Cottingley Primary Academy 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 reading, writing and mathematics, 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 check pupils’ understanding and provide them with precise feedback that enables them to improve their learning rapidly
  • differences between the attainment and progress of boys and girls, and disadvantaged pupils and others are diminished
  • teachers inspire the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, to excel, ensuring greater challenge.
• Improve the impact and effectiveness of leaders at all levels by:
  • ensuring that school improvement plans are based on a thorough diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of the school
  • developing leaders’ skills so they can more rigorously monitor the quality of teaching and learning and more effectively contribute to securing improvements
  • aligning spending plans more precisely to meet the specific needs of disadvantaged
  • pupils following the recommendations included in the external review of governance to develop the skills and understanding of the governing body, so that governors can more rigorously hold leaders to account
  • ensuring that the academy trust offers strategic support and guidance to school leaders with a clear focus on pupils’ progress.
• Improve the behaviour and outcomes for all children, in particular disadvantaged boys, by: consistently applying school policies to diminish the incidence of low-level disruption in classes
  • working effectively with pupils and parents and carers to reduce the rate of persistent absence. 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.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Pupils’ progress over time has been too slow and consequently standards are not high enough by the end of key stage 2. Leaders’ actions to diminish the differences in attainment between boys and girls, and disadvantaged pupils and others have not been effective.
• Leaders’ checking of the school’s work overall is not detailed or sufficiently rigorous. This means that leaders do not have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and what needs to improve. Consequently, improvement plans are not precisely focused on actions that will improve teaching and outcomes for pupils.
• Leaders have put into place teaching and activities to support disadvantaged pupils through pupil premium funding. However, they have not fully evaluated the impact of these initiatives on pupils’ progress.
• The headteacher has made good use of the skills of lead teachers from within the academy trust to improve the quality of phonics and mathematics teaching in particular. However, leaders and teachers have struggled to adapt to several changes to assessment recording systems instigated by the trust, making it difficult for them to identify patterns and trends and accurately analyse pupils’ progress data.
• All teachers follow the school’s marking policy. While in the best examples teachers’ feedback is helping pupils to improve their work, there remains some variability in the impact of marking on pupils’ progress.
• School leaders have taken effective action to improve attendance overall. However, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent remains stubbornly high at four times the national average.
• New senior leaders are beginning to influence the quality of teaching but it is too early to judge the lasting impact of their work on pupils’ progress.
• Leaders have invested significantly in developing the skills of all staff to support pupils who struggle to manage their behaviour. Supported effectively by the new deputy headteacher, the consistent application of a whole-school approach is having a positive impact so that pupils’ behaviour overall is improving.
• The headteacher has robustly tackled underperformance in teaching. Leaders effectively set targets for teachers to improve their practice and, as a result, the quality of teaching is improving. Provision and teaching in the early years are good.
• The headteacher has ensured that the curriculum provides pupils with a range of opportunities for learning across different subjects. Pupils who spoke to inspectors said that they particularly enjoyed learning in music and art. They spoke enthusiastically about learning in science, design technology and mathematics. The school uses visitors well to enhance pupils’ learning. For example, a workshop delivered by a visiting author successfully inspired pupils to write their stories.
• A comprehensive range of lunchtime and after-school activities, including modelling and computer clubs, are helping pupils to develop and extend their skills and confidence beyond the academic curriculum.
• Primary physical education and sport funding is being used well to raise standards in the teaching of physical education and to increase sporting opportunities through Leeds Active Schools. Pupils enjoy taking part in karate and ‘Ace Club,’ learning fun games such as ‘toilet tag’ and bench ball.
• Leaders have ensured that additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is effectively spent to support these pupils to access learning. Their learning takes place in class where possible, supplemented by one-to-one activities with additional adults. Leaders tailor programmes to meet pupils’ specific needs and track the progress of individuals carefully, illustrating clearly that the school’s work in this area is effective.
• Leaders’ determination to involve parents in their children’s learning is paying off, with increasing numbers of parents attending learning events in school. Parents have been invited to take part in many assemblies and activities. These include half-termly workshops to help them better understand how their children learn in a range of subjects, including reading, phonics, mathematics, positive behaviour management and keeping safe online.

Governance of the school

• The governing body has sought ways to improve its effectiveness, through an external review of governance. However, governors have not yet acted upon this advice.
• Governors do not question school leaders with sufficient robustness, particularly regarding the progress and attainment of pupils.
• Governors know how pupil premium and school sport funding is spent, but are unclear about the impact of this spending on pupils’ progress.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are very committed to ensuring that all pupils are happy and secure, offering vulnerable pupils counselling and a safe place to go in school.
• All policies and procedures support effective safeguarding and all staff are trained appropriately to deal with safeguarding issues as they arise. Staff ensure that pupils keep safe when using the internet and parents have been invited to attend workshops to reinforce this message at home.
• All staff have been trained to spot signs of radicalisation among pupils and to act to keep pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Although the majority of learning is carefully planned and resourced, not enough account is taken of what pupils already know and can do, to ensure that pupils make rapid progress from their starting points. Teachers are not consistently setting work of a high enough standard to enable the most able and the most able disadvantaged pupils to make good progress.
• Some teaching is enabling pupils to learn well, particularly in mathematics, where most teachers skilfully check pupils’ understanding and offer further explanation as a result. However, sometimes pupils with low prior attainment do not make good progress because tasks are too difficult for them. The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are not making the rapid progress of which they are capable, so that very few are working at greater depth in key stage 1 or at the higher standard in key stage 2.
• The teaching of reading is having a variable impact on progress. The most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, read fluently and with appropriate understanding. Leaders have invested in texts to support boys’ reading and pupils have regular opportunities to take a range of books home, but this has yet to have an impact. Some boys are not making enough progress, leading to them struggling to achieve the expected standard in tests at the end of key stage 2.
• The teaching of phonics is supporting most pupils in key stage 1 to read unknown words but least-able pupils in key stage 1 have gaps in their phonics knowledge, which hinders their progress towards becoming fluent readers.
• Teachers effectively plan sequences of lessons that are helping pupils to understand grammar and punctuation in the context of a text and to apply this in their own writing. Work in books shows that the most able and middle-ability pupils are successfully working towards standards expected for their age. However, the least able pupils are struggling to make expected progress, hindered by a lack of mastery of phonics and underdeveloped handwriting, which is preventing them from developing fluency in writing.
• Teaching is improving. There are emerging strengths in the quality of teaching over time, particularly in the early years and in some key stage 1 and key stage 2 classes, where staff plan with rigour and creativity to have a positive impact on pupils’ learning.
• Teachers effectively deliver interesting lessons in a wide range of subjects. Pupils in Year 5, for example, experienced a challenging science lesson where they had to move ‘supplies from earth to a space station,’ using problem-solving skills and their knowledge of forces. During this lesson, pupils were immersed in their learning and were able to demonstrate good knowledge about different forces and their effect on the activity.
• Pupils’ learning in music is developed well through the skills of a specialist music teacher. Year 4 pupils take part in weekly percussion lessons, successfully learning how to work in a team and carefully keeping time with the beat.
• Additional adults are having a good impact on the learning of the small groups or individual pupils with whom they are working. This includes support being offered to pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. These pupils are helped to feel secure and are appropriately questioned and challenged so that they can achieve well.
• Regular homework is set to encourage pupils to practise reading, writing and mathematical skills, effectively reinforcing learning taking place in school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils talked about the many opportunities they have been given to learn about keeping safe, including dealing with bullying online. As a consequence of the school’s work in this area, pupils said that they feel safe in school.
• Pupils are encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles through regular fitness activities such as the ‘jump’ programme, which helps them to understand the effect of exercise on their bodies.
• Pupils’ understanding of what it means to live in modern Britain is well developed through participation in assemblies and lessons designed to deepen their understanding. The ‘pupil parliament’, elected by their peers in class, works with staff members to improve aspects of school life. Its members have improved the use of playground equipment, for example.
• Pupils have been effectively encouraged to reflect on how they want to contribute to society and to consider the jobs they will do when they leave school. Pupils have successfully raised funds for charities that have a special meaning for them, such as BBC Children in Need and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. This is because, on occasion, when teaching is not well matched to their needs, some pupils lose concentration and fidget or call out, inhibiting their own rapid progress and that of others.
• A small number of pupils struggle to maintain good behaviour, sometimes resulting in challenges to staff. Staff are well trained to manage these incidents very effectively and programmes are in place to support these pupils to improve. Consequently, there are fewer examples of poor behaviour.
• Leaders’ efforts to improve attendance are having a positive impact, so that attendance overall is broadly in line with national averages. However, the persistent absence of a large group of children is adversely affecting their achievement in school.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Children enter school with levels of development below those seen typically. In 2016, two thirds of children had underdeveloped skills and knowledge on entry to school. Progress in the early years is good, so that many more children are equipped for learning in key stage 1.
• Pupils have not made enough progress over time so that by the end of key stage 2 last year, pupils made less progress from their starting points than similar pupils nationally in reading and mathematics. Boys achieved less well than girls. Disadvantaged pupils did not achieve as well as others nationally. Progress was broadly in line with the national average in writing.
• In 2015 and 2016, pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2 was below national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils’ outcomes in the Year 1 phonics check have improved since last year but remain below the national average.
• School assessment systems are not sufficiently effective in order to determine how well groups of pupils are progressing from year to year. Books show that good progress is being made in mathematics by the vast majority of pupils. Good progress in writing is being made by the most able and middle-ability pupils, but progress over time is not sufficiently rapid to enable all pupils to reach the expected standard. Consequently, on average, pupils are working at below age-related expectations across key stage 1 and key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders’ effective monitoring of the progress of individual pupils and thoughtful provision to meet their needs mean that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress.

Early years provision Good

• Early years provision is increasingly effective in helping children to grow in confidence and learn well. In 2015 and 2016, the proportions of children achieving a good level of development were broadly average, so that two thirds were prepared well for learning in Year 1.
• Leaders have ensured that staff provide activities that appeal to boys as well as girls, so that all make good progress from their starting points. Staff provide a welcoming learning environment where children are happy, chatty and secure.
• Leaders’ risk assessments support staff in ensuring that all aspects of provision are well managed in order to keep children safe. Staff are vigilant about the safety of children using the outdoor area and hold appropriate first-aid certificates.
• The teaching of basic skills in Nursery is helping to foster children’s curiosity, to help them feel safe in school and to develop their social skills and understanding. For example, children were observed taking part in a ‘party’ in the home corner, writing invitations to their friends. All were very excited by the balloons at the party, squealing with delight as they tapped and kicked them. Skilful questioning by adults helped children to understand why the balloons moved as they did.
• In Reception, as a result of good teaching and the provision of a vibrant and inviting curriculum, all children make at least typical progress, with many making more than typical progress. Inspectors observed children totally absorbed in a range of activities linked to bonfire night, building a ‘bonfire’ outside and developing fine motor skills through creating firework pictures, for example.
• Owing to careful planning and secure staff knowledge, the teaching of phonics in Reception is effective in helping children to learn the skills they need for early reading and writing.
• Early years teachers use assessment information well to ensure that the provision is helping children to learn new skills. Effective questioning by all staff is helping children to develop their vocabulary and understanding rapidly. Children who are in danger of falling behind receive appropriate teaching to help them catch up.
• Staff work effectively with pre-school providers and health visitors to ensure that they are meeting the needs of all children, including those who are vulnerable. Children who struggle with speaking and listening are being effectively supported by a speech therapist, commissioned by the headteacher, to work in school for a day each week.
• Parents are welcomed into the setting and staff regularly meet with parents, both formally and informally, to ensure that information is passed on. Staff share children’s assessment information with parents and invite them to visit the setting regularly so that they can better understand their child’s learning and help with reading, writing or number. As a result of positive relationships, children quickly settle down to school life.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 138973 Leeds 10019757 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 Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 318 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Samantha Baldwin Kelly Bentley 0113 2709503 www.cottingleyprimaryacademy.org contactus@cottingleyprimaryacademy.org Date of previous inspection 27 November 2014

Information about this school

• Cottingley Primary Academy is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• 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 below average.
• Over 75% of pupils are from White British backgrounds, with the remainder from other minority ethnic groups, and 15% speak English as an additional language.
• The school meets 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. Nursery children attend part time.
• The school has been awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark.
• The school is part of the Academies Enterprise Trust.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of specified information about governance on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• Together with the headteacher, inspectors looked at pupils’ progress data, information about the performance of teachers, documents relating to behaviour and safety, and documents relating to safeguarding.
• The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in parts of 27 lessons, some alongside the head of school.
• Inspectors listened to Year 2 and Year 6 pupils read, and observed pupils learning in small groups. They spoke with pupils in lessons, at lunchtime and at playtimes.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders and a member of the governing body. A meeting was also held with two academy trust representatives.
• The inspectors could not consider the opinions of parents through Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents) as there were too few responses for any data to be generated.
• The inspectors took account of 21 online responses returned by members of staff.

Inspection team

Lesley Butcher, lead inspector Kate Rowley Andrew Soutar

Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector