Hollybush Primary Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that teaching, learning and assessment are consistently good or better and result in at least good progress, in all subjects, across all years, by:
  • better meeting the needs of the most able pupils and those from disadvantaged backgrounds with more challenging work
  • checking regularly the learning of all pupils in lessons, and revising work and the timing of activities so that pupils learn well, including those who have SEN and/or disabilities
  • having consistently high expectations and insisting that pupils strive to improve their work, especially in writing
  • providing more opportunities in all years for pupils to use mathematical skills to investigate and solve problems, and explain the solutions and answers they find
  • honing pupils’ inference and deduction skills in reading, particularly at key stage 2
  • maximising opportunities to reinforce key reading, writing and mathematical skills, as well as handwriting and spelling, across all subjects.
• Raise the proportion of children who leave the early years with a good level of development, so that this represents at least good overall progress, by:
  • ensuring that there is consistently good-quality teaching in the Reception Year
  • ensuring that staff check children’s learning as a matter of course and provide challenge, particularly for the most able
  • providing more opportunities in outdoor activities for children to reinforce key literacy and mathematical skills.
• Strengthen the impact of leadership and management on pupils’ outcomes by sharpening the skills of all leaders in checking precisely the effectiveness of teaching on all pupils’ progress across the school.
• Ensure that both the quality of teaching and the content of lessons in all subjects across the curriculum are of good quality, with appropriate attention paid to the development of pupils’ subject-specific skills and understanding, especially in science, history, geography and French.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Since the previous inspection, the quality of education provided by the school has declined. The local authority has taken stringent steps to address this decline.
• A new headteacher and chair of governors took up post at the start of the present academic year. In addition, there have been significant changes in senior and middle leadership, staffing and governance. These changes are strengthening teaching and leadership at all levels.
• These new arrangements, however, have not been in place long enough to drive forward the improvements required in teaching, learning, assessment and pupils’ progress at a fast enough rate.
• While senior and middle leaders undertake a range of monitoring activities, they are not sufficiently focused on pupils’ specific gains in learning and rates of progress. For example, visits to lessons and the checking of pupils’ work do not consider with enough precision the impact that teaching has on pupils’ skills and understanding. Leaders do not take sufficient account of the progress made by the most able pupils, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Subject leaders’ roles are insufficiently developed to enable them to fulfil their areas of responsibility. As a result, inconsistencies in teaching and learning remain across all subjects.
• Leaders and governors, nonetheless, are providing staff with good-quality professional development and training opportunities. Expertise from the local authority and strong partnership working with local cluster primary schools are beginning to strengthen teaching, learning and assessment.
• The newly appointed headteacher demonstrates high aspirations for staff and pupils. She has quickly established an accurate view of the strengths of the school and priorities for further development. She is committed to improving teaching in all classes and accelerating all pupils’ rates of progress.
• These ambitions are shared by the deputy headteacher, senior and middle leaders and governors. Leaders are beginning to use the school’s new assessment system to pinpoint sooner weaknesses in teaching and address identified shortfalls in pupils’ learning.
• Leaders have recognised that the school’s use of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils has not been effective in the past. To this end, they commissioned an external review of pupil premium funding and have responded rigorously to the findings of the review. A leader for pupil premium funding has been appointed and a detailed strategic plan has been implemented. Leaders know that differences still persist in terms of pupils’ rates of progress and attainment. Improvements in these areas are clear priorities for all staff.
• Leaders ensure that the physical education and sport premium funding is used effectively. There is a clear emphasis on improving pupils’ understanding of the importance of physical health and well-being. Leaders make sure that pupils take part in a wide range of sporting events and understand the value of competition, teamwork and perseverance.
• Additional funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used purposefully to provide well-targeted out-of-class experiences to boost individual pupils’ key literacy and numeracy skills and increase levels of confidence and self-esteem. Leaders do not check rigorously enough, however, the specific gains in learning of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities in lessons and in work completed over time. These gains are variable and do not represent consistently good progress in some classes.
• All staff work successfully to establish a warm and inclusive ethos across the school. A happy atmosphere permeates the environment. The ‘Hollybush code’, assemblies, visitors from the local community and visits further afield, as well as weekly life skills experiences, all contribute well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Leaders’ work to ensure that pupils understand British values, such as democracy, tolerance and respect, is part and parcel of this ethos. Pupils speak enthusiastically about their roles as school councillors, librarians and playground leaders. They are especially keen to talk about their recent appointments as prefects, and they wear their new badges with pride. Pupils are keen to raise funds for local and national charities and to involve themselves in school projects, such as the recent building of additional classrooms.
• The headteacher recognises that the provision made for all subjects across the curriculum is not yet of an equally good quality. This is especially so in science, history, geography and French. Work is underway to enhance teaching and learning beyond formal reading, writing and mathematics lessons, and to develop fully the wider range of pupils’ subject-specific skills and understanding.
• Staff ensure that pupils’ daily school life, however, is regularly enriched. Links with local professional rugby teams, visits by local artists, sculptors and authors, regular sporting competitions, topic-related and residential trips and a range of after-school clubs, including street dance and archery, are just some of the many experiences that are on offer. These opportunities help to widen pupils’ horizons.
• The vast majority of parents’ responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, are positive about the school’s work. Parents spoken to by inspectors in the school’s playground said how much the school was improving and how much their children enjoyed their lessons and the many educational visits.

Governance of the school

• The appointments of a new chair of the governing body and new governors since the last inspection have helped to significantly heighten the levels of challenge that governors provide to school leaders about their work.
• Governors bring a range of skills to their roles. Increasingly, they undertake their responsibilities conscientiously and confidently.
• Governors are ambitious for all pupils and families. As a consequence, governors are determined to ensure, as a matter of urgency, high-quality teaching and learning and the acceleration of rates of progress for all pupils.
• Governors receive regular and good-quality information from school leaders about the school’s performance. Governors are also regular visitors to school. As such, they are clear about the school’s strengths and priorities for further development.
• Governors place a high priority on keeping pupils safe. Governors ensure that the recruitment of staff is thorough and that staff’s and governors’ training is up to date and relevant.
• Governors are committed to their role. They take part in training offered by the school and the local authority and online training. This demonstrates their dedication to self-improvement.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

• Designated school leaders are vigilant about the safety of all pupils. Leaders work very effectively as a team in this large school to keep all pupils safe.
• Staff have a good understanding of the school’s safeguarding policy and the implications of ‘Keeping children safe in education’. They use the advice and information they receive carefully to guide their work.
• Leaders make sure that staff and governors receive regular training and updates in child protection. Staff, therefore, are sensitive to pupils’ care and welfare needs.
• Leaders liaise closely with the relevant external organisations, including the local safeguarding children’s board and local authority child protection personnel.
• Leaders ensure a safe environment for pupils through regular and detailed risk assessments.
• The school’s records show that links with individual families, particularly where pupils live in vulnerable circumstances, are well established.
• Staff make themselves available throughout the school day, and beyond, to ensure that pupils and families receive the support they need.
• Arrangements for recruiting new staff are detailed, and the school maintains an up-to-date, accurate record of all appointments.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is inconsistent across key stages 1 and 2. Not all adults have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can do and achieve. Pupils’ rates of progress and learning across the curriculum, therefore, are too variable over time.
• Some teachers do not take sufficient account of pupils’ prior learning and existing knowledge and skills. Work planned and presented does not always match pupils’ needs with sufficient precision. This results in some of the most able pupils not being stretched and challenged enough and this prevents them from reaching their potential.
• Some teachers and teaching assistants do not check carefully how well pupils are learning in lessons. This is especially the case for some pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and for some who have SEN and/or disabilities. Staff do not always move pupils on to more demanding work when they are ready. As a result, they do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Most teachers have good subject knowledge. However, not all teachers’ expectations about pupils’ handwriting and the presentation and organisation of their work in books across all subjects are high enough. When poorly presented work is accepted by teachers, particularly in science, history and geography, some pupils’ readiness to make a greater effort begins to slip.
• Teachers’ expectations of pupils to improve their work are inconsistent. As a result, opportunities are missed for many pupils to improve the work that they initially produce.
• The teaching of basic writing skills is improving. Not all children in all classes, however, have sufficient opportunities to use these skills regularly to write at length. Not enough care is taken by some teachers and teaching assistants to ensure that pupils edit and redraft their work, to write with sufficient fluency, varied language and expression and use a range of punctuation for effect.
• The teaching of mathematics has also improved of late. Teachers’ increasing confidence and subject knowledge are having a positive impact on some pupils’ progress and achievement, particularly in calculating using basic mathematical skills.
• Teachers use a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. The majority of adults in school articulate sounds and letter names carefully, and encourage pupils to do likewise. Most pupils reach at least the expected standard in this area of learning.
• Across the school, pupils say how much they enjoy the regular opportunities to read, both individually and to adults. The teaching of inference and deduction skills, however, is variable. Not all adults make sure that pupils explain, in full, the assumptions they make when searching for clues about character and plot in the texts they read.
• The teaching of some subjects beyond reading, writing and mathematics also requires improvement. Teaching in science, history and geography, for example, concentrates too much on providing pupils with facts and information, rather than developing subject-specific skills such as analysis, interpretation, evaluation, hypothesis and justification. The teaching of French provides too few opportunities for pupils to use the foreign language for the purpose of practical communication.
• The teaching of physical education and sport is good. Pupils participate willingly in a wide range of competitive individual and team sports, and many are motivated to attend extra-curricular and recreational opportunities.
• Good relationships exist between teachers, teaching assistants and pupils. These foster positive attitudes to learning and encourage many pupils to try their best. Often, pupils engage keenly with tasks and cooperate well with one another when working independently.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ welfare is a priority. Leaders work successfully with a range of external agencies, including the local authority and social care agents, when they identify any pupils who may be at risk.
• Many lessons, and the well-planned educational visits and extra-curricular opportunities, enhance pupils’ awareness of the world around them and particularly stimulate pupils to think about their local community.
• Visits to local places of worship, museums and galleries, as well as visits to school by local community firefighters, police officers and health professionals, help to prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain. These experiences promote a good appreciation of the views of people from different backgrounds.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the concepts of freedom and democracy and of Britain’s parliamentary system. They are proud of the many opportunities they receive that enable them to contribute to their own school’s community.
• Pupils and adults are happy in each other’s company at break and lunchtimes. Pupils are well mannered and welcoming of visitors.
• Pupils said how much they feel safe in the school and how they are well cared for. They are confident that staff will help them with any problems that may arise.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They recognise the importance of keeping safe online and the caution they need to show about people they do not know beyond the school’s gates.
• Pupils understand about different types of bullying and try to prevent it from happening. Pupils said that when infrequent incidents of bullying occur, they are dealt with quickly and successfully by staff.
• Physical education and sport lessons, assemblies and the school’s personal, social and health education programme ensure that pupils are aware of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise and a balanced diet.
• Pupils in all years benefit from well-organised opportunities to meet their new teacher, visit their new classroom and learn about their new learning experiences as they move through the school. Year 6 pupils are equally well prepared for transition to secondary school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Inspection evidence indicates that the school operates as a harmonious community.
• The vast majority of pupils show a good awareness of the expectations that adults and their peers have of their behaviour. Pupils cooperate well and follow teachers’ instructions and expectations consistently, in all years.
• Most pupils show positive attitudes to learning and work cooperatively in lessons. They sustain concentration when working independently and help one another with their work.
• Some pupils, in some classes, do not take sufficient care with the presentation and organisation of their written work in all subjects. On occasions, some pupils become restless and distracted, particularly when the work is insufficiently challenging and motivating.
• Leaders successfully promote the importance of regular attendance. As a result, the vast majority of pupils come to school regularly and arrive on time.
• Leaders continue to work determinedly with a small minority of families who do not ensure that their children attend school as often as they should.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ outcomes require improvement because pupils’ progress in key stages 1 and 2, in reading, writing and mathematics, as well as other subjects, over time, is too variable. Not all adults take sufficient account of pupils’ starting points or check carefully their learning and progress in lessons to challenge pupils sufficiently to make good progress. This is particularly the case for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and the most able.
• Outcomes at the end of key stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics are not rising rapidly enough, and are below national averages. Given pupils’ below-average starting points in Year 1, not enough pupils make good progress overall by the end of Year 2.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard at the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics was below the national averages in 2017. In all three subjects, the proportion of pupils achieving greater depth in their learning was below average. From pupils’ below-average starting points, these outcomes represent rates of progress that require improvement.
• Current pupils’ progress rates in reading, writing and mathematics, while improving, remain inconsistent. Work in pupils’ books from key stages 1 and 2 shows that not enough pupils, from typical starting points, are working at age-related expectations or are striving to reach greater depths of learning. The school’s own assessment information shows that not all pupils yet make good enough progress to reach their end-of-year targets.
• Evidence in pupils’ books and work in lessons demonstrate that not enough of the most able pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are constantly challenged to reach the higher standards of achievement that should be expected of them. While differences between the performance of disadvantaged pupils and their peers are diminishing in some subjects, and in some years, these improvements are still inconsistent across all classes. Targeted support in daily lessons is not yet leading to good overall learning and progress for some pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Inspection evidence shows that some pupils spend too long practising basic mathematical skills and too little time using them to solve mathematical problems. Not enough pupils can readily explain how they have worked out calculations and why they have chosen certain approaches to solving problems.
• In writing, not enough pupils develop sufficient expertise to improve their initial choice of language and punctuation to achieve even greater effect for different audiences and purposes. Pupils’ abilities to sequence their ideas skilfully in well-constructed sentences and paragraphs, and their accuracy in spelling, are too variable from class to class.
• In reading, some pupils spend too much time answering factual questions about the texts they read, and insufficient time developing scanning and skimming skills with which to rapidly retrieve more intricate information. Pupils’ skills in making assumptions about characters and plot developments in the texts they read are not sufficiently well developed.
• The proportion of pupils attaining the end of Year 1 national standard in phonics, however, is rising rapidly. The proportion attaining the national standard at the end of Year 2 is in line with the national average. This is due to pupils’ greater levels of confidence and success in matching sounds to letters over time. Most pupils acquire the phonics skills to help them to develop general fluency and confidence in reading as they move through the school. More and more pupils are reading for pleasure, both in school and at home.
• The teaching of science is not yet consistently good enough across all years. As a result, by the end of key stages 1 and 2, standards are below average. Teachers’ levels of expertise and confidence vary in subjects across the rest of the curriculum. This is especially so in history, geography and French, where pupils’ subject skills and understanding require much improvement.
• Opportunities are missed to reinforce pupils’ reading, writing and mathematical skills, as well as their care with handwriting and accuracy in spelling, across most subjects.
• Good-quality physical education experiences, however, develop strong levels of teamwork, stamina and physical agility in many pupils. Opportunities to study the work and techniques of classical and contemporary artists, and regular projects to design and make different artefacts for different purposes, enhance pupils’ artistic and technological skills.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The school’s information shows that children arrive in the Nursery with skills and understanding below those typical for their age. The vast majority make good progress and are well equipped to start the Reception Year.
• A large proportion of children, however, start the Reception Year without having attended the school’s Nursery. The school’s information indicates that many of these children have skills and understanding which are generally typical for their age. Inspection evidence indicates that children’s overall rates of progress across the Reception Year are not as strong as those seen in the school’s Nursery.
• Although the proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year is rising, it is still below the national average. Outcomes are not yet high enough to represent good progress for enough children, especially the most able. The provision in the early years, therefore, requires improvement.
• Children settle quickly in the Nursery and Reception Years, and are confident and eager learners. They behave well and show respect for and patience towards one another.
• Nursery staff particularly encourage all of the children to help each other with the planned activities. Children confidently explore the stimulating resources, both indoors and outdoors, developing positive relationships and communication skills through imaginative play.
• In the Reception classes, children benefit similarly from a wide range of motivating indoor experiences. They enjoy making up their own versions of the ‘Jack and the beanstalk’ story, and talk confidently about the ‘colours of the rainbow’ they use to sketch spring flowers.
• Some children in Reception are not encouraged as well as they might be to derive full benefit from some of the outdoor opportunities and experiences designed to develop key literacy and numeracy skills. This is especially the case for some of the most able children, who are not always challenged to their full potential.
• Not all of the adults in the Reception classes consistently ask questions that encourage children to think for themselves and extend their range of vocabulary. Some adults do not check carefully enough how well some children are doing and identify how they can develop further.
• The modelling of sounds and actions by adults in the Nursery and Reception Years is good. This is particularly helpful to children who are experiencing communication difficulties. Children who have SEN and/or disabilities are supported appropriately alongside their peers. Pupil premium funding is used well to provide disadvantaged children with additional support and resources.
• The leader of the early years is knowledgeable and determined to raise children’s skills and understanding further. She has put into place a well-conceived plan of action to increase the proportion of those who reach, and exceed, a good level of development.
• Early years staff work well as a team. They are committed to sharing their expertise and to learning from each other.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 134513 Leeds 10045484 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 496 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Neil Hope-Collins Headteacher Telephone Number Website Email address Date of previous inspection

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. Briony Robertson 0113 887 3310

www.hollybushprimaryschool.org.uk

school@hollybushprimary.org

24–25 October 2012

• The vast majority of pupils are White British. Few pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is well above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is broadly average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• A children’s centre is based on the school site and is managed by the local authority. This will be inspected separately.
• A specialist inclusive learning centre catering for children with severe learning difficulties is based in the school and is managed by the local authority. This will have a separate inspection report.
• Since the last inspection, there have been significant changes in staffing. A new headteacher, deputy headteacher and chair of the governing body have been appointed, together with new senior and middle leaders, teachers and governors.
• The school receives regular support from the local primary schools and the local authority.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited a wide range of lessons across the school, looking extensively at pupils’ work in all lessons. Visits to lessons were also made with the headteacher and other leaders.
• Alongside school leaders, inspectors reviewed pupils’ progress data and pupils’ work in books, information about the quality of teaching, documents pertaining to safety and behaviour, and information pertaining to safeguarding.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils in lessons, at break and lunchtimes, and met with groups of pupils separately. Inspectors also took into consideration the two responses from pupils to the Ofsted online questionnaire.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders and governors. In addition, a telephone discussion was held with a representative from the local authority. Informal discussions also took place with a number of parents in the playground.
• Inspectors took account of the 63 parental responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View.
• The views of staff were taken into account through formal and informal discussions and through the 34 responses to the Ofsted online staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Andy Swallow, lead inspector Cathy Morgan

Marianne Young

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector

Ofsted Inspector