The Heys Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to raise standards in writing and mathematics across the whole school by:
  • ensuring that pupils build systematically on their knowledge and skills in spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting from year to year
  • extending pupils’ ability to apply their mathematical and reasoning skills in subjects across the curriculum
  • sharpening middle leaders’ focus on the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress when they check teaching and scrutinise pupils’ work.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leadership and staffing are now stable after a period of some turbulence spanning the last two inspections, which judged the school to require improvement. Strong leadership has resolved concerns and the school now provides a good quality of education. Staff at all levels work effectively as a team to support each other and share expertise. New staff and effective training have secured good teaching and pupils’ outcomes are improving. There is strong capacity to continue to improve the school.
• Leaders have taken swift and appropriate action to ensure that the low attainment in key stage 2 assessments in mathematics in 2016 is not repeated this year. They have adapted the curriculum to make sure pupils approach tests with confidence and the necessary knowledge and skills. Standards in the early years and key stage 1 continue to rise, providing pupils with a good foundation for further learning.
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide capable and energetic leadership that inspires staff. Staff say they are well supported and feel their ideas and views are valued. All staff who responded to the online staff survey said they enjoy working at the school and feel motivated. Typical comments refer to ‘respect and admiration for the senior management’. Staff reinforce the strong sense of teamwork, stating for example: ‘We have worked tirelessly together to improve the school and ensure pupils’ wellbeing.’
• The management of staff performance is robust. Teachers and teaching assistants have challenging targets to quicken pupils’ progress, and they are deployed to make best use of their skills. Training and other professional development is planned carefully to make sure staff develop their skills. All staff are committed to making sure pupils achieve well, are safe and develop good personal skills.
• Self-evaluation is accurate so planning focuses on the right priorities to bring about further improvement. Leaders have made important changes to ensure consistency in teaching, effective implementation of policies and successful introduction of new initiatives. There is now a whole-school drive focused on motivating pupils and raising their achievement.
• Leaders at all levels are developing their skills effectively, by working alongside senior leaders and learning from external expertise. They have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in provision in their subject area or phase.
• Middle leaders’ monitoring of teaching and scrutiny of pupils’ work have focused on ensuring that new policies and initiatives are implemented successfully. Their monitoring role has not focused sufficiently on the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress over time to enable them to pinpoint precisely where there are gaps in learning or where progress is slower in their subject areas.
• Pupils’ achievement and personal development are enhanced by the rich, varied and motivating curriculum they experience in lesson time and after-school clubs. Learning in the outdoors provides pupils with fascinating experiences and stimulates their imagination. Pupils enjoy working on the allotment and increase their understanding of the world through excursions, visits and residential stays. Pupils’ achievement and personal development are also developed well in the ‘Kiddiwinks’ after-school care.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a high priority in lessons and promoted in all aspects of the school’s work. Pupils value the opportunities to learn from each other in this diverse, but cohesive, school community. Pupils from all backgrounds work and play together happily. They show respect for different faiths and cultures and discuss moral and ethical issues sensibly.
• British values are promoted through the rich curriculum and exemplified in the running of the school. Pupils have a good understanding of democracy based on their own elections of the school parliament and prime minister.
• The pupil premium is used effectively to part-fund several intervention programmes and improve teaching. These initiatives are raising the achievement of all pupils while also ensuring that the differences between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others in school are diminishing in each year group. There are good procedures to make sure children who are looked after benefit from the additional funding.
• The physical education and sport premium is used effectively to broaden pupils’ experience, increase participation and develop teachers’ skills. External coaches enhance the provision for pupils while also training teachers to be more effective. Leaders have also taken account of pupils’ ideas to enhance the playground equipment and increase their opportunities to have challenging physical activities at playtimes and after school.
• The additional funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used very successfully to make sure pupils are fully integrated into school and receive the support they need to make good progress.
• Leaders are outward-looking and have drawn on external support successfully. They have worked closely with the local authority and other schools to improve the early years provision and mathematics teaching. They also take up opportunities to moderate pupils’ work with local and other high-performing schools. The support has proved effective.
• The majority of parents who responded to Parent View, the Ofsted online questionnaire, were positive about the school. Typical comments referred to ‘inspiring leadership’, ‘brilliant staff who make learning fun’, and ‘friendly and caring staff’.

Governance of the school

• The governing body provides good support and challenge to school leaders.

• Governors have a range of relevant knowledge and skills to support leaders and check that actions are improving the school. They are aware of the school’s strengths and weaknesses based on their understanding of data and informed by visits to school and regular reports from leaders. Governors are firmly focused on raising pupils’ achievement.
• Governors check that additional funding is used to raise the achievement of pupils. They are well informed of the impact of funding on the achievement of pupils with lower starting points, those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who need to catch up. Governors are aware that pupils who are supported by the pupil premium make good progress. They have plans to carry out even more detailed analysis of the difference the pupil premium makes to the achievement of the most able disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors oversee performance management and salary progression effectively. They manage the performance of the headteacher well, taking advantage of external expertise to support and challenge them in this.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff and governors have had training relevant to their role and receive regular updates on their safeguarding responsibilities. They are vigilant and alert to the signs that may raise safeguarding concerns.
• The policies and procedures to safeguard pupils and ensure the safe recruitment of staff are robust. The behaviour, anti-bullying policy and anti-racist policies are implemented rigorously, and any incidents are reported and dealt with fully. Safeguarding policies are applied with equal rigour in the ‘Kiddiwinks’ provision for after-school care. The number of behaviour and bullying incidents has reduced over the last two years.
• Support for the most vulnerable pupils is highly effective. Leaders work closely with outside agencies, parents and carers to secure effective and comprehensive support. Staff in school have a range of skills to support pupils’ social needs and emotional health, as well as their safety. Families in need are also supported effectively and can access support from other agencies through the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Improvements to teaching have been pivotal to pupils’ better progress. Teachers plan vibrant and interesting lessons that make learning fun. Pupils consequently feel supported and encouraged and grow in confidence. They talk about their learning with enthusiasm.

• Teachers have good subject knowledge. They provide a varied curriculum that develops pupils’ knowledge and skills and extends their experiences. Pupils thoroughly enjoy learning in the forest school, where activities extend their learning and fire their imagination.
• Teachers assess pupils’ learning accurately and plan appropriately challenging activities for pupils of different abilities in different subjects. Pupils know their learning targets and can talk confidently about the next steps in their learning.
• Teaching assistants support learning successfully in classes and are skilled at providing daily intensive support for pupils who need extra help. They have a range of specialisms and are deployed effectively to make the best use of their expertise. The additional support is well targeted to develop pupils’ oral, social and mathematical skills.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points because teachers adapt their work to meet their needs and ensure that they receive good-quality additional support. Pupils who need to catch up to the level of other pupils make rapid gains as a result of the additional support in small groups or individually.
• The most able pupils are provided with suitably challenging work in most subjects. They are provided with appropriate extension activities to deepen their learning in reading and mathematics and extend their learning in other subjects through research and investigation.
• Teaching and learning in mathematics have improved significantly following a whole-school drive to raise standards and ensure good-quality training for teachers. Teaching helps pupils to build on their mathematical knowledge and provides them with challenging activities that develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills within mathematics lessons. Teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to develop and apply their mathematical skills in subjects across the curriculum.
• Phonics teaching is planned well to include activities that develop pupils’ oral, aural and written skills. Pupils apply their phonic knowledge and skills successfully when reading and writing in the early stages.

• Teachers provide ample opportunities for pupils’ reading skills to be developed across all subjects. Good teaching helps pupils to develop a wide vocabulary and deepen their understanding of texts.
• Teachers are successful in providing pupils with experiences to extend their skills by writing widely in different subjects and for different purposes. Teaching helps pupils to gain a good understanding of the features of different types of text and encourages them to use adventurous vocabulary. However, pupils’ skills in spelling, punctuation and grammar are less secure and teachers do not fully build on these skills systematically from year to year. Some pupils at key stage 2 do not have a grasp of common spelling patterns or punctuation. For some pupils, lack of a fluent handwriting style limits the amount they are able to write.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ physical and emotional well-being is a high priority for all staff. Pupils are happy and relaxed and, in the words of one pupil, feel that ‘everything’s mostly perfect’.
• The vast majority of parents who responded to Parent View agree that their child is safe and happy. Comments such as, ‘staff are sensitive to the children’s needs and are responsive and caring’ and ‘my child loves school’ are typical.
• There is a concerted effort to develop pupils’ resilience, self-reliance and self-esteem. The success of these efforts can be seen in pupils’ growth in confidence, joy in talking about learning and increasing ability to take control of their behaviour.
• Adults support pupils to understand what helps them to learn and this helps pupils to further their own learning. At parents’ evenings, for example, pupils talk through their work and share their learning targets with their parents before they meet with teachers.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in the calm and harmonious atmosphere in school. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations, including when they are on the internet and out in the community. They feel well cared for and trust adults in school to sort out any concerns they may have.
• Pupils have many opportunities to contribute their ideas to improve the school and develop leadership skills. Members of the pupil parliament competently support improvement in learning through their discussions with teachers and pupils. They have elected a ‘prime minister’ who is well respected and does an excellent job in representing the views of pupils to school leaders. Pupils are eager to take on responsibility, for example as play leaders and ‘buddies’, to raise funds and organise events.
• Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, including bullying which is based on prejudice due to race, appearance, disability or sexuality. A minority of parents and pupils who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaires feel that bullying happens and is not always dealt with well. However, the large number of pupils who spoke to inspectors said that bullying had decreased and hardly happens now. Records of bullying incidents are meticulously kept and show that incidents are now rare. Pupils were observed being kind and thoughtful towards each other. Appropriate action has been taken where bullying has occurred.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Staff consistently apply the school’s clear behaviour policy and this has improved behaviour significantly. Pupils do their best to comply with teachers’ high expectations.
• Behaviour in lessons is good. Pupils concentrate on their work and talk about their learning with enthusiasm. Pupils say there is occasional ‘messing about’ in lessons but teachers deal with any inappropriate behaviour quickly and fairly.
• Pupils’ conduct around the school is good. Pupils play together happily on the playground and are sociable at lunchtime. They are polite and helpful towards visitors and show them around their school with pride.
• Pupils’ attendance has improved steadily over the past two years and is now close to average. The high levels of persistent absence are reducing due to the effective work with families by the learning mentor and education welfare officer. Absence is followed up quickly daily to ensure that pupils are safe. Robust action is taken if pupils are kept out of school without a valid reason.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes for the pupils who are currently in school are much improved. Pupils now make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics in each year group.
• In 2016, results in key stage 2 standardised assessments were below floor standards because pupils did not make enough progress in reading and mathematics and their attainment in mathematics was significantly low. The proportion of pupils working at expected standards in reading and writing were in line with the national average. The school also met the definition for a coasting school because of pupils’ below-average achievement for the last three years.
• Leaders have taken rapid and effective action to deal with weaknesses in mathematics teaching. They have also ensured that pupils are better prepared for tests by supporting them to develop effective techniques to make best use of their time and answer questions.
• Pupils’ mathematics books show good progress in each year group for pupils of all abilities, which is consistent with the school’s assessment data. Pupils who had gaps in their learning have received good support to help them catch up. In the current Year 6, pupils’ books show that the majority of pupils are working at the standards expected for their age or above.
• The school’s assessment data shows that standards in reading have improved and their moderated assessment of writing shows that standards in writing have been sustained. Pupils’ writing books support this assessment, although pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar are not as strong as other aspects of writing.
• In the key stage 1 assessments in 2016, pupils’ attainment was average in reading and writing but below average in mathematics. Moderated assessments and a review of pupils’ work show that achievement at key stage 1 has risen again this year in reading and writing and most markedly in mathematics. A higher proportion of pupils are now working at greater depth in each subject.
• Pupils achieve well in the phonics screening in Year 1. The significant improvement in attainment in the phonics screening in Year 1 that occurred in 2016 has been sustained this year.
• The improvements in pupils’ progress extend to all ability groups. The most able pupils are challenged with thought-provoking tasks, especially in reading and mathematics. An increasing proportion of pupils are working at greater depth in each class.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in lessons and individualised sessions. Any barriers to learning are assessed fully and additional support is targeted carefully to help pupils overcome them. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are integrated fully into class lessons and make good gains in their personal development.
• Pupils who need to catch up because they have gaps in learning are supported well in class and small groups. The relatively high proportion of pupils speaking English as an additional language also receive well-targeted support. Skilled teaching assistants meet pupils’ needs effectively and teachers also provide effective support for families. This group makes rapid gains in their learning.
• An above-average proportion of pupils in school are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium. In 2016, the differences between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils nationally were wide in mathematics and reading, reflecting achievement as a whole in the school. Disadvantaged pupils, like other pupils in school, benefit from the better teaching and well-targeted intervention and support. The additional funding is being used effectively to make sure that differences between their progress and other pupils in school are slight in every year group. The most able disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as the other most able pupils in school.
• The inspiring curriculum supports pupils to broaden their experiences and make good progress in other subjects. Pupils develop confidence and resilience through the strong focus on helping them learn how to learn and their personal development. Pupils consequently are prepared very well for the next stage of their learning as they move to each new key stage. Pupils in Year 6 are looking forward to high school knowing they have the skills to be self-reliant and deal with any challenges.

Early years provision Good

• Good provision in the early years is sustained by strong and effective leadership. The early years leader is knowledgeable and focused on the most important priorities to continue to improve provision and ensure that children make good progress.
• Children enter the Nursery or Reception class with skills and knowledge that are below those that are typical for their age, especially in language and literacy. Provision has improved over the last four years, so children now make good progress from their starting points. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year has increased steadily, although it is still below average.
• Disadvantaged children achieve very well in the early years. Additional funding is used effectively to broaden their experience and promote learning in all areas of the curriculum. Alongside other, non-disadvantaged, children they participate in stimulating, exciting activities that help them make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders have developed a well-equipped, interesting and welcoming environment. Children enjoy exploring activities in the newly developed outdoor classroom in all weathers. The broad curriculum and interesting activities both indoors and outdoors fire their imagination and stimulate them to be creative and enjoy learning.
• Parents are extremely pleased with the early years provision, saying for example that ‘inspiring teaching’ has helped children to ‘come on in leaps and bounds’. They are kept well informed and supported to help their child at home.
• The warm, welcoming atmosphere helps children to settle and feel safe and secure. All safeguarding and welfare requirements are met. Children know how to behave safely and are kind and considerate towards each other. Children also develop good attitudes to learning.
• Good teaching and accurate assessment support learning in all areas. Adults develop children’s language, literacy and number skills effectively. Good phonics teaching, practical mathematical activities and a focus on the development of children’s vocabulary and fine motor skills provide children with a strong foundation for further learning. Children have plentiful opportunities to explore and investigate. Such activities instil curiosity and expand their knowledge and understanding of the world dramatically.
• Adults work effectively together, to share information and make sure provision meets each child’s needs. Teaching assistants are skilful and deployed effectively to support learning.
• Leaders constantly seek to improve provision. They have received effective support from the local authority early years specialist and visited other schools. Leaders have planned for the next steps in improvement carefully. The improvements to teaching and learning and focus on children’s personal development ensure that children are prepared well for their move into Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 106201 Tameside 10032176 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 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 261 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mrs Arati Patel-Mistry Mr Andrew Card 0161 330 1847 www.heys.tameside.sch.uk/ head@heys.tameside.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 21–22 April 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is an average-sized primary school.
• The school has resource-based provision for pupils with moderate learning difficulties. There are only two pupils currently in this provision and they are integrated fully into classes.
• The proportions of pupils who receive support for special educational needs and/or disabilities and who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan are broadly average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is above average. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is also above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is above average.
• Provision in the early years is provided in a part-time Nursery and a Reception class.
• After-school care is provided in the ‘Kiddiwinks’ Club, which is managed by the governing body.
• The school did not meet the governments’ floor standard in 2016, which is the minimum expectation for pupils’ achievement in English and mathematics at the end of Year 6. The school meets the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 performance results in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes. They looked at pupils’ work during observations and carried out an in-depth scrutiny of a random sample of pupils’ work. They talked to pupils about their work in lessons and meetings.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and gained their views about behaviour, safety and bullying.
• They spoke to staff and had meetings with leaders, the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and two representatives of the local authority.

• Inspectors looked at documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, improvement planning and records of monitoring, management of performance and training. Safeguarding policies and procedures were examined.
• Inspectors took account of 19 responses from pupils, 51 responses from parents and 24 responses from staff to the Ofsted online questionnaires.

Inspection team

Jean Olsson-Law, lead inspector Kathleen McArthur Nick Capron

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector