Sandbrook Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Accelerate pupils’ progress in reading, particularly for middle-ability and the most able pupils, by:
  • improving the teaching and learning of reading so that pupils maximise the development of their reading comprehension skills
  • ensuring that reading activities for middle-ability and the most able pupils are specifically matched to their needs.
• Improve the overall quality of teaching and learning by:
  • ensuring that pupils complete more work during the time allocated
  • teachers checking the progress that pupils make during lessons and adapting learning so that pupil progress accelerates.
• Improve the overall quality of the curriculum by:
  • ensuring that pupils have consistent opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in geography and history.
  • teachers identifying opportunities for pupils to practise and apply key reading, writing and mathematical skills within all subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The school has been through an unsettled period. Since the previous inspection the leadership team has changed significantly and there has been a decline in standards. The headteacher, who took up her post in the spring of 2016, has put into place an effective leadership team who are beginning to speed up the pace of change. As a team they have had an impact on pupil progress and teaching and learning. For example, pupils make good progress in early years and consistently good progress in writing across the school. Similarly, leaders have supported teachers who are at the early stages of their career to achieve consistently good lessons. However, the new team have not been in place long enough to ensure that consistently good standards are achieved across the school.
• The headteacher is a determined and effective leader. She leads by example and has the full support of all members of the school community. She has established a positive team culture that is driving continuous improvement in all areas of school life.
• Senior leaders and governors are realistic about the dip in outcomes at the end of key stage 2. They recognise that teaching, while improving, has not been consistently good so that all pupils have not made sufficient progress from their starting points. The new leadership team, including middle leaders, now check the quality of teaching systematically. They have secured improvements in teaching and learning through support and training and by robustly tackling any weaknesses in the quality of teaching. During the inspection there was good teaching, with evidence of accelerated progress. Leaders have taken action to address the least effective teaching, there are good plans to support teaching which still needs to improve and there is good practice in the school from which all can benefit from.
• The deputy headteacher, who has responsibility for English, and teachers responsible for mathematics and special educational needs make a valuable contribution to improving teaching and raising achievement. They are enthusiastic about their roles and raising pupils’ achievement. For example, pupils now make good progress in writing and pupils who have special educational needs are provided with additional support well to ensure good progress.
• Leaders of subjects beyond English and mathematics, many of whom are new to their roles, are developing their skills as leaders. They are beginning to gather evidence about achievement in their subjects in order to drive improvement. Pupils are benefiting from this and are making good progress in science and PE. However, it is only very recently that they have ensured that all pupils have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in their geography and history work.
• The performance of staff is now well managed. Staff benefit from a performance management process that helps identify their strengths and weaknesses. There are effective systems in place, with regular checks on the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning throughout the school. There are a number of teachers who are at the early stages of their career, including a number of newly qualified teachers. Staff who are new to the school receive a comprehensive induction. They are well supported and appreciate the professional development opportunities that they are provided with.
• Leaders have introduced an increasingly accurate and reliable assessment system to check pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This not only provides leaders with year-by-year information but also for each term. Teachers therefore have much clearer information about pupils’ starting points, next steps and any gaps in learning. This is beginning to have an impact on the progress being made by the current pupils.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is effective. Leaders make sure that the additional funding is used well to support individual pupils, several of whom have complex needs. Additional support from trained teaching assistants is used well to help these pupils access their learning. Good use is made of outside specialists, including educational psychologists.
• The pupil premium funding is used effectively to support children working in small groups, to provide speech and language support and subsidise the cost of educational visits for disadvantaged pupils. The funding has been used to develop significant pastoral support, including a family liaison officer, who ensures high-quality engagement and links with parents.
• School leaders use the primary school physical education (PE) and sport funding well to offer a range of sporting equipment for use at breaktimes and in PE lessons and to provide specialist coaching. This is supporting pupils in developing a healthy lifestyle.
• Pupils largely enjoy the curriculum and appreciate the additional opportunities provided. They spoke with great enthusiasm about the range of extra-curricular clubs, including: football, netball, gardening, choir and ukulele. Pupils are making good progress in their science work and outcomes in PE are strong. However, pupils need more opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in geography and history. Also, they need to practise their basic reading, writing and mathematical skills across all subjects in the curriculum.
• Promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development has a number of strengths. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about ‘Sandbrook Cares Week’, where they learned about serving the local community. Similarly, pupils benefited from ‘Refugee Week’, where pupils learned about the contribution that refugees make to the United Kingdom.
• The pupils have a good understanding of British values and have the opportunity to take on a variety of responsibilities. For example, at lunchtime there are play leaders who proudly take the younger pupils out onto the playground after they have finished their lunch. Members of the school council help to make decisions about the school, and the election of the head boy and girl is a good example of the pupils learning about democratic process. Around the school there is an ethos of friendship and tolerance towards others. Displays reflect the diversity in the local and wider community.

Governance of the school

• Governors have an accurate view of the school. They offer challenge and are sufficiently informed about how well different groups of pupils are doing, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They know that some of the pupils at the school are not making sufficient progress and are rightly concerned about the decline in outcomes, especially during the previous academic year.
• They give freely of their time and visit school regularly to talk to staff and meet pupils. They have ensured that the school evaluates the impact of pupil premium and PE and sport premium funding. Governors have a well-developed understanding of their statutory responsibilities, for example regarding safeguarding.
• Governors are ambitious for the pupils at the school and are making good use of their wide range of expertise to support improvement. Safeguarding
• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a strong culture of keeping pupils safe in school, with the headteacher setting an excellent example. Staff are highly committed and know families well. The impact of the family liaison officer has been significant in supporting potentially vulnerable families and children.
• Relevant staff are well trained and keep up to date with guidance and information. Members of staff at all levels spoken to during the inspection visit said they had been appropriately trained and knew what procedures to follow if a potential safeguarding incident arose.
• Appropriate records of ongoing safeguarding concerns are stored securely and leaders engage well with other agencies to share information about pupils where it is necessary.
• All staff are fully aware that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Parents and pupils spoken to were overwhelmingly positive that the school keeps children safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• There is some inconsistency in the quality of teaching, which is too variable across key stages 1 and 2. Although improving, the quality of teaching is not yet consistently good. This is resulting in too many pupils making insufficient progress based on their starting points.
• Not all teachers provide pupils with sufficiently challenging learning activities. In some cases, pupils with starting points typical for their age do not reach the standards of which they are capable. Teachers’ expectations of the most able pupils are too low.
• Leaders have improved assessment systems. However, teachers do not always use assessment information to plan learning activities which are closely matched to pupils’ abilities. This results in some activities being set which do not deepen pupils’ learning or challenge their thinking.
• Sometimes, teachers spend too long on the introduction to activities. When this happens, pupils do not get enough time to complete their writing activities. On some occasions, pupils are hesitant to engage in tasks, needing reassurance from their teachers. This slows the pace of learning and their progress.
• The teaching of reading is good in early years and lower key stage 1. However, at key stage 2, pupils are asked to do activities that lack challenge and do not allow them to think deeply about different texts they are studying. Teachers do not always ensure that pupils’ time is used effectively to develop their comprehension skills in guided reading sessions.
• The teaching of mathematics has improved. Teachers provide pupils with effective instruction, which they deliver with great enthusiasm. In the inspection, Year 5 pupils made rapid progress in using reasoning skills to solve place value problems. Misconceptions were picked up and addressed by the teacher.
• Pupils enjoy writing and are provided with good support from their teachers. They encourage the pupils to be confident about writing and provide good feedback to help pupils further develop their writing.
• Teaching assistants provide good support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants ask relevant questions and provide guidance to the pupils on how they can undertake the task they are set.
• Teachers have positive relationships with pupils. There is a good atmosphere in classes and pupils have a positive attitudes to learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Leaders and staff place a high emphasis on ensuring that pupils’ welfare and well-being are central to the work that they do. As a result, leaders have ensured that there is a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and secure. Pupils are confident, friendly and caring individuals who show consideration for others.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are positive and supportive. Lunchtime staff provide good pastoral care for pupils and take time to talk to and listen to the pupils.
• School records indicate that bullying is a rare occurrence but when it does occur leaders deal with it well. This was supported by talking with pupils and parents. One parent whose children have recently started at Sandbrook said, ‘We are tremendously happy with our children’s learning under the kind, careful, responsible and professional supervision.’
• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils have a number of opportunities to take responsibilities such as playground leaders, head boy and girl and the school council.
• The dedicated team of staff who provide intervention and nurture provision for the pupils are highly effective. Pupils benefit from attending the ‘Tiny Turtles’ and ‘Oasis’ nurture rooms. Pupil reflection is promoted and some of the older pupils spoke with great maturity about the need to reflect on their behaviour and welfare needs.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the risks to their safety when online. They know that they should protect their passwords and their personal information and that they should not respond to any communication from strangers.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils conduct themselves well around school. They are polite, cooperate well with others and take pride in their work. Pupils speak confidently to visitors and welcome them to their school.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of the expectations about how everyone should behave in school. They know that good behaviour is acknowledged and rewarded but that there are also sanctions if they do not behave appropriately. As a result, pupils behave well, both during lessons, and at lunchtimes and breaktimes.
• In lessons, pupils are eager to learn and willing to work hard. They enjoy their learning, including when working as a whole class, on their own and in small groups. However, pupils are not given sufficient opportunity to complete tasks. On some occasions, through no fault of their own, valuable time is wasted as they wait for help from their teachers.
• There are a small number of pupils who present challenging behaviour. They are well supported by their friends and the staff.
• The breakfast club is extremely popular and this ensures that pupils get to school on time. They benefit from socialising with their friends and joining in activities before school. Attendance is improving and is now close to the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement. Pupils do not make consistently good progress from their starting points across key stages 1 and 2, particularly in reading and mathematics. Too few pupils reach the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave the school.
• At key stage 1 in 2017, performance in reading and mathematics improved on previous years and was broadly in line with the national average at the expected level. Only a small number of pupils are achieving at a greater depth in their reading, writing and mathematics.
• In 2016, attainment at the end of key stage 2 at the expected level was below the national average in reading. Writing and mathematics were broadly in line with the national average. In 2017, provisional assessment information for current Year 6 pupils indicates that attainment is not high enough in reading and mathematics. The performance in writing continues to be in line with the previous year. Only a small number of pupils are achieving at the above expected standard in their reading, writing and mathematics.
• Reading requires improvement because at key stage 2 pupils are not making consistently good progress. Pupils achieve well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. The teaching of phonics is helping the pupils make a good start to their progress. Most pupils have a good knowledge of the sounds that letters make and know how to ‘break words down’ when they are unsure about new vocabulary. However, too many pupils, particularly middle-ability and the most able, are not achieving their potential in key comprehension skills by the time they leave school. Most recently, reading has been targeted for improvement by the school leadership team. Pupils spoke with enthusiasm about the books they are asked to read and the improved quality of the reading sessions.
• Most-able pupils, including some of those who are disadvantaged, are not consistently achieving what they are capable of, particularly in reading. The new leaders have responded to this and as a result these pupils are now taught more challenging work in their teaching groups.
• Pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities make good progress. Leaders identify the needs of these pupils well and provide good support for them to make effective progress despite some very complex needs.
• Pupils who are disadvantaged are benefiting from improving teaching and are receiving targeted support through the pupil premium funding to help address the gaps in their learning. This is having an impact on disadvantaged pupils at all phases of the school and has been particularly effective in Year 6, where leaders have prioritised the use of funding. In some classes, though, the difference in attainment is not diminishing quickly enough.
• In pupils’ current work across a range of subjects there was evidence of pupils making good progress, particularly in science and PE. However, this is inconsistent in geography and history, where skills are not taught specifically or progress-checked consistently.

Early years provision Good

• Most children enter Reception with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age. Children’s communication and language skills on entry are considerably lower than in other areas of learning.
• The early years is led and managed well. All statutory requirements are met and funding is used well to support pupils starting school with skills and abilities below those of other children. For example, effective use is made of external agencies and support to help these children make accelerated progress in their development.
• Teachers carry out assessments when the children start in nursery and reception. They use this information effectively to match learning to individual children’s needs. Children’s progress is carefully recorded and teachers make effective use of their observations of children at work to make sure that any individual who may need additional help quickly receives appropriate support.
• As the result of effective teaching that is well matched to children’s interests and abilities, and a strong focus on developing speaking and listening skills, children make good progress. By the time they leave the Reception classes, while below the national average, an increasing majority are well prepared for their move to Year 1.
• Teachers work together regularly to make sure that transition to Year 1 is built on a strong understanding of children’s skills. This has had a strong impact on the development of reading skills in Year 1.
• Senior leaders have worked well with the early years team to create a very stimulating and attractive learning environment. The children are very appreciative of the outdoor learning space. During the inspection, the children had great fun in visiting the farm shop and developed some new vocabulary. The children gained confidence, dexterity and good communication skills in playing with their friends on the new climbing equipment.
• Children behave well in early years. There are well-established routines. They cooperate well with adults and each other and listen carefully to instructions. Children have resilience to remain focused on tasks for some time. They are confident and enjoy their learning.
• Parents spoken to praised the smooth transition into early years. They welcomed the positive partnerships established with the school and the quality of the information received.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 134966 Rochdale 10032400

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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 602 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Julie Clarke Katie Charlton 017066 47743 www.sandbrook.rochdale.sch.uk office@sandbrook.rochdale.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 June 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Sandbrook Community Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is broadly in line with the national average.
• The headteacher took up her post in January 2016. A number of teaching staff have left the school during the past year and seven new staff joined the school in September 2017.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school runs a breakfast club.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning across a range of lessons or parts of lessons. A number of these observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. In addition, inspectors made a number of other short visits to lessons and other activities.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read during lessons.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders, other members of staff and a group of pupils.
• Inspectors met the chair and a member of the governing body. Inspectors also spoke to an external consultant who has been working with the school.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the school gate. In addition, they took account of Parent View free-text responses and 14 responses to the online questionnaire. There were 42 responses from the pupil questionnaire and 37 responses from the staff questionnaire.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and scrutinised a number of documents, including those relating to the school’s self-evaluation, as well as improvement plans and school information on pupils’ recent attainment and progress.
• Inspectors also considered behaviour and attendance information, and policies and procedures relating to special educational needs, pupil premium funding, PE and sport premium funding, safeguarding and child protection.

Inspection team

Andrew Morley, lead inspector Doreen Davenport Gill Burrow Sheila O’Keeffe Stephen Rigby

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector