Bracken Edge Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment further by ensuring that:
  • all pupils are more effectively challenged in their learning so that rates of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics continue to improve and a greater proportion of pupils, particularly the most able, achieve at greater depth
  • teachers consistently follow the school’s spelling policy to ensure that pupils can spell key subject words correctly
  • more effective age-appropriate support is provided for pupils, on entry, who join the school during the course of the school year with little or no English
  • children in the early years are provided with more opportunities for exploration and physical development outdoors, reflecting the rich environment indoors.
• Continue to improve attendance by reducing persistent absence further, so that it is at least in line with the national average.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since his appointment in January 2017, the headteacher has set high expectations. His strong leadership and relentless focus on raising standards have led to improvements in all aspects of the school. This initially led to some turbulence in the staff team. However, staffing is now stable. All staff who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaire are proud to work at the school. Consequently, staff morale is high.
• Leaders at all levels place importance on ensuring a high-quality learning environment. This reflects in the quality of the displays in every classroom, corridor and corner of the school. Working walls reflect current learning and teachers refer to them regularly to enhance pupils’ learning experiences.
• Bespoke professional development, closely aligned to the areas for school improvement, is leading to increasingly strong teaching. Teachers who are at an early stage of their career receive appropriate support to develop their skills. Effective systems for monitoring the quality of provision ensure that leaders can clearly identify next steps for training.
• The rationale for the curriculum is well considered. The curriculum is rich in opportunities for pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of interesting subjects. As a result, pupils extend their experiences of the wider world. This enables them to develop a good understanding of British values.
• Extracurricular activities are wide and varied. Pupils talk positively about the enrichment experiences available to them every Friday afternoon. Involvement in projects with the local community, including local businesses and charities, contributes well to pupils’ social development.
• The school receives effective support from the local authority and the partnership work within the local cluster of schools. The local authority has provided appropriate support for new senior and middle leaders. Moderation of assessment by the local authority, and other schools within the cluster, ensures increasing accuracy of assessment.
• The majority of parents hold positive views about the school. One parent said: ‘My child is well cared for and happy’. Another parent commented on the inclusive nature of the school where ‘diversity is celebrated’. Leaders place high importance on increasing the number of opportunities available for parents to get involved in their children’s learning, including a wide range of parental workshops. Attendance at these workshops is growing.

Governance of the school

• Governors are committed and dedicated to the school. They hold high aspirations for the future of the school. Governors acknowledge that standards declined after the last inspection. However, working in partnership with the headteacher, they have implemented effective action plans to halt the decline and raise standards quickly.
• Governors ensure that funding provided by the government to improve physical education and sports in schools is spent effectively. As a result, pupils have access to a wide range of sporting activities. Governors place high importance on increasing teachers’ skills and knowledge. As a result, sports coaches spend time with teachers to develop their skills.
• Governors make sure that leaders make increasingly good use of additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Consequently, disadvantaged pupils’ attendance has improved and persistent absence has reduced significantly this year.
• Governors hold leaders to account. As a result, they know the strengths and areas for improvement of the school well. Nonetheless, governors acknowledge that sometimes minutes from meetings do not reflect this level of challenge fully. Governors recognise the need to ask more challenging questions about the attendance of different groups of pupils to ensure that the attendance of some groups of pupils improves more quickly.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils told inspectors they feel safe in school. They told inspectors that they are confident to talk to an adult if they have any concerns.
• Staff understand the important role they play in ensuring that pupils are safe. Staff know what to look for because of the regular training and updates they receive about child protection, including radicalisation and extremism, child sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation.
• Leaders have created a culture where staff are encouraged to pass on any concerns, no matter how small. Consequently, pupils and their families have access to early help and support when needed.
• The chair of the governing body’s safeguarding committee regularly visits the school. She talks to pupils and staff and she is involved in the school’s safeguarding audit. As a result, governors are kept up to date regularly about child protection and safeguarding.
• The school follows all statutory requirements for the recruitment of staff.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers set high expectations of what pupils should and can achieve. Consequently, most pupils come well prepared to lessons and ready to learn. The vast majority of pupils take pride in the presentation of their work.
• Teachers have created a culture where pupils are encouraged to take risks, to try things out, and discuss and debate their ideas. As a result, pupils demonstrate increasing resilience in their learning and this is improving progress.
• Pupils have good relationships with their teachers. Pupils also work well with their peers. The school policy of providing opportunities for pupils to collaborate is consistently applied. Pupils told inspectors they enjoy working together to find things out for themselves.
• In mathematics lessons, teachers provide increasing opportunities for pupils to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Teachers are quick to highlight misconceptions in pupils’ knowledge, understanding or skills. Pupils respond to the quick feedback they receive from their teachers. As a result, they are not afraid to make mistakes or attempt more challenging problems.
• Additional adults are generally well deployed. They provide effective support. They help to build pupils’ confidence, particularly those pupils who are new to English. For example, in a Year 2 lesson, both the teacher and additional adults were skilled in ensuring pupils could use key terminology such as skim, scan and inference. They were ably supported to apply these skills to the text.
• Leaders place high importance on the development of reading skills. In every classroom, and on corridors around the school, high-quality book displays encourage a culture of reading. Strong emphasis on high-quality teaching of phonics means that a higher proportion of pupils are on track to pass the Year 1 phonics screening check this year.
• Pupils who are new to English are well supported. Consequently, they develop their language and communication skills quickly. However, leaders acknowledge that there is work to do to ensure that arrangements for pupils more appropriately meet their specific needs on arrival.
• Teachers give pupils regular opportunities to edit and improve their work. Pupils have access to a wide range of activities which enable them to practise their writing skills across the wider curriculum. Teachers place high importance on the development of good handwriting. For example, pupils are motivated to achieve their ‘pen licence’. However, teachers do not consistently apply the school’s spelling policy. Leaders recognise that pupils do not spell key subject words accurately.

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 confident to express and share their views. On many occasions inspectors observed pupils helping and supporting each other with their learning. Success is regularly celebrated. This encourages pupils to work hard.
• Pupils understand how to stay safe online. Older pupils, in particular, were able to tell inspectors how they protect themselves on the internet. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children regularly visits the school to give talks on how to keep safe online. As a result, pupils keep up to date with any recent developments.
• Pupils told inspectors that bullying is rare. If it does happen, pupils are confident that adults will deal with it effectively. A group of pupil befrienders are available should pupils wish to discuss any issues or concerns. However, some parents, in response to the online survey, Parent View, hold more mixed views on how effectively the school deals with incidents of bullying.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural opportunities are extensive and varied. Pupils’ identity and heritage are celebrated extensively in displays around the school. Leaders place high importance on pupils celebrating and understanding diversity. As a result, the school has achieved the Stonewall diversity award. Pupils show a good understanding of other faiths. They have a wide range of opportunities to learn about religious festivals and visit places of worship.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Leaders set high expectations for good behaviour.
• The vast majority of pupils demonstrate good behaviour and show good attitudes towards their learning. There is a calm and purposeful atmosphere throughout the school. Engaging displays in classrooms and around the school ensure that pupils learn in a very creative environment. Pupils told inspectors that this contributes to their positive attitudes.
• Pupils understand the importance of good attendance. Leaders have introduced a range of new initiatives to improve pupils’ attendance. Pupils talk positively about the range of rewards for good or improving attendance. Staff conduct home visits when attendance falls below a certain level. Parent workshops highlight the importance of good attendance. As a result, persistent absence has reduced significantly for disadvantaged pupils. Pupils’ attendance is improving and is now broadly in line with the national average. However, leaders recognise that persistent absence, although reducing, still remains too high.
• The number of pupils excluded from school was above the national average in 2017. As a result of the establishment of new behaviour systems, fixed-term exclusions have reduced this year.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• A significant number of pupils arrive at or leave the school during the course of the school year. Many pupils who have recently arrived at the school speak little or no English. This year alone 170 pupils have arrived during the school year.
• The complexities of the school’s admissions, and the high mobility rates, mean that historical published data shows that pupil outcomes are below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, based on current school information, and the work inspectors viewed in pupils’ books, pupils make good progress from their varied starting points. This is particularly evident for those pupils who have remained at the school for the entirety of their primary school career.
• In previous years, the proportion of pupils meeting the standards required to pass the phonics screening check was below the national average. A higher proportion of pupils are on track to pass the phonics screening check in Year 1 this year. This is because of improvements in the teaching of phonics, as well as the great importance leaders place on developing pupils’ reading skills, and enjoyment of reading, from a young age.
• In 2016 pupils’ progress in mathematics by the end of Year 6 was well below the progress made by similar pupils nationally. In 2017, as a result of improvements in the quality of teaching of mathematics, outcomes improved. Pupils made similar progress to those with similar starting points nationally. A higher proportion of pupils are currently on track to meet the expected standard, and the higher standard, in mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• An effective plan to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils is now in place. Staff understand the barriers to learning faced by disadvantaged pupils. As a result, interventions are specific in addressing the needs of these pupils. New initiatives are showing impact. Current school information shows that differences are diminishing between disadvantaged pupils and others nationally. Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress, from their different starting points, despite attainment remaining below the national average.
• In Years 2 and 6, current pupils are on track to achieve outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics which are closer to the national average. In 2017, 50% of Year 6 pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined. This was a significant improvement on 2016, when 26% of pupils achieved this standard. A higher proportion of current Year 6 pupils are on track to achieve the expected standard. However, leaders acknowledge that there is still work to do to ensure more pupils, particularly the most-able, achieve at greater depth in Year 2 and at a higher standard in Year 6.

Early years provision Good

• The large number of children who join Nursery or Reception classes do so with skills and abilities that are at or below those typical for their age. A high proportion of children join who speak English as an additional language or who speak no English. Consequently, their speech and language skills are frequently under-developed.
• Staff in the early years focus carefully on developing speech and language skills. This enables children, particularly those new to English, to improve their speaking and listening skills quickly.
• Leaders ensure that adults have high expectations for children’s development in Nursery and Reception classes. Adults establish routines to develop children’s social and emotional skills quickly and effectively.
• Teachers plan high-quality activities indoors, often developed from children’s specific interests. For example, during the inspection children wanted to write a letter. The teacher and children worked well together to write the letter and create an envelope to post in the letter box. Interactions showed the teacher skilfully using every opportunity to develop the children’s vocabulary.
• Staff use praise well to encourage responses from children. This also ensures that children behave well.
• The most recent assessments of children’s skills are more secure. They show that, although the proportions of children reaching a good level of development in 2016 and 2017 were below the national average, children make good progress, particularly in Nursery, from their varied starting points. Consequently, they are well prepared to start Year 1.
• The new early years leader has an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement of the provision. She ensures that interactions between adults and children are of a high quality, particularly in the teaching of phonics.
• Leaders and staff foster strong relationships with parents. Parents speak highly of the provision for children in Nursery and Reception. There are increasing opportunities for parents to learn and contribute to their children’s learning.
• Leaders acknowledge that the outdoor area does not reflect the rich environment provided indoors. Consequently, children have fewer opportunities to develop their imagination and curiosity independently outside. There are fewer child-friendly signposts and guidance outside to facilitate independent learning in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders ensure that welfare requirements are met. Children feel safe and secure. They are encouraged to manage risk appropriately. However, leaders acknowledge that the monitoring of children’s outdoor learning needs to be more effective, particularly in further developing the system to track children’s movement inside and outside the provision.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107909 Leeds 10042201 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 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 508 Appropriate authority The governing body Chairs Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Jill Igoe and Heather Ross Mujahid Ali 0113 262 3335 www.brackenedge.leeds.sch.uk/ m.ali@stf.brackenedge.leeds.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 5–6 February 2014

Information about this school

• The school is a larger than average primary school.
• Since the last inspection, a new headteacher and a number of new staff, including new middle and senior leaders, have joined the school.
• The school has a high proportion of pupils who are new to English. Since September 2017, 170 pupils who are new to English have joined the school during the school year. As a result, in October 2017, the school established two additional classes in Years 1 and 3.
• The proportion of pupils who do not speak English as their first language is more than double the national average.
• There are 14 ethnicities represented in the school.
• The school’s deprivation indicator is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is almost double the national average.
• The school met the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school in 2015 and 2016, but not in 2017.
• In 2017, the school was above the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum performance expectations for primary schools.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during this inspection, including through lesson observations, some of which were undertaken jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors also looked at a wide range of pupils’ work in every year group and across a range of subjects.
• Inspectors held meetings with school staff, including middle leaders, members of the senior leadership team, the leader of the early years, the special educational needs coordinator, three members of the governing body and a number of staff new to the school.
• An inspector met with a representative from the local authority.
• An inspector listened to four pupils from Years 1 and 2 read.
• Inspectors talked both formally in meetings and informally with pupils during breaks and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors took account of the 45 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 30 responses to the staff online questionnaire.
• Inspectors talked to a number of parents dropping their children off at the start of the school day.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation relating to the school’s work, including the self-evaluation document, the school development plan, minutes of governing body meetings and documents relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Michele Costello, lead inspector Alison Ashworth Cathy Morgan Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector