Parklands Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Diminish the differences between boys and girls in key stage 1, by providing greater opportunities for boys with low prior attainment to quickly acquire reading, writing and phonic skills and apply them independently.
• Make certain that children in early years, particularly disadvantaged children and boys, make accelerated progress by: ensuring that teachers meticulously plan and adapt provision in all areas, so that children can take the next steps in their learning

further developing opportunities for children to develop their writing skills.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The outstanding leadership of the headteacher is resulting in a tight and highly ambitious team whose members are intent upon providing the very best experiences possible for Parklands’ pupils. The headteacher has a deep understanding of the families and of the community the school serves, engendering trust and respect from pupils and their families. Parents appreciate the ever-open door of the headteacher and say that he has ‘transformed the school’. The view of pupils is that the headteacher is ‘the best headteacher in the world’.
• The shared vision of the headteacher and senior staff has been instrumental in the rapid improvements made in the school since his arrival three years ago, culminating in the excellent behaviour of pupils, high-quality teaching and the mostly rapid rates of progress within the school. All successfully promote the school vision of ‘can do learners, positive futures’.
• The headteacher and senior leaders are highly skilled in developing the teaching of others. They closely mentor and support teachers new to the school to ensure that they quickly take on the Parklands way of doing things. Leaders robustly monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching but promote a culture where it is safe to take risks and to use their imagination.
• Leaders at all levels are involved in coaching other staff to help them reflect on their lessons. Staff debate and research teaching techniques, and have regular access to well-chosen training, enabling them to continue to improve. As a result, teaching over time is highly effective in reading and writing and particularly so in mathematics.
• Leaders have worked relentlessly to ensure that pupils receive rich experiences and exciting learning in areas other than English and mathematics. Whole-school visits out of school, for example to the seaside, and visits into school by motivational people, such as Olympic gymnast Louis Smith MBE, help to make learning fun and relevant.
• Leaders recognised that past outcomes in science have not been as strong as in English and mathematics. Leaders’ focus on improving the quality of learning in science over the last year has deepened pupils’ understanding in this subject, and fostered a sense of curiosity and investigation. Consequently, standards are much improved this year.
• The primary school physical education (PE) and sport funding has been spent to employ specialist coaches who provide PE lessons for all pupils, deliver daily lunchtime sports and also listen to pupils read. Pupils have enjoyed football, dance and orienteering clubs. They have taken part in the Seacroft football league, ridden BMX bikes and watched the Northern Ballet on several occasions because of this funding.
• Pupils are very well prepared for life in modern Britain through participation in assemblies and lessons, and through the many planned opportunities to meet with people from all walks of life. Pupils express high degrees of tolerance and respect for different faiths and cultures, and links with a school in Zimbabwe are helping pupils to understand life beyond Britain.
• Extra money provided to the school to support disadvantaged pupils is used very effectively to fund additional teaching staff to ensure that pupils are taught in smaller classes, resulting in rapidly diminishing differences between the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils and those of others. Among other things, the school funds a breakfast club which has assisted pupils in making a good start to learning each day.
• Additional funding to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has been well spent on providing transport for pupils, additional teaching assistants and a learning mentor. As a result, these pupils make at least good and often rapid progress in learning from their different starting points.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a deep understanding of the needs of the community the school serves. This has enabled them to robustly challenge and consistently support school leaders.
• Governors undertake their monitoring duties with the same rigour as school leaders, ensuring that any changes will have a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Minutes of governing body meetings show that they keenly hold the headteacher and senior leaders to account.
• Governors have an accurate view of the performance of the school. All understand their responsibilities and regularly monitor different aspects of teaching and learning, reporting regularly to the full governing body.
• Members of the governing body have a full understanding of how additional monies, such as pupil premium or primary school PE and sport funding, are used.
• Governors fulfil their statutory duties earnestly, undertaking additional training that helps inform this, for example, in preventing radicalisation or in child protection. ,

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders ensure that rigorous systems and procedures are in place to keep pupils safe. Records are detailed and show that staff are unafraid to tackle difficult situations in the interests of protecting pupils. All staff receive regular training on safeguarding issues, including in supporting pupils subject to domestic violence or those at risk of radicalisation.
• Leaders ensure that safeguarding is paramount in school. ‘The safeguarding and well-being of all children and adults’ appears as the first priority in the school’s ethos statement, keeping safeguarding uppermost in the minds of staff. Consequently, the culture of keeping pupils safe from harm permeates all aspects of the school’s work.
• The community and pastoral support officer works closely with families and external agencies to ensure that appropriate support and help are accessed where required. She is in daily contact with teachers, advising on ways to ensure that pupils’ needs are well met.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers across Parklands Primary express unwavering belief in the abilities of their pupils to achieve well. Encouraged by senior leaders, teachers take great care to develop methods of teaching that are right for their pupils. They reach out to form outstanding relationships and take responsibility for those in their care.
• Leaders have worked intensively with teachers to establish reliable assessment systems that link closely to the national curriculum. Teachers use the process well to determine accurately what pupils know and understand, and leaders have regularly sought the views of external consultants to check that assessment within school is accurate.
• Teachers ensure that pupils have many opportunities to explore and master new learning before they move on. Teachers’ highly effective questioning ensures that almost all pupils, including most pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged, make at least good and often rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Specialist teachers and teaching assistants provide effective support to pupils who are taught in the resource provision. This is enabling pupils who have complex special educational needs and/or disabilities to make secure physical and academic progress in a safe setting, while developing social skills alongside other pupils in school.
• Leaders have ensured that arrangements are in place for pupils who are unable to do their homework at home to complete it at school so that no pupil is disadvantaged by circumstances beyond their control. Pupils learn number facts and practise reading and spellings, sure in the knowledge that their teacher will check they have done their homework in the coming week.
• The teaching of mathematics is highly effective. Teachers are careful to help pupils to understand new concepts. Teachers place particular emphasis on pupils developing instant recall of number facts, including multiplication tables. Teachers’ consistent, school-wide approach to mathematics is helping pupils to attack more complex mathematical problems with confidence, contributing to pupils’ very high rates of progress.
• Work in books shows a strong focus on hands-on, investigative science, which is helping pupils to develop their practical skills and deepen their understanding of scientific processes. In one lesson, inspectors observed Year 6 pupils dissecting lambs’ hearts as part of a wider study on the human heart. Pupils enjoyed dressing like scientists and responded eagerly to the teachers’ instructions about safety.
• Reading records show that pupils read a wide range of texts. Staff appreciate that there are no local libraries, so pupils are encouraged to borrow any book they choose from school. The teaching of reading is well planned to enable pupils to build up the skills they need to respond confidently to questions about texts. Pupils regularly read to volunteers from the business community and with sports coaches. This frequent exposure to reading is enabling most pupils to make accelerated progress in reading, particularly in key stage 2.
• Teachers’ well-developed subject knowledge is underpinning the accurate teaching of phonics and is ensuring that a large majority of key stage 1 pupils get off to a steady start in their reading and writing.
• Writing is encouraged through a range of themes designed to appeal to pupils and motivate them to write. Pupils are encouraged to learn spellings weekly and to put their knowledge of spelling and grammar to good use in weekly dictation lessons. The progress of girls and pupils in key stage 2 is rapid.
• However, a few low-prior-attaining boys are not acquiring the skills they need in phonics or writing in order to catch up with their peers. Although teachers’ expectations are high, this means that the tasks these pupils are given are not consistently well matched to their ability.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. For example, pupils run a ‘pay as you feel’ stall each week to help redistribute food to parents. The money they have raised has gone back into buying equipment for pupils in school. This initiative enables pupils to contribute in a meaningful way and to better understand challenges facing their community.
• Teachers successfully promote pupils’ understanding of healthy life choices through science and personal, social and health (PSH) education lessons. Pupils in key stage 1 learn about eating a balanced diet. Pupils grow their own produce in the school garden, some of which makes its way to the ‘pay as you feel’ stall.
• The work done by school staff to involve the local community is exceptional. For example, parents and governors spoke with great affection about the ‘Seacroft Santa’ who has visited Parklands Primary on Christmas Eve for the last three years. While Santa distributed presents, school staff and pupils served 796 Christmas dinners to families.
• Leaders ensure that pupils have many opportunities to celebrate their successes, for example in newsletters and on the school’s social media feed, and through the much-loved Friday assembly, where pupils earn the right to sit in ‘the best seats in the house’.
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet, through well-planned lessons and displays around school. All pupils who returned the pupil questionnaire, and others who spoke to inspectors, said that they feel very safe in school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Incidents of low-level disruption are rarely seen in classes. Pupils respond very well to the ‘learning ladders’ and are keen to get to ‘gold’ and to earn a reward for their exceptional behaviour.
• Pupils demonstrate a high level of resilience in learning. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ productivity. Pupils do not waste time: pupils’ books show that they take care to present their work well and to cover as much ground as possible.
• Pupils said that bullying is a very rare occurrence, but when it does happen, they are confident that their teachers will intervene. Pupils were adamant that racism does not happen, partly because ‘the headteacher doesn’t like it’, but also because of their appreciation of diversity due to lessons, visitors to school and visits to the local mosque, for example.
• Absence from school has been high in the past, but the work of the attendance officer to support pupils and families is paying off and attendance was much improved last year. The vast majority of pupils attend school regularly and on time so that attendance is broadly in line with the national average. However, a small number of pupils are still regularly absent from school and the level of persistent absence is above that seen nationally.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Children enter Reception with skills and abilities well below those typically seen. Children’s language and communication skills are particularly weak. Because of good teaching, children make at least good and often rapid progress from low starting points. Despite this, children leave Reception with a good level of development that is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check rose to close to the national average in 2016, but dipped back to below the national average this year. This is partly because of a high number of pupils coming into, or leaving school during key stage 1.
• In 2016, the progress of pupils across key stage 2 was in the top 10% when compared with that of other pupils nationally, in both reading and mathematics, and was above average in writing. School information shows that the progress of pupils exiting Year 6 in 2017 was equally impressive in writing and mathematics.
• The most able pupils achieve exceptionally well and in Year 6, this is leading to several attaining a high level in reading. In 2017, over two thirds of Year 6 pupils attained a high level in mathematics and one fifth in reading. In 2016, 76% of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined, putting the school’s overall attainment 23% above the national average. These high standards have been maintained in 2017, with the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics remaining above the national averages.
• School assessment information shows that almost all current pupils make excellent progress given their starting points, across all year groups and in all subjects. This is also the case for disadvantaged pupils where differences in attainment between them and their peers diminish rapidly as they progress through the school. The exception to this is that some boys in key stage 1 are not making the rapid progress they need to in order to catch up with their peers, making them less well prepared to start key stage 2.
• Progress through key stage 2 is swift so that differences between boys and girls have diminished by the end of Year 6 and disadvantaged pupils’ progress is close to that of all pupils nationally.
• The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is measured carefully to capture small steps in their learning. School assessment information shows that they make strong progress from their starting points, but their attainment remains below that of their peers.

Early years provision Good

• The leader of early years ensures appropriate provision that is enticing children into learning. She has high expectations and has accurately identified areas for development, working with purpose to continually improve the setting. At the time of the inspection, children had been in school for only two days. Despite this, all children were settled and happy and provision was successfully helping them to develop their social, emotional and physical skills.
• Leaders take considerable care to ensure that children have a smooth introduction to school. Parents appreciate invitations to ‘stay and play’ sessions, and phonics and mathematics workshops. Parents spoke highly of the work of staff to help children move seamlessly into school and to help them understand how to support their child.
• The teaching of phonics is effective in helping children to pick out sounds they can hear in the environment. Children are successfully helped to identify letters and sounds, with staff using actions and repetition to reinforce their learning.
• Staff are careful to make sure that children are safe in the setting and staff hold appropriate first-aid certificates. Children are confident, sociable and happy in school. They play well together, showing that they feel safe in the setting.
• Additional funding provided to school for disadvantaged children and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used to provide additional adult support, helping children to adjust to school life and getting them ready to learn.
• Detailed observations, available in children’s records known as ‘learning journeys’ from last year, show that children are developing well socially and emotionally and that their learning in reading and number is accelerating. From well below typical starting points, children achieve a level of development that is still below typical for their age. Overall, boys are less able to demonstrate age-appropriate writing skills because activities provided for them do not consistently challenge children and develop these skills.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 107943 Leeds 10023979 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 Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 301 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Graham Hyde Chris Dyson 0113 293 0282 www.parklandsprimary.org.uk office@parklandsleeds.org.uk Date of previous inspection 14 January 2014

Information about this school

• Parklands Primary School is larger than an average-sized primary school.
• The school is a demonstration school for the White Rose Maths Hub.
• The school won the 2017 Times Educational Supplement Business Collaboration Award for very effective partnership working with local businesses.
• A total of 72% of pupils are eligible for support through the pupil premium. This is almost three times the average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above average. Half of all boys are receiving additional support for special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The school has a 14-place resourced provision for pupils who have severe learning difficulties. Their attainment and progress are included in the overall outcomes for the school.
• The proportion of pupils from White British backgrounds is 75%, and the next largest heritage represented is Black British African.
• Mobility is above average. Up to a third of pupils join or leave the school during key stage 1.
• 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. There is no nursery at the school.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Together with the headteacher and assistant headteachers, inspectors looked at pupils’ progress data, information about the performance of teachers, documents relating to behaviour and safety, and documents relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in lessons throughout the two days, some alongside senior leaders.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, and observed pupils’ learning in small groups. They spoke with pupils in lessons, at lunchtime and at playtimes and talked with groups of pupils from all classes.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders and three members of the governing body. A conversation was also held with the school improvement partner.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the school day. They considered the opinions of 41 parents through Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents).
• Inspectors took account of the 35 online responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and the 24 responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.

Inspection team

Lesley Butcher, lead inspector Julia Wright Ella Besharati Lynda Johnson

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector