Moor Nook Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen the role of governors so that they are able to fulfil their statutory responsibilities with the necessary rigour.
• Ensure that the school’s assessment systems and practices reflect the principles of the national curriculum and that these systems are applied across the whole school and across the curriculum, not just in English and mathematics.
• Embed the recently introduced strategies to address underperformance in pupils’ achievement.
• Promote reading with greater urgency and ensure that all teachers support parents in encouraging their children to read.
• Raise pupils’ understanding of equalities relating to LGBT matters and develop their awareness of the risks of extreme and radical views and opinions present in society today.
• Develop the opportunities for outdoor learning and play in the early years and use baseline assessments more effectively when tracking progress. An external review of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders and governors did not ensure that teachers were effectively prepared for the changes in the national curriculum. The assessment procedures that had been in place did not fully reflect the principles of the new curriculum and subsequently did not adequately inform teachers’ planning. This resulted in standards in 2016 being considerably lower than national averages, whereas in previous years, standards had been high.
• The new assessment systems and procedures that have been introduced are aligned to the curriculum but leaders and teachers are not yet using them with the skill and confidence required so as to have an impact. For example, the accuracy and reliability of current pupils’ progress are insecure.
• The curriculum that leaders provide the pupils with has English and mathematics at its heart. Pupils learn other subjects too, such as science, art, music, history, French and religious education. The pupils told inspectors that they enjoyed these different lessons because it made them see that, ‘school is not just about English and mathematics’. At the time of the inspection, it was not possible to comment as to how effective the curriculum is in terms of promoting good progress for pupils as teachers have never assessed learning beyond English and mathematics. That is no longer the case from September 2016.
• While policies and procedures are in place, the understanding of staff in protecting pupils from radicalisation and extremism is limited. Inspectors were reassured that specific training on this topic has already been planned for this term.
• Leaders spend the pupil premium funding on strategies that are specific to pupils’ individual needs. However, the impact that these strategies are having on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils is not considered with enough precision.
• The funding received for the primary physical education and sport premium is spent on a sports coach who ensures that the pupils receive sports coaching of good quality.
• The headteacher took on her role in September 2015 and deftly dealt with the instability in staffing. Although there is a full complement of teaching staff, leaders and governors do find recruitment and retention challenging.
• Leaders have accurately identified what the school needs to do in order to improve. The action plans are appropriate and were in place before the inspection took place.
• The local authority has already identified the school as requiring additional support and intervention and the headteacher was proactive in having the support provided. Leaders and teachers are positive about the quality of the support and the impact it is having upon their practice.
• Leaders manage the performance of staff in a fair manner and link teachers’ objectives to outcomes for pupils. A number of staff have undertaken middle leadership courses and are using what they have learned to improve provision at Moor Nook.
• The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is evident in the displays around the school, the opportunities that pupils have to think and reflect and the respect that the pupils show to each other. Leaders also ensure that pupils are given opportunities to appreciate other beliefs, races and cultures through trips, visits, topics and the ‘race charter’ that the school is committed to. These initiatives help to develop pupils’ understanding of what values underpin British society.

Governance of the school

• Governors have an unquestionable commitment to, and passion for, the school and a number have given many years of dedicated service. Governors are keen to develop their skills and expertise, and attendance records indicate that they take full advantage of training that is on offer.
• However, governors are not providing the challenge and rigour that are required when measuring the impact of the additional funding that the school receives for the pupil premium and sport premium. Similarly, governors have not ensured that a considerable amount of funding that the school receives has been spent.
• Governors are not effectively carrying out their statutory duties. For example, the website does meet the requirements as set out by the Department for Education.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The policies and procedures in place meet the requirements. Leaders have already identified where further training for staff is needed and this is scheduled to take place this term.
• Leaders work effectively with external agencies and are proactive in ensuring that agreed actions are followed up.
• Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe when using different forms of social media and when around roads and strangers. Pupils’ understanding of the risks of people holding or supporting radical or extremist views is limited.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching is not good across the school because the use of assessment is insecure and is not sufficiently informed by the changes in the national curriculum. This has impacted significantly upon the achievement of pupils. It has also impeded teachers’ ability to adapt their teaching to meet the needs of pupils.
• When teachers provided feedback that was focused and direct, the pupils’ learning improved. In some cases, the feedback provided by teachers was too vague or lacking in next steps for the pupils to respond to.
• The most able pupils are not always being provided with the necessary challenge and opportunities they need in order to make the progress that they should. At times, the learning for the most able pupils is too easy and they repeat what they have already learned.
• The pupil premium funding is not focused enough on pupils’ achievement. As a result, there is a limited amount of funding that is allocated and spent on strategies that improve learning in the classroom.
• Pupils are given homework as set out in the school’s policy. The quality of the homework is variable. It is evident that pupils’ reading journals are not being used effectively by all staff, and parental involvement in this is limited.
• Effective teaching and learning were seen during the inspection and in pupils’ books. In these lessons, teachers had good subject knowledge and were challenging and questioning the pupils with skill.
• Teachers are benefiting from the additional support that has been put in place through the local authority. This is giving staff the opportunities to work together with colleagues from local schools to share and develop good practice.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receive additional support and teaching from a specialist teacher in addition to their class teacher. This is helping these pupils to learn better and make faster progress.
• The learning environment for pupils is spacious and well resourced, providing many opportunities for exciting and creative learning to engage pupils. This was happening in a number of classes, but the resources available to teachers were not always being used effectively.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Pupils’ understanding of equalities is not consistent. Pupils show a good awareness of the need for respect and equity for people of different races, cultures, beliefs and if they have a disability or not. However, pupils show little understanding of matters relating to LGBT matters. Similarly, the pupils were unsure of the risks of people who may hold extreme or radical views.
• In all other respects, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. The pupils have the opportunity to reflect and think about others who are less fortunate than themselves and contribute to a range of local charities and initiatives. The school is linked to a school in Ghana and this helps pupils to appreciate other cultures. Pupils’ awareness of other faiths is developed through visits to local places of worship. These opportunities help to develop the pupils’ understanding of what it means to be British.
• Pupils feel safe at the school. Pupils know whom to talk to if they have any worries, and the pupils that inspectors spoke to said that they know that their teachers care about them.
• Pupils’ health and well-being benefit from the range of sports activities and lessons that take place at the school, for example, rounders, hockey, football, dodgeball, gymnastics and dance classes. Leaders also provide a breakfast club, which is heavily subsidised, where children can have cereals, toast and juice.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Attendance has improved since the last inspection and is consistently above the national average. This is because of leaders’ concerted efforts to ensure that attendance is given high priority. The number of pupils who are persistently absent is low.
• The number of fixed-term exclusions continues to fall. A very small minority of pupils demonstrate challenging behaviours but all staff deal with this in an appropriate manner.
• The behaviour policy that was introduced is clear and followed consistently. Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is calm and orderly. Low-level disruption was seen in a couple of lessons but was dealt with quickly.
• The pupils demonstrate good manners and are friendly and welcoming.
• Pupils do not think that bullying happens at their school and are confident that, if it did happen, it would be dealt with very quickly. The records that leaders keep indicate that this is the case.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The results achieved by pupils by the end of key stage 2 in reading and mathematics in 2016 were woeful in comparison with national averages. The standards in writing, however, remained strong.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 in reading and writing was close to the national average but below average in mathematics. The proportion of pupils working at greater depth across all subjects was below average. Disadvantaged pupils did not attain well by the end of key stage 1.
• The most able pupils and the most able disadvantaged pupils do not perform as well as they should. The achievement of the most able pupils is variable. They make good progress when the teaching meets their needs but this is inconsistent because teachers have not always taken into account their starting points.
• The achievement of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is variable across subjects and year groups. There are signs that these inconsistencies are reducing as a result of focused teaching and interventions.
• Leaders do not monitor the progress pupils make with the necessary attention and rigour. Currently, pupils’ learning is only assessed in the core subjects and pupils’ prior attainment is not given the prominence required to ensure that all groups of pupils make the progress of which they are capable.
• The proportion of pupils meeting the phonics threshold is consistently above the national average. Disadvantaged pupils’ achievement is as good as, if not better than, that of other pupils nationally. By the end of Year 2, pupils have a secure basis on which to build their early reading skills and the readers that inspectors heard reading demonstrated this.
• By the end of key stage 1, pupils’ attainment is close to the national average in all subjects. Disadvantaged pupils’ achievement is variable and this is because there is insufficient rigour in measuring the impact of the additional funding that the school receives for these pupils.
• As a result of the strategies put in place to reverse the drop in standards, the progress that pupils make is quickening up. It is faster in some classes than others and this is because of the variable teaching that exists. This is supported by the learning that was seen in lessons during the inspection and the work in pupils’ books.
• Reading is encouraged across the school but it is not given a high enough profile. Pupils say that they enjoy reading but there is little evidence to suggest that it is happening in a systematic way and that pupils are reading at home.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The assessment systems that leaders and teachers use do not track children’s progress from baseline assessments with sufficient accuracy. This hinders teachers from using assessment information to plan teaching and meet the varying needs of the children.
• The quality of teaching is inconsistent. Questioning is limited and adults in the classroom do not always model the correct use of English.
• The opportunities for outdoor play are limited. Consequently, not all activities in the early years are purposeful and linked to children’s development and learning.
• Children enter the early years with skills that are below what is typical for their age. By the time they leave the early years, children have levels of development that are above average. However, there are no specific strategies in place to ensure that the difference between the achievement of children who are disadvantaged and that of other children nationally reduces.
• Leaders have addressed the low communication and language skills that children have on entry to the early years with specific and targeted speech and language support. By the time they leave the early years, the proportion of children who achieve the expected standard in this area is similar to the national average.
• Leaders have a good knowledge and understanding of what effective early years provision looks like. This is reflected in the accurate development plan that is place.
• The classrooms in the early years provide children with many opportunities for investigation, creativity and imagination and reinforce children’s numeracy and literacy skills.
• The children listen to their teachers and other adults well. The routines are established and the children are happy while at school.
• Safeguarding is effective and all of the welfare requirements are met.
• The key person for each child is welcoming to parents and has established effective communication between home and school. Parents are increasingly confident and involved in their children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 119236 Lancashire 10025639 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 Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 217 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mr Brian Rollo Ms Suzanne Clough Telephone number 01772 796009 Website Email address www.moornook.co.uk head@moornook.lancs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19–20 May 2010

Information about this school

• This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils from different minority ethnic backgrounds is well below average, as is the number of pupils who speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above the national average, but the proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who receive support through the pupil premium funding is more than double the national average.
• In 2015, the school met the government’s floor standards.
• Since the previous inspection, a new headteacher took up post in September 2015.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the impact of last year’s additional funding for pupil premium and sports on its website. A number of requirements were missing from the website: the school’s complaints policy; standards that pupils achieved in 2016; and the school’s ethos and values. A number of policies on the website were also out of date.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed a range of lessons and classes. A learning walk took place with senior leaders. Inspectors looked at pupils’ work and listened to some of them read.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils from both key stages about their experience of school and their learning.
• Inspectors spoke to parents as they dropped their children off to school. There were no responses to Parent View.
• Inspectors met with the members of the governing body. Meetings were also held with the leadership team and members of staff, and a telephone discussion took place with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors scrutinised a variety of documentation, including: the school’s own self-evaluation and development plan; anonymised performance management documents; school policies and procedures; and the school’s own assessment information. A range of documentation regarding safeguarding was scrutinised, including behaviour and attendance records and bullying logs.

Inspection team

Jonathan Jones, lead inspector Julie Downing Michael Platt

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector