Oldfleet Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Secure consistency in the quality of teaching throughout school by ensuring that:
  • assessment information is used to plan learning that is well matched to pupils’ needs
  • adults quickly address pupils’ mistakes and misconceptions during lessons.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership, management and governance by ensuring that:
  • inconsistencies in teaching and learning are addressed rigorously
  • pupils’ progress is more rapid so that a greater proportion reach and exceed the expectations at the end of each key stage
  • leaders evaluate the impact of their actions on pupils’ achievement and use this information to secure and sustain further improvement
  • additional funding is used to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
  • governors carry out their statutory responsibilities effectively
  • governors receive sufficient and accurate information about all aspects of the school’s work so that they can effectively hold school leaders to account
  • subject leaders contribute more significantly to improving the quality of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility
  • the performance management process effectively holds staff to account for pupils’ outcomes.
• Improve outcomes in the early years by ensuring that the outdoor area is used effectively to support children, and in particular boys, in developing their knowledge, skills and understanding. An external review of the school’s use of pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leadership and management require improvement because not enough pupils meet the academic standards that are expected for their age. Too many pupils are not prepared well enough for secondary school because their basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics are not secure.
• Leaders have not fully addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Leaders have an overly positive view of the school’s performance. This means that targets set by leaders are not ambitious enough to secure rapid improvement.
• The school improvement plan does not contain precise measures of success to help leaders gauge the impact of actions taken to improve pupils’ progress. Consequently, they are not aware which strategies are proving most successful.
• Performance management targets and measures of success are not sharp enough. This limits leaders’ ability to effectively hold staff to account for pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders have not effectively evaluated the use of the extra funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Therefore, they have not been able to determine the impact of support on pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Subject leaders do not have sufficient awareness of standards and progress in their areas of responsibility. This restricts them in ensuring that the quality of teaching and learning is effective enough to achieve improved outcomes for pupils. While committed and enthusiastic, they have not taken urgent action. For example, leaders have not quickly responded to the disappointing provisional 2017 outcomes for the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leadership of the provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is not effective enough. The leader tracks the progress of pupils individually but does not have an overall picture of the progress this group of pupils is making. This means that strategic decisions about how to target funding are not always effective. However, funding is used well to provide support to meet pupils’ social and emotional needs. This enables them to access learning in a classroom setting more independently.
• The headteacher has a clear vision for the curriculum and has designed it to meet the needs of the pupils and the school’s context. It ensures a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. A culture of respect for others permeates the school and helps to prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain. The curriculum offers a broad range of experiences, including high-quality teaching of performing arts, music and sport. Themes and topics such as ‘made in Hull’, ‘roots and routes’ and ‘freedom’ are helping pupils to value the local area and have high aspirations for their future. Leaders have a passionate belief in providing a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities which contribute to pupils’ personal development.
• Leaders use the primary school physical education (PE) and sport funding very effectively to offer a wide range of sporting activities. The funding also provides transport to enable pupils to take part in local competitions and the use of specialist coaches to deliver high-quality sport sessions. Activities such as swimming for all pupils in Years 2 to 6 and sailing in Year 6 are helping pupils develop valuable skills and to understand the importance of keeping fit and healthy.
• The headteacher places the personal development needs of pupils at the heart of the school’s work. Parents and families value this approach and see the school as the hub of the community.

Governance of the school

Safeguarding

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching requires improvement because the impact on learning is too variable. Pupils’ attainment has not improved at a fast enough rate and current pupils in key stages 1 and 2 are not making strong enough progress in English and mathematics.
• Teachers are not always using assessment information to make sure that learning tasks meet pupils’ needs and abilities. Teachers and teaching assistants do not always notice pupils’ errors or pick up on their misconceptions. This limits pupils’ learning.
• Deficiencies in spelling have not been fully addressed and this sometimes hinders learning and is a barrier to pupils reaching the higher standards some of them are capable of. Many pupils, including the most able, are also still making basic grammatical errors by the end of key stage 2.
• Learning for the most able pupils is not always sufficiently demanding. Sometimes teachers do not move pupils on to more challenging activities quickly enough.
• Teachers sometimes use assessment information to identify gaps in pupils’ learning and intervention groups are planned to respond to pupils’ individual needs. However, at times, not enough thought is given to providing suitable activities that deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding. Therefore, those pupils who have the most catching up to do are not progressing rapidly enough.
• Teachers expect pupils to routinely check their work. This is giving pupils a greater awareness of the expectations for their learning and is helping them to take responsibility for self-improvement.
• Teaching of phonics is effectively meeting pupils’ needs and is resulting in improving outcomes. Pupils use their phonics skills to read unknown words and are encouraged to read regularly by staff. Those who are not supported with reading at home are given additional opportunities in school. Pupils enjoy reading and talk with enthusiasm about their favourite books.
• Teaching is effective in developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. For example, performing arts and the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument add to pupils’ life experiences and their enjoyment in learning.
• Staff have established good working relationships with pupils and, as a result, pupils usually show respect and want to learn in lessons. Pupils use the resources and reminders that are in the classroom to help them with their learning. Teachers celebrate achievement well through displays of the pupils’ work.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Staff have caring attitudes to pupils which contribute to a harmonious school community where each pupil feels valued as an individual. As a consequence of the high expectations from staff, pupils are proud of their learning and their school.
• Leaders have built a strong sense of community within the school and through links with the local area. They have used Hull’s ‘city of culture’ status to help pupils develop an awareness and understanding of their local community. The well-planned curriculum is successful in developing pupils’ awareness of diversity and the importance of tolerance and respect.
• School leaders have ensured that the wider curriculum helps pupils understand how to stay safe. Pupils referred to assemblies and displays around school which remind them about how to stay safe online or how to report a concern about safety.
• Bullying is rare and pupils feel confident that adults in school will help them if they have any concerns.
• The school’s breakfast club supports pupils’ social interaction and physical development. A third of all pupils attend, and it provides them with a positive and punctual start to the school day.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite, considerate and well mannered. Their attitudes to learning are generally positive and they usually behave well in lessons and enjoy their learning.
• Records of incidents of poor behaviour are checked carefully and leaders identify when any additional support is required for individuals. Leaders and staff are skilful in helping pupils manage their behaviour so that it does not affect their learning or the learning of others in their class. Support for pupils with social and emotional needs is effective in developing pupils’ ability to regulate their own emotions and be more ready to learn. Consequently, the frequency of exclusions is reducing.
• Attendance is showing a slight improvement but remains below the national average. Actions are making a difference, but the school accepts that more effective strategies are required.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Too few pupils meet the standards that are expected of them by the end of each key stage. The school’s assessment information and work in books confirm that not enough current pupils are making the accelerated progress needed for attainment to improve rapidly in almost all year groups and subjects.
• Standards in English and mathematics have been consistently below the national averages at the end of key stage 2 since the last inspection. This means that many pupils are not adequately prepared for the next key stage. Provisional data for 2017 shows that pupils made significantly less progress in reading, writing and mathematics than other pupils nationally. Pupils with low prior attainment and the most able pupils made the weakest progress.
• The difference between disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and that of other pupils nationally is not diminishing quickly enough by the end of key stage 2. Leaders do not sufficiently evaluate the use of pupil premium funding to help them identify which activities result in the greatest impact on pupils’ learning.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have pupil passports which set out targets and next steps for individuals. However, the impact of their support varies due to inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.
• Pupils particularly enjoy their learning across the wider curriculum, beyond English and mathematics. While pupils have a broad and balanced curriculum, subject leaders are not routinely checking the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and the standards they achieve.
• Current pupils are receiving effective phonics provision and those who read to inspectors showed that they were using phonics strategies well. This is resulting in improving phonics outcomes by the end of Year 1. During key stage 1, disadvantaged pupils and boys catch up with their peers in phonics. By the end of Year 2, the proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard is close to the national average.
• Most-able pupils in key stage 1 make better progress than their peers. Attainment of greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 1 in 2016 was similar to that seen nationally for pupils with the same starting points.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Over time, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of Reception has remained consistently just below the national average, and very few children exceed the early learning goals. From their often low starting points, boys in particular do not make rapid enough progress to catch up with their peers nationally.
• While leaders recognise that boys choose to be outdoors more frequently, they have not developed the quality of provision in the outdoor area to assist boys’ development. Leaders have been too slow to ensure that the outdoor area has high-quality resources, enticing activities and sufficient opportunities for mark-making for example.
• The early years leader makes checks on the quality of teaching and learning, but this is not as rigorous as it needs to be. Self-evaluation is sometimes too positive and therefore priorities for improvement are not always accurately identified. Assessment information is beginning to be used to target specific children and to raise their attainment.
• Teaching is not always effective enough. Adults do not always provide sufficient challenge for the most able children, and progress for those with low starting points is too slow. This is because adults do not pick up on errors quickly or insist on children using the correct letter and number formation. Consequently, errors are reinforced and next steps are inappropriate.
• Safeguarding procedures are strong. Risk assessments are well managed and children confidently operate within well-established routines. The early years team ensure that the statutory welfare requirements are met and that children’s safety is high priority.
• Children often begin school with underdeveloped speech and language but, due to the teaching they receive, they begin to catch up quickly with this aspect of their development. This is because adults know families well, staff support pupils’ needs and most adults are positive role models for children’s language acquisition.
• The proportion of children reaching the early learning goals in literacy and mathematics is improving year-on-year. This means that children are much better prepared for their learning in key stage 1.
• The early years unit has a calm atmosphere. Children usually behave well and are kind and considerate to each other. They share, take turns and access the resources independently, with appropriate levels of concentration for their age.

School details

Unique reference number 117807 Local authority Kingston upon Hull Inspection number 10036435 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 383 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Gary Mason Andrew Conlon 01482 782200 www.oldfleet.hull.sch.uk head@oldfleet.hull.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 20–21 February 2013

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about plans for spending the pupil premium and sports premium in 2017/18 on its website.
• Oldfleet is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is well above average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below average, as is the proportion who speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above the national average. The proportion who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school runs a breakfast club.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed teaching in every class. Most observations were undertaken jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors observed the teaching of early reading skills and listened to pupils read. They talked to pupils about their school and evaluated the quality of work in a sample of pupils’ books. An inspector visited the breakfast club before the start of the school day.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteachers and subject leaders. Discussions took place with teachers, including those who are newly or recently qualified, about the support and development they receive. Inspectors met three representatives from the governing body and spoke on the telephone with a representative from the local authority and a school improvement consultant.
• The inspectors looked at pupils’ work in books along with the school’s information on pupils’ achievement to ascertain the progress that pupils are making.
• A range of documentation was considered, including the school’s self-evaluation, records of the monitoring of teaching and learning, the school improvement plan, information relating to the attendance and behaviour of pupils, safeguarding and child protection records, and minutes from governing body meetings. Documents outlining the arrangements for the use of pupil premium funding and the primary school PE and sport funding were also considered.
• Inspectors spoke to parents informally in order to seek their views about the school. Seven responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account.
• Thirty-one responses to the staff questionnaire and 20 responses to the pupil questionnaire were also taken into account.

Inspection team

Kirsty Godfrey, lead inspector Susan Twaits Angela Harper Chris Cook

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector