Field Lane Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment to accelerate pupils’ progress in all areas of the curriculum but particularly in reading, writing and science by ensuring that:
  • assessment information is used effectively by teachers to plan learning activities which are closely matched to pupils’ skills and abilities
  • teachers systematically question pupils’ understanding and provide them with precise feedback that enables them to rapidly improve their learning
  • sequences of learning enable pupils to make secure progress through the curriculum
  • teaching in phonics is effective in helping pupils to make rapid progress in reading and writing
  • assessment of pupils’ reading is used to plan for more rapid acquisition of comprehension skills
  • pupils in key stage 1, particularly boys, swiftly master the basic skills of writing, including accurate letter formation and spelling
  • pupils in key stage 2 have frequent opportunities to develop and deepen their skills in writing in a range of subjects and genres
  • teachers plan lessons in science that enhance pupils’ scientific knowledge and enable them to use and apply their scientific skills.
• Improve the impact and effectiveness of leaders at all levels, making sure that:
  • the skills of middle leaders are improved so that they can rigorously monitor provision in their areas of responsibility and sustain essential improvements in teaching
  • the effectiveness of teaching and its impact on the progress of less-able and middle prior attaining pupils is accurately monitored
  • governors rigorously challenge leaders and hold them to account for the progress of all groups of pupils.
• Improve pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning by: insisting on higher expectations and greater challenge continuing the work with parents and carers to improve punctuality and attendance, and reduce persistent absence consistently using the school’s policy to promote positive behaviours in lessons and during social times.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Field Lane has gone through a period of considerable turbulence in staffing at all levels, but particularly within leadership, contributing to a fall in standards over time. The executive headteacher left the school this year and the head of school became the headteacher.
• While the headteacher has taken action to improve the quality of teaching, it is not consistently good enough to ensure that pupils make secure progress across all classes and all subjects. Standards are not high enough by the end of key stage 2 and actions to diminish differences between the performance of boys and girls have not been effective.
• Middle leaders have identified what is working well and what needs to improve in their subject areas. However, these leaders are new to their roles and, as yet, have been unable to show impact on the quality of learning in their subjects. The exception to this is in mathematics, where a focus over a period of two years has led to much improved teaching and better progress in mathematics across the school.
• Leaders and teachers have enhanced the curriculum through a growing number of trips and visits, successfully providing pupils with experiences that broaden their understanding of the wider world. Each class has the opportunity to make at least one trip each year. Visits to locations like Cliffe Castle, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Shibden Hall help pupils to learn from first-hand experiences. However, learning in science is not sufficiently well developed, leaving pupils unable to adequately demonstrate their scientific skills.
• Pupil premium funding has been spent on providing additional resources and staffing to support disadvantaged pupils. The difference between disadvantaged pupils and their peers within school is negligible but disadvantaged pupils continue to make less progress than other pupils nationally.
• Senior leaders have set very clear targets for teachers to improve their practice so that, combined with regular coaching of newly qualified teachers, the quality of teaching is improving. Teachers spoke highly of the training and development opportunities they had received and could give examples of how this had helped them improve their teaching.
• Leaders have ensured that funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is spent to deliver appropriate and timely support. Overall, these pupils are making good progress because of effective care and provision put into place and monitored by the headteacher.
• Leaders have successfully promoted pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding. They have exploited pupils’ experiences to good effect to enable pupils to reach a deep understanding of radicalisation. For example, following a recent trip to the Houses of Parliament, when pupils were caught up in the recent attack on London Bridge, leaders led assemblies with pupils and meetings with parents to help them make sense of the experience.
• The primary school sports funding is used well to raise standards in the teaching of physical education. The school employs a specialist who delivers sports and games lessons. Pupils attend a range of clubs, including mixed sports, Zumba and football.

Governance of the school

• Governors were disappointed by the Year 6 outcomes in 2016 and now realise that teaching requires improvement over time. They have been very accepting of information provided to them by school leaders, and minutes of meetings show that they have not been sufficiently rigorous in questioning staff about that information.
• The governing board is currently seeking long-term solutions to ensure that the school continues to improve, including the commissioning of a school improvement partner.
• Governors are strong advocates of the school and passionate that pupils get the best possible pastoral care in order to prepare them for learning. They are aware of how additional funds are spent, including the pupil premium funding.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are committed to ensuring that all pupils are happy and secure and that levels of supervision in the playground and around school are high. All policies and procedures meet statutory requirements.
• Staff are appropriately trained, three to an advanced level, to identify and deal with safeguarding issues as they arise. Governors are regularly informed about safeguarding issues.
• Staff ensure pupils are safe when using the internet. They have run workshops for parents and pupils and have made use of police e-safety resources. Staff have been trained to spot signs of radicalisation amongst pupils and to act to keep pupils safe.
• The school-based social worker and learning mentor have been effective in working alongside parents and other agencies to ensure that pupils are safe. They meet vulnerable pupils each day to help prepare them for learning and make themselves available to parents at the end of every school day.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teachers ensure that the majority of lessons are carefully planned and resourced, but not enough account is taken of what pupils already know and can do, particularly in reading and writing, to ensure that they make rapid progress.
• The teaching of reading is having a variable impact on progress in some classes. Teachers are not consistently using assessment information to plan reading lessons that promote pupils’ rapid acquisition of comprehension skills. This is particularly the case for less able and middle prior attaining pupils who are unable to read beyond the surface features of the text and to make deductions to understand meaning. Although the most able pupils read well, less able pupils are unable to use a range of skills, including phonics, to read with fluency and understanding. Teachers are not fully effective in questioning pupils to ensure that they have understood.
• Pupils are encouraged to write in a range of subjects, but inconsistencies in the way spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting are taught limit their progress. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils will produce are not high enough, so that in key stage 2, some boys in particular are unproductive and producing work of a poor quality. When pupils have learned a new skill, pupils’ books show that they do not have enough time to practise and reinforce that learning well enough.
• Teachers have not provided pupils with sufficient opportunity to develop their knowledge of scientific inquiry, for example through practical experiments. Consequently, pupils’ achievement in science is well below the national average in both key stages.
• Improvement in the teaching of mathematics is helping pupils to secure basic skills well. Evidence in books shows that pupils use their understanding of number calculations and apply what they know to solve number problems. Teachers are ensuring that the most able pupils receive additional challenges to help them develop mastery in mathematics.
• Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is having a positive impact of meeting pupils’ social and emotional needs. Teaching assistants often play an essential part in making sure that these pupils are feeling confident and learning well.
• A small number of parents expressed the view that pupils do not receive the right amount of homework. However, pupils value the opportunity to complete topic-based homework, enabling them to showcase their research or creative skills. Regular homework encouraging pupils to practise reading, writing and mathematics is helping to reinforce their basic skills.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is good. Pupils talked about the many opportunities they have to learn about keeping safe, including dealing with bullying online.
• Pupils are encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles through regular fitness and games clubs. Pupils attend eco-club and learn about growing their own food. Pupils enjoyed taking part in regular lunchtime activities, learning how to manage their own behaviours in activities run by ‘Commando Tim’. Year 5 pupils have written and delivered a presentation on their own ‘Travel Plan’, earning them second place in a local competition. Parents value the workshops designed to help promote good sleeping patterns and healthy eating, for example.
• Because of a very caring school ethos, the schools’ work to promote social, moral, spiritual and cultural awareness is effective. Younger children have an understanding of right and wrong and other pupils have a good awareness of life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to think about the plight of others and have run a food bank for vulnerable families.
• The creative planning of leaders and teachers has enabled pupils to take part in an annual ‘enterprise week’, designing and making products linked to learning across different areas of the curriculum. In this school year, following a visit from a bank and a confectionary company, pupils made and sold chocolates to raise money for those less fortunate than themselves. This initiative has helped to raise pupils’ aspirations and to help them think about the jobs they would like to do in the future.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. This is because the poor behaviour of a small number of pupils is sometimes spoiling lessons and social times for other pupils. Some pupils said they were intimidated by the bullying behaviour of a few older pupils.
• Due to the concentrated effort of the pastoral team in supporting families, the number of pupils who are persistently absent is falling. However, overall pupils’ attendance remains below national averages and several pupils are arriving late and missing the start of lessons.
• Well-established routines are helping most pupils to behave well. Pupils understand the reward system and like achieving ‘fabulous Field Lane’ points that they can collect towards a bigger prize. All could explain exactly what would happen if pupils were seen to be misbehaving, listing sanctions ranging from losing playtime to fixed-term exclusions.

Outcomes for pupils

• In 2015, key stage 2 pupils attained standards that were broadly in line with national averages. However, in 2016, only one fifth of key stage 2 pupils achieved the standards expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics combined. Just over half of the pupils currently in Year 6 are on track to reach age-related expectations.
• Work in pupils’ books and the school’s own assessment information shows that, overall, the progress of current pupils has been too slow. Between a third and half of all pupils in key stage 2 have made less progress than might be expected in reading and writing. Progress is stronger in mathematics and more pupils are on track to reach standards expected of their age.
• Overall, boys are performing less well than girls in reading and writing. Boys and girls achieve similar outcomes in mathematics.
• In 2016, the progress of disadvantaged pupils, including the most-able disadvantaged, was not strong enough and too few achieved standards expected for their age. This is improving and more disadvantaged pupils are now on track to achieve expected standards.
• Two thirds of pupils achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check last year. This was below the national average. Boys achieved better outcomes in phonics than girls. Fewer pupils have achieved the expected standard in the check this year, but this represented good progress from their starting points.
• Last year, the progress of key stage 1 pupils in reading, writing and mathematics was close to that seen nationally. This year, Year 2 pupils are demonstrating even better progress from their starting points so that 80% of pupils are on track to achieve expected standards.
• The most able pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are generally making good progress from their starting points.

Early years provision Good

• Children entering Field Lane face a variety of challenges, including underdeveloped social and emotional skills and speech and language difficulties. Staff help children settle quickly into Nursery, enabling them to swiftly develop the confidence they need to cope in Reception class.
• Around a quarter of children enter Reception with skills well below those typically seen and almost all children enter the school with abilities below those typically seen for their age. From this point, they make good progress so that around half enter Year 1 with a good level of development. There is very little difference between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others or between boys and girls.
• The headteacher has an accurate understanding of the effectiveness of early years provision. She has helped staff to provide a welcoming learning environment where children are safe and happy. Staff have received regular training and opportunities to visit other settings to enable them to improve the provision at Field Lane. Outdoor provision has been much improved as a result.
• Safeguarding in the early years is effective. School procedures for keeping children safe are followed and daily risk assessments ensure that all equipment is safe for children to use. Staff are vigilant about the safety of children and hold appropriate first aid certificates. All statutory welfare requirements are met.
• Considerable interaction between children in Nursery and Reception helps children to move easily between activities in the classroom and outdoors. This arrangement helps teachers to successfully meet the needs of children of different abilities.
• The Nursery and Reception teachers plan together, using assessment information, to ensure that the provision is helping children to learn new skills. They work regularly with the children’s centre staff and speech and language therapist to ensure that they are meeting the needs of all children, including those who are vulnerable.
• Parents are welcomed into the setting. Teachers’ work to involve parents in their child’s education is effective. Parents are given an individual log-in for an online portal, so that at any time they can see their children’s learning and read about how they can further support their child at home.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 138398 Calderdale 10025488 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 135 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Academy trust Pam Burton Vanessa Dear 01484713792 www.fieldlaneprimary.org.uk admin@brighterfuturesmat.org.uk Date of previous inspection 1 May 2014

Information about this school

• Field Lane Primary School is a smaller than average-sized primary school.
• The school is part of the Brighter Futures academy trust.
• The chair of the governing board is a national leader of governance.
• The executive headteacher has recently left the trust and the head of school has been appointed as the headteacher.
• The headteacher is a specialist leader of education for early years.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for support through the pupil premium is twice the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• More pupils arrive at or leave the school than is the average for primary schools nationally. Many pupils arriving at the school have additional needs.
• Three quarters of pupils are from White British backgrounds. Twenty-five per cent of pupils are from other minority ethnic groups, the largest of which is mixed White and Black Caribbean. Only 8% of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics.
• Children in the Reception class attend full time and children in Nursery attend part-time.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• Together with the headteacher, the inspector looked at pupils’ progress, information about the performance of teachers, documents relating to behaviour and safety and documents relating to safeguarding.
• The inspector looked at pupils’ work in books and observed pupils’ learning in parts of 13 lessons, some alongside the headteacher.
• The inspector listened to pupils read and observed pupils learning in small groups. They spoke with pupils in lessons, in a meeting and at lunchtime.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders and two members of the governing board.
• The inspector considered the views of 36 parents’ views through Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents) and took account of 22 questionnaires returned by members of staff.

Inspection team

Lesley Butcher, lead inspector

Her Majesty's Inspector