The New Bewerley Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that low prior-attaining pupils make the progress they need to catch up, by:
  • ensuring that pupils quickly acquire and secure basic skills in handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation
  • continuing to develop teaching in phonics so that pupils can use and apply these skills to improve their reading and writing.
• Continue to work closely with families to reduce persistent absenteeism across the school.
• Improve the quality of teaching in the early years, so that:
  • planning meets the needs of the children in all areas of learning
  • staff are clear about the next steps in the children’s learning
  • there is purposeful learning for all activities, especially in the outdoor area.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The inspirational leadership of the headteacher and his team of senior leaders has successfully promoted a strong sense of purpose across the whole staff team so that morale is high. Leaders are uncompromising in their approach to ensuring that teaching is consistently good across the school, and this is resulting in improved progress and attainment for the pupils.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the strengths and weakness in the school and set priorities for what needs to improve further. They devise plans that tackle these priorities systematically, and this is resulting in good teaching, good personal development, behaviour and welfare, and outcomes which are improving.
• The headteacher and governors have high expectations of all staff. They have recently reviewed the senior and middle leadership structure and are providing a high level of support, training and challenge for middle leaders. As a result, these leaders have a clear view of their areas of leadership. Through systematic and careful assessments of pupils’ progress, they identify any areas that need to improve further and put effective plans into place to secure and measure these improvements.

• Leaders make sure that all staff, including newly qualified teachers, receive effective professional development and a personalised level of support to ensure that their teaching skills continue to develop effectively.
• The school’s recently created motto, ‘Include, Create, Perform’, demonstrates the importance that school leaders place on inclusion. Leaders use additional funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities well, to provide the extra support these pupils need to improve their skills and knowledge. Pupils in the Rainbow Room are supported by highly skilled adults, who know and respond well to these pupils’ very specific, individual needs. Despite the recent changes in the leadership of SEN, school leaders have worked hard to ensure that there is continuity. Leaders are currently improving the way that they measure the progress these pupils make, so that it is more useful to inform teaching.
• Parents and carers are very appreciative of the work of the school. They said that their children are very settled and are learning well. All of the parents who spoke with inspectors agreed that staff are ‘very helpful and will do anything for you’. One parent told inspectors, ‘My daughter misses school at the weekends – so I know, for sure, that she is happy here!’
• The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. It is a real strength of the school, providing a wide range of opportunities, which actively deepen and extend pupils’ life experiences. A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including lunchtime and after-school clubs, residential trips, visits and visitors, give pupils a broader outlook on life and help to prepare them well for the next stage in their education. The school’s strong partnership with a community residency programme provides many of these extra experiences for pupils, including the opportunity for all pupils to learn a musical instrument.

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• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including British values, well. The school community has a diverse range of races, religions, cultures and languages, which is valued and celebrated by everyone.
• Leaders make effective use of the pupil premium funding. It is used to provide extra teaching and welfare support for disadvantaged pupils and enriching experiences for them, such as residential trips and learning to play a musical instrument. As a result, these pupils have increased self-confidence and self-esteem, which is having a positive effect on the progress they make in lessons.
• The sports leader ensures that the primary physical education and sports funding is used well so that all teachers can deliver effective physical education lessons. Pupils have opportunities to take part in a wide range of sports, such as football, netball, swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading and orienteering. The number of pupils who participate in extra-curricular sporting activities is increasing rapidly.
• The local authority and other leaders in the RAISE partnership of local schools have successfully contributed to the improvements made since the previous inspection. The local authority checks the work of the school regularly and recently conducted a full audit of the school’s work to safeguard pupils. Leaders from the RAISE partnership have conducted a wide variety of school improvement activities, which have had a positive impact on teaching and learning across the school.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective.Governors are highly ambitious for the school and know it well. They have a sharp focus on holding senior leaders to account and challenging the headteacher.
• Governors monitor the school’s work through regular focused visits. Minutes of meetings evidence that governors meet with pupils to discuss their work, visit classrooms and review a wide range of performance information. The headteacher and senior leaders provide detailed and helpful reports to governors, on a regular basis, which enables them to ask challenging questions. As a result, they have a strong picture of teaching and learning across the school.
• Governors have a clear and accurate picture of how leaders spend pupil premium funding and ensure that this is used effectively to improve the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. They make good use of school performance information to check that this is happening.
• Governors work closely with their school improvement adviser to manage the performance of the headteacher. They set challenging targets for him, which are closely linked to the school development plan, and monitor his performance rigorously.
• Governors understand their statutory duties for safeguarding and ensure that they recruit staff with careful consideration.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s site is secure. Leaders ensure that it remains so through regular and detailed risk assessments. Pupils learn about how to move safely around the school, and staff are vigilant in keeping pupils safe.
• School leaders demonstrate a strong duty of care to individual families, especially when pupils live in vulnerable circumstances.
• Safeguarding records are of a high quality and clearly demonstrate the commitment of the staff to keeping pupils safe. Staff and governors receive regular training on a variety of aspects of safeguarding and can clearly explain their duties and responsibilities for keeping pupils safe.
• The school keeps an accurate and up-to-date record of the appointments of all staff, and the arrangements for recruiting staff are thorough and effective.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders promote reading well across the school. Pupils are keen readers and most read regularly at home. The ‘Raving Readers’ scheme encourages pupils to collect a signature for each book they have read, to receive an award. Recently, 40 pupils achieved over 200 signatures and received a free book. Pupils are very enthusiastic about their reading. One pupil said, ‘I lose all my anger and upset’, while another was keen to share a quote she had really liked: ‘Reading cradles my creativity.’ However, not all the older pupils read expressively or with full regard for punctuation.
• In writing, pupils’ books show that they have good attitudes to their work and, as a result, their work is improving. Pupils’ vocabulary is steadily increasing, and they are becoming more adventurous in their choice of words. Pupils are not consistently using cursive handwriting. Although most pupils’ books show that they are making secure progress, the progress of low prior-attaining pupils, overall, is more variable.
• Pupils are developing their mathematical skills well. Pupils are able to make choices about the methods they used to solve various calculations. Most can explain the reasons for their particular method. Low prior-attaining pupils receive support and, as a result, their progress is speeding up.

• Teachers ensure that pupils’ learning in science is good. They have regular opportunities to engage in practical, scientific experiments. They explore and investigate possible outcomes, arrive at conclusions and record their findings appropriately.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are taught well. This is especially true of pupils in the Rainbow Room resourced provision. Staff know the pupils very well. Consequently, they are able to make sure that they meet pupils’ individual needs as effectively as possible, through precise and detailed planning.
• Pupils have many opportunities to apply their mathematical, reading and writing skills and knowledge to other subjects across the wider curriculum. For example, some pupils had used their mathematical skills successfully in a history lesson to convert the value of Victorian coins to today’s monetary system. During the inspection, pupils in Year 5 were using their reading skills to sift and sort information about Viking and Anglo-Saxon homes. Having read and discussed the book, ‘Where the wild things are’, pupils then had the opportunity to extend and develop their knowledge and experiences further through a dance workshop, linked to the book.
• Teachers and most teaching assistants are good role models for the pupils and promote respectful, positive relationships. Pupils are mostly attentive in class and listen well to the teacher and to each other. The vast majority of pupils have positive attitudes to their learning and are keen to do well.
• Teachers ensure that the majority of pupils successfully acquire phonics skills, and most pupils use these effectively to help them to read unfamiliar words. However, low prior-attaining pupils do not always secure these skills fully across key stage 1, and this slows down their progress with reading and writing.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are well mannered, respectful and courteous to each other and to the adults working with them. They were keen to talk with the inspectors about their school and did so very confidently.
• Pupils take a great pride in their school. ‘Safe’, ‘friendly’, ‘welcoming’, ‘respectful’, ‘caring’ and ‘responsible’ are words they use to describe it. They make sure that there is no litter left around and that cloakrooms and classrooms are tidy. They also take pride in their personal appearance and adhere to the school uniform policy.
• Pupils celebrate the rich diversity of race, culture, religion and language in their school. When talking with inspectors, they were genuinely amazed that the colour of a person’s skin could possibly affect their relationship, commenting, ‘We’re all humans!’ and ‘It’s a great thing. We all have different friends!’ They explained how some pupils help each other in translating language when they are having difficulties.
• Teachers teach pupils how to keep themselves safe. Pupils understand the importance of keeping safe online, explaining, for example, how they should always report to an adult anything that makes them uncomfortable. They feel safe in school because of the secure school site and the fob-entry system, and they are never alone in the classroom. They described to inspectors the recent fire drill they had undertaken, which also helps to keep them safe.
• Pupils agree that bullying in school is rare but, as soon as any instance of this is reported to an adult, it is immediately and successfully dealt with. Parents who spoke with inspectors were not aware of any instances of bullying. A very small minority of parents had raised some concerns in the school’s most recent questionnaire. Leaders had investigated this further and dealt with it effectively.
• Pupils play and eat together well at lunchtime and playtime. On the first day of the inspection, which was very snowy, pupils had to stay indoors for the morning break. Although they were excited by the snow and disappointed not to be able to go out in it, their conduct was exemplary. All pupils remained in their classrooms, had their milk and snacks together and were engaged in activities such as board games, whole-class activities such as ‘hangman’, reading individually and listening to stories told by adults. Displays around the school show how the pupils learn about the importance of healthy eating.
• The strong emphasis on the arts in this school provides many opportunities for pupils to achieve and shine in areas that may rely less on purely academic ability. All pupils have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Their teachers learn alongside them, providing real-life examples of how even adults make mistakes and learn from them. The dance workshops, observed during the inspection, provided pupils with opportunities to work together as a team, to respect and yet encourage those who are more reticent and to develop their leadership skills.
• Pupils have many opportunities to be involved in community and charity activities. For example, key stage 2 pupils worked with the charity ‘Kissing It Better’, a local charity that runs a caring unit for elderly people. The pupils visited, on various occasions, to take part in activities such as knitting, cooking and playing board games with residents.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The school has a clear code of behaviour, which the vast majority of pupils understand and follow. The evidence gathered during this inspection indicates that the school operates as a cohesive and inclusive community.
• Parents spoken with during the inspection agreed that behaviour is good. The very large majority of parents who responded to the school’s latest questionnaire hold the same view.
• Occasionally, a small minority of pupils find it more challenging to manage their behaviour. They receive good support from staff through the Dinner Time Club. This provides a safe space for pupils to talk through and resolve their problems.
• School leaders successfully promote the importance of good attendance through a series of incentives and rewards. Governors are also very involved in this work. Leaders quickly follow up any unexplained or extended absence. As a result, the school’s attendance figures are steadily moving closer to the national average. However, a small number of pupils are persistently absent from school for extended periods. School leaders work closely with the families to address this, but there is no noticeable improvement.
• On occasions, especially where work does not match pupils’ needs, some pupils lose concentration and do not make the most of their learning time.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• At the end of key stage 1 in 2017, the proportion of middle and high prior-attaining pupils reaching the expected standard in all core subjects was similar to or higher than that of the same groups of pupils nationally. However, low prior-attaining pupils did not make progress in line with their peers nationally. Fewer of these pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing or mathematics than those pupils nationally with similar starting points.
• At the end of key stage 2, pupils consistently made strong progress in writing and mathematics. Pupils’ progress in reading improved from 2016 to 2017 and was better than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils reaching expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 improved considerably from 2016 to 2017. While the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics remained below national averages, more pupils made good progress to reach the higher standard.
• Overall, the progress of disadvantaged pupils is good. Leaders regularly assess how well these pupils are doing and respond swiftly to address any gaps in learning with additional teaching time and extra group sessions. Consequently, by the end of key stage 2, these pupils have made better progress than others from similar starting points do nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school’s work to provide additional support for pupils who speak English as an additional language is very strong. The school has recently appointed a leader to focus specifically on this work, to make sure that these pupils receive the additional support that they need. Consequently, they quickly develop the language skills they need to achieve as well as other pupils.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, including those in the resourced provision, integrate very well into the life of the school. Inspectors sampled the work of some of these pupils and saw evidence of the steady progress that they are making.
• Current pupils’ books, in all year groups, show that most pupils across the school are progressing well in subjects beyond reading, writing and mathematics. These other subjects are taught through the school’s thematic approach to the curriculum. Pupils are successfully building on previous learning and developing secure skills, knowledge and understanding from their different starting points.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the early years with skills and knowledge that are below, or well below, those typical for their age. They make good progress so that, by the time they leave the Reception class, around half of them reach a good level of development and are well prepared for Year 1. This figure has improved considerably since the last inspection. Teachers in Year 1 ensure that they adapt their teaching to meet the needs of those children who did not achieve a good level of development.
• Teachers and teaching assistants in the early years ensure that the majority of children successfully acquire phonics skills. From a low starting point, children quickly learn the sounds that letters make and apply these skills to their reading and writing. Most children observed during the inspection could read and write a range of simple and more complex words, and many could write their name confidently. Consequently, approximately half of them achieve the early learning goals in reading and writing at the end of the Reception Year.
• Children who have SEN and/or disabilities, including those from the Rainbow Room, are supported well and play happily with, or alongside, the other children for much of the time. When these children need to work alone, teaching assistants recognise this and create a suitable space for this within the classroom provision, so that the children’s learning continues without interruption.
• Leaders use additional funding effectively to make a difference to disadvantaged children in the early years. As a result, the achievement of these children is improving so that, in 2017, the proportion reaching a good level of development was above that of disadvantaged children nationally.
• Leadership of the early years is effective. The leader ensures that her staff receive up-to-date training and professional development to improve their skills. She rigorously tracks the progress of all children and groups of children to make sure that all are moving on with their learning as quickly as they should be.
• The Reception classrooms and outdoor area are safe places for the children. Staff ensure that all health and safety requirements are met.
• There are good procedures for getting to know the children and their families to ensure a smooth start to school. Relationships with parents are good, and parents are very happy with the provision for their children.
• Teaching is good and most adults provide the appropriate support for children’s learning. However, teachers do not always plan well to ensure that effective learning is taking place in all areas of the provision. Sometimes, the learning intentions for activities, especially in the outdoor area, are unclear.

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School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121791 Leeds 10037732 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 Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 416 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Neil Rhodes Gary German 01138 878718 www.newbewerley.leeds.sch.uk/ secretary@newbewerley.org.uk Date of previous inspection 17─ 18 April 2013

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• Over half of the pupils are disadvantaged. This is well above average.
• White British pupils form the largest ethnic group in the school. However, the proportion of pupils from other ethnic backgrounds is well above average, as is the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language. There are more pupils, overall, in the school who have an ethnic background that is not White British.
• The proportion of pupils who have support for SEN and/or disabilities is well above average, as is the proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or 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 in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school has a specialist, resourced provision on site, known as the Rainbow Room, for 12 pupils who have physical and medical needs. At the time of the inspection, there were 12 pupils attending this provision.
• There is a children’s centre on site. As this is managed separately from the school, it was not inspected at this time.
• A new headteacher, deputy headteacher and several members of staff have been recruited since the last inspection.

Information about this inspection

• The second day of this inspection was postponed, as the school was closed due to heavy snow. As a result of this, the inspection team had one change on the second day. There were three inspectors in school on each day of the inspection.
• Inspectors observed learning in all classes and in the resourced provision. Some observations were carried out with the headteacher and senior leaders in the school. Inspectors also observed musical and dance activities, provided by visiting specialists, and scrutinised a range of pupils’ work.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and met with a group of pupils to discuss the work in their books. Inspectors also spoke with another group of pupils about their enjoyment of school and their opinions on behaviour and safety.
• The inspection team considered a wide range of school documents. These included the school’s review of its own performance, the school development plan, governing board documents, behaviour and attendance records, information about the progress of the pupils, action plans for various subjects, documents relating to safeguarding and to the monitoring of teachers’ performance.
• Inspectors held discussions with staff and governors. The lead inspector spoke on the telephone with a representative from the local authority.
• There were not enough responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, for inspectors to consider. There were no responses to either the pupil or staff survey. However, inspectors considered parents’ and pupils’ comments and responses to the school’s own, similar questionnaires, and spoke informally with parents. Inspectors met with a group of teachers to hear their views.

Inspection team

Heather Mensah, lead inspector Simon Bissett Lesley Butcher Andrew Soutar

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector