Grove House Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, by:
  • equipping all middle leaders with the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to secure improvement in their areas of responsibility
  • sharpening procedures for tracking and assessing the progress of different groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged, those who have SEN and/or disabilities and the most able
  • evaluating how effectively specific funding is used to achieve the intended purposes and outcomes, especially funding to support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and funding provided for physical education and sports
  • checking that staff make accurate assessments of children’s skills, knowledge and abilities when they start in early years.
• Improve the quality and consistency of teaching, learning and assessment in reading, mathematics and foundation subjects, by:
  • ensuring that teachers assess pupils’ progress accurately in all year groups and use their assessments to plan the next steps in pupils’ learning more precisely
  • making sure that teachers match tasks carefully to the needs and abilities of different groups of pupils and apply the new behaviour policy in full
  • implementing strategies to promote pupils’ basic mental arithmetic skills
  • developing pupils’ skills at using inference and deduction so they can understand and respond to more challenging texts
  • raising adults’ expectations about what children can do and achieve in the early years and improving the teaching of phonics so that it is more consistent across the team.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Following the school’s previous inspection, governors tackled underachievement in leadership determinedly to ensure that outcomes improved, especially in Year 2 and Year 6. A much higher proportion of pupils worked at the higher standards and at greater depth than in previous years. However, more generally across the school, progress for many groups of pupils remains too variable, especially in reading and mathematics.
• The recently appointed head of school introduced new procedures to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning promptly. Already, she has a clear picture of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Leaders recognise that teachers do not assess pupils’ skills accurately and as a result, information they hold about pupils’ progress is imprecise.
• Added to the problems of inaccurate assessments, several teachers do not use their knowledge of pupils’ skills and abilities to plan the next steps in learning effectively. The head of school’s observations show that some teachers do not build progressively on pupils’ previous experiences. At times, teachers do not pitch tasks closely enough to pupils’ needs, so learning is limited. This happens particularly in reading and mathematics so that progress is inconsistent in these subjects. New senior leaders are now helping to improve this aspect of teachers’ skills.
• Middle leaders are keen to improve teaching, learning and outcomes in their subject areas but still do not have the skills or confidence to identify weaknesses. Their development plans lack the precision needed to unpick the reasons why some groups of pupils make more progress than others do. Senior leaders are highly capable and experienced in developing staff. They have introduced staff visits to other schools to help middle leaders gain the skills needed to bring about improvements.
• Pupils who have visual impairments and attend the school’s additionally resourced centre (ARC) make good progress with their learning. This group of pupils are supported very well by skilled staff who intervene carefully in lessons to help pupils make swift progress. In the wider school, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities do not make as much progress as those supported by the more specialist staff in the ARC.
• Information from end-of-key-stage tests shows that disadvantaged pupils’ achievement has increased since the previous inspection. Leaders provide well for disadvantaged pupils’ academic and emotional needs. Leaders use funding effectively to subsidise the cost of attending the school’s breakfast club for disadvantaged pupils. This promotes a calm start to the day for pupils, ensuring they are well nourished and ready to learn at the start of each day.
• Governors and new leaders have created a positive and welcoming atmosphere across the school. Pupils play together harmoniously and the school is very inclusive, with staff and pupils keen to make everyone feel involved and valued. Most pupils show respect for others and are keen to impress their teachers. Pupils comment on the improved behaviour across school and praise the new behaviour policy because it recognises and rewards good behaviour more readily.
• Leaders promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well within assemblies and teachers further enhance this within their creative curriculum work. Pupils talked articulately about their learning in religious education, showing a range of knowledge about different religions.
• Staff and leaders provide a broad and balanced curriculum, enriched by after-school clubs, educational trips and visitors. Pupils enjoy their learning and are inspired to learn about the wider world around them. Leaders promote British values effectively so the vast majority of pupils are tolerant and respectful of others. However, in the foundation subjects pupils’ progress is inconsistent because the impact of teaching, learning and assessment varies across classes.

Governance of the school

• The local authority has provided extensive help to governors so they are able to support and challenge leaders appropriately. Since the previous inspection, representatives from the local authority frequently visit to review the school’s effectiveness with leaders. By working together with leaders and the local authority, governors have identified the correct priorities for improvement.
• Many of the school’s governors are newly appointed but they bring a wide experience of governing successfully in other schools. Last year, a governing body skills’ review helped governors to recruit new members with specific competencies to fill gaps in their combined knowledge. New governors now support financial management and safeguarding more effectively.
• Governors now identify and tackle underachievement professionally. They are not afraid to make difficult decisions for the benefit of pupils and are keen to ensure that staff appraisal now links closely to pupils’ progress. In recent years, staff provided insufficient information for governors to evaluate the use of the school’s physical education and sports funding. New leaders and governors know this is an area to strengthen.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Governors promote safeguarding vehemently and challenge briskly any underperformance in this area. They ensure that leaders follow the correct procedures for recruiting staff and check regularly that leaders keep detailed, up-to-date records of any checks on the suitability and qualifications of staff.
• Staff undertake regular training which enables them to understand their duties in keeping children safe. Training includes the most recent guidance and information published by the government and contributes to minimising risks for pupils.
• Highly experienced, newly appointed leaders pursue concerns over pupils’ welfare carefully and have introduced improved systems to record safeguarding matters more effectively. Staff are clear about the school’s high expectations for promoting safeguarding and they follow whistle-blowing procedures assertively.
• The vast majority of pupils and parents agree that children feel safe and are well looked after in school. Pupils are confident that staff will listen to and support them if they have any worries.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not consistently good across year groups and subjects. Pupils’ progress in reading, mathematics and foundation subjects is too variable across classes.
• Many teachers do not assess pupils’ skills accurately and some do not use assessment information effectively to plan tasks that match pupils’ needs precisely. While some teachers pitch work at the right level for different groups of pupils, others set work that is either too easy or too difficult. Often, the work planned in mathematics and reading does not target the next steps needed in the learning process so that pupils can move on swiftly. This means that progress for different groups, especially the most able and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, becomes patchy and inconsistent.
• In mathematics, teachers use recent training to provide more challenge for the most able pupils. Teachers plan problem-solving activities more readily, too, and these encourage pupils to think more deeply about where and when to apply specific mathematical skills. However, at times, pupils do not have the mental arithmetic skills needed to solve the problems set. Pupils’ slow or inaccurate recall of number facts then leads them to make mistakes.
• The teaching of phonics has improved over the past year and pupils’ attainment increased, especially for pupils who speak English as an additional language; but teachers’ skills vary in this subject too. At times, pupils can read the words in books correctly but lack the wider reading skills they need to understand texts fully or in more depth. In some classes, pupils’ skills at using inference and deduction are underdeveloped so they cannot understand the meaning of the words they read.
• Teachers provide many opportunities for pupils to write at length in many subjects across the curriculum. Frequent and purposeful writing tasks have helped improve results in writing at key stage 1 and 2 since the previous inspection. The new head of school has raised teachers’ expectations in writing and helped them to assess this area of learning more accurately.
• Teachers plan activities that interest pupils and make links across different subjects to give a context to learning. For example, in geography Year 1 pupils planned, designed and built models of different kinds of houses while learning about settlements and communities. Pupils enjoy their lessons and are keen to respond to their teachers’ questions. Teaching assistants provide effective support for groups and individuals, intervening at the right moment to help pupils understand their tasks more clearly.
• Specialist teachers and assistants provide highly focused support for pupils who have visual impairments in the ARC so they become independent learners within the wider school environment. All staff and pupils ensure that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are included and valued. In many classrooms, teaching assistants adapt learning tasks carefully so that these pupils can join in equally.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Governors, leaders and staff share a common vision for ensuring pupils’ well-being and personal development. Pupils are confident, articulate and polite. They communicate their ideas and opinions clearly and are enthusiastic learners.
• Pupils have many opportunities to take on responsibilities. Each class votes for their own representative on the school council and this group meets fortnightly to work on improving the school. Other pupils volunteer to be eco-warriors and litter-pickers, caring for the school’s environment. These varied activities promote a strong sense of social responsibility among pupils.
• Pupils say that bullying does not happen frequently. They confirm that if bullying is reported, staff deal with it appropriately. Leaders are proactive and are not complacent about bullying in school. For example, they are currently advertising for recruits to join the new anti-bullying patrol. Members of the patrol are trained to work as mediators to identify any unkind behaviour and help other children who have no one to play with at lunchtime or playtime.
• Staff invite visitors in to school to enhance health and safety. For example, fire fighters visited to help Year 5 pupils learn about fire safety. Pupils can recall memorable fire safety sessions. Leaders ensure that staff teach pupils about online safety. Pupils learn the importance of keeping personal information confidential when using social media and understand how passwords help to keep online information secure.
• Pupils thoroughly enjoy their physical education lessons. They keep healthy by attending after-school clubs and are proud of the new skills they learn. They say this is very energetic and keeps them fit. Teachers use science lessons well to encourage pupils to learn about healthy living.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. The majority of pupils are positive learners who apply themselves and focus on their learning well. In some classes, when tasks do not match pupils’ needs and abilities, some pupils become despondent and this leads to low-level disruption.
• Senior leaders’ new behaviour policy is already having a good influence on pupils’ behaviour. Pupils like the positive approach of winning rewards for good attitudes and behaviour. At times, though, teachers do not apply the new policy consistently enough for it to have maximum effect.
• Leaders have worked with parents and pupils to improve attendance over the past two years. The new head of school raised the profile of good attendance immediately through newsletters and displays around school. Several pupils who were frequently absent last year now attend regularly.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Currently, pupils make variable amounts of progress across classes, subjects and year groups. As a result, some classes make good progress, while others fall behind. Pupils’ progress is particularly variable in reading, mathematics and foundation subjects. New senior leaders are tackling these inconsistencies but it is too early to see any impact in work in pupils’ books.
• Since the previous inspection, leaders raised standards at the end of key stage 1 and 2 in all core subjects. In writing assessments, a higher proportion of pupils than nationally met age-related expectations and the proportion of pupils working at greater depth has increased.
• In reading and mathematics, the proportion of pupils who achieved age-related expectations or above was broadly in line with other pupils nationally. In 2017, the proportion of pupils who worked at greater depth in reading and mathematics increased too. Teachers provided strong challenge for the most able pupils last year so that more of them than previously reached higher standards in all of the core subjects. Leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching show that some teachers do not challenge the most able pupils effectively. As a result, the proportion of pupils working at higher standards in reading and mathematics is just in line with other schools nationally and no better.
• Published data for 2017 shows that disadvantaged pupils in Year 2 and 6 achieved better outcomes than previously in reading, writing and mathematics. However, for current disadvantaged pupils across school, progress remains just as variable as it is for other groups.
• The progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is mixed. Pupils who have visual impairments and are supported by specialist staff from the ARC make swift progress. This is because staff assess their needs carefully and plan the next steps in their learning precisely. Meanwhile, in other classes, for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities learning is not consistently as rapid as for those seen nationally.
• Published data for the past two years shows that outcomes improved for pupils who speak English as an additional language at key stage 1. However, at key stage 2 the attainment of pupils who speak English as an additional language fell further below that of other pupils nationally, especially in mathematics. For current pupils who speak English as an additional language there is a similar picture to other groups in school as their progress and attainment vary across classes and subjects.
• In key stage 1, teaching now enables the majority of pupils to achieve the expected standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Phonics teaching has improved over the past two years and outcomes are broadly in line with those seen nationally.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Over the past two years, the proportion of children who reach a good level of development has increased. Children’s attainment is in line with other schools nationally now at the end of Reception. However, as in the rest of the school, the quality of teaching and learning in the early years is not consistent. Standards achieved by children and rates of progress are variable across different classes, groups and subjects of the curriculum, including for boys and disadvantaged pupils.
• Staff carry out regular assessments of children’s skills, knowledge and ability during their time in early years. However, under scrutiny, senior leaders and inspectors found some of the assessments were inaccurate when compared to the work children produced. At times, especially near the beginning of the year, some staff underestimate children’s skills and this means records are imprecise.
• Weaknesses in assessment make it difficult to evaluate accurately the amount of progress made by different groups of children. Consequently, leaders do not then have a clear picture of how much impact adults are having on children’s learning over time.
• The quality of teaching in phonics remains variable across classes and staff skills in this subject vary too. Some teaching assistants are highly skilled at making phonics fun for young children. In the Nursery class, children sound out the names of objects they find in a ‘magic bag’ proficiently and enjoy singing as they learn about rhyming words. In other groups, however, staff do not maximise opportunities to improve pupils’ phonic skills. Some teachers confuse letter sounds with letter names and this hinders pupils’ understanding.
• Within mathematics teaching, children’s learning and progress vary across different classes. In one Reception class, children are keen to explore mathematical problems and access equipment confidently to help them solve problems. In other classes, children are not inspired in the same way and the mathematics area remains empty for long stretches of time. Some staff do not have high enough expectations of what children can achieve.
• Parents are more involved with their children’s learning now. Many parents attend educational visits off-site to help their children learn about the wider world. During the inspection, Reception children enjoyed their visit to the local library. Parents attend workshops and open days to help them find out how their children learn different subjects in school.
• Children’s behaviour is good across all classes in the early years. Staff establish rules and routines well and children understand what is expected of them. In the Nursery class, for example, children remind their friends to walk in the classroom. In the Reception class, children listen attentively to one another at snack time. They use polite phrases when talking to others, such as ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘excuse me.’
• Effective rules and routines help staff to maintain a safe learning environment in the early years. Children understand why they need to follow specific safety measures such as wearing safety goggles before using woodwork tools; others explain why high visibility tabards help them stay safe on their trip off-site. Staff ensure that welfare and safety requirements are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107242 Bradford 10042156 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 Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 449 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Nick Briggs Lynette Clapham 01274 636921 www.grovehouseprimary.co.uk head@grove-house.com Date of previous inspection 23 January 2016

Information about this school

• This school is much larger than the average-sized primary school. Since the previous inspection, a new head of school and executive headteacher were appointed to the school. These appointments are very recent and the new leaders commenced their posts in January 2018.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language is well above average. Almost half of the pupils on roll are from Asian backgrounds, the largest single group being of Pakistani heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is lower than in other schools nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is well above average. Most of the plans and statements are to meet the needs of those pupils who have visual impairments.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school has specialist provision for 12 pupils who have a visual impairment or who are blind; this includes provision for those children in the early years.
• Children in the early years receive part-time education in the Nursery. Most children spend a morning or an afternoon in Nursery and a few access free 30 hours of provision. Children in the Reception class attend full time.
• The school organises an early morning breakfast club managed by the governors and it also has an after-school club.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed a wide range of lessons, covering all classes in the school. The head of school and other senior leaders carried out a number of observations jointly with inspectors.
• Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the newly appointed head of school, and senior and middle leaders. Inspectors met with a group of governors, including the chair, and talked to two representatives from the local authority. Inspectors met with two groups of pupils – a group from each key stage of learning – and also talked with pupils during lessons.
• Inspectors observed behaviour during playtimes, in the lunch hall and generally around school, including how pupils responded to a variety of different staff and visitors. Inspectors listened to pupils reading and talked to them about their books. Inspectors talked to parents at the beginning and end of the school day to glean their views of the school.
• Inspectors examined the quality of work in a range of pupils’ books, covering different subjects of the curriculum. Inspectors looked at many documents and reports about the school’s work, including the school’s self-evaluation, development plans and information relating to pupils’ achievement and safeguarding.
• Inspectors took account of the 49 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also considered the 24 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Anne Humble, lead inspector Peter Marsh Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Suzette Garland-Grimes Ofsted Inspector