Bedford Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to raise achievement in mathematics by:
  • ensuring that all teaching assistants are trained to teach mathematics confidently using the same methodology
  • checking that the school marking policy is applied as rigorously in mathematics as it is in English.
• Continue to reduce persistent absence.
• Further improve leadership and management by:
  • reviewing the roles and responsibilities of the senior leadership team now that middle leadership is strengthened
  • precisely examining the impact of the pupil premium funding to inform future spending.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher and her team have made rapid improvements, resulting in much better outcomes for all pupils. Self-evaluation is accurate. Leaders and governors understand the strengths and weaknesses of the school.
• Senior leaders have used continuous professional development to rapidly raise standards. Assistant headteachers and subject leaders have provided high-quality, timely training for teachers so that pupils now make good progress in reading and writing.
• Leaders have used performance management well to improve the quality of teaching and middle leadership. New leaders, for example in mathematics and early years, have made a positive impact upon standards.
• Leaders have been outward-looking in their approach. Teachers have regularly visited other schools to observe good practice. When inspectors asked pupils what was the best thing about their school, they said, ‘the teachers’.
• Mathematics has significantly improved from the very low results at the time of the previous inspection. The subject leader for mathematics has brought some potentially dull topics to life, successfully engaging all pupils, particularly boys. This is illustrated in mathematics books which show that a lot of care has been taken to provide an engaging stimulus for reasoning questions. Pupils respond by accurately applying the methodology they have learned.
• Teachers are confident in a wide range of subjects so the curriculum is varied and interesting. Inspectors observed Year 5 singing beautifully in unison and with very animated actions. Displays around the school show that pupils are highly motivated to read, partly because of the ‘Bedford bear’ reading reward.
• The curriculum is enlivened by many extra-curricular activities, including gardening club, fencing, choir, fashion, textiles and a football academy. Leaders promote British values well through high expectations of behaviour and curriculum content such as assemblies about racism and discrimination and books telling of people from different cultures. Pupils regularly raise money for good causes and bought a defibrillator for the local community.
• Boys are interested in the curriculum. Teachers are using different methods and different texts to accelerate boys’ learning. As a result, fixed-term exclusions have significantly decreased.
• The school has received highly effective and well-targeted support from a number of local authority intervention officers and the school improvement partner. The biggest impact has been on training teachers in English and mathematics. The school and local authority have provided good support for newly qualified teachers.
• Additional funding from the sport premium has been well spent on technology to inspire pupils to get out and exercise more, staff training, sports kit and a range of after-school clubs.
• Additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used well. This large group of pupils make good progress because leaders have made sure that pupils’ needs are skilfully identified and staff are deployed effectively to plan high-quality teaching.

Governance of the school

• Members of the governing body are highly committed to achieving the very best outcomes for the pupils they serve.
• Governors rightly feel that the introduction of a new phonics scheme by one of the assistant headteachers has had a big impact upon improving standards.
• They have acted swiftly to address poor teaching and to strengthen leadership, for example in early years.
• They established a ‘raising attainment committee’, which has helped them delve much deeper into the wealth of data they are provided with. However, they do not evaluate precisely enough the impact of the pupil premium funding. As middle leadership is now greatly strengthened, they need to rethink the use of the pupil premium funding, as a significant portion has been spent on senior leadership salaries and responsibilities.

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.
• The school website contributes to the culture of safeguarding because it allows pupils and parents to make online reports of bullying, and all policies around behaviour and safeguarding are readily available. The school keeps careful records of child-protection issues and involves other agencies in a timely manner.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• There is some very high-quality teaching.
• Teachers have good subject knowledge which they use effectively to enable pupils to make good progress over time. Inspectors observed an example of teachers’ skills in a key stage 1 mathematics lesson in which pupils were mesmerised by the teacher’s teaching. They immersed themselves in a feast of learning. Pupils showed excellent prior knowledge and great enthusiasm for counting in fives and 10s and knowing their number bonds to 10. The most able pupils raced on in a different group while the teacher spent time explaining a very simple calculation to the least able pupils, who otherwise would have found mathematics difficult.
• Similarly, in a key stage 2 mathematics lesson, the teacher gave pupils a simple explanation of the incremental steps they should take in their learning. Pupils applied their mathematical reasoning well to real-life scenarios. They were skilfully guided by the teacher and teaching assistants. However, this is not always the case and sometimes teaching assistants are not as confident to teach mathematics because they have not had enough training.
• Scrutiny of writing books shows that the quality of writing in school is good. Pupils write with a high level of technical accuracy using grammar correctly and a wide vocabulary. English books are beautifully presented and the marking is of the highest quality in line with the school’s own marking policy.
• The most able pupils are effectively challenged and taught well. Teachers and other adults provide well-constructed tasks and activities. Pupils, for example when they have shown they can apply a skill or a piece of knowledge well, are given extra challenges that extend their thinking even further.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. The pastoral manager has a very detailed knowledge of pupils and offers them support through a lunchtime club and therapeutic sessions.
• Parents who responded to Parent View and those whom inspectors spoke to in the playground feel that their children are safe in school. Pupils spoken to by inspectors emphatically agree.
• There is a strong anti-bullying culture. Pupils are taught how to respond assertively to any kind of behaviour or language they do not like by saying, ‘Stop, I don’t like that.’
• Alongside the high levels of awareness concerning bullying, there are many ways for parents and pupils to report concerns and pupils feel confident that staff would deal with it quickly and effectively.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. The school environment is bright, light and positive, indicative of the culture and ethos.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and any hint of misbehaviour is addressed quickly and effectively by teachers. There is a simple system to manage behaviour that all pupils understand and respect.
• There is a high-reward culture. Pupils are regularly rewarded with verbal praise, points, stickers, certificates, teddy bears and much more. Consequently, pupils are proud to be a part their school and say that they enjoy it.
• Fixed-term exclusions are low and attendance is broadly average. Persistent absence remains above the national average due to a small group of pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable. The pastoral manager is highly organised and effective in her use of all available information and strategies to re-engage pupils who do not attend regularly enough.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• From below-average starting points, pupils make good progress in reading and writing. Progress in mathematics is improving. Progress across the curriculum in a range of subjects is good, including in music, physical education (PE) and personal, social and health education (PSHE).
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress due to a good understanding of their needs and careful planning to ensure that they receive the same high-quality provision as their peers. For some pupils, success is measured in small, incremental steps. Nevertheless, leaders have the same high expectations for these pupils and carefully monitor their progress.
• The teacher in charge of ‘reading recovery’ helps pupils very effectively. She not only helps them pronounce words, but also to understand their meaning. This has a positive impact on their progress.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including the most able, make the same progress as their peers. Differences between their achievements and those of other pupils nationally are quickly diminishing due to carefully focused individual tuition and small-group work to plug gaps in their knowledge. For example, in key stage 2 they benefited from individual mathematics tuition and small-group work to help them catch up in areas of the curriculum where they are less confident.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the school with a range of abilities but overall they have skills, knowledge and understanding below those typical for their age.
• The quality of teaching and leadership has improved significantly in Reception Year so that the proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development is broadly in line with the national average. This represents good progress from their below-average starting points.
• The pupil premium funding is used well. In order to rapidly raise standards for disadvantaged pupils there has been a very strong focus upon implementing a new phonics scheme of work. The time and care that have been taken to ensure that teachers and teaching assistants use a common language and approach have paid great dividends. The teaching of phonics is now highly effective and ensures that children get off to a flying start in Year 1.
• Children typically behave well because the environment is inviting and interesting. They enjoy continuous provision both inside and outdoors. Typically, they make good progress. A few children make less progress because they flit between different activities and find it difficult to maintain concentration in one area of the curriculum.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 104892 Sefton 10024111 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 397 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Tony Hampson Ruth Braithwaite 0151 922 1467 www.bedfordprimary.co.uk admin.Bedford@schools.sefton.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 February 2015

Information about this school

• This is a much larger than average-sized primary school.
• 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 well below average.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is twice the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is high.
• 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 school meets the current government floor standards.
• The school receives support from the local authority school improvement partner.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The headteacher was on maternity leave at the time of the inspection. An executive headteacher from a local school had been in post for just over two months. He was covering her post for two and a half days per week.
• Inspectors observed children in Reception Year and pupils across the school. Inspectors spoke with over 30 pupils formally and many more at social times.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work, school policies and records relating to safeguarding, self-evaluation information and a range of other documentation.
• Inspectors considered 18 responses to the pupil questionnaire and 23 responses to the staff questionnaire.
• There were 15 responses to Parent View to be considered. Inspectors spoke with many parents in the school yard before school and spoke to a parent by telephone.
• Inspectors met with the members of the governing body. Meetings were also held with the executive headteacher, senior and middle leaders and the school improvement partner.

Inspection team

Sally Kenyon, lead inspector Gill Burrow Schelene Ferris

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector