Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Provide key stage 2 pupils with greater opportunities to write across the curriculum to further their progress in writing.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that a higher proportion of pupils attain the higher standards in reading and mathematics at key stage 2, and in particular, achieve at greater depth in writing.
• Improve further the progress of pupils in reading at key stage 2 by providing them with regular access to a wider range of high-quality fiction and non-fiction books.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The governors and headteacher are ambitious for the pupils at Holy Trinity CE school. They work closely as a team and have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement.
• Governors have introduced 18 values which they share regularly with staff and pupils. These values, such as ‘generosity’, are the focus of collective worship sessions and are reinforced throughout the pupils’ time in the school. As a result, pupils demonstrate high levels of care and compassion towards others.
• Leaders have successfully addressed the historic instability in staffing which caused weaknesses in the teaching of reading and writing at key stage 2. Consequently, improvements in the planning and teaching of these subjects result in current pupils making stronger progress.
• The curriculum leader ensures that pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum with a strong focus on art, music, languages and sport. Leaders ensure that they enhance learning in the classroom by providing a broad range of additional activities that motivate and engage pupils’ interests.
• Pupils speak with understanding and interest about their learning. For example, a group of pupils in key stage 2 spoke with impressive knowledge and understanding about the First World War, recounting a broad range of facts including the cause of the war, the countries involved and life in the trenches.
• The provision of extra-curricular activities is a strength of the school. Pupils enjoy a wide range of opportunities in areas such as sport, art, reading, music, Spanish and first aid. All pupils in key stage 2, for example, have the opportunity to undertake a residential visit. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 visit Barcelona to develop their Spanish- speaking skills and meet their pen pals. Such experiences strengthen significantly the learning that pupils undertake in class.
• Leaders are highly effective at weaving SMSC opportunities through all aspects of school life. Recently, pupils gained a community award for the work they undertook in the locality. Additionally, the school’s choir and mini-orchestra perform in the locality for groups such as the elderly.
• Leadership of sport throughout the school is very strong. Leaders use the physical education and sport funding to provide pupils with a broad range of opportunities to take part in extra-curricular sporting activities and in regional and national events. Leaders and pupils are proud of the national awards they received for swimming and lacrosse over the last year.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress. This is because the support they receive from teachers and teaching assistants is of a good overall standard, enabling them to grow in confidence and enhance their skills.
• Leaders ensure that there is a careful transition for pupils from one class to the next. They provide teachers with time to share information about pupils and plan for the next phase in their learning. As a result, the transition is smooth and pupils do not lose learning time.
• The school has a small number of disadvantaged pupils. Leaders use additional funding effectively to support their learning by providing additional support from teaching assistants. As a result, disadvantaged pupils in the school make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders work effectively with other schools. They offer support in areas such as mathematics and share the good practice of other providers. This also helps them to develop further their curriculum in areas such as personal, social and health education. Additionally, leaders work with other local Anglican schools to develop areas such as pupils’ mental health and fundamental British values.
• Leaders have also worked with local schools and the local authority to develop teachers’ skills in the planning and teaching of writing. This is helping to accelerate pupils’ achievement in this area. However, leaders are aware that further work is necessary to ensure that pupils’ progress in writing continues to improve further throughout key stage 2.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a secure understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They work effectively with leaders, challenging them in areas such as pupils’ outcomes and health and safety.
• Governors ensure that pupils help to choose the school’s values. Through the junior church committee, they encourage pupils to offer their views on appropriate values that the school should promote.
• Governors are aware of their statutory duties. They challenge leaders on the use of spending to ensure that it represents good value for money and has an appropriate impact on pupils’ welfare and outcomes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school site is safe and secure. Members of staff carefully check the identity of visitors on entry to ensure that they pose no threat to adults or pupils.
• Leaders ensure that they carry out appropriate checks to assure themselves of the suitability of staff to work with children. Staff and governors undertake safeguarding training so that pupils, including the most vulnerable, receive effective support.
• Pupils feel safe in school. Teachers’ vigilance and consistency in their expectations about behaviour contribute significantly to this. Pupils understand the importance of keeping themselves safe and understand how to do this in the real world and online.
• Leaders ensure that the broad range of visits undertaken are well assessed for risk so that they take appropriate precautions to keep pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The school’s curriculum is broad, balanced and exciting. Leaders and teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to enhance their learning across the curriculum through local, national and international visits. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 go skiing in Scotland. As they stay at a Christian centre, this visit provides time to promote not only sporting skills, but also opportunities for spiritual development.
• The teaching of mathematics is strong throughout the school. The leader of mathematics is effective in ensuring that pupils have regular opportunities to develop their reasoning skills through activities such as problem solving. Work in pupils’ books shows that they make good progress. However, on occasions, work in key stage 2 is set at too easy a level for the most able pupils and does not fully challenge their thinking.
• The teaching of phonics is consistently strong across all classes. Teachers and teaching assistants are effective at developing pupils’ understanding. As a result, the number of pupils who pass the phonics screening check has been above the national average for at least four years.
• Teachers work effectively with leaders to develop the teaching of reading throughout the school. This has been most effective in key stage 1, where pupils’ attainment is of a consistently high standard. In key stage 2, a stronger focus on teaching specific reading skills has resulted in improved progress over the last year.
• Pupils at Holy Trinity love to read. Those who read to inspectors during the inspection did so with enjoyment and expression, demonstrating a clear understanding of the content of their books. However, pupils do not have regular access to a broad enough range of fiction and non-fiction books and the school’s library is underused. Pupils’ limited diet of reading results in insufficient exposure to a range of vocabulary which is wide enough to increase the sophistication of their speaking and writing.
• Teaching in key stage 1 is strong and pupils make rapid progress. Teachers model learning in an effective manner and use additional adults effectively to ensure that pupils receive appropriate support.
• Teachers in key stage 2 have worked hard to overcome previous staffing issues which resulted in low levels of progress in writing in this key stage. Work in pupils’ writing books, together with the school’s most recent assessment information, indicates that current pupils make stronger progress over time. However, teachers do not regularly provide pupils with enough opportunities to practise their writing skills and develop their stamina in writing across the curriculum.
• The quality of teaching in subjects other than English and mathematics is good. Teachers provide experiences which link learning across subjects. For example, the school recently ran an ‘enterprise week’. Pupils planned the sale of goods they had made in design-technology lessons. Teachers used mathematics lessons to help the pupils work out projected profits from the sale of the items made. The pupils created posters in writing lessons to persuade other pupils to buy their items. The week culminated in a ‘market day’ where pupils sold their goods. Leaders donated all profits to a charity in Cambodia. In activities such as this, pupils develop a clear understanding of how to apply learning to real-life situations.
• The assessment system ensures that teachers have a clear overview of pupils’ attainment. The curriculum leader has recently developed this system to provide teachers in key stage 2 with further information which enables them to measure more effectively the progress of all pupil groups. While the assessment system has been effective in helping teachers to plan the next steps in pupils’ learning, further work is required to ensure that work planned for the most able is challenging enough.
• Teachers and other adults are highly skilled in asking probing questions to develop pupils’ understanding. For example, in key stage 2, a teacher used effective questions to encourage pupils to predict what will happen to a salt solution when water begins to evaporate. The teacher guided pupils’ learning well and reinforced key scientific vocabulary.
• Teachers are enthusiastic about their subjects and pupils share their love of learning. As a result, behaviour in classes is exemplary and pupils work together in a highly effective manner to develop their knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.
• Teaching assistants are skilled and committed. They work effectively with teachers to support and challenge pupils, including those with SEND. As a result, learning for these pupils is well matched to their needs.

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 self-assured and confident learners. They show a clear love of learning and are effective in tackling challenges together.
• Leaders and teachers ensure that pupils are very caring towards each other in lessons and around the school. Pupils have a range of opportunities to represent their school in roles such as head boy or girl, school councillors, sports leaders and junior church-committee members. This provides pupils with the opportunity to promote their school’s values effectively.
• Pupils are aware of the importance of being good citizens beyond their school. For example, a ‘community group’ of pupils visited their locality to identify areas that needed improvement. They then wrote to their local councillor to inform her of their findings. As a result of this, pupils received a community award acknowledging their good work.
• Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils in the choir and the mini-orchestra to perform in their local community. Pupils understand the positive impact that such events have on groups such as church congregations and the elderly.
• Pupils are regularly involved in charitable fundraising. The school’s pupils’ council selects such activities. Pupils are particularly proud to have raised money for causes such as a school in Cambodia.
• Teachers ensure that pupils have a clear awareness of how to stay safe. Pupils say that bullying is very rare in the school but where it does happen, teachers are effective at dealing with it.
• Pupils understand the importance of healthy eating and regular exercise. They speak with understanding about the importance of mental health. This is because leaders and teachers provide regular opportunities within the curriculum to develop this understanding and promote pupils’ well-being.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Overall attendance is above the national average. Pupils clearly understand the link between attending school regularly and achieving their goals and ambitions.
• Pupils are very polite, respectful and well behaved. They talk with pride about their school, describing it as ‘a very friendly environment’.
• Behaviour in lessons and around the school is exemplary. Pupils enjoy opportunities to work in partnership with other pupils. They are considerate of the views of others and listen with interest.
• Pupils show an admirable understanding of the value of equality and diversity.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ attainment in phonics is strong over time. The proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check and the Year 2 check are consistently above the national average.
• Pupils’ attainment in key stage 1 is also strong. Pupils perform particularly well in reading and mathematics. The school’s most recent performance information in 2018 shows that the attainment of pupils at the expected standard was above that seen nationally. At greater depth, performance was at least in line with that seen nationally for reading and above the national average in mathematics.
• Pupils make good overall progress in mathematics across key stage 2. Consequently, in 2018, the proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard by the end of key stage 2 was above the national average. Work in pupils’ books reflects staff’s focus on developing pupils’ reasoning and problem-solving skills. However, work set for the most able pupils is not always challenging enough and this group does not always reach its full potential in this subject.
• In 2018, by the end of key stage 2, pupils’ attainment in reading and writing was broadly in line with the national average. However, their progress in these subjects across key stage 2 over time has been inconsistent. This is because there has been instability in staffing. Work in pupils’ books shows that current pupils make stronger progress at the expected standard across this key stage. However, teachers do not always challenge the most able pupils enough to ensure that they reach the higher standard in their work.
• Teachers’ efforts to develop writing further in key stage 2 have been particularly effective in the teaching of grammar and punctuation. In this area, pupils make good progress across the key stage. By the end of key stage 2, a higher-than-average proportion of pupils reach the expected standard. However, this is not reflected at higher standard where the most able do not achieve in line with the national average.
• Pupils perform well across the school in science. They have regular opportunities to undertake investigations and develop their understanding sequentially across a broad range of scientific areas. As a result, progress is strong. By the end of key stages 1 and 2, performance information over time shows that pupils perform at a standard which is above that seen nationally.
• Pupils with SEND are supported well by teachers and teaching assistants. As a result, current pupils make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff make effective use of funding to support the individual needs of the small number of disadvantaged pupils in the school. As a result, disadvantaged pupils currently in the school make good progress from their starting points.
• Pupils achieve well across the curriculum. They demonstrate a clear knowledge and understanding of the subjects they have been learning about. Leaders are currently developing further systems to ensure that progress throughout the wider curriculum improves even further.

Early years provision Good

• There have been changes in the leadership of early years. Nevertheless, it remains effective and there are clear systems in place to make improvements.
• Children get off to a strong start with early reading, writing and mathematics. The teaching of phonics is strong. Staff give children a wide range of opportunities both indoors and outdoors to develop their understanding of letters and sounds. As a result, they make good progress.
• The staff in early years share good relationships with the children. They set clear boundaries and expectations, offering support and encouragement to develop children’s learning.
• The Reception classroom is well organised, bright and welcoming. Learning is exciting and engaging, with opportunities both indoors and outdoors to challenge children’s thinking across a wide range of curricular areas.
• Children’s behaviour in early years is exemplary. They are polite, cooperative and fully engaged in their learning. During the inspection, children worked collaboratively for long periods of time with good levels of resilience.
• Safeguarding arrangements in the early years are effective. Children are safe and secure. They follow adults’ instructions and take responsibility for tidying away when requested. Children follow well-established routines with confidence.
• Leaders have worked hard to address the historic underperformance of boys compared to girls in the early years. Topics taught and resources provided are of equal interest to both boys and girls. During the inspection, boys and girls worked together effectively outdoors undertaking measuring activities with construction blocks and with bottles. Strong questioning by teaching assistants allowed both boys and girls to develop their thinking effectively. As a result, the performance of boys is beginning to improve.
• Parents and carers are positive about the provision for their children in early years. Phonics workshops are particularly successful in helping parents to support their children at home.
• Leaders use additional funding effectively to provide extra support for disadvantaged children and those with SEND. As a result, these children make good progress from their starting points.
• Teaching assistants make a strong contribution to the success of early years. They bring experience, commitment and enthusiasm to the role.
• Children enter Reception with skills typical for their age and make good progress throughout the year. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 105814 Rochdale 10052868 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 Voluntary aided 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 226 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Local authority Mrs Sarah Booy Mr Mark Kenyon 01706 378 061 www.holytrinityce.rochdale.sch.uk/ office@holytrinityce.rochdale.sch.uk Date of previous inspection November 2014

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White-British heritage. A very small minority of pupils are from other ethnic backgrounds, including a few who are learning to speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils receiving support for SEND is below average.
• The proportion of pupils supported with an education, health and care plan is above average.
• The school receives additional funding through the pupil premium funding for a smaller-than-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils.
• The school has a larger-than-average proportion of girls.

Information about this inspection

• The headteacher joined an inspector on a learning walk.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents, including information about pupils’ attendance, school improvement plans, the school’s own self-evaluation, safeguarding records, curriculum planning and external reviews of the school.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day.
• An inspector met with a representative of the local authority, who is the school’s local authority performance and achievement officer.
• An inspector met with five governors including the chair of governors.
• Inspectors talked with pupils informally at playtimes and lunchtime.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at the start and end of the school day and during breaks and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors undertook a detailed scrutiny of pupils’ work and talked with them about their work. They listened to pupils read and talked to them about the books they enjoyed and those that they are currently reading.
• Inspectors held meetings with a broad range of leaders including the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the office manager, senior and middle leaders and the leader of the provision for pupils with SEND.
• Inspectors carried out a detailed scrutiny of current pupils’ progress and attendance information for all groups of pupils.
• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all year groups.

Inspection team

Gill Pritchard, lead inspector Saeeda Ishaq Amanda Dodd

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector