Drighlington Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching so pupils make good progress by:
  • having higher expectations of all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils
  • ensuring that assessment is used to set work at the right level of difficulty
  • providing well-targeted support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
  • using the good teaching in school to improve practice.
• Improve the quality of provision in the early years by:
  • developing the leadership of that part of the school
  • raising expectations of what children should achieve
  • planning suitable activities which challenge children’s thinking
  • providing tasks to build on the skills children need to learn.
• Strengthen leadership and management by:
  • developing the skills and expertise of leaders so they have an accurate overview of the school’s performance
  • evaluating the impact on pupils’ achievement when new initiatives are implemented
  • improving governors’ knowledge of how well pupils are doing so they hold the school to account
  • ensuring that systems and procedures for the welfare of pupils are coordinated, shared and understood by all leaders
  • putting in place detailed plans to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and monitor and evaluate the impact of their progress. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium 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

• The headteacher is passionate about the school but the necessity of managing frequent change in her leadership team has resulted in a loss of focus in some aspects of the school’s work. While she has an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, the changes implemented to make a difference to improve pupils’ achievement have lacked cohesion. Leaders at all levels have not effectively evaluated and analysed which changes are effective and which are not.
• Recent turbulence in staffing has undermined the confidence of some parents and carers. While some parents said they were happy with the school’s support of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, others expressed concern. There has been a lack of urgency in addressing the needs of this group of pupils. Information is not effectively organised or recorded and detailed plans to support these pupils are not always in place or effectively monitored or communicated to parents.
• The changes in staffing and leadership mean that some subject leaders have been given responsibility for which they are not fully equipped. The school has systems to ensure the well-being of pupils and some of this work is now being delegated to leaders. In some cases leaders are being asked to lead on aspects of the school without all the information or a full understanding of what needs to be analysed.
• Some leaders do not have a clear overview of their area of responsibility and are not fully proficient in evaluating changes that have been introduced. While some leaders have received professional support, not all have benefited from this. The school has strengths in the quality of teaching, particularly in key stage 2, but insufficient work has been done to share this good practice through coaching and mentoring.
• The school has developed a system for tracking the attainment and progress of pupils. However, this is not fully understood by leaders at all levels to give them an accurate view of the strengths and weaknesses of their subject areas or how different groups of pupils are doing when compared to others nationally.
• Leaders have used the pupil premium funding to provide additional teaching for disadvantaged pupils, some of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Senior leaders have monitored how well these pupils are doing and have trained staff to provide more effective support. This recent scrutiny and focused support is now starting to have an impact, particularly for pupils in key stage 2 where teaching is good.
• The management of teacher performance has been rigorous; the headteacher and governors are totally committed to employing only the best teachers. Targets have been linked to pupils’ progress and attainment and recommendations about pay increases have been linked to the achievement of these targets.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral social and cultural development is promoted well through the curriculum and assemblies, many led by the headteacher. The emphasis on developing the ‘whole child’ and supporting pupils’ well-being creates a good climate in school and means that pupils are motivated and interested in their learning.
• The school’s curriculum is a real strength, providing enjoyment and enrichment. Topics which introduce pupils to themes of race and inequality mean that pupils have a good understanding of British values.
• High-quality displays around the school reflect the vibrant range of subjects. Classrooms are well organised and provide an attractive environment for pupils to work in. Pupils proudly demonstrate examples of good work across all subject areas and they convey a real sense of enjoyment in their learning experiences.
• Primary school sports funding is well used. Pupils understand about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and how exercise contributes to this. The deployment of a sports coach from the local high school provides the school with a high level of expertise and support for the teachers. The increase in clubs such as zumba, dodgeball and volleyball provides good opportunities for pupils to participate in more sports.

Governance of the school

• Governors support the school and visit often. Their monitoring has lacked sharp focus on pupil achievement and provision for those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities; as a result they have not been robust in holding the senior leaders to account. Although it is in the process of being reviewed, the school’s policy for special educational needs published on the school’s website is out of date.
• Governors know that disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as well as other pupils and have allocated resources to support this group. They are in the process of evaluating the difference these resources are making to the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors and senior leaders have improved the school’s website to provide more comprehensive communication with parents. They are aware that turbulence in staffing is a concern to some parents, but are committed to ensuring that they employ teachers of the highest standard.
• Governors understand that the progress pupils make should be the main driver when awarding pay increases; they have ensured this is the case and are fully prepared to challenge underperformance where teaching has not been good.
• Governors are fully conversant with their statutory duties for safeguarding, ensuring that staff are recruited with careful consideration.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school follows correct procedures to ensure that pupils are safe. It takes appropriate action when necessary, refers to and communicates with outside agencies and follows up concerns.
• Senior staff are receiving additional safeguarding training to support the headteacher in her role as the designated lead for safeguarding pupils. Teachers are aware of the school’s procedures for safeguarding. With the turnover of staff, checks to ensure all staff have been updated on any changes have not been as rigorous as they should have been.
• The school checks all members of staff before they are recruited and keeps an accurate and up-to-date single central record.
• Pupils say they feel safe and would go to an adult in school if they were worried. The school is keen to give pupils the opportunity to go on school trips and plans these with appropriate risk assessments so that pupils are safe at all times.
• Higher expectations of pupil attendance and punctuality have already started to have a positive impact on reducing the absence rates of some pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching across the school is inconsistent. In key stage 1, new teachers are bringing in a fresh approach and the recent training of teaching assistants is improving provision for the younger pupils. However, expectations of pupils are too low. There is no consistency across this phase in the way pupils’ mistakes are corrected, how they present their work or how much they should complete.
• Teaching is better in key stage 2 and strong in Years 5 and 6. Teachers have a good grasp of their subject knowledge and they have high expectations of what the pupils should achieve. However, the legacy of underachievement from previous weaker teaching means the disadvantaged pupils still need to catch up.
• Teachers’ assessment is not always well used to pitch work at the right level of difficulty. Sometimes work is too easy or lacks challenge and pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Although the most able pupils achieve in line with the national expectations at the end of key stage 2, the most able disadvantaged pupils do not do as well as they could.
• Some parents speak highly of the support for those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Where teaching is good, lessons are well structured with effective deployment of teaching assistants, and these pupils make the progress expected of them. In other cases, because information is not properly collated and monitored, support is not well targeted.
• In mathematics, pupils are given opportunities to try mathematical challenges once they have shown they are fluent in a particular skill. When pupils are presented with a further challenge they are expected to spend too much time going over the same ground before being allowed to apply what they have learned to solve the problem and this slows their progress.
• The school has responded to the variability in pupils’ handwriting and presentation but the recent changes in approach have not had time to have a positive impact. Pupils have good opportunities to write for different purposes and a range of different audiences. They aspire to have their work published on an online showcase for children’s writing. Pupils proudly showed inspectors examples of good writing displayed throughout the school.
• The teaching of phonics has improved and is thorough in ensuring that pupils have grasped basic sounds and can write them. However, some of the work is too repetitive and some of the most able pupils do not make fast enough progress.
• Pupils enjoy reading, the reading lessons are well structured and pupils engage in a range of activities to improve their reading skills. For example, in a Year 6 lesson pupils had to research about rivers and the impact of tourism and fishing. This reading was well linked to geography and gave pupils a real reason for reading. A pupil was very keen to engage the lead inspector in a discussion about the Nile, sharing information he had recently read.
• The teaching of curriculum subjects such as design and technology, history and geography is well structured through topics and results in some good-quality work. Pupils’ books showed that they are able to use the skills they have learned in English to write effectively in different subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school provides good opportunities for pupils to take responsibility in roles such as the school council, ably led by the children’s mayor for Leeds. They set their own goals to achieve during the year and these are published on the school’s website.
• Input through lessons, and visitors to school talking about staying safe, means that pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying and the impact on victims. They say bullying does not happen often and they feel the school keeps them safe.
• Pupils have learned how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations including using the internet. They have a well-developed awareness of the risks of using social media and a good understanding of cyber bullying and bullying related to gender and race. They know what to do if bullying occurs.
• The school’s approach to helping pupils understand how they can achieve promotes effective reflection on personal choices and is evident in their positive attitudes to learning. They were not reticent in telling the lead inspector that if something is too difficult you have to keep trying. They were able to discuss how Leeds boxer Nicola Adams had overcome barriers of race and background to achieve a gold medal for her country.
• The displays around school reflect a range of beliefs and cultures and pupils showed they were well informed about other cultures and different religions, supported by visits they had made to the local places of worship. Pupils showed a good understanding of racism from what they had learned through the school’s project on Stephen Lawrence. They demonstrate a reflective understanding of British values, which prepares them well for life in modern Britain.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. The school has been very effective in raising the aspirations of pupils. The school’s expectation that pupils take responsibility for their own learning has been pivotal in developing the positive attitudes of most of the pupils. A small minority of pupils still find it difficult to concentrate and are ‘off task’ in some lessons.
• Pupils’ growing confidence as learners is clearly evident. They are developing strategies to persevere when something is difficult or find an appropriate resource to work out a problem. Pupils were able to show inspectors their work and explain their journey of progress and how they had improved. They had clear aspiration to have their written work published through the online showcase and on the school’s website.
• Pupils are well mannered and courteous. They are attentive, listen well to the adults and their peers, and show respect for the views of others. They play cooperatively in the playground and move around the school in an orderly way.
• The school’s focus on celebrating good attendance and addressing persistent absence means attendance is improving, including for the disadvantaged pupils. Pupils are very keen to achieve the class reward for good attendance through the school’s game of ‘Drigopoly’, where pupils can receive a treat if their class wins.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• At the end of key stage 2, pupils make progress in reading and writing in line with the national average. Pupils’ books show that while progress in mathematics is at least expected, it is not as fast as it should be for the most able pupils. Sometimes these pupils are spending too much time repeating work and not getting time to do the challenges that teachers set them in lessons.
• The lack of achievement for the disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1 is most marked, and too few pupils achieve higher standards when compared to those expected nationally.
• By the time disadvantaged pupils reach key stage 2 their progress starts to accelerate. The higher quality of teaching and additional group work supported by the pupil premium funding is helping pupils to catch up. However, some pupils are still lagging behind because they have not benefited from better teaching lower down the school. The school’s own assessment information shows that this is still an issue.
• Last year saw an improvement in the number of pupils achieving expected standards in phonics at the end of Year 1. Prior to that, standards had been below the national average. This is because pupils have not been well equipped with the necessary skills in reading and writing at the end of the early years foundation stage or received high-quality teaching in key stage 1. The improved teaching of phonics is now starting to ensure that pupils have a more secure grasp of letters and sounds.
• The weakness in pupils’ phonic knowledge is reflected at the end of key stage 1, where standards in reading and writing, as well as mathematics, have been below the national average since the school’s last inspection.
• The provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in all parts of the school still lacks proper cohesion and oversight. This is impeding the progress for this group of pupils, who often do not make expected progress from their starting points.
• Pupils of all ages enjoy books and the most able readers can discuss their preferences for different authors. Pupils are able to research and retrieve information through books and technology, and show a genuine interest in topics relating to things they are learning in class. Younger pupils are now better at using their phonics to decode words and can talk enthusiastically about what they are reading.
• Pupils achieve well in art, history and geography because the teaching of these subjects is well supported by resources and visits. Creative projects in design and technology create a high level of interest among pupils. Pupils proudly showed the lead inspector their models of a river. They showed good geographical knowledge and scientific understanding as they explained the water cycle.
• Achievement in science is patchy. Not all pupils have had the opportunity to design their own experiments and this is something they are keen to do. However, those who have had this opportunity can explain their findings and reasons, for example what materials will and will not conduct electricity.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Provision across the early years is inconsistent. Recent improvements mean the Nursery now provides a better start for children. Previously children have entered the Reception classes with skills and knowledge lower than is typical for their age.
• Provision in the Reception classes is not good enough. A lack of rigour in teaching literacy skills means that too few are entering key stage 1 with the necessary skills in reading and writing.
• Teachers’ expectations of the youngest children are too low and for the most able children there is a lack of challenge. As a result, children make no better than expected progress from their starting points.
• Although staff know the children well, assessment is not secure and this information is not used effectively to plan purposeful activities so children make rapid progress. Insufficient monitoring of children’s access to the range of activities means that too often boys opt out of the more focused work of reading and writing, and this is reflected in their slower rate of progress in these subjects.
• While children are happily doing something independently, adults do not always correct misunderstandings. Sometimes staff are slow in seizing the moment when children are ready for more information or to learn a new skill which would speed up their progress.
• Support staff working in the early years show good skills in supporting these young children. The lack of detailed planning for those children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities means their needs are not as well met as they could be.
• The newly appointed leader of the early years is developing an understanding of his strategic role. He has worked successfully to engage parents and carers, who told inspectors that they appreciate this improved contact and communication.
• Routines are well established throughout the early years and most children’s behaviour is good both in the classroom and in the outside area. They take turns and cooperate well with each other and the adults. They are beginning to understand how to keep safe and healthy.
• The welfare and safety of the youngest children are given the correct priority in the early years. Staff respond to children’s personal needs. Transition arrangements are being developed and all health and safety requirements are met. The unit is a safe place for children.

School details

Unique reference number 134407 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 10023948 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 Community school Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 461 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lena Matthews Headteacher Sue Jackson Telephone number 01132 853000 Website www.drighlingtonprimary.co.uk Email address s.jackson@drighlingtonprimary.org.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 February 2013

Information about this school

• This is a larger than average primary school.
• The majority of pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information on its website. The special educational needs policy is out of date.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection was converted from a section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection. On the second day the lead inspector was joined by a team of four more inspectors.
• The inspectors visited lessons in all classrooms, some with the headteacher. In addition, the inspectors observed small groups of pupils being taught.
• The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and spoke to pupils about their enjoyment of school and their opinions of behaviour and safety.
• The inspectors held discussions with staff and governors.
• A wide range of school documents were taken into account as part of the evidence, including: the school’s self-evaluation, its school development plan, behaviour and attendance records, governing body documents and documents relating to the monitoring of teachers’ performance.
• Seventy-one parents submitted responses to Parent View. Parents’ written comments were considered by the inspection team. Inspectors also spoke to parents in the playground.

Inspection team

Karen Heath, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Susan Twaits Ofsted Inspector Marianne Young Ofsted Inspector Peter Heaton Ofsted Inspector Ian Clennan Ofsted Inspector