Barrowcliff School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leaders and managers by:
  • continuing to rigorously address inconsistencies in teaching
  • checking that planned actions for school improvement are sharply focused on the measurable progress pupils make in learning
  • ensuring pupils’ rates of attendance improve quickly and the proportion who are persistently absent falls, including for disadvantaged pupils.
• Improve the quality and consistency of teaching by:
  • developing greater challenge and pace in learning for all pupils, including for the most able and most able disadvantaged pupils
  • checking that teachers’ feedback to pupils always follows the agreed school policy and impacts positively on pupils’ learning
  • raising teachers’ expectations of pupils’ attitudes to learning and engagement in lessons to make sure pupils do not lose concentration and distract others
  • checking that all teachers follow the agreed school policy to promote good behaviour and address low-level disruption in lessons.
• Improve outcomes for pupils by:
  • ensuring that pupils’ accelerating progress in learning results in a larger proportion reaching standards expected for their age
  • ensuring that a greater proportion of pupils work at a greater depth in all subjects
  • continuing to diminish the difference between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Over time, the headteacher and senior leaders have been successful in bringing about some improvement in the quality of teaching, but until recently the pace of change has been slow. Inconsistencies in the quality of teaching remain in school, leading to pupils’ attainment and progress being below that found nationally.
• Throughout, the headteacher has been unwavering in his determination to secure an excellent standard of education in this school. He is now supported exceptionally well by the deputy headteacher, who has provided a new focus and energy to school improvement since her appointment, acting as a catalyst for significant change.
• Working alongside an invigorated governing body and strengthened senior leadership team, the headteacher and deputy headteacher are taking effective action to eliminate underperformance and quickly improve the quality of teaching. The impact of their work is beginning to emerge.
• The ambition and drive to improve all aspects of school life include actions to tackle previous weaknesses, eradicate underperformance and improve the quality of teaching and learning. Current pupils are now starting to make strong progress in their learning in most year groups in school. There has been too little time to see improved outcomes for pupils in published statutory data.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate view of what the school does well, and what it needs to do to consolidate recent improvements and be even more successful. Procedures to monitor and evaluate the school’s performance through checking the quality of teaching and learning are incisive and detailed. Leaders hold teachers stringently to account for pupils’ progress in learning.
• Leaders’ plans for further improvements are based on a clear view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and are detailed in the school development plan. Actions are monitored carefully to ensure no time is wasted to drive further improvements. Planned actions are not always clearly aligned with the measurable rates of progress pupils make in their learning.
• Leaders carefully consider how best to spend the school’s pupil premium funding and carefully evaluate its impact on the progress and achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Over time, the support and resources secured are not having the maximum impact on reducing differences between disadvantaged pupils and others, across subjects.
• The school’s curriculum is rich and balanced, and currently under review to ensure it meets pupils’ needs and interests. Links are made to allow pupils to develop skills across the curriculum, such as using a Venn diagram to record, classify and present data in a science topic on animals’ physical processes. The curriculum allows pupils to visit places of interest, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, or follow a Victorian trail around Scarborough. It is enhanced by a range of after-school or lunchtime clubs, such as dance, running, cooking and geology.
• Pupils’ good personal development is in part due to a curriculum and school ethos that strongly contributes to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In lessons and in assemblies, the promotion of British values such as democracy and the rule of law prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils report their interest in exploring other cultures and global communities, celebrated in vibrant displays around school. The celebration of former pupils’ achievements and career paths raises pupils’ aspirations and prepares them well for secondary school.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Their needs are identified early and their progress, which is mainly good, is tracked accurately. Consequently, the special educational needs funding is used effectively.
• The physical education and sport funding for schools has been used well. The school’s sports coach has delivered lessons in school, and provided access to various sports clubs outside of school, such as Scarborough Athletics Club. The number of pupils participating in school-based sports clubs has doubled to nearly 300 and participants in inter-school competitive events have increased from 60 to 182 in the last year.
• The local authority has responded promptly to the school’s weaker outcomes for pupils in 2016, and visit regularly to provide support. Governors, the headteacher and subject leaders have access to specific training and guidance. Links with other schools have been brokered. These measures are augmenting leadership capacity.
• Even though leaders and managers have promoted the value and importance of good attendance, following up any absences and poor punctuality diligently, rates of absence remain high and too many pupils are persistently absent. Improvements are slowly being seen as the work of the recently appointed behaviour and attendance officer takes effect.

Governance of the school

• Governors bring a range of appropriate professional skills and experience to the school, enhancing their effectiveness and impact. The governor school improvement committee meets twice every half term to drive forward further actions to eradicate underperformance. It challenges and questions school leaders well. Leaders are held to account for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, as well as for the outcomes for pupils seen in statutory tests and school data.
• Governors have an accurate and incisive view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, participating in monitoring activities alongside senior leaders such as analysing work in pupils’ books. Rigorous steps are being taken to tackle weaknesses seen in the behaviour of some pupils, and in the school’s low attendance rates.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has a tangible ethos that is positive and caring, putting the welfare and well-being of each pupil at the heart of all that it does. This is clearly seen in the friendly, happy and confident manner of the pupils in Barrowcliff School.
• Policies, procedures and records are of good quality and mostly up to date. All staff are appropriately trained, and most registers of staff training complete, but not all. Staff have access to well-written policies and guidance, and as a result have a secure understanding of their individual responsibilities for safeguarding.
• The long-established culture of keeping pupils safe remains very evident. Leaders ensure that a culture of safeguarding is embedded among all staff, and leave no stone unturned in their duty to keep pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching over time has been weak. It has resulted in pupils not reaching the standards of which they are capable, or fulfilling their true potential. There are still variations in the quality of teaching across school, with examples of both strong teaching and some teaching still not up to scratch.
• Teaching requires improvement because in some lessons expectations of pupils’ attitudes to learning and behaviour in lessons are not high enough. On some occasions, a minority of pupils lose concentration and distract other pupils’ learning. The school’s behaviour policy is not consistently applied, and teachers can be too slow to address low-level disruption.
• Variations exist in the extent to which teachers follow the school’s marking and feedback policy. This results in some pupils knowing their next steps and how to improve their work, while other pupils do not.
• Work is now usually pitched well according to pupils’ abilities, and the pace of learning allows pupils to be engaged in lessons and productive, but on some occasions this is not the case. Over time, teaching has lacked sufficient challenge, especially for the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, preventing them from developing their ability to work at a greater depth in their skills and knowledge in all subjects.
• As a result of the recent rigorous and systematic teaching of phonics, children get off to a fast start in their reading skills. Teachers and teaching assistants are skilled at delivering well-structured reading lessons. Pupils who read to an inspector used their phonics skills well to read unfamiliar words.
• Pupils are given regular opportunities to write at length, such as in Year 6 where pupils used a range of resources such as dictionaries and thesauri to write about a storm at sea, inspired by the sounds of crashing waves playing in the background. Pupils in Year 3 enjoyed creating a play script using appropriate structure and terminology, and adventurous vocabulary.
• In mathematics, basic skills of number and calculation are taught well and consolidated regularly. Teachers make good use of practical resources to allow pupils to grasp patterns and relationships in number.
• The wider mathematics curriculum is covered well, such as in Year 4 where pupils were finding the perimeters of both regular 2-D shapes, and also more complex shapes where they needed to infer missing measurements. Pupils in Year 2 were required to use problem-solving and reasoning skills to prove that not all triangles have three equal sides.
• Teaching assistants are becoming increasingly skilled and adept at questioning pupils, taking initiatives in lessons, and now form part of an improving teaching team. They are having a significantly positive impact on pupils’ learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils show respect and care for each other. They value their classmates’ opinions, and are used to working happily and cooperatively in lessons. Pupils’ skills in speaking and listening in paired and group discussions are good.
• Pupils thrive in the well-ordered, positive school environment. Displays are bright and attractive, supporting learning well. The school’s work to ensure that pupils’ physical and emotional well-being are valued and promoted is very effective, and is being further enhanced by the school’s learning mentor and behaviour and attendance officer.
• The EMS unit provides good support to the school. Pupils with emotional and behaviour problems from this school and other local authority schools are dealt with well by staff. This enables them to make good progress in their personal development.
• Pupils report that they feel safe at all times, including when working online. Their knowledge of internet safety is good, and they can describe the use of firewalls, the dangers of pop-ups and the dangers of sharing personal information online.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• In some lessons, a minority of pupils quickly lose concentration and engagement in learning, produce too little work, and can chatter and distract others. This low-level disruption is not always swiftly addressed by teaching staff.
• On the whole, strong relationships are nurtured in school, and most pupils conduct themselves well in lessons and around school. Pupils are polite, friendly and have good manners. Playtimes are generally harmonious occasions where pupils play happily together and no one is left out.
• Rates of attendance are well below those found nationally. The school has worked hard to improve attendance, exemplified by the recent appointment of an attendance officer. A range of rewards for good attendance are used, and absence followed up immediately and rigorously with parents. Rates of attendance are slightly improved on the same time period last year, and the proportion of pupils persistently absent much reduced. However, further improvement is needed, including for disadvantaged pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over time, pupils’ achievements in reading, writing and mathematics have been below those found nationally in published statutory data. As a result of historically weaker teaching, there is a legacy of inconsistent achievement in all key stages, and variability still exists in upper key stage 2.
• Although many pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the national phonics screening check, the proportion was below that found nationally. The school’s own data and evidence from the inspection indicate that it will rise this year.
• The progress and attainment of current pupils in nearly every year group is improving rapidly. Evidence from work in books, which matches the school’s own tracking data, clearly shows that current pupils are starting to make stronger progress in English and mathematics, as well as other subjects across the curriculum.
• Pupils’ accelerating rates of progress are enabling those that had fallen behind to catch up quickly. The proportion of pupils reaching standards for their age in English and mathematics in most year groups has risen significantly over the year.
• The progress of current most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, largely matches that of their classmates and has accelerated since the start of the year. A larger proportion of pupils than previously are on track to achieve a high score in statutory assessments.
• Currently, an increasing proportion of pupils across school are working at greater depth in their learning than previously was the case. Weaker teaching that lacked challenge or pace in learning restricted pupils from deepening their skills and knowledge in English and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils in each year group are starting to make good progress in English and mathematics. Although the difference between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally with the same starting points is diminishing, it is still significant.
• The school is now quick to identify any pupils who are at risk of falling behind. Staff make effective provision for these pupils through activities that are well matched to their individual needs and abilities, skilfully delivered by teaching assistants. This includes pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, the progress made by these pupils from their individual starting points is good.

Early years provision Good

• Children are eager to learn and explore. They enjoy opportunities provided to investigate and learn happily together. Their behaviour is consistently good. Progress in personal, social and emotional development is good and this accounts for the strengths seen in children’s behaviour and in their relationships with adults. They are encouraged to take turns and to consider others.
• The vast majority of children start in the early years with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age. As a result of good teaching and provision, careful observation and good questioning, children make good progress and are well prepared to start Year 1.
• Although not all children are making consistently high rates of progress across the early years and the proportion reaching a good level of development is below that found nationally, it is increasing year on year. Children’s skills and knowledge in writing lags behind that found in reading and mathematics.
• Adults observe children carefully and build on their interests. They carefully support children’s learning through prompts, skilful questioning and through working alongside them during imaginative and creative play sessions. Adults model language very well, one Nursery child exclaiming that he had ‘found a good solution’ to the problem of cleaning powder paint off the playground using water and a sweeping brush.
• Every opportunity is taken to enhance children’s learning. Adults are skilled at using children’s misconceptions effectively to develop their understanding, such as a discussion that followed when the wrong number of candles was put onto a birthday cake. Two children in the Reception class worked independently at the water tray using their skills of enquiry cooperatively, discussing how the number of ‘play people’ on a boat determined if it would sink.
• Basic skills in reading, writing and number are promoted very effectively. For example, a group of Reception children read together with the teacher and were able to articulate in clear sentences why they liked certain parts of the book. Another group of children proudly told an inspector how many class rewards they had accumulated, and counted accurately on to 100 from their number.
• The skilled and highly effective early years leader understands the learning needs of young children. She has successfully created an effective team of adults who share the same passion and drive to see children thrive. She has a clear understanding of the strengths in the early years and has accurately identified key areas for improvement.
• Leaders are vigilant in all aspects of safety and safeguarding children’s welfare. Judging by the confidence and fun with which they play and learn, children here clearly feel very safe, secure and happy.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121314 North Yorkshire 10031913 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 396 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address William Chatt Mark Rogers 01723 351767 www.barrowcliff.n-yorks.sch.uk headteacher@barrowcliff.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than the average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language is well below average.
• The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set out the government’s minimum expectation for attainment and progress in English and mathematics.
• Early years provision is full time in the Reception class and part time in Nursery.
• The school has an Enhanced Mainstream Support School (EMS) located within the school, which is provided by the local authority. This resource provides outreach support and guidance for pupils across a number of schools in the local authority with specific needs in their social and emotional behaviour. At the time of the inspection, there were three pupils on roll at the school receiving direct support from this provision.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in lessons, including one lesson observed jointly with the headteacher and one with the deputy headteacher. In addition, an inspector listened to some pupils from Years 1 and 2 read, and inspectors reviewed a sample of pupils’ work alongside the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors held meetings with members of the governing body, the headteacher and deputy headteacher and other members of the teaching staff. They also held meetings with a group of pupils from the school.
• Inspectors viewed a range of documents including information on pupils’ achievements over time, the school’s data on recent and current progress of pupils, and the school’s view on how well it is doing. Inspectors also reviewed the school development plan, documents relating to safeguarding and records of behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors took account of the 54 parental responses to the school’s own questionnaire as there were insufficient responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. There were no responses to the online questionnaire for staff or pupils. The school’s website was also scrutinised.

Inspection team

Phil Scott, lead inspector Simon Bissett Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Suzette Garland-Grimes Ofsted Inspector