Worthinghead Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Eradicate any remaining variations in the quality of teaching, especially in key stage 1, so that pupils make consistently good progress by ensuring that:
  • all staff have the highest expectations of what pupils can, and should, achieve
  • all staff use the detailed information that the school gathers on pupils more promptly to focus their teaching so that all pupils consistently make the progress that they should
  • the consistently good practice that is evident in most of the teaching at the school is systematically shared across all years.
• Improve outcomes for pupils by:
  • providing greater challenge for all pupils, including the most able, so that they make stronger progress across all subjects
  • making sure that the curriculum, especially in subjects beyond mathematics and science, is increasingly challenging and that tasks are set that stimulate and stretch pupils
  • making sure that the skills of teaching assistants are shared so that they can take on even more responsibility for planning and monitoring the impact of their work with pupils of all abilities.
• Improve outcomes for pupils in writing by ensuring that:
  • writing across all subjects is of the highest quality
  • pupils in every class have a wide, varied and challenging diet of writing opportunities from a range of subjects that develop their skills and confidence as accurate writers and knowledgeable subject specialists
  • there is an increase in the range of opportunities, particularly for the most able pupils, to write at length in a range of subjects beyond English.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher leads the school with compassion and a strong sense of moral purpose. She is determined that all pupils should receive the best. She knows the school and the community that it serves very well.
• The headteacher has led the school successfully through times of challenging change. A significant proportion of the teachers at the school have been appointed recently. Because of these careful appointments, and the rapidly growing culture of high expectations for all, the school is now poised for rapid improvement.
• The school’s curriculum is carefully thought out. There is an effective balance between the teaching of academic subjects and other creative opportunities. The headteacher and governors are determined to offer all pupils a rounded set of experiences at school that prepare them well not only for their next steps in learning, but also for their life as citizens of a compassionate society. Although this curriculum is not yet fully embedded, inspection evidence shows that it is widely welcomed by parents and enjoyed by pupils.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well through this broad curriculum. Pupils speak enthusiastically about their enjoyment of a range of subjects, including sports and the arts. They also enjoy opportunities in the wider community. For example, the school runs regular visits to nearby businesses, including the local chemical plant.
• The school works hard to encourage pupils to enjoy healthy lifestyles. The meals cooked on-site are well balanced and tasty. Pupils told inspectors that they really enjoy school lunches. They also said that the school has helped them to understand the importance of regular exercise as part of their daily routine. Pupils pay regular visits to the on-site, outside, woodland school. They also have access to a wide range of before- and after-school clubs and sporting activities.
• The additional funding that the school receives to support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively. The provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is very well led. The recently appointed special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is skilled and meticulous in her approach. Records are detailed and helpful. Links with outside agencies are strong. The SENCo works effectively to help all staff, including teaching assistants, to develop their skills as teachers of children with SEN and/or disabilities, and this is having a positive impact on the overall quality of teaching.
• Middle leadership is a developing strength of the school. Senior leaders see middle leaders as key to improving the school further. Middle leaders meet with governors to discuss the progress of their areas of responsibility. Self-evaluation at a subject-lead level is developing a focus on pupils’ progress so that senior leaders can hold middle leaders to account for this key aspect of the school’s work.
• Staff morale is high. All of the staff that inspectors spoke with were positive about the school’s direction and continued improvement. A confidential staff survey conducted during the inspection confirmed this view.
• Parents are very positive about the service that the school offers them and their children. They spoke very positively about the open attitude of the headteacher and the regular formal and informal updates that they received from staff about their children’s progress and well-being. As one parent said, ‘The head has everything under control.’
• Pupil premium funding is focused precisely and effectively by leaders to ensure that barriers to learning are, as far as possible, removed. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are doing at least as well as their peers and, in key stage 2, often even better than their peers at the school. However, the information about the deployment and effect of pupil premium funding is not clearly outlined on the school’s website.
• The school, working with outside support, uses its allocation of the physical education (PE) and sport funding successfully, both to give pupils opportunities to extend their sports skills and experience and to develop existing staff’s expertise in teaching PE. Inspectors saw pupils and their class staff experiencing high-quality PE facilitated by subject experts during the inspection. These expert staff also work with school staff to help run sports clubs for pupils after school.
• Leaders have put in place detailed and regular systems to check the effectiveness of teaching and the progress of pupils. However, not all staff are using this detailed and helpful information consistently in order to shape and focus their teaching.

Governance of the school

• Governors are insightful, well informed and realistic. They know the school and the community that it serves well. They are ambitious for the school. They are well led and constantly seeking to improve. However, there are several vacancies on the governing body.
• Governors draw on a range of information and aspects of the school’s work to assess how well it is doing. They are provided with detailed and timely information by the headteacher and her team, but they do not rely solely on this to make their judgements. They visit the school regularly and receive information from subject and phase leaders.
• Governors are well supported by the local authority. The local authority provides detailed support and advice for governors in the setting of appropriate targets for the headteacher.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Procedures for checking the suitability of visitors and staff recruitment are secure. Leaders check staff’s suitability to work with children appropriately.
• Leaders ensure that all staff and governors are well trained and skilled in safeguarding matters. There are regular training sessions to keep staff informed and up to date.
• Leaders maintain a culture in the school where staff show a clear understanding of their responsibilities and of the processes used to keep pupils safe. As a result, staff promptly identify and appropriately support potentially vulnerable pupils. They also engage robustly and tenaciously with outside agencies to ensure that pupils get the support that they need.
• Pupils have many opportunities to learn how to stay safe through the subjects they study, in class time and during assemblies. Pupils told inspectors that they regularly learn about how to stay safe online and that, for example, a session on e-safety took place on the day before the inspection.
• Pupils with whom inspectors spoke said that they have staff who they can go to if they have any concerns. They are confident that adults would listen to their concerns and take prompt, appropriate and effective action.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching is improving rapidly and is now good. The headteacher has addressed the legacy of recent weaker teaching, particularly in key stage 1, through a range of strategies. She has focused on the appointment of teachers of high quality. She has also used performance management of both teaching and support staff to focus and refine their skills. Outcomes are still not good enough, because of previous weak teaching.
• Relationships between pupils and staff are strong. This has a very positive impact on teaching and learning. The atmosphere in class rooms is polite, positive and enthusiastic. Pupils want to do well and they rise to the challenge of high expectations. They also demonstrate tenacity as they wrestle with challenging tasks. In a Year 6 mathematics class, for example, pupils took real delight and expended a great deal of mental energy trying to resolve a knotty, open-ended problem. It was clear that they were not only learning but really enjoying themselves.
• Staff demonstrate strong subject knowledge. They know their pupils well. They generally plan learning that builds on what pupils already know and understand. They monitor their pupils’ learning carefully. Those at risk of falling behind are given additional support quickly.
• Staff use the school’s approach to feedback effectively so that pupils know, with increasing precision, what they need to do next to improve. Pupils told inspectors that they like the way that teachers respond to their work. They said that they appreciated the time and care that teachers take to mark and comment on what they write.
• Middle leaders with subject responsibilities are, increasingly, supporting staff across the school to improve their subject-specific knowledge and skills. This is particularly important as the school’s curriculum continues to widen and deepen in order to give pupils a well-rounded understanding of the world and of their responsibilities and place in it.
• Leaders set targets for all staff, including teaching assistants, who put the quality of teaching and learning at their heart. Leaders check the quality of teaching through regular ‘drop ins’ into classes and by more formal quality assurance visits and scrutiny of pupils’ work. Staff told inspectors that they welcome this open approach and the ways that senior staff work to support them.
• The teaching of phonics is good. The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard has been well above the national average for more than three years.
• Staff, both teachers and teaching assistants, use questioning effectively to extend and deepen pupils’ learning and understanding. In the most effective practice, inspectors saw examples of teachers asking questions and then reshaping the pupil’s answer so that all in the class could understand. The teacher then extended the question for the whole class to develop.
• Teachers set regular homework in line with the school’s policy. Pupils, particularly in key stage 2, said that they welcome this and the opportunities to work away from school that homework gives them to explore, deepen and extend their learning.
• Overall, teaching assistants are well deployed across the school. They are involved in planning and assessment with their teacher colleagues. They share teachers’ access to further training and support. Inspectors saw examples of teaching assistants using their skills, particularly in questioning, to deepen pupils’ understanding. However, teaching assistants sometimes move too quickly to support pupils and do not give them the opportunity to work things out for themselves. The effective practice of the majority of teaching assistants is not being shared in a systematic way across the school.
• Pupils’ writing skills are developing effectively across the school. Teachers plan a range of opportunities for writing, and the quality of presentation, vocabulary and sentence structures are typically of a good standard. However, pupils have too few opportunities to extend and deepen their writing skills in subjects other than English, particularly the most able. In science, for example, there are too few opportunities for the most able pupils to develop their scientific writing skills.
• The school’s systems for monitoring the quality of teaching and its effect on learning are detailed and regularly updated. However, this key information is not being used consistently enough by staff across the school in order to plan learning for individuals and groups. Because of this, some pupils are not making the rapid progress that they should.
• Sometimes the quality and layout of worksheets restrict opportunities for, especially, the most able pupils, because the spaces for writing are too small and, therefore, do not encourage writing at length in order to deepen and extend learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are polite, kind and aware of the needs of others. They relate well to each other and to staff. They spoke with real pleasure about how much they enjoyed school and how well the staff care for and look after them. They know that staff at the school would be there for them if they ever had a problem.
• Pupils wear their uniforms smartly. They care for their school. There is no litter. There are many well-maintained and informative displays, both in and out of the classroom, that help pupils understand and celebrate their place in the school and the wider world.
• The school’s recently introduced rewards system supports an approach to behaviour that encourages pupils to understand the needs of others. There is a focus on empathy with others and the nurturing of relationships. Pupils told inspectors that they welcomed this approach and that it was having a very positive effect on learning and life at school.
• Pupils, especially but not exclusively as they get older, are encouraged to take on roles of responsibility. For example, older children take care of and are available for younger children during breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Because of the school’s vigilance and actions, pupils have a good understanding of the range of forms that bullying can take. They say it is very rare at the school. They also say that on those rare occasions where it does take place, it is promptly and well dealt with by adults at the school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe.
• Pupils are very aware of the vigour that diversity and difference bring to society, both at school and in the wider community. Pupils develop high levels of empathy and understanding of each other because of the detailed and imaginative way that the school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.
• The school actively promotes a healthy lifestyle. Meal choices are healthy, including those provided at the daily pre-school breakfast club. Pupils know what constitutes a healthy diet. They are also very aware of the need to preserve and celebrate the environment and nature. The school’s chickens are key members of the school, living as they do, at its heart. The school’s green wood also gives all pupils the opportunity to learn from and engage with the natural world outside.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. As one pupil told an inspector, ‘They won’t tolerate bad behaviour!’ Pupils reported that the school’s systems to support and reward positive behaviour are effective and enjoyable. They make a difference. As a result, disruption to learning is rare and, when it does occur, it is dealt with swiftly and consistently by staff.
• Because of leaders’ efforts, overall attendance is above the national average. The attendance of the minority of pupils who are persistently absent is also improving. However, leaders are aware that it is still too high. Records show that the school’s work to improve rates of attendance are effective. The school has appointed a colleague who robustly liaises with the small group of families whose children, for a range of reasons, find regular attendance challenging. This work is having a positive impact on their attendance. Most pupils are very clear about why it is important to attend school regularly.
• The overwhelming majority of pupils are very interested in what they do at school. They enjoy learning and finding out. They have responded very favourably to the school’s recent focus on reading. Pupils generally use their initiative and respond favourably when staff encourage them to use it. There is scope, however, to encourage pupils to be even more active in their own learning and to be more aware of how they learn best.

Outcomes for pupils

Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement. Although outcomes are improving rapidly, pupils’ progress, given their starting points, is not good. This is because, in most part due to turbulence in staffing, teaching has not been consistently strong. This was particularly the case in writing. Due to the efforts of leaders, the quality of teaching has improved significantly. However, it is too early for these improvements to show consistently, particularly in key stage 1.
• The percentage of pupils meeting the required standard for the phonics screening check has been well above the national average for the last three years. Unvalidated results for Year 1 pupils in 2018 show 90% reaching the standard. Pupils who took the phonics check again in Year 2 all made gains on their previous outcomes. However, there are a small number of pupils currently in Year 3 who have not reached the standard.
• Historically, the gains made in reading in Reception and in the end of Year 1 phonics screening check have not been in evidence in the end of key stage 1 reading outcomes. The unvalidated results of attainment in reading in Year 2 in summer 2018 are well below the expected national average. Outcomes in both writing and mathematics in key stage 1 have also slipped compared with those in 2017.
• Unvalidated key stage 2 results in summer 2018 are not good enough and are below the likely national average. However, they do show an overall improvement on the previous year, with particularly stronger results in reading and writing.
• Most-able pupils generally make effective progress. However, their progress, along with that of their peers, is less certain when staff expectations are not consistently of the highest order. Also, teaching materials, such as worksheets, can restrict the length and depth of these pupils’ writing. This can limit the opportunities that they have to extend and consolidate their learning.
• Reading is a growing strength of the school. Pupils reported that they enjoy the opportunities that they now have to read, both in and out of school. They also said that they enjoyed reading in class and sharing the experience of reading and exploring books together.
• Disadvantaged pupils across the school now make generally good progress from their starting points in all subjects. Because of leaders’ actions, all staff are fully aware of the needs and barriers to learning for the disadvantaged pupils in their care, and teaching is carefully focused on supporting them. Unvalidated results and the school’s own information show that disadvantaged pupils made at least similar and often better progress than their peers.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make generally good progress because of the staff’s detailed knowledge of their needs and teaching which breaks down tasks into manageable steps. The recently appointed leader for this area of the school’s work has also identified key areas for next steps in further improving the provision for these pupils.

Early years provision Good

• The leadership of early years is good. In May of each year, the reception team forges a relationship with parents and begins its assessment of children as they enter the provision. The assessment is meticulous, kind and careful. The team draws on a wide range of evidence and information about each child. By the time children enter the Reception class, staff know them very well.
• There are also strong links with local nursery providers. Staff take full account of the information that they receive on each child from these partners. As a result, staff establish a secure and accurate view of each child’s needs and strengths. They use this information to inform and focus their planning and teaching.
• Most children enter the Reception class with skills and knowledge typical for their age. They make strong progress. This is because activities are carefully planned and staff’s observations of how children are doing are used to inform next steps.
• Children’s acquisition of language and its use in communication is a high priority in the Reception class. Inspectors saw staff modelling language as they spoke with children. They used questioning expertly to encourage and extend children’s vocabulary and their confidence with words. Even at this early stage of their time at school, this is having a positive impact on children’s confidence and their facility with language. For example, a boy was very keen to explain to the inspector how the class reward system works and how important regular attendance at school is. He said he was looking forward to winning the attendance cup!
• Staff have developed a stimulating and safe learning environment which provides a wide range of interesting learning activities and experiences. The indoor and outdoor environment is uncluttered and stimulating, and labelling is used to encourage naming and language. A great deal of thought, based on detailed observations of how children have progressed, goes into dressing the space to support and stimulate children’s pleasure in learning. Children respond very positively to this.
• Children who have SEN and/or disabilities are carefully identified and their needs are met. Children who may need additional support in the new cohort have already been identified. This is the result of the team’s meticulous induction programme. The SENCo is already working with the Reception team to identify appropriate support so that these children promptly receive the support that they need to succeed. Over time, children who have SEN and/or disabilities make very good progress from their starting points.
• The teaching of reading is a strength of the early years provision. Phonics is well taught and reading outcomes at the end of Reception are strong over time, with 93% of children achieving the expected standard in summer 2018.
• The percentage of pupils who achieve a good level of development by the time they reach the end of the Reception Year is above the national average.
• Parents are very satisfied with the service that they receive from the early years team. They said that, overall, their children settle well and enjoy coming to school. The team sets great store in establishing and maintaining strong and open links with parents. As well as face-to-face contact each day, parents receive weekly updates on their child’s progress and activities via the internet.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107246 Bradford 10037718 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Appropriate authority Local authority Chair Headteacher Liz Stevens Lillian Sharp Telephone number 01274 414 904 Website Email address www.worthinghead.bradford.sch.uk office@worthinghead.bradford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection January 13 14 2014

Information about this school

• Worthinghead Primary School is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The deputy headteacher has been in post since September 2018.
• Most pupils are White British. 
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• The school offers an Early Birds breakfast club and a range of other sessions before school. The school also offers a range of clubs and activities after school.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes across the school. Most of these lessons were jointly observed with the headteacher or deputy headteacher. Inspectors listened to pupils from Years 2 and 3 read. They also talked with pupils across the school about their experience of reading, both in and out of school.
• An inspector observed a whole-school assembly.
• The lead inspector observed pupils in the school’s on-site woodland area.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher and deputy headteacher, who is also the SENCo, middle leaders and members of the governing body, including the chair. The lead inspector spoke with an officer from Bradford local authority on the telephone.
• Inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including that related to safeguarding, achievement, the quality of teaching, attendance and behaviour.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and conduct at breaktimes and lunchtimes. They spoke informally with pupils about their experience and attitudes to school during these times. Inspectors also spoke more formally with pupils from Years 2, 5 and 6 about school and the range of opportunities it offered them to explore and enjoy learning.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide sample of pupils’ work from the current and last academic year, from all year groups and in a range of subjects.
• Inspectors considered the 11 responses to an Ofsted survey of staff and the 15 responses to an Ofsted survey of pupils’ views. Inspectors also spoke with parents and carers at the start and end of the school day to seek their opinions of the school’s work and care for their children. They also reviewed the 15 responses on Parent View. The lead inspector also reviewed responses from 15 parents via the free-text facility.

Inspection team

Mark Evans, lead inspector Rebecca Clayton Alison Ashworth

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector