Greenside Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching so that pupils make consistently good progress across the school by making sure that:
  • teachers use assessment information to build on pupils’ prior learning to ensure that learning is sufficiently challenging for all groups of pupils, including boys, middle attainers, the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
  • teachers carefully check how well pupils are progressing, so that they can quickly tackle errors or know when pupils can be moved on to more challenging work
  • teachers take more opportunities to develop and improve pupils’ extended writing across the curriculum
  • teachers improve their confidence and accuracy in assessing pupils’ writing across the curriculum
  • teacher expectations are consistently high and lead to pupils presenting their work to a high standard
  • teachers consistently follow the school’s policy for improving pupils’ spelling.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, including middle leaders and governance, by making sure that:
  • school self-evaluation pays closer attention to the progress pupils are making
  • improvement plans clearly show the impact that intended actions will have on pupils’ progress, by when and the role governors will play in evaluating the progress being made
  • middle leaders are effectively coached and mentored to help them improve the impact they are having on accelerating the progress pupils are making
  • performance management targets include sharply focused and quantifiable targets for improving pupils’ progress
  • school reports provide parents with clear messages about the progress their children are making
  • governors build their levels of knowledge and understanding about pupils’ progress and the impact of additional funding, so that they are able to challenge leaders more effectively
  • the school’s website complies fully with the government’s statutory requirements
  • accident logs and punctuality records are regularly analysed to find potential ways of improving these aspects of the school’s work. 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. 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

• Although leaders have created a warm, caring and nurturing school, they have not done enough to ensure that the quality of teaching is consistently good. Pupils do not make good enough progress, especially in writing. Leaders have not concentrated enough on whether pupils are making good progress in relation to their starting points.
• Leaders have over-focused on pupils’ attainment levels, which have often been at least in line with national averages. This has skewed their view of how well pupils are achieving. Consequently, leaders’ evaluations of teaching and pupils’ achievement are overgenerous. Leaders and managers have a more accurate view of how well other areas of the school are doing and have set suitable priorities for improvement.
• Middle leadership is a work in progress. While middle leaders are keen and willing to learn, the quality and impact of their work is mixed. Middle leaders have a list of sensible priorities. However, plans are not clear or precise enough in detailing what actions will happen and when, or what the measurable impact will be in improving pupils’ progress.
• Leaders have not used performance management well enough to help pupils make faster progress. Teacher targets are not clear or precise enough and this sometimes makes it difficult to judge whether targets have been successfully met. Consequently, there is not a clear enough link between performance management and salary progression. Leaders recognise that some forms of professional development have had more impact than others have. Leaders have rightly identified the need for further training and support in helping teachers build their confidence levels in assessing pupils’ writing.
• The headteacher has not been afraid to tackle staff performance and a number of staff have left the school in a relatively short period. Attendance remains high, pupils enjoy school, attainment levels are usually at least in line with national averages and the curriculum is a strength of the school. School improvement has also been disrupted by a number of unforeseen absences, which have affected the progress leaders have made.
• Additional funding is used more effectively in some areas than in others. Pupil premium funding is not used well enough. Plans do not clearly show the intended impact spending will have on accelerating the progress of this group and this makes it difficult for leaders and governors to judge whether this money has made enough of a difference.
• The special educational needs coordinator makes good use of additional funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. A range of interventions are helping these pupils develop their phonics and social skills. The use of the primary physical education (PE) and sports funding is also used well. A range of events and sports are offered, including road running, mini Olympics and mini triathlons, and pupils participate in a wide range of activities provided. The use of additional funding for children who are looked after is also well planned for and used.
• Many parents are very positive about the ‘caring and lovely atmosphere’ in and around school. Parents rightly identify that teachers and office staff are helpful and approachable. However, some parents raise valid concerns regarding the quality of communication between home and school. School reports to parents do not clearly explain how well pupils should be achieving and whether pupils are making enough progress across the curriculum.
• The curriculum is a strength of the school and encourages pupils to develop their confidence and creativity. There is a clear rationale for the way the curriculum is being delivered and a good deal of work has been done in successfully developing pupils’ resilience and perseverance skills. The curriculum is broad and balanced and provides pupils with good opportunities for outdoor learning experiences. Additional extra-curricular activities are also rich and varied. These include gardening, cooking, dance, finger knitting and music. Pupils enjoy and benefit well from this range of diverse offerings.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and are clear as to the priorities for further improvement. They value the professional development opportunities provided to them. Newly qualified teachers are particularly well catered for. Due to good planning prior to them starting, newly qualified teachers were able to hit the ground running at the beginning of the school year. Newly qualified teachers have benefited from high-quality support and mentoring and are making good progress, particularly in building their skills and confidence in assessing how well pupils are doing.
• School leaders have benefited from external reviews, which have involved local headteachers and local authority officers. These supportive reviews have helped to accurately pinpoint areas of teaching that are strong and highlighted areas that need improving. Over time, however, local authority officers have not paid enough attention to the progress pupils have made and, therefore, have been overly generous in their view of how well the school is doing.

Governance of the school

• A number of governors are relatively new to their roles and are still finding their feet. They are aware of the key strengths of the school and are proud of the caring and nurturing ethos that exists in the school. They are getting a handle on what the overarching priorities are for the school. However, they recognise that they would benefit from additional training and support, particularly in relation to improving their understanding of pupil assessment information.
• Governors are supportive of the school and ask a range of questions during meetings. However, these questions do not always get to the heart of the matter, particularly in relation to the progress pupils are making. Leaders are not doing enough to help governors do this. The school improvement plan does not detail actions that will take place to tackle issues, or what leaders expect the intended impact will be on pupils. As a result, governors, although willing, are sometimes less effective in their efforts to challenge.
• Governors show a keen interest in the school and are keen to visit the school to see for themselves how the school operates. This is helping them build up a picture of how well the school is doing. Governors are not involved enough at a strategic level in questioning and challenging leaders on the evaluations they are making about the school, particularly in relation to the quality of teaching and outcomes pupils are achieving.
• Governors are aware of how additional funding is spent. However, governors are sometimes unclear as to the impact this money has had on improving pupils’ outcomes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and managers have successfully kept safeguarding on everyone’s radar. Staff know that they are all responsible for keeping children safe and they are expected to be on the lookout for any potential concerns or share worries they may have. Staff are vigilant and recognise that there is no room for complacency.
• Effective training, along with weekly briefings, make sure that staff feel confident and capable of spotting concerns and know who to share their concerns with. Recent training on radicalisation, extremism and female genital mutilation has been valued by staff and helped them understand their role in identifying potential issues.
• The single central record is well maintained overall, with some minor omissions that were quickly and easily dealt with during the inspection. A number of staff and governors are trained in safer recruitment and a good number of staff have been trained to deal with child protection issues.
• Leaders have used early help and intervention well to support vulnerable pupils and their families. This has included effective working with a range of other agencies and professionals to help and support these pupils. Case files sampled showed that school actions were successfully improving vulnerable pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning as a result.
• School trips and visits are well planned and carefully risk assessed. Care is taken to ensure that trips are well staffed to ensure that pupils are safe and well cared for.
• Although there are accident and punctuality logbooks, these are not analysed regularly enough. This means that leaders are not able to spot potential issues arising from this information and put into place plans to reduce the potential for accidents or persistent lateness to school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

• Over time, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has not been good enough

Requires improvement

to make sure all groups of pupils, including boys, the most able and middle ability pupils, make good progress from their starting points, particularly in writing. The quality of teaching is variable, both within classrooms and across the school.

• Work over time shows that some pupils receive good levels of challenge while others are not challenged enough. Inspectors agree with the recent external review, that there is not enough challenge for some pupils in mathematics. There are instances when the most able pupils sail through their work without being moved on to more taxing work that will deepen their understanding. Pupils told inspectors that they found some lessons were too easy.
• Over time, some teachers do not use what they know about pupils to ensure that pupils are sufficiently challenged. ‘Learning Challenge’ books contain work that is not consistently challenging. There are not enough opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their extended writing across the curriculum.
• The quality of handwriting and presentation can vary from book to book and classroom to classroom. Not all teachers consistently follow the school’s approach to improving spelling. As a result, some pupils are making good progress with spelling important key words and others are not. Teachers do not consistently expect pupils to present their work to a high standard.
• Elsewhere, the quality of teaching is stronger. In these classrooms, teachers and other adults use questioning well to make sure pupils think for themselves. Teachers make effective use of additional adults and this leads to groups of pupils being well supported.
• Leaders have worked hard to encourage pupils to enjoy reading. Leaders have arranged trips to the local library; they have improved the range of books available in school; and they have created areas in and around school to encourage pupils to pick up a book and read. Pupils enjoy a range of different genres of books and choose suitably challenging books to read. Reading records show that pupils read regularly in school and at home.
• Some teachers are particularly effective in enthusing pupils to want to write. Teachers provide pupils with exciting reasons to want to write. This leads to pupils improving their sentences and use of language. However, there are times when teachers do not quickly spot when pupils start to forget some of the basics, including the use of capital letters and full stops.
• The leadership of teaching requires improvement. Regular monitoring does take place, which involves reviews of pupils’ work, learning walks and observations of teaching. However, these are not having enough impact because leaders are not homed in on the specific aspects of teaching that need improving. Follow-up checks by leaders do not evaluate the progress teachers have made in improving their teaching.
• Some teachers are overcautious in their assessment of pupils, especially in relation to writing. This leads to assessment information that is inaccurate at times. Leaders have rightly identified that further work is needed in helping and supporting teachers assess pupils’ writing accurately.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. The majority of parents rightly praise the caring and nurturing ethos that leaders have established. Pupils get along well with their teachers and each other. Pupils enjoy coming to school and rightly feel well cared for and looked after. As a result, little time is wasted in lessons.
• Pupils are polite and wear their uniform with pride. Pupils are friendly and usually play well together on the playground. They are friendly and open doors to visitors. Pupils benefit from being given a range of responsibilities, including being house captains, school food ambassadors and working on the school council.
• Pupils feel safe and secure in school and say they are well looked after. Pupils say that although bullying is rare, it can happen. They feel confident that their teachers will take it seriously and deal with it quickly.
• Pupils show a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They have gained a particularly good understanding of how to keep themselves safe online and the importance of not sharing their personal details on social media sites. Pupils also have a good understanding of why they should not talk to strangers, the dangers of fire and keeping away from train tracks.
• The curriculum provides a good range of enrichment activities that help develop pupils’ wider personal development. Pupils are developing their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well due to a strong curriculum. Pupils are developing a good understanding of different faiths and cultures and there are good opportunities for pupils to develop their artistic and creative skills both inside and outside the classroom. Older pupils have a particularly good understanding of current affairs and the world around them, including the importance of democracy, voting, tolerance and respect for others who adopt different lifestyles.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are respectful and kind and they are attentive and listen well to their teachers. Pupils have developed good levels of resilience and perseverance and this is due to the actions leaders have taken in helping pupils deal effectively with challenges and setbacks.
• At playtimes, boys and girls play happily together. Pupils use the ‘quiet’ areas outside to read a book or chat with their friends. Pupils move around the school sensibly and teachers consistently use the behaviour policy to reward good behaviour and deal with minor low-level disruptions.
• Attendance remains high and pupils are rarely persistently absent. Leaders and managers have worked hard to sustain these high levels of attendance over time. Through the use of assemblies, certificates and rewards, pupils see the importance of regularly attending school. Pupils particularly enjoy the after-school movie nights and the picnic on the field as rewards for good attendance. Leaders know their pupils well and are able to show the steps they have taken to improve the attendance of vulnerable pupils over time.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over time, not enough pupils, including boys, the most able and middle attainers, make more than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because leaders have not focused enough on the progress pupils make in relation to their starting points.
• Current in-school information shows that pupils’ progress remains a mixed bag. Some pupils are making stronger progress and reaching age-related expectations. However, not enough of them are. In some year groups, boys are not making enough progress while in others, middle attainers, the most able or disadvantaged pupils are not making fast enough progress.
• In the Year 1 phonics screening check, pupils regularly achieve above national averages. However, in 2016, boys’ achievement was below the national average. By the end of Year 2 in 2016, the proportion of pupils who reached the expected attainment for their age was below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The proportion of pupils who reached standards of a greater depth by the end of Year 2 in 2016 was stronger in mathematics than it was in reading and writing. Given the higher starting point for many pupils, this progress is not good enough.
• In 2016, pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 2 was broadly average in reading and mathematics, but weaker in writing. The proportion of pupils who reached standards of greater depth was stronger in reading and mathematics than it was in writing. By the end of key stage 2, middle ability pupils in particular did not make good enough progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Over time, the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make broadly average progress but do not achieve as well as they could. This is because teachers do not consistently use information they have on pupils to set suitably challenging work.
• Disadvantaged pupils make broadly average progress across the school. Although leaders recognise that this group of pupils could be making better progress, the plans for how additional funding will be spent do not clearly show the intended impact actions are meant to have on improving progress rates. Due to low numbers of pupils involved, it is not statistically possible to say whether differences are diminishing from year to year.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make broadly average progress over time. Leaders have recognised the need to improve the way they assess the progress made by this group of pupils and are currently using a new assessment system to capture the smaller steps of progress these pupils are making. It is too early to say whether this approach will help this group of pupils make more rapid progress. Individual support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is helping them make good progress in developing their speech and language as well as their phonics skills.
• Outcomes elsewhere in the school are stronger. The proportion of children in the early years achieving and exceeding a good level of development continues to improve and outcomes are above the national average. The vast majority of these children are well equipped for the demands of key stage 1. Attainment in reading, grammar, spelling and punctuation, and mathematics are above the national average by the end of key stage 2.

Early years provision Good

• The leadership of the early years is good. Leaders make sure children make good progress. Children start in the early years with skills that are at least broadly typical for their age, with some who have skills beyond what is typical for their age. Over time, the proportion of children reaching and exceeding a good level of development has improved and is above national averages. This represents good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders have made improvements in a number of areas that are having a significant impact. For example, leaders carefully analysed the reasons why children were not making good progress in technology. As a result of leaders’ well-considered planning and resourcing, children are now making better progress in this area of learning.
• Teachers and other adults work well together and a good team ethos exists. Teachers and other adults alike have a good grasp of what children can do. They work well as a team and use skilful questioning to assess children’s learning and challenge them in their thinking.
• The teaching of phonics is well delivered. Phonics sessions target the specific needs of individual children and so children make good progress in developing their understanding of reading and letter sounds.
• Leaders have established good links with parents and other providers, including other pre-school settings. This ensures that children start school happy and secure. Parents are effectively involved in initial assessments of their children and are pleased with the progress and care their children receive.
• Leaders have worked hard to improve the indoor provision. There is now a range of indoor areas and resources which are helping children to transfer and develop their learning. English and mathematical learning is skilfully threaded throughout these areas.
• Leaders recognise that the outdoor provision needs further work to make sure that there are more opportunities for boys to develop their mark-making skills and make better progress. Although plans are in place to improve the outdoor provision, it is not possible to evaluate the impact that these will have on children’s progress.
• As with the rest of the school, safeguarding is taken seriously. Safeguarding checks are effective and detailed and ensure that children are safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107828 Leeds 10000878 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 315 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Michael Woodhead Catherine Morgan Telephone number 0113 257 4509 Website Email address www.greenside-sch.org c.morgan@greenside-sch.org Date of previous inspection 10–11 July 2012

Information about this school

• Greenside Primary School is a larger than average primary school.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards that set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including pupils with an education, health and care plan, is below the national average.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum, charging and remissions, behaviour and e-safety policies on its website.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups or who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during the inspection, including through observations of teaching, many of which were undertaken jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ work during lessons, listened to pupils read and sampled a wide range of pupils’ written work.
• Inspectors held meetings with school staff, including the headteacher and other senior leaders and staff in charge of aspects of the school’s work. Inspectors met with a group of newly qualified teachers. They also met with members of the governing body and with a local authority officer.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils in formal interviews, during lessons and informally at lunch and breaktimes.
• Inspectors considered a wide range of documentation related to the school’s work, gaining the school’s views of its performance and information concerning pupils’ attainment, progress, attendance and punctuality.
• Inspectors scrutinised records concerning safeguarding, pupils’ behaviour and the quality of teaching.
• Inspectors analysed 59 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also spoke informally with parents and took into account 24 written responses from staff and 60 written responses from pupils.

Inspection team

Phil Smith, lead inspector Helen Hussey Lynn Kenworthy Ella Besharati Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector