joined key stage 2 and seven pupils joined part-way through Year 6. This means that published data does not provide a true reflection of pupils’ progress.
• Most children enter the Nursery class with skills and abilities well below those typical for their age. Standards at the end of key stage 2 in writing, mathematics and across a range of subjects are broadly average, which demonstrates good progress from pupils’ starting points.
• Standards in reading are improving due to a strong focus on teaching comprehension and inference. Although outcomes in reading are set to improve in Year 6, it rightly remains an area of focus across the school.
• Extra funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used well. This group make good progress due to effective support to help to close gaps in their understanding and to enhance these pupils’ social and emotional skills.
• The most able pupils do not always make good progress because teaching does not consistently stretch and challenge their abilities. However, this is rapidly improving, particularly in mathematics, because leaders and managers have focused on improving pupils’ performance in this subject.
• The pupil premium funding is largely spent on providing small-group teaching and pastoral support. This is work is effective and represents good use of the funding. It enables many disadvantaged pupils to have high attendance and behave well, despite their potentially vulnerable circumstances.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Standards in the Nursery and the Reception Year are not good enough. The outcomes and provision in the early years do not reflect the standards and expectations in the rest of the school.
• The majority of children enter the Nursery Year with starting points well below those typical for their age. Typically, one third of children enter Year 1 without achieving a good level of development. This is because the quality of teaching in the Nursery and Reception Years is not good enough. Expectations of what the children can achieve, particularly in the Nursery Year, are too low.
• Leaders and managers have rightly recognised and begun to address the weaknesses in Nursery Year provision. They have also tackled some weak teaching in the Reception Year. However, some further staff training is needed to ensure that expectations of what children can achieve before they start Year 1 are high enough.
• In the Nursery class, children were listening to a story. While they found it interesting at first, their attention waned when it went on too long and failed to capture their imaginations. A number of other adults in the room were not used well to ensure that children made good progress.
• The teaching of phonics is not challenging enough. This prevents some children, particularly the most able, from making good progress.
• The Reception Year classroom is bright and stimulating and the curriculum is well organised and interesting. The outdoor area is underdeveloped. There is a missed opportunity to encourage children to recognise letters and numbers while they happily play outside.
• Behaviour is good and relationships are strong. Children are well cared for. Parents say their children have settled in well to the Nursery and Reception classes and enjoy coming to the school.

School details

Unique reference number 119331 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 10024433 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 208 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Howard Tattersall Headteacher Sarah Sadler Telephone number 01772 313878 Website www.claytonbrook.lancs.sch.uk Email address head@claytonbrook.lancs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 12 March 2013

Information about this school

• There is a part-time Nursery class, which children attend for mornings only.
• Stability at the school is well below the national average. There are high levels of inward mobility.
• The school is smaller than the average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for support from the pupil premium is twice the national average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is high.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is also below average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.
• The school receives support from the local authority school improvement partner.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed children in the Nursery and Reception Years and pupils across the school.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work, school policies, and records relating to safeguarding, self-evaluation information and a range of other documentation.
• There were 11 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, to be considered. Inspectors spoke with many parents in the school playground before school and at the end of the school day.
• Inspectors met with members of the governing body.
• Meetings were also held with senior and middle leaders and the school improvement partner.

Inspection team

Sally Kenyon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Mavis Smith Ofsted Inspector Kathy Nichol Ofsted Inspector