Bramham Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school to match the excellence seen in Early Years and to improve pupils’ progress further by:
  • ensuring that teachers plan reading, writing and mathematics activities which enable pupils to make the progress they are capable of, particularly girls at the end of key stage 1
  • improving teachers’ questioning in mathematics to enable pupils to explain their thinking and reasoning more accurately
  • ensuring that gaps in pupils’ mathematical knowledge are closed
  • ensuring that pupils are sufficiently challenged, so that more pupils, particularly the most able, make even stronger progress.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher is relentless in driving forward the school’s development and expansion. She is well supported by a committed executive deputy headteacher and three senior leaders across the two federated schools. This combined expertise is having a positive impact on the work of the school.
• There have been significant changes in staffing to accommodate the school’s expansion. Currently, a high proportion of teachers are new to the profession. They benefit greatly from leaders’ effective induction, training and day-to-day support. Leaders enable these teachers to ‘hit the ground running’ and provide a good overall standard of teaching and learning in a range of subjects.
• Leaders ensure that roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability are well understood by all staff. Leaders lead by example and work effectively as a cohesive team. Targets for teachers are as ambitious as they are for pupils. Senior leaders rightly pride themselves on the learning opportunities they provide for teachers and teaching assistants. Consequently, staff have high aspirations for pupils and the quality of teaching and learning is at least good.
• Senior leaders’ active and strategic approach to tackling the issues identified in their detailed school development plan is demonstrated by the recent improvement in the quality of pupils’ writing across classes. This is further enhanced by the robust monitoring of teaching and learning by the leader of English, which is accurate, rigorous and informative.
• The leadership and organisation of provision for pupils who have SEND are effective. The executive deputy headteacher and associate special educational needs coordinator skilfully support teachers to identify pupils’ needs swiftly. Teaching assistants are well deployed and receive regular, high-quality training so that they can meet pupils’ diverse needs. Additional funding is used well to provide high-quality resources, ensuring that this group of pupils thrive in their learning and personal and social development.
• Pupil premium funding is generally used effectively to reduce barriers to learning that may be experienced by disadvantaged pupils. Leaders provide well-tailored personal, academic and emotional support for this very small group of pupils. The impact of the use of pupil premium funding is now evaluated carefully by the executive headteacher and governors. The recent introduction of a breakfast club for disadvantaged pupils is contributing to improvements in attendance. Consequently, these pupils feel safe and valued.
• The primary school physical education (PE) and sports funding is used well. Pupils choose from a wide range of activities which changes each half-term, such as athletics, circuit training, hockey and football. There are also opportunities for pupils to be involved in competitive sport with other schools in Leeds. The funding has also enhanced the specialist teaching of PE.
• Leaders offer a diverse and broad curriculum that excites pupils and contributes to their enjoyment of learning. Leaders have recently introduced an integrated approach to teaching science, computing, innovation and design technology. This is providing some valuable opportunities for pupils to undertake interesting, real-life investigations and experiments.
• The excellent promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development means that the school is a calm and considerate environment where pupils mix happily together. The school’s ethos mirrors British values of respect and tolerance to everybody, regardless of background. The school is proud of being inclusive and values pupils. Consequently, all pupils are treated equally and discrimination on any grounds is not tolerated. Pupils have plentiful opportunities to contribute to decision-making and they do so purposefully.

Governance of the school

• Governors are committed to the school’s culture of high aspirations, respect for others and learning. Governors share the headteacher’s passion for ‘excellence for all’ and use their role to reinforce the high-quality relationships across the school.
• Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for further development. They are well informed by school leaders. Governors’ extensive experience is used well. It enables them to ask demanding questions and to follow these up with visits to the school to find out for themselves. Consequently, they gauge what progress is being made towards the key priorities for improvement. As a result, their questioning makes an important contribution to improving outcomes in the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders take their safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. They act, where appropriate, and work to raise awareness of child protection issues with all members of the school community. Regular training sessions for all staff ensure that they can identify signs and symptoms of abuse. The training has included identification of child sexual exploitation and radicalisation (the ‘Prevent’ duty).
• Staff are vigilant and understand their responsibilities for keeping children safe. They are well trained and know what to do if they have a concern about a child. Effective systems are in place to ensure that children and families receive appropriate support from a network of external agencies.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The atmosphere and culture in the classrooms and around the school support pupils’ learning well. There is an organised learning environment which provides pupils with high-quality resources.
• Relationships between pupils and adults are extremely positive. Teachers are enthusiastic and inspiring. They have high expectations of pupils’ conduct during lessons. Teachers’ positive language and use of praise help pupils to develop their confidence and self-esteem. As a result, pupils are comfortable asking questions and expressing their point of view.
• Teachers use their strong subject knowledge in English to plan lessons which interest pupils and encourage them to make good progress. Pupils enjoy completing stimulating tasks which motivate them to learn well. The promotion of pupils’ vocabulary and oracy skills is a key characteristic of many lessons. For example, teachers make frequent use of subject-specific vocabulary and promote pupils’ understanding of unfamiliar words from reading books, spelling lists and topic lessons so that they become ‘green’ and can be used accurately by pupils in their writing.
• Teachers carefully build pupils’ knowledge and understanding of how to use grammar and punctuation to good effect in their writing. Pupils are developing a good understanding of common spelling rules and patterns.
• Teachers develop pupils’ comprehension skills skilfully through their careful planning and questioning about texts. For example, pupils in Year 6 demonstrated maturity and sensitivity when studying the tragedy of the Holocaust. They listened intently as the teacher read the poignant text in ‘Erika’s Story’. Pupils made effective use of dictionaries to check the meanings of words to reason and justify the difficult decisions Erika’s parents had to make and how those decisions affected her life.
• The teaching of early reading and, in particular, phonics is effective and contributes well to younger pupils’ strong progress in reading. Pupils are able to use and apply their knowledge with confidence when reading and writing unknown words. Pupils who read to inspectors read with enjoyment, expression and fluency.
• At times, learning does not move on as quickly as it could, particularly for the most able pupils. At these times, pupils are given work that is too easy for them, despite them being ready to move on to more challenging work. In mathematics, teachers do not always make the most of opportunities to extend and deepen pupils’ learning through the questions they ask. For example, staff sometimes accept simple answers and do not probe further or encourage pupils to explain or justify their reasoning.
• Across the wider curriculum, pupils are applying their reading, writing and phonics skills well in order to make strong progress in a range of subjects including history, geography and in the well-designed science, innovation, technology and engineering curriculum. This enables pupils to develop their vocabulary further and practise their writing for different audiences.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The school has established a strong positive ethos. Inspectors heard pupils explaining their weekly ethos statement in several classes. The focus on developing ‘excellence for all’ is evident in every aspect of school life.
• Pupils have strong engagement in, and positive attitudes towards, learning and they are taught to be confident, resilient learners. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Leaders ensure that there are many opportunities to recognise pupils’ achievements and to celebrate success, for example the popular house point system, celebration assemblies and the attractive displays of pupils’ work on the school’s website and around the building publicise the success.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of British values and have opportunities to put the values into practice. For example, they elect members of the school council, act as sports leaders and food ambassadors and look after the youngest pupils as Year 6 buddies during lunchtimes and playtimes. The school specifically addresses the ‘Prevent’ issues by encouraging pupils to question and debate behaviours that do not represent British values appropriately.
• The majority of parents and carers spoken to by inspectors and those who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire Parent View, expressed praise for the school and the work of the staff. Parents felt that their children were happy and looked after well. A number of parents were keen to reflect that their children were ‘thriving in a supportive and caring environment’.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Staff and governors are conscientious in carrying out their responsibility to ensure that the school provides a safe, nurturing environment in which pupils can thrive and succeed.
• Teachers have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. At all times in the school day, pupils conduct themselves in an exemplary manner. Pupils’ movement around the school and outdoors is a pleasure to see. All areas of the school are calm and well ordered. Pupils need minimal supervision in terms of managing their behaviour. Pupils strive to gain silver or gold status on their class behaviour chart. The school’s records indicate that there have been no incidents of derogatory, racist or homophobic language.
• Pupils enjoy school, as demonstrated by their high level of attendance. There are meticulous and effective systems for monitoring absences for all groups of pupils. Social, personal, behavioural concerns are followed up quickly, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders work closely with families to address any issues and provide support and/or specialist help where needed.
• Pupils know what bullying is and are eloquent when explaining why some people might be bullied. They say that bullying does not happen in their school because everyone cares for one another. However, pupils know that there is always someone they can speak to if bullying does happen. All staff and the large majority of pupils and parents who expressed a view agree with this opinion.
• Pupils are clear about how to keep themselves safe. Online safety sessions are used to help pupils learn about e-safety, and pupils know how to keep themselves safe online.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The number of pupils in each year group has been variable since the time of the last section 5 inspection. Consequently, statistical patterns of pupils’ outcomes fluctuate over time.
• Leaders’ monitoring and tracking of pupils’ progress and attainment from Early Years to Year 6 is rigorous and informative. This information, confirmed by the joint and in-depth checks of pupils’ work carried out by inspectors and senior leaders, demonstrates that currently pupils are making strong progress in reading and writing. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND.
• Pupils’ progress in mathematics is more variable than in English. Pupils currently in upper key stage 2 have gaps in their learning in mathematics. Leaders recognise that many older pupils are not yet proficient in the mastery of mathematics, and teachers are taking time to strengthen pupils’ basic skills successfully before teaching the more complex aspects of the curriculum.
• Attainment was high for a large proportion of Year 2 pupils in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017. Provisional information shows that boys continued to achieve well in 2018. However, after an excellent start to learning in the early years, girls did not make strong progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 1.
• In 2017, attainment for pupils at the end of key stage 2 demonstrated significant improvement on the previous year, particularly in reading and mathematics. A high proportion of girls made at least good progress in reading, having attained at the higher standard. Provisional information for 2018 shows that, although levels of attainment remained high, pupils’ progress in these subjects declined, particularly for boys and disadvantaged pupils.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils in the school is much lower than the national average. In some year groups, there are no disadvantaged pupils. Because cohorts are small, outcomes for these pupils fluctuate year on year. Disadvantaged pupils made similar progress to other pupils nationally in 2018. Provisional information shows that a high proportion of this group of pupils reached the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Some disadvantaged pupils also have SEND, and for this group progress and attainment are more limited.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children enter Reception with skills and knowledge which are typical, or above, those expected for their age. Where gaps are identified, for example in language and communication, children are swiftly supported to catch up. Adults extend and challenge children’s ideas through their conversations. Children are immersed in a culture of rich, exciting language. This encourages them to be experimental in developing their vocabulary.
• Together, the early years leader and the class teacher have established a highly effective early years provision. Children benefit from a vibrant and stimulating environment in which to learn, both inside and outdoors. This is coupled with the high expectations of adults to make sure that children thrive and enjoy a very positive start to school life.
• Over the last three years, higher-than-average proportions of children reach or exceed a good level of development at the end of Reception. This represents consistently outstanding progress from children’s starting points and ensures that all are well prepared and confident to begin in Year 1.
• Children’s behaviour is exemplary. They play well together and are kind and polite towards one another. Relationships, at all levels, are strong and contribute to the nurturing atmosphere created.
• As a result of outstanding teaching, children learn exceptionally well. They enjoy regular opportunities to write, practise their letters and sounds and use numbers in all that they do. Adults use their expertise to challenge and question pupils rigorously. Adults intervene skilfully to draw out and extend children’s understanding to think more deeply about their learning.
• For example, children listened carefully to the teacher’s explanation of activities and tasks in the post office role-play area. She skilfully demonstrated how children could write cards or letters using today’s tricky word ‘to’. The teacher used rich vocabulary in discussion with children, using time adverbials such as ‘next’, ‘after that’ and ‘finally’. This led to high-quality conversations between children as they created, addressed, weighed and posted their interesting letters, cards and parcels.
• Accurate assessment and regular dialogue with parents ensure that adults know the children incredibly well. Children who are in need of additional support for their learning are identified quickly. They receive timely and effective support to ensure that they reach their potential in each area of learning.
• Adults are highly vigilant and ensure that safeguarding procedures are followed rigorously. Children are taught how to keep themselves safe and what to do if they are ever worried.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the provision and the progress their children are making. One parent, reflecting the thoughts of many, described how their child ‘loves going to school, enjoys learning and talks about his teachers all the time, wanting to tell them things, even out of school . . . we are delighted’.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107844 Leeds 10053757 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 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 157 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Sue Morgan Sarah Richards 01937843682 www.bramhamprimary.co.uk/ sl.richards@leedsfederation.org Date of previous inspection 30 January 2018

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The school is federated with Shadwell Primary School, with which it shares an executive headteacher, senior leadership team, governing body and some members of staff.
• The large majority of pupils are of White British or Other White background.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEND is below that seen nationally. A very small number of these pupils have an education, health and care plan.
• An increasing number of pupils join classes during the school year.
• The school provides full-time places for children in the Reception class.
• Since the previous inspection, there have been significant changes to the staffing of the school.
• There are three newly qualified teachers and one teacher is training under the School Direct scheme.

Information about this inspection

• Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, governors, senior leaders and staff from the school and the wider federation.
• The lead inspector spoke on the telephone with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors visited lessons across year groups to observe pupils during learning. A number of visits were undertaken jointly with school leaders.
• Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils formally and informally.
• Observations of pupils’ behaviour took place during lessons, in an assembly, at playtime and lunchtime, and when pupils were moving around the school.
• Inspectors reviewed a range of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and other subjects. They discussed pupils’ work and progress with leaders and heard pupils reading in Year 1.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school. This included the leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and their development plan, attendance and behaviour information, assessment information and documentation relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors considered 22 responses to the staff survey and 71 responses to the pupil survey.
• The inspection took account of the views of 121 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey Parent View, which included 39 free-text responses. Inspectors also spoke with parents as they brought their children to school.

Inspection team

Cathy Morgan, lead inspector Gill Wild

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector