Christ Church Church of England Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Make sure all class-based teachers know how to adapt their teaching and the tasks they set for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so these pupils learn more effectively in lessons and make even better progress.
• Ensure that the teaching, learning and assessment in subjects such as history, geography and religious education focus more on pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the subject, while continuing to take heed of the pupils’ need to use and apply their literacy skills effectively.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher is ambitious and unwavering in her drive to improve standards. She ensures that every child has a chance to succeed and robustly tackles any barriers that may prevent this. This has resulted in a positive school culture where an increasing number of children believe they can succeed and do so.
• The deputy headteacher and increasingly effective senior and middle leaders have made a significant contribution to the improvements seen in teaching. They provide operative support for newly and recently qualified teachers and have an accurate view of teaching and its impact on pupils’ learning.
• Leaders use the performance management of teachers and systems for checking on the impact of teaching effectively to improve it and ensure that pupils make good progress. The school’s capacity to improve further is good.
• The curriculum provides pupils with many wide-ranging opportunities to explore their world through visits to places of interest and visitors to the school, and makes a strong contribution to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This runs like a golden thread through all aspects of the school’s work, consistently promoting the aims and values of the school.
• Leaders and staff actively challenge pupils’ perceptions and help them to develop an understanding of how the school’s core values prepare them well for their place in modern Britain. Pupils articulated a strong understanding and respect for other cultures, faiths and beliefs and a genuine acceptance and understanding of differences in humankind. During a whole-school assembly, inspectors observed how even the youngest pupils demonstrated their understanding of compassion when reflecting on how they could try to be a better person.
• Leaders have been innovative in seeking to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to break down social, emotional and speech and language barriers to learning. The additional provision known as ‘The Ark’ and the ‘Nurture Hub’ enables a number of pupils to succeed without compromising on academic standards. Access to a speech and language therapist has enabled the younger pupils to develop their communication skills quickly.
• Leaders use the additional funding they receive for disadvantaged pupils effectively to address key barriers to learning. This ensures equality of opportunity for these pupils and enables them to have a happy, safe and productive time in school. Consequently, for younger pupils, the gaps in their achievement have closed and, in most instances, they do better than other pupils nationally. For older pupils, the gaps in their achievement are diminishing rapidly.
• The school uses the sports funding effectively to increase pupils’ opportunities to participate in sport and develop positive attitudes to keeping fit and healthy. This has enabled pupils to use their lunchtime play more productively. The funding is also being used to develop the role of a physical education coordinator to ensure that this aspect of the school’s work is managed well and is sustainable.

Governance of the school

• Governance is strong and effective.
• The clear delegation of duties and responsibilities between the local board of governors and Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust has helped these two bodies to support and challenge the school in equal measure and drive forward the improvements seen since the last inspection. Both share the headteacher’s high ambition for the pupils and know what needs to be done to achieve it.
• The local governing body has a good grasp of the pastoral work of the school, the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes. Governors have a good working knowledge of the school and its systems and procedures. They evaluate the effectiveness of these well. They are supported in this by the quality of information leaders and the academy trust provide. Inspectors saw evidence of openness and transparency in the layers of leadership and management in and around this school.
• The governing body manages and uses finances well to provide the right level of support for pupils, and to ensure that the building and resources are used to good effect. It has used the pupil premium funding effectively to tackle barriers to learning, which has enabled disadvantaged pupils to do very well indeed. Governors make well-informed decisions about pay progression for teachers and robustly hold the headteacher to account for this.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There are exemplary features in this aspect of the school’s work.
• Leaders keep the safeguarding of pupils high on the school’s agenda. Staff are well trained, knowledgeable and vigilant and they are clear about their roles and responsibilities. They are assiduous in seeking to ensure that pupils are safe, happy and well cared for.
• The designated leader for safeguarding keeps a careful record of any concerns and acts upon these in a timely and appropriate manner to minimise the chance of any escalation. Leaders work very closely with a number of agencies and follow up any referrals tenaciously.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Well-targeted professional development and support have brought about many strengths in teaching and learning. These improvements have had a tangible impact on pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning, as well as their academic progress.
• Over time, teachers have made considerable improvements in the way they teach writing and mathematics. They have strengthened their subject knowledge and understanding of the national curriculum.
• Leaders deploy teaching assistants effectively to support teachers where there is greatest need, and these members of staff make a significant contribution to pupils’ learning. They have positive working relationships with teachers and pupils. Their higher expectations of pupils, including the most able, have enabled pupils to rise to the increasing challenges set, particularly in mathematics.
• Teachers’ assessments are accurate because leaders have taken time to support teachers with training and they make regular and close checks on it. Teachers have opportunities to moderate their assessment with leaders, each other and with other local schools and trust schools. Local authority moderation confirms that assessment is accurate at the various points where outcomes are reported nationally.
• In mathematics, teachers increasingly provide opportunities for pupils to explore the relationships between number and mathematical operations, and apply these across other mathematical areas of learning and the curriculum. The use of mathematical apparatus supports pupils to secure their understanding and ensures that pupils have the skills and confidence to tackle harder activities and to improve their mental recall of number facts. Pupils show increasingly good levels of perseverance when tackling problems. They said, ‘We like a challenge.’
• The teaching of writing has become a strength. Teachers give pupils many opportunities to write for a purpose and this starts early in the Nursery. Consequently, pupils’ confidence, stamina and motivation to write have grown and this has resulted in the rapid improvements seen in their work and outcomes.
• The teaching of reading has improved because leaders have made this a priority. Teachers use a wealth of different strategies to increase pupils’ interest in reading and confidence to read, including frequent one-to-one support where needed. Further improvements to help teachers develop pupils’ understanding of what they read are ongoing and leaders have suitable actions in place to address this.
• Strategies for the teaching of phonics are well embedded and staff demonstrate good subject knowledge when teaching and modelling the sounds that letters make. Thus, pupils, including the youngest pupils, use their phonics knowledge well when reading and spelling.
• Most teachers make good use of questioning to probe and test pupils’ thinking, and to provide them with support and challenge to enable them to learn well. Less experienced teachers are quickly developing this skill and confidently put it into practice in lessons. For example, a teacher used effective questioning to elicit clear and suitably detailed instructions on how to make his sandwich for lunch. This captured the interest of pupils, who were clearly concerned about their teacher having lunch. Through probing questions, pupils gave much more precise instructions than were seen in the work in their books the day before.
• In most instances, teachers use assessment, marking and feedback effectively to enable pupils to know how well they are doing and what they need to do in order to improve their work. This is strongest in mathematics and writing. It is less strong in the rest of the curriculum, as pupils’ workbooks show that the focus on improving literacy skills takes precedence over supporting pupils to improve their knowledge and skills in other subjects.
• Teachers and teaching assistants work hard to ensure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have a positive experience of learning in the classroom. Some class teachers need to develop their teaching further to make sure the tasks they set are more appropriate for these pupils’ different abilities, to enable them to build more effectively on the success they have had through the well-targeted interventions.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good and has provided a strong foundation for pupils’ learning.
• The high level of care and nurture in the classrooms is not always sufficient to meet the more complex social and emotional needs of some pupils, so these pupils have access to innovative and meticulously planned learning resource bases known as ‘The Ark’ and ‘The Nurture Hub’. These interventions provide an impressive balance between high expectations of the pupils’ academic achievement and a safe, nurturing environment. This enables pupils to do their very best and return successfully to class.
• Pupils said they feel safe and learn how to stay safe effectively. Nearly all pupils said, ‘Christ Church is a school where people are kind’ and they should ‘get 10 out of 10 for being friendly’. They recognise and value differences and say, ‘We welcome everyone…it is special to be different.’
• Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, including cyber bullying. Where there have been instances of bullying, staff have been quick to intervene and ensure that pupils fully understand how their actions affect others. These incidents are becoming increasingly rare.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well. There is a wealth of effective strategies in place to promote and celebrate good behaviour and attitudes to learning. Pupils said, ‘Staff value everything good we do.’ They talked with animation about the rewards they receive for good behaviour and were clear about the school’s expectations. Staff model these expectations consistently well and, in turn, pupils are polite and welcoming to others.
• Pupils take great pride in their appearance. Older pupils choose to wear different jumpers, ties and blazers, which helps to instil a sense of pride and duty among them.
• The atmosphere in classrooms is calm and purposeful. From the moment children start school in Nursery, the school inculcates in them the core value of respect for others, their environment and resources. It promotes a strong work ethic in the way it encourages good attendance from the outset and helps children to develop good learning behaviours.
• Attendance, although still below the national figure, is improving. Leaders are relentless in their drive to ensure that children are in school every day and arrive on time. This has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of pupils who have been persistently absent or late to school and is contributing to the positive impact on pupils’ outcomes.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Inspectors took time to scrutinise pupils’ work from last year and current work in books. These clearly demonstrated the good progress pupils made and continue to make.
• Since the last inspection, which was less than two years ago, the school has quickly and effectively addressed some long-standing historical and significant underachievement. Leaders have addressed the shortfall in mathematics and ensured much better standards in writing and grammar, punctuation and spelling. Provisional performance information from the Department for Education (DfE) shows that pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 2 are now broadly in line with those seen nationally in mathematics and grammar, punctuation and spelling, and above the national average in writing. Standards in reading seem to be catching up quickly.
• The school’s own assessment information indicates that gaps in achievement have diminished between boys and girls, and disadvantaged pupils and other pupils. Standards for disadvantaged pupils look to be above those seen nationally in 2016.
• There is an increase in the proportion of most-able pupils achieving high standards and this is now broadly in line with those seen nationally.
• Pupils in key stage 1, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, made good progress from their low starting points to achieve standards that were better than those seen nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. Standards of achievement for the most able pupils are well above those seen nationally, and disadvantaged pupils have continued to do even better than others in all core subjects. This indicates that the actions to improve reading, writing and mathematics have had a measurable impact. A wave of higher achievement is now working its way through the school.
• Although there has been a notable year-on-year rise in the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check, the proportion meeting the expected standard in 2016 is still below that seen nationally. This was mainly due to a group of pupils with specific language and communication difficulties not reaching the expected standard. They have made good progress from some very low starting points and most pupils catch up in Year 2. Disadvantaged pupils catch up quickly.
• Leaders have been systematic in their approach to the teaching of reading, putting the teaching of phonics at the heart of the reading curriculum. This has enabled pupils in key stage 2, who have not had this approach to reading early on, to catch up and read with greater confidence and fluency. Teachers are now helping these pupils to gain a deeper understanding of what they read and have instilled in them a growing love of reading.

Early years provision Good

• The headteacher and early years leader described Nursery and Reception as the ‘engine room’ for the development of good learning behaviours. Adults promote these effectively and this is seen in the way children have settled and established positive relationships with adults, and in the level of engagement and sustained concentration in their play and learning.
• The early years leader knows the setting well and has accurately evaluated strengths and areas for development. She has systematically set about improving teaching and provision over time. This is now bearing fruit, as seen in the rapid rise in the number of children reaching a good level of development, which is now above the national average.
• Good links with other early years providers and parents mean teachers gather the fullest picture they can about children’s starting points and ensure that teachers’ initial assessments are accurate. Teachers ensure that parents make a contribution to their children’s learning. They regularly keep them informed of what their children have been doing and use a strategy called ‘Look at me’ to get parents and children talking about the day’s learning. Teachers value and use these contributions in their assessment of children’s learning.
• The Nursery provides children with the right level of nurture mixed with consistently good teaching and high expectations. This means starting points in the Reception class are much stronger than they have been historically. Children, including disadvantaged children, make good progress and this means more children than ever are well prepared for the next stage of learning.
• All adults make effective use of questioning to probe and extend children’s thinking and develop their talk. There is good modelling of the spoken word. This is helping children to develop their speaking skills quickly.
• Children are sociable and keen to share and celebrate their learning. They respond to instructions well and relish the opportunity to do jobs such as tidying up, counting how many children are present and taking the register.
• All adults contribute effectively to children’s learning by carefully assessing what children know and can do. They plan effective next steps in children’s learning and make the necessary adjustments. Different areas of learning are well organised and enable children to play, learn and develop effectively and use their reading, writing and mathematics skills to good effect. This has helped to ensure that more children reached the expected level of development in reading, writing and mathematics in 2016 than previously seen. Leaders have identified that further challenge is needed for the increasing numbers of most-able learners.
• Children are safe and very well cared for, in line with school policy and procedures, and staff ensure that all welfare requirements are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139201 Bradford 10020987 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 216 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Matt Bacon Philippa Foster 01274 410 349 www.christchurchacademy.org.uk admin@christchurchacademy.bradford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 February 2016

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school does not comply with DfE guidance on what academies should publish about sports funding and the SEN report and local offer. At the time of the inspection the school’s charging and remission policy and child protection policy were being updated.
• Christ Church Church of England Primary Academy is smaller than the average primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is well above that seen nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above that seen nationally and the proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below that seen nationally.
• The school has been part of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust since August 2013.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching in all classes, some with the headteacher. They looked at the work in pupils’ books and in learning journals and children’s work in the early years.
• The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in classrooms, around school, in the playground and during lunchtimes.
• The inspectors listened to a number of pupils in key stages 1 and 2 read.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, the school business manager, three governors and the head of learning and director of teaching from the academy trust.
• A group of pupils discussed their opinions about the school and their learning with an inspector who also spoke informally with pupils in the playground and around school.
• Inspectors were unable to take account of the online questionnaire for staff due to technical difficulties with the Ofsted website.
• The inspectors considered the 26 responses from the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View. An inspector also talked briefly with a group of parents at the start of day two of the inspection and took account of the most recent parental survey completed by the school.
• The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including minutes from meetings of the local governing body, information on pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s evaluation of its own performance and its development plan and records of monitoring of teaching and learning. Behaviour and attendance records and information relating to safeguarding were also scrutinised.

Inspection team

Anne Bowyer, lead inspector Kate Rowley

Her Majesty's Inspector Her Majesty's Inspector