Sandy Lane Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:

• make more strategic use of the information they gather about the progress of pupils from their starting points in school
• ensure that there is consistency in the teaching of phonics, so that the very large majority of pupils in Year 1 meet the expected standard
• include ‘milestones’ within their plans for school improvement, so that they can check progress more effectively at regular intervals across the year
• continue to work closely with families to reduce the number of pupils who are repeatedly absent.
• Further improve progress and raise attainment in reading, writing and mathematics across key stage 2 through sharing with all staff the outstanding practice that is now developing in some classes.
• Ensure that the most able children in early years are sufficiently challenged, so that more make rapid progress during their time in Reception.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Following a period of turbulence in leadership, the current headteacher joined the school in January 2017 and is now the executive headteacher for both Sandy Lane and Steeton primary schools. He made skilful use of the good practice in Steeton Primary School to strengthen the leadership and teaching in Sandy Lane Primary School. As a result, the two schools now have a very effective partnership model, through which the good practice in both schools is shared on an equal basis.
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher have created a new leadership structure in the school. Together with effective support from the local authority school improvement officer, they have developed the roles of four assistant headteachers. As a result, the leadership of teaching and learning is now strong and this is now contributing to much better progress.
• Leaders at all levels have high expectations of themselves, and of staff and pupils. They have created a learning culture where staff are willing to challenge themselves and are keen to improve their teaching further. Leaders work closely with staff to identify specific training and support that will help them to improve and develop their skills further.
• The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and detailed plans for improvement identify the correct priorities. While the final outcomes are clear and the actions to achieve these are appropriate, plans do not identify those smaller targets or ‘milestones’ along the way to achieving the final goal. As a result, it is more difficult for leaders and governors to monitor how well these priorities are progressing at different points in the year.
• Leaders’ work to support newly qualified teachers, and those in the early stages of their career, is very strong. These teachers say that they are nurtured in a caring community and feel highly valued and respected as part of a strong team. Leaders provide staff with a good level of support, but also challenge them to be the best that they can be. Staff are open in sharing together the areas that they need to improve further. One teacher commented, ‘As soon as I came in, I felt so settled – I love it!’
• Leaders monitor rigorously the progress that pupils make in mathematics and English subjects across each year group. They use this progress information effectively to identify any pupils who are falling behind, so that they can quickly help these pupils to catch up. However, leaders do not make strategic use of the progress information they have just begun to gather from the pupils’ starting points in each phase.
• Leaders ensure that they use the pupil premium funding efficiently. Teachers provide disadvantaged pupils with well-targeted, additional support where necessary. Consequently, across the school, the difference in progress and attainment between these and other pupils is reducing, or has disappeared in some year groups.
• Physical education (PE) leaders make good use of the primary PE and sport funding to provide a wide range of opportunities for pupils to engage in physical activities. These include martial arts, dance and netball. Teachers are consistently improving their skills in delivering high-quality PE lessons to pupils. The ‘daily mile’ supports pupils well in making the links between physical exercise and good health.
• Leaders use the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities very effectively. As a result, this group of pupils made more progress in reading, writing and mathematics than almost all other groups of pupils across the school in 2018.
• Since the previous inspection, school leaders have completely reviewed the school’s curriculum. The new creative curriculum offers pupils a thematic approach based on the ‘Big Idea’. This is developing well under the passionate and focused leadership of an assistant headteacher. Pupils were keen to talk about the ‘Big Idea’ that their class was currently working on. Additionally, leaders have reviewed the delivery of English and mathematics across the school and introduced various targeted strategies to make this more effective. As a result, the curriculum is broad and balanced.
• The school’s provision for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils are very supportive of each other’s ideas and show a high level of mutual respect. They understand and accept cultural diversity and the various lifestyle choices people make. They talked confidently about the importance of respecting different religions and were quick to assure inspectors that, ‘there is no racism in our school’. As a result, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. One parent commented, ‘They actively engage students in current affairs such as the election and the royal wedding. My daughter could explain the election process in detail – better than some adults!’
• Parents and carers are supportive of the school and appreciate the caring atmosphere it provides. Parents who recently moved into the area and were choosing a school noted that, ‘We liked the intimate setting of the school.’ The vast majority of parents say that their children are happy and safe at school and are making good progress. One commented, ‘I can’t praise this school enough for everything they have done for my children.’
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher have welcomed the support from the local authority to strengthen the leadership and management of the school. The school improvement officer knows the school very well and has been instrumental in developing the monitoring role of the assistant headteachers. As a result, the leadership of teaching and learning is now strong.

Governance of the school

• All but one of the governors have been appointed since the previous inspection. They commissioned an external review of governance and swiftly addressed the areas for improvement identified in this review. As a result, governance is now effective.
• Governors have recently conducted a rigorous self-evaluation audit to further improve the way they work. All governors are now accurately matched to roles that make best use of their specific skills, and recruitment of new governors is undertaken with careful consideration of the skills they can offer. Governors identify and undertake relevant training to ensure that they can fulfil their role effectively.
• Governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance information, including that for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. In their meetings with school leaders, they ask challenging questions about the progress of pupils. They check that any additional funding is used well and measure its impact.
• Governors are very committed to the school and are ambitious for its continued improvement. They visit school regularly and frequently to monitor the provision and practice alongside senior leaders. As a result, they have a clear view of the ways in which this can be improved further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have created a school culture in which all staff have a focus on safeguarding children. Staff and governors are well trained, knowledgeable and vigilant about safeguarding matters, including the strategy to keep children safe from radicalisation and extremism.
• School leaders demonstrate a highly effective duty of care to individual families, especially where pupils live in vulnerable circumstances.
• The school’s arrangements for child protection are rigorous, and safeguarding records are of a high quality. These clearly demonstrate the commitment of the staff to keeping pupils safe. The school’s inclusion manager plays a vital role in this work.
• The school keeps an accurate and up-to-date record of the appointments of all staff and the arrangements for recruiting staff are thorough and effective.
• Governors understand their statutory duties for safeguarding.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• School leaders have been relentless in tackling the underperformance in teaching that was evident at the last inspection. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved and is now typically good. Some aspects of the practice of a small number of teachers are outstanding.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and conduct. Through warm and supportive relationships, teachers establish a productive working atmosphere. Time in lessons focuses keenly on learning, which is reflected in the pupils’ positive attitudes. This leads to calm and purposeful learning.
• Teachers have good subject knowledge. Their clear explanations help pupils to settle quickly to their work and make good progress. They use skilful questioning, which is adjusted to the varying abilities of the pupils. Teachers use their conversations with pupils to identify and address any misconceptions. Some teachers are extremely good at this and support other teachers to develop their skills further.
• The school is very proactive in promoting a love of reading across the school. There is a great emphasis on reading for enjoyment. Newly introduced strategies in reading and writing are proving effective in supporting and increasing the comprehension skills of all pupils, especially those who are new to English. This was evident when inspectors listened to pupils reading aloud and looked at work in their writing books.
• Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and provide them with challenging tasks in lessons. Inspectors observed pupils in Years 5 and 6 in animated discussion as they tried to infer from their text the meaning of challenging words such as ‘hastened’ and ‘elated’. In Year 2, groups of pupils were grappling with tricky mathematical word problems that involved the addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers. They acknowledged that these were difficult, but persevered in finding the solution.
• Teachers are good at developing pupils’ independent learning skills. Learning displays around the classroom and resources on tables provide effective support for pupils to find many answers to their problems before asking an adult. Younger pupils make good use of practical resources in mathematics to support their calculations. As a result, pupils are resilient learners who do not give up easily when they find their work difficult.
• Pupils take a pride in their work. In the vast majority of books, the quality of work and presentation is of a high standard. There is clear evidence of most pupils developing neat, cursive handwriting as they move through the school. Books show clear progress in learning – some of this is considerable. Teachers give effective feedback and there is evidence that pupils are responding to this, so that they can improve their work further.
• Through the recent development of the wider curriculum – the ‘Big Idea’ – pupils now have an increasing range of opportunities to use and apply their English and mathematical skills and knowledge effectively across a wider range of subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how the school keeps them safe. They feel safe in school because of the secure school site, the fob entry system, the locked gates and the number of adults supervising them in the playground. Pupils who spoke with inspectors were not aware of any instances of bullying in school, but agreed that adults would deal with it immediately and successfully.
• Pupils are also knowledgeable about keeping themselves safe out of school. They understand the importance of keeping safe online, explaining, for example, how they should always report to an adult anything they see on a computer that makes them uncomfortable. They could also explain confidently about road safety and what they should do if they were to become lost while out in the town with their parents.
• The school understands the importance of looking after the pupils’ well-being and mental health. The school’s inclusion manager is at the forefront of this work. Staff are vigilant in spotting pupils who may need extra emotional support for a variety of reasons.
• Pupils were confident to speak with the inspectors and engaged with them enthusiastically. Pupils say that they work hard and are keen to do well. They say that they are not afraid to make mistakes because they learn from these. The very large majority of parents agree that their child is well looked after in school.
• A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including lunchtime and after-school clubs, visits and visitors, and residential trips, gives pupils a broader outlook on life and helps to prepare them well for the next stage in their education. These opportunities include various sporting, craft and musical activities. Breakfast club gives the pupils a chance to ‘Wake up – Shake up’, as they participate enthusiastically in a lively aerobic workout performed with a music video.
• Pupils have opportunities to apply for roles and responsibilities in school life. The school council members are elected each year by their class. Much of the school council’s work involves strengthening links with the local community. Pupils also apply to be sports leaders on an annual basis and support the PE leader in a variety of ways, including in the preparation and maintenance of sports equipment.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils take a pride in their school and in their appearance. Pupils adhere to the school’s code for uniform. Classrooms, cloakrooms and corridors are tidy and there is no litter in or around the buildings. The high-quality work displayed around the school provides an attractive environment in which to learn.
• Pupils are very polite and considerate and conduct themselves well around the school. Pupils of all ages play cooperatively together in the playground.
• Pupils know and can explain the school’s behaviour code and understand the consequences of poor behaviour. Several pupils were proud to tell the inspectors, ‘I’ve never been on amber!’ The school’s behaviour log reveals a reduction this year in the number of pupils moving to ‘red’ on the behaviour system.
• Pupils generally behave well in lessons because they understand that their behaviour affects other learners. During the inspection, only rare and minor incidents of low-level disruption were noted.
• School leaders successfully promote the importance of good attendance through a series of incentives and rewards. Governors are also very involved in this work. Leaders quickly follow up any unexplained or extended absence. As a result, the school’s attendance figures are steadily improving to be only slightly below the national average.
• A small number of pupils are repeatedly absent from school for extended periods. This is mainly due to a very small minority of parents taking their children out of school for unauthorised holidays. Consequently, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent remains above the national average. School leaders work closely with the families to address this, but there is no significant improvement.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Attainment in key stage 1 has improved steadily. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard is now in line with or above national averages in all subjects. Pupils consistently make good progress from the end of Reception Year.
• In 2018, the proportion of Year 1 pupils meeting the standard in phonics fell below the national average. Leaders have identified the reasons for this. They have put clear plans in place to ensure that the very large majority of the current Year 1 pupils meet the standard in 2019.
• Progress in writing across key stage 2 has improved steadily since the last inspection and is now broadly average. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in writing still needs to improve further to be in line with the national average. However, the proportion of pupils reaching the greater depth standard improved to be in line with the national average in 2018.
• Since the previous inspection, pupils’ progress in reading and mathematics across key stage 2 has not improved sufficiently. Historic, weaker teaching had caused pupils to fall behind. Though pupils subsequently made increased progress across Years 5 and 6, it was not enough to improve progress sufficiently in 2018 in reading and mathematics. Attainment in 2018 was still below national averages at the expected standard in all subjects. Better teaching across the whole of key stage 2 is now raising attainment and speeding up progress for current pupils.
• Overall, the progress of disadvantaged pupils is good and some make better progress than pupils who are not disadvantaged. Leaders regularly assess how well these pupils are doing and respond swiftly to address any gaps in learning with additional teaching time and extra group sessions.
• The school’s work to provide additional support for pupils who are new to English is very strong. Carefully targeted interventions make sure that these pupils receive the additional support that they need. Consequently, they quickly develop the language skills they need and make good progress to achieve at least as well as other pupils.
• Although most of the pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are working below age-related expectations, staff have high expectations of them. They carefully match interventions to the individual needs of each pupil. As a result, these pupils make good progress across each year. However, staff do not track the progress that these pupils make from their starting point in each phase.

Early years provision Good

• Early years is well led and managed. The leader has an accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses in this area. She is thorough in her monitoring of teaching and learning. She leads well and plans thoroughly. Through her leadership, staff work together as a team and support each other very well. She correctly identifies and addresses the ongoing training needs of her team, so that they can improve their skills further.
• The leader completes a wide range of assessments and monitors the children’s progress carefully. She analyses this information systematically and shares her findings with the early years staff, so that planning can be adapted to meet the identified needs of individual children.
• Over half of the children enter Reception Year with skills that are below or well below what is typical for their age. Observation of the children during the inspection provided evidence that supported the teachers’ judgements of these starting points. Most make good progress throughout the year, so that the proportion of children reaching a good level of development is consistently in line with the national figure.
• Children who enter early years working at a level below that typical for their age are supported well to develop their learning and make good progress. However, those children who are the most able are not always challenged effectively enough. This means that not all achieve as well as they could across the year.
• Teaching and learning are good. The classroom and outdoor environments are stimulating and provide many opportunities for children to learn independently. Inspectors observed many children with a secure pencil grip who were practising writing their name. Some were using scissors in a creative activity and others were engaged in imaginative play. Adults often used well-targeted questions to support learning and extend it further.
• Most adults teach phonics effectively and this provides the children with the tools they need in learning to read and write. However, not all adults correct children when they pronounce letter sounds incorrectly and this hinders their progress in blending sounds together to read words.
• Overall, children make less progress in mathematics than in literacy. Staff are aware of this and inspectors saw evidence of much mathematical activity, both indoors and out. For example, children were observed finding numbers on a number mat and counting fish in a tank. They were keen to demonstrate their skills to the inspectors.
• Parents are very positive about their child’s experiences in Reception Year. One parent commented that, ‘He is eager every morning to go there and always comes out at the end of the day with a happy, smiling face.’
• Children are cared for very well in early years. Staff ensure that the children are safe and all of the statutory welfare requirements are met. One parent explained to inspectors how the staff had worked very closely with her to find out the details of her child’s medical condition before he started school.
• Children behave well as a result of the high expectations of staff in this area. They work and play together happily, showing care and concern for each other.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107219 Bradford 10047751 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 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 306 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Sue Duffy John Cooper 01274 546493 www.sandylaneprimary.co.uk john.cooper@sandylane.bradford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 May 2016

Information about this school

• Since the previous inspection, governors have appointed a new executive headteacher and deputy headteacher. The school’s senior leadership team has been restructured and there are now four assistant headteachers, who hold key leadership responsibilities in the school.
• All but one of the school’s governors have joined the governing body since the previous inspection.
• The school works in close partnership with Steeton Primary School, sharing the executive headteacher.
• There have been significant changes in staffing at all levels since the last inspection. Five new teachers joined the school in September 2017. Three of these were newly qualified.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The number of disadvantaged pupils in the school is above average.
• Over half of the pupils in the school are of Asian or Asian British Pakistani heritage. A very high proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who have support for SEN and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes. They carried out some observations jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. Inspectors also observed the provision in the school’s breakfast club and after-school club.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and spoke with pupils about the work in their books. They scrutinised a wide range of pupils’ work. Inspectors also met with groups of pupils to discuss their enjoyment of school and their opinions on behaviour and safety. They observed pupils at playtime and at the start of the school day.
• The inspection team considered a wide range of school documents. These included the school’s review of its own performance, the school’s development plan, governing body documents, behaviour and attendance records, information about the progress of the pupils, action plans for various subjects, and documents relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors held discussions with staff and governors. The lead inspector met with the local authority school improvement officer.
• Inspectors considered 36 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and 17 free-text comments. They also considered 22 responses to the pupil survey and 23 responses to the staff survey. Inspectors also spoke with parents in the playground.

Inspection team

Heather Mensah, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Suzette Garland-Grimes Ofsted Inspector Peter Marsh

Ofsted Inspector