Raynville Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that all teaching and learning are consistently good or better, to accelerate even faster pupils’ progress, especially across key stage 1, and in writing throughout the school, by:
  • better meeting the needs of some of the most able pupils with more challenging work, so that more reach the highest outcomes
  • ensuring that all adults carefully check the learning and progress of all pupils in lessons, and appropriately revise work and the timing of activities so that they all learn well
  • further developing pupils’ advanced writing skills to support the liveliness of their writing and flow of ideas, on the page
  • maximising opportunities for pupils to reinforce, and further develop their general and subject-specific skills and understanding, in all subjects.
• Sharpen the skills of all leaders, especially those with subject responsibilities, in monitoring precisely the effectiveness of teaching on all pupils’ learning and progress, in all subjects across the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher, senior leaders and governors show high expectations of all pupils and staff. As a consequence, pupils receive a good education.
• There have been considerable changes in staffing since the last inspection. These have posed significant challenges. On arrival at the school in September 2016, the headteacher quickly prioritised improvements in teaching and learning, enhanced arrangements to track pupils’ progress, and introduced new resources to boost pupils’ reading and mathematical skills.
• Weaknesses in teaching have largely been addressed, and quality support continues to be provided where further improvement is expected. The headteacher and senior leaders are committed to developing the skills and expertise of all staff. Teachers and teaching assistants indicate that they benefit from effective training and coaching in a supportive, positive ethos.
• The headteacher and senior leaders have an accurate view of the strengths of the school. Priorities for further development are appropriate. While the quality of teaching is of a good standard, resulting in pupils’ good overall achievement, the headteacher and senior leaders have already identified that not all teaching is as effective as it should be. They are taking successful steps to eradicate inconsistencies.
• Arrangements for managing the performance of staff are appropriately organised. They ensure that all teachers are held to account for developing the quality of their teaching, and for making sure that the pupils they teach make good and better progress. The headteacher recognises that some teachers’ objectives could be even more explicit and challenging, and is taking steps to remedy this matter.
• Detailed arrangements are in place to check the rates of pupils’ progress. They ensure that pupils who underachieve are quickly identified, and that actions are taken to support them to catch up.
• While expectations for leaders are very clear, the school knows that there is scope for them to have an even greater effect on pupils’ outcomes. Not all leaders are equally confident, and precise, in checking the effectiveness of teaching on all pupils’ learning, in lessons and in pupils’ work. This is particularly so for subject leaders, and in a number of subjects across the curriculum.
• The pupil premium funding is used efficiently. Funding is reviewed by senior leaders and governors to ensure that it supports individual pupils’ needs. As a result, differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally have diminished over time.
• Leaders have also used the additional physical education and sport funding to improve teachers’ skills, and increase the range of sports in which pupils can take part. Pupils participate in a wide range of activities and competitions, including swimming, cross-country, fencing and archery.
• The discrete funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is also kept rigorously under review. Bespoke learning arrangements ensure that these pupils make good progress. This is equally so in lessons, and where there is specialist teaching for pupils with individual learning needs.
• The many different experiences and opportunities within the curriculum enthuse pupils and help to ignite their curiosity. Teachers work hard to ensure that pupils enjoy their learning and that they broaden their knowledge. For example, in key stage 1, pupils learn about weather and climate across the world. They investigate the history of toys and explore the materials from which they were made in the past. Across key stage 2, pupils explore the functions of the heart, blood and blood vessels, as well as looking at the impact of human activity on the world environment.
• Leaders recognise, however, that the quality of subject experiences beyond English and mathematics have not yet been fully checked. They have prioritised improvements in this work.
• School assemblies and weekly personal, social, health and citizenship lessons promote well British values, such as respect and tolerance, equality, an understanding of the importance of life in a community and adherence to rules.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is also well developed. Opportunities to learn about different world religions, work carried out during Black History month, regular specialist music lessons and school concerts, and the annual Irish exchange, all enrich pupils’ spiritual and cultural awareness. Pupils develop an understanding of democracy through the annual elections of school councillors, sport and house leaders.
• Pupils’ adherence to the school’s rules, keenness to fund raise for local and international charities, and readiness to take on positions of responsibility, enhance their social and moral skills.
• The school has forged effective links with expert practitioners from schools within the locality, and beyond. These links provide the school with good support and challenge to further develop its work.
• Parents are unequivocally positive about the school’s work. They indicate high levels of confidence in staff’s abilities to look after their children and keep them safe, and in the good quality of teaching to ensure that their children learn well.

Governance of the school

• Governors articulate an ambitious vision for the school’s future. They know the school well, understand its strengths, and are clear about areas that need further improvement.
• Governors know, increasingly, the right questions to ask to understand how well the school is doing compared to others nationally. They hold leaders to account for the school’s performance.
• Governors check that additional funding, such as the pupil premium grant, physical education and sport funding and funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, is spent wisely and makes a positive difference.
• Governors avail themselves of appropriate training to enable them to verify that the school’s safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding meet requirements.

• Leaders work closely with the relevant external organisations, including the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
• Leaders are vigilant in keeping pupils safe. Leaders ensure a safe environment for pupils through regular and detailed risk assessments.
• Staff have a good understanding of the implications of the latest version of the government guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’. They use the advice and information they receive to constantly guide their work.
• The school’s records show that links with individual families, particularly where pupils live in vulnerable circumstances, demonstrate a strong duty of care.
• Staff make themselves available throughout the school day, and beyond, to ensure that pupils and families receive the support they need.
• Procedures for recruiting staff are detailed. The school maintains an up-to-date and accurate record of all appointments.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is typically good. As a result, pupils are making increasingly good progress in their learning.
• Teachers and teaching assistants are good role models for pupils and promote positive and respectful relationships. Pupils are mostly very attentive in class. Most pupils show positive attitudes to their learning. Their good behaviour supports their learning well.
• In most lessons, teachers show a good understanding of pupils’ needs and interests. Most teachers use probing questions skilfully to elicit pupils’ understanding and extend their thinking. Increasingly, teachers expect pupils to think for themselves, and apply their learning in different contexts.
• Phonic skills are particularly well taught. Pupils use the techniques they learn, throughout the school, to help them read and understand unfamiliar words.
• The teaching of reading is good. Around the school the many book stands, cosy reading areas and inviting displays encourage pupils to read regularly. Pupils say how much they enjoy reading for pleasure, at home as well as in school. Older pupils can talk confidently about their favourite books and authors. Teachers are increasingly successful in developing pupils’ confidence to speculate and make inferences about what they read.
• The teaching of mathematics is good. Staff have responded well to this area for improvement raised in the last inspection. Pupils’ books contain many examples of the use of calculation skills to solve a range of problems and investigations. In lessons, teachers regularly insist that pupils explain mathematical concepts, and justify the answers that they find.
• The teaching of writing is improving strongly. Pupils write with increasing levels of confidence in a range of formal and informal contexts, and for different audiences and purposes. Most teachers encourage pupils to consider punctuation and vocabulary that influences the reader, and to spell accurately. Not all teachers develop, successfully, pupils’ advanced writing skills, particularly those which would help them to sequence ideas more smoothly and bring writing alive on the page.
• Teachers and teaching assistants are enthusiastic about their work. They show a willingness to update and improve their skills to benefit pupils’ learning. Staff take advantage of opportunities to work with colleagues in local schools, and beyond, to share effective practice.
• On occasions, some teachers’ expectations are not high enough. This is particularly so in key stage 1. Some teachers do not keep sufficient watch on the learning and progress of all pupils, and revise work and the timing of activities so that all learn well. This results in some pupils losing concentration, and completing work in a superficial manner that does not reflect their true abilities. Not all teachers, across the school, set tasks for some of the most able pupils that consistently challenge them.
• The teaching of science, music and physical education is strong. Some teachers, however, do not reinforce rigorously enough the development of pupils’ basic skills, or test sufficiently their specific understanding, in the full range of subjects.

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 other agencies when they identify any pupils that may be at risk.
• Assemblies, weekly personal, social, health and citizenship lessons, and the many educational visits and extra-curricular opportunities, motivate pupils to think about the world around them.
• Work in the local community and visits to school by local MPs, the police and health professionals help to prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils develop a good understanding of the concepts of freedom and democracy, and of Britain’s parliamentary system. They talk enthusiastically about their elections as school councillors and the manifestos they have to produce to convince others to elect them.
• Pupils are proud of their responsibilities as sport leaders and house captains, and of the contributions that these roles enable them to make to the life of the school. Pupils are equally enthusiastic about the many fundraising activities that they organise, and the contributions that they make, through this work, to other peoples’ lives.
• The school’s annual exchange with a primary school in Macroom, County Cork, together with visits to local churches, temples and mosques, and celebrations of different religious festivals in assemblies, all encourage pupils’ strong appreciation of the different, but equally important, views of people from distinct backgrounds, faiths and cultures.
• Pupils say 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 are conscious of the importance of keeping safe online, and the vigilance they need to show about people they do not know beyond the school’s gates.
• The importance that all staff constantly place on leading a healthy lifestyle helps pupils to understand the value of a balanced diet, regular exercise and good hygiene.
• The school’s records show that a minority of pupils show signs of challenging emotional and behavioural traits, at times. Staff’s support for these pupils is highly effective. It includes small-group work and regular opportunities to meet and greet Rudi, the school’s pet dog.
• Pupils also understand about different types of bullying and try to prevent it from happening. Pupils say that when infrequent incidents of bullying occur, they are dealt with quickly and successfully by staff.
• 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. As a result, they are well-prepared to start their learning at the beginning of each academic year.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils relate well to one another, and all of the adults, and are particularly welcoming of visitors. The school operates as an inclusive and cohesive community.
• Pupils, in all years, show a good awareness of the expectations that adults and their peers have of their behaviour. Pupils follow instructions well. They have a good understanding of the Raynville rules, and strive to follow them at all times.
• Most pupils show positive attitudes to learning and work cooperatively in most lessons. They value each other’s points of view, and help one another with their work.
• Leaders successfully encourage the importance of regular attendance and quickly follow up any extended absence. As a result, pupils’ attendance has improved considerably since the last inspection and is now average.
• On occasions, particularly where teachers’ expectations are not high enough, some pupils lose concentration in some classes. On these occasions, some pupils do not make the most of their learning opportunities.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Following a period during which the quality of pupils’ learning varied across the school, and standards fell at the end of key stage 2, pupils’ progress rates have picked up considerably in recent times.
• In 2017, overall standards in reading and mathematics rose to above national averages, at the end of Year 6. Standards in writing also increased, but were not as high, especially at greater depth. These improvements were due to higher expectations by leaders, and a rise in the proportion of consistently good teaching and learning. The improvements represented good progress for the vast majority of pupils.
• The school’s information indicates that improved and good rates of pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics, across key stage 2, have been sustained. Inspection activities, including visits to lessons and extensive sampling of pupils’ work, confirm that this is so. They also show that outcomes in writing continue to rise.
• Pupils achieve increasingly well across key stage 1. Overall outcomes in phonics are above average, and reading standards are rapidly approaching the national average. Outcomes in writing and mathematics, while improving over time, are still not high enough for some pupils. This is because teaching is not yet consistently good across Years 1 and 2.
• Leaders have taken steps to improve key stage 1 teaching, learning and pupils’ achievements. Additional coaching by experienced practitioners, as well as supplementary teaching by senior leaders, is already making a difference. Pupils’ progress has markedly improved, as of late.
• Across the school, pupils read regularly and enthusiastically. By the end of Year 6, most pupils read fluently, and with understanding. They are increasingly confident to locate efficiently, and explain succinctly, the main information in texts, as well as make speculations about what they read.
• Pupils’ mathematical skills are also developing strongly. In most classes, pupils are keen to practise their basic mathematical skills, and use them to solve mathematical problems. Many pupils can explain how they have worked out calculations, and why they have chosen certain approaches to solve problems.
• Most pupils develop confidence in writing for different purposes and audiences. Pupils are increasingly adept in selecting vocabulary, expressions and punctuation for effect. In general, most pupils spell accurately and use grammar correctly. Some of the average and high-prior-attaining pupils have not yet developed skills and confidence to ensure that writing flows, and brings content to life, on the page.
• Most pupils develop good skills and understanding in science. By the end of key stage 2, they reach standards that are approaching those seen nationally. Good quality physical education experiences develop levels of teamwork, stamina and physical agility. In music, pupils’ appreciation of the sounds that different instruments make, and of the importance of pitch and rhythm when composing and playing, are developing well. Skills and understanding in other subjects are not always as well advanced.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make overall good progress. This is the result of well-planned support and well-targeted activities.
• By the time they leave school, the progress made by pupils known to be eligible for support funded by the pupil premium is also good. Differences in the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and others nationally have narrowed, over time. School information shows that the majority of current disadvantaged pupils, including the most able, are making good progress in many classes. This is because the school is aware of their needs and generally ensures that support for them is effective.
• On occasions, however, some pupils do not make, consistently, the progress of which they are capable. This is particularly the case for some of the most able pupils across the school. This is because work is not always pitched at a high enough level to sustain pupils’ interest levels and consistently develop their skills and understanding.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children make outstanding progress in the early years. By the end of the Reception Year, the proportion achieving a good level of development is rapidly approaching national expectations. Many children achieve outcomes that exceed national expectations, particularly in forming relationships with other children, in reading, writing and mathematical skills, and in their confidence to communicate with each other, and with adults. Children are very well prepared to start Year 1.
• Children settle quickly in the Nursery and become self-assured learners because routines and expectations are well defined. They behave well and quickly show respect for, and patience towards, one another. Overall provision in the Nursery has improved significantly since the last inspection, and is now of a similarly high quality as that seen in Reception.
• Teaching and learning are outstanding. Adults ignite children’s curiosity through the very well-planned learning activities that respond to the needs, and interests, of all of the children. Nursery children were absorbed, for example, by an opportunity to count the snowman’s buttons. In the Reception Year, children were engrossed in wrapping and labelling Christmas presents, and in creating winter scenes, using cotton wool to represent snow.
• Adults constantly ask questions that encourage children to think for themselves and develop self-confidence. Adults check carefully how well children are doing, and identify how they can develop further.
• The highly effective modelling of sounds and actions by adults lends confidence to children who experience early communication difficulties. Those who have SEN and/or disabilities are very well supported alongside their peers. Pupil premium funding is used successfully to provide disadvantaged children with additional resources that help to support high levels of achievement.
• The early years team know the children exceptionally well and enjoy very positive relationships with them. Staff work successfully to provide a safe and harmonious learning atmosphere. As a consequence, children behave extremely well and feel very safe. All the necessary steps are taken to support any children whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.
• There are excellent procedures for getting to know the children and their families, to ensure a smooth start to school. Daily links with parents ensure that home and school continue to work very well together. For example, staff have supported parents well in accessing the school’s online facility for capturing evidence of children’s learning and progress, over time. As a consequence, staff have a very wide range of information, both written and visual, of children’s development, beyond school.
• Committed leadership of the early years ensures that staff are keen to share good practice with each other. Staff have identified appropriate aspects of provision that could further be improved. These include activities to promote even better boy’s reading and writing outcomes.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number Type of school School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 107965 Leeds 10037706 Primary Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 481 Appropriate authority Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Governing body Robert Greaves Andrew Midgley 0113 257 9590

www.raynvilleprimaryleeds.org.uk secretary@raynvilleprimaryleeds.org.uk

Date of previous inspection 10–11 October 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is a larger than average-sized primary school.
• 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 above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is slightly below average. Very few pupils have an education, health and care plan.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Children start the early years with part-time education in the Nursery. In Reception, children receive full-time education.
• Since the last inspection, there have been significant changes in staffing. A new headteacher, and chair of governors took up post in September 2016. New middle leaders, new teachers and new governors have also been appointed. A range of high quality support to help to improve the quality of teaching, and leadership, has been provided by schools within the Leeds West family of schools, and beyond.

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 made with school leaders.
• Alongside school leaders, inspectors reviewed pupils’ progress data and pupils’ work in books, information about the performance of teachers, 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 considered views expressed by 46 pupils in the online Ofsted questionnaire, and by 58 pupils in a recent school questionnaire.
• Inspectors also took account of 34 responses from parents to the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View), and of the views of 30 staff through responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire and through informal and formal discussions.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteachers, middle leaders and governors. In addition, a conversation was held with a representative from the local authority.

Inspection team

Andy Swallow, lead inspector Ella Bescharati Mike Tull

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector