Beck Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve pupils’ rates of progress and increase their attainment at both the expected and higher standard across the school in all subjects, but particularly writing, by ensuring that:
  • pupils are given more support when editing and redrafting their writing so that they are not repeating the same spelling and punctuation errors over time
  • all pupils present work to the highest standards.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders at all levels present as a dynamic force. They are very effective in driving forward improvements in all areas of leadership. As a result, the quality of teaching and learning and the standards that pupils achieve are rapidly improving across the school.
• The leadership team have quickly established effective systems to ensure the accuracy of assessment across the school, particularly at the end of key stage 1. Working with the local authority and external consultants, leaders have become skilled moderators of writing standards, using their skills both in school and across the wider locality. Leaders and the local authority are confident that all assessments, including the end of key stage 1 assessment, are accurate.
• Staff retention rates are high because leaders listen to their workforce and ensure that the demands they make are realistic. Leaders work as a team, supporting each other and all staff. Consequently, staff are happy and know that any additional work is for the benefit of the pupils. Leaders prioritise work-life balance through their action plans to support staff well-being. One teacher stated that, ‘Leaders have high but fair expectations on the workload of staff. Leaders are always there to help with that workload when needed.’ Teaching assistants say that they feel valued because they receive regular training and feedback, which helps them meet the needs of pupils.
• Leaders manage changes in the school well. Teachers implement new initiatives successfully because leaders spend time discussing, supporting and embedding them. In the last four terms, leaders have introduced new approaches to reading, writing and mathematics. These are beginning to have a positive effect on teacher’s knowledge and standards.
• Most of the leadership team have been newly qualified teachers at the school. They demonstrate the school’s philosophy of ‘growing your own’. Already, leaders are identifying less experienced staff with the potential for leadership. The school is part of Cascade Multi-Academy Trust. The trust supports potential leaders well, through training and providing opportunities to work with colleagues in other schools.
• The leadership’s monitoring work is exceptionally effective. Leaders observe staff throughout the first half of each term, gathering information about the quality of their work. They collate this information across the school and match areas for development against strengths. Leaders pair teachers together to share expertise and strengths for the rest of the term. Where staff demonstrate particularly strong practice, their work is recorded and uploaded to the school system for other teachers to use. Leaders have therefore created a bank of effective teaching habits. As a result, the quality of teaching is constantly improving, and leaders measure the effect of their work through improvements in the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning.
• Leaders use the pupil premium funding very effectively. The high quality of pastoral work, alongside well-trained teaching assistants, ensures that disadvantaged pupils are making similar rates of progress to other pupils at the school. The free breakfast club has improved both the well-being and attendance of disadvantaged pupils.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive high-quality support. The special educational needs coordinator, meets the needs of all identified pupils through thorough assessments and comprehensive plans. Special needs teaching assistants receive appropriate training and support to enable them to understand specific needs, such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As a result, pupils with special educational needs make good progress and play a full and active part in school life.
• The school encourages pupils to lead healthy lifestyles. Leaders use additional funding for physical education and sport particularly effectively. The school has received the gold award for physical education. Pupils have a wealth of opportunities to take part in sports both within lessons and at after-school clubs. The school achieves regular success in inter-school competitions. The sports leader provides strong support for newly qualified teachers to help them improve their knowledge and confidence. The number of parents and carers attending inter-school competitions has increased considerably.
• Successful induction procedures for newly qualified teachers begin straight after appointment. Ongoing support from mentors and year group leaders ensure that new teachers get off to a flying start. One member of staff stated, ‘This school has a team spirit which makes it a special place to work.’
• The rich and varied curriculum fosters pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development throughout. Pupils learn about other cultures and study different religions. The breadth of the curriculum ensures that pupils are very well prepared for life in modern Britain. Teachers make good use of the local area through a strong focus on local history and geography. Creative elements run throughout each topic, through which pupils receive memorable experiences. For example, one topic culminated in pupils visiting the local cinema to see their own films on the big screen.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the school well. After a recent skills audit, governors further strengthened their team through the addition of new governors. The new governors are quickly getting up to speed and attending a range of training courses to help with their identified areas for development. They take their responsibilities seriously and are committed to raising standards across the school, asking searching questions relating to school assessment and safeguarding.
• Governors provide an additional layer of accountability through employing external consultants to carry out regular health checks. Consequently, they know the school’s strengths and any areas where more work is required.
• Leaders regularly present the findings from their monitoring at governing body meetings, enabling governors to remain well informed and hold leaders accountable.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding is of the utmost priority for everyone in the school. Staff receive appropriate training, alongside regular updates. Induction procedures make all new members of staff aware of policies and procedures. Leaders follow correct recruitment processes.
• The pastoral team are very effective in the work they do. They check daily to ensure that the most vulnerable pupils are in school, and they work with them and their families to ensure that these pupils are ready to learn. A high level of support and care for this group of pupils ensures that any issues are quickly dealt with because pupils know they are safe and that adults listen to them.
• Safeguarding records involving external agencies show diligence and tenacity in how leaders endeavour to keep pupils safe. Staff attend all meetings and challenge any decisions they do not agree with. They ensure that they write all concerns down and record them in detail. As a result, pupils are safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers demonstrate good subject knowledge across all subjects. This is because leaders regularly audit teachers’ knowledge and plan effective professional development to cover any highlighted gaps. The use of specialist teaching in physical education, French and music ensures that pupils receive a high standard of education across the curriculum.
• The recent changes to the teaching of reading and writing are beginning to show a positive effect on the progress that pupils are making. Leaders are closely monitoring any improvements in the quality of teaching and learning. The teaching of science, physical education and music across the school is particularly strong.
• The new reading system is enabling the least able pupils to access more challenging texts and vocabulary. They are well supported through pre-teaching work and effective explanations. As a result, they show enthusiasm for learning, demonstrate high self-esteem and consider themselves as readers. Effective questioning by teachers challenges higher-ability pupils, eliciting thoughtful responses, both verbally and through written tasks. Activities with different levels of challenge based on the same text ensure that pupils of all abilities make progress in both their understanding and their vocabulary choices.
• Individual reading books are well matched to pupils’ abilities. Older pupils show fluency and good understanding of the books they have read. Younger pupils have a bank of strategies they can use to decipher difficult words. Leaders are promoting a love of reading through weekly competitions and a strong focus on reading for pleasure across the school.
• Phonics teaching is effective. Pupils are well engaged because teaching is lively, fun and meets the range of abilities. When pupils have mastered new sounds, they quickly move on to applying them in writing. Younger children apply their knowledge to writing words and sentences. Older pupils change tenses and are challenged to write extended sentences. As a result, early writing and reading skills are developing quickly.
• Pupils understand the purpose for writing because teachers make good links with topics and other subjects. Lessons now follow a structured approach, across key stages 1 and 2. Pupils learn basic skills daily and use writing tasks to apply their skills over time. The focus on editing and re-drafting is resulting in some high-quality finished pieces. This is effective when pupils check their work carefully and teachers help them to spot and correct errors. However, this is not consistent across the school. In some classes, pupils do not receive enough support through the editing and redrafting stages, resulting in pupils making the same spelling and punctuation errors over time. Pupils’ presentation of their work is not of a consistently high standard across key stage 2.
• Teachers across the school are skilled in encouraging pupils to talk to each other about their work. This provides regular opportunities to develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills. Pupils confidently share their ideas and articulate their thoughts to each other. Consequently, speaking and listening skills continue to improve.
• Teachers are consistent in how they teach mathematics. They provide appropriate challenge matched to pupils’ abilities and, as a result, pupils are progressing well. A strong focus on place value at the start of year has ensured that a higher proportion of pupils are applying their skills to problem-solving and deepening their learning. The school’s assessment analysis in December 2018 shows that more pupils are now working at and above age-related expectations than in previous years.
• Teaching assistants effectively support pupils of all abilities through securing their prior learning, pre-teaching topics and running interventions in order to help those pupils who need to catch up. This is helping support pupils well for the next stage of their learning.
• Pupils with SEND receive appropriate support both within lessons and through targeted individual work. Pupils make good progress over time because the SENCo regularly checks their targets and plans work to match their needs. Parents who made their views known are pleased with the progress that their children are making.
• The teaching of other subjects, including, science, computing, drama, physical education, French and music, are well embedded. Teachers use praise well to foster self-esteem and ensure the same high standards of behaviour as in other lessons. In French, pupils are building up a bank of new vocabulary, which they put into sentences. The teacher skilfully models pronunciation to ensure accuracy. In physical education, the teacher builds on prior knowledge to develop skills and abilities over time.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The pastoral team, led by the deputy headteacher, provides exceptional care and support to pupils, staff and parents. The team is integral to the work of the whole school, putting pupil welfare at the heart of everything it does. Regular pupils’ questionnaires ask searching questions to find out what pupils need to help them be happy and achieve. After analysing the results, the team provided work on friendships and ran a parent sleep clinic. Pupils say that the staff understand them, and they know that they have people at the school who they can trust.
• Leaders ensure that staff are well trained in order to carry out specific interventions to support the increasing number of pupils in key stage 2 with emotional needs. As a result, pupils are happy, secure and well cared for. Interventions are timely and successful, resulting in no pupils being excluded from the school and no pupils educated off-site.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves healthy. They know the importance of exercise and a balanced diet. Pupils experience the joy of gathering and eating their own food through collecting eggs from the on-site chickens. The youngest children learn how to brush their teeth correctly because adults take the time to model and encourage them daily. The well-planned curriculum provides a wealth of opportunities for pupils to help others. For example, pupils created recipes for healthy soup, which they took to the local homeless charity.
• Pupils learn about what empathy is throughout the whole curriculum. When pupils demonstrate understanding of, and compassion for, others they are recognised as Empathy Leaders.
• Pupils enjoy a range of opportunities to learn about other cultures and beliefs through their topics and through themed events.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils show high levels of self-regulation across the school. The conduct of pupils is exceptional because adults have high expectations. The strong pastoral team constantly monitors pupils’ behaviour throughout the school day. As a result, pupils are courteous, polite and show respect for each other and adults.
• An interesting curriculum which motivates pupils, ensures that pupils want to learn. No time is missed through poor behaviour, because pupils are in class and learning, and this is having a positive effect on improving standards of learning. Classrooms are calm and purposeful learning environments.
• Pupils’ attendance has been in line with national averages over the last academic year. Persistent absence is just below that of other schools. An increasing proportion of families have taken their child on holiday during term time over the last few years. However, fines issued by the local authority to parents for their child’s continued absence show that they are having a positive effect on improving pupils’ attendance.
• The large number of staff present during lunchtime ensures that pupils receive high levels of supervision and care. The staff engage pupils in a range of organised games and encourage others to create their own games. Older pupils take on the responsibility of leading games for younger pupils. As a result, lunchtimes are exciting and meaningful and safe.
• Records show that bullying or racist name calling is rare. Pupils agree that this seldom happens. When it does happen, adults spend time with pupils, helping them to understand how their actions affect others. One parent stated, ‘My oldest child had an incident of bullying. When I reported it a plan of action was implemented and followed through…I highly recommend this school.’

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils make good progress across subjects and year groups.
• Attainment is improving over time because of the excellent support provided to teachers by the leadership team. A higher proportion of pupils reached both the expected standard and higher levels in 2018 than in previous years. Teachers use assessment effectively to plan work that meets the needs of all pupils. They regularly check how well pupils are progressing towards the expected standards and implement specific teaching programmes to help pupils catch up or deepen their understanding. Consequently, pupils at the end of Year 6 in 2018 were well prepared for their next stage of education.
• Pupils’ current progress is good in reading, writing and mathematics because planned work matches closely with abilities. Pupils learn the skills they need and apply them well. Consequently, pupils make good progress across units of work.
• Pupils’ progress across key stage 2, in comparison to the national averages, has, however, not been so positive over the last three years. This is because, in previous years, pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 has been assessed at well above the national average, which sets a high marker for key stage 2 to follow. The rigour of current moderation across the school and the number of leaders who are local authority moderators have ensured that current attainment and progress are accurate.
• Pupils’ attainment at the end of both key stages 1 and 2 is broadly in line with 2018 national averages for the expected standard. Leaders are rightly concentrating on ensuring that a higher proportion of pupils are on track to reach the higher standards. However, given that most pupils start school well below typical starting points, this represents good progress.
• The number of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics has been similar to those seen nationally for two out of three years. Teachers demonstrate good phonics knowledge, and pupils make good progress throughout their time in school.
• The current progress of disadvantaged pupils is similar to or better than that of other pupils at the school in all subjects. The most able disadvantaged pupils receive additional teaching from the pupil premium funding to help them reach the higher standard. The school’s recent in-house testing shows a much higher proportion of disadvantaged pupils are on track to reach the higher standards than seen previously.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress from their starting points. This is because their personal targets ensure that teaching meets their needs. They receive appropriate support from teachers and special needs teaching assistants.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Very strong leadership and management of the early years ensures that all children make the progress they are capable of. Consistently high expectations by all staff make sure that children are well prepared for entering key stage 1.
• The leadership’s very effective analysis of the quality of teaching and learning, alongside ongoing assessment information, results in accurate groupings and specific interventions to support the children’s early language acquisition. Learning areas are well resourced and focus on meeting the needs of all pupils, including the most able.
• Speech and language skills are prioritised throughout early years because children enter with skills and abilities that are much lower than typical. Adults in the early years work alongside a trained speech and language therapist to improve their own skills and to understand how to develop the speech of young children. All the adults in the early years are confident in assessing how pupils are developing their fluency of spoken language. They make a valuable contribution to assessing what children can do, and what they need to do next. Adults are skilled in planning activities to address children’s specific language needs. As a result, children make outstanding progress in language and communication.
• The children demonstrate extremely positive learning attitudes across the early years. They willingly participate in all areas of learning and show high levels of engagement. Relationships between staff and children are exemplary. All adults show patience, care and sensitivity. Understandably, children are happy, confident and safe in this nurturing and welcoming environment. All welfare requirements are met.
• Most children enter the early years with skills and abilities that are well below typical. From their starting points, children make outstanding progress in all areas. Stringent assessment procedures and targeted teaching ensure that the children quickly begin to catch up throughout their time in early years. This results in the standards attained by children at the end of Reception being just below those seen nationally. Children known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding make similar rates of progress to other children in the early years.
• Children in Reception learn sounds and blends quickly because they have been well prepared by the nursery. They apply this knowledge very well to both their reading and writing. Leaders ensure that the children are effectively challenged through their high expectations. For example, during the inspection, children in Reception were found already to be writing in sentences. Well-planned activities encourage the children to have a love of learning and a sense of achievement.
• The provision for two-year-olds (Little Beck) provides a wealth of learning opportunities for children to improve their vocabulary and independence. Staff understand how the youngest children learn and provide exciting activities to hook them into learning. During the inspection, children were observed to be very engaged outside the classroom in exploring the police cordon tape surrounding an unfortunate Humpty Dumpty. The adults working with these children constantly model the language they need and repeat single word answers back in sentences. As a result, the children’s speaking and listening skills are developing well.
• The Nursery provision builds on the skills taught at ‘Little Beck’. Teachers design activities carefully, to ensure that children are constantly learning, both with adults and when working with each other. Teaching is effective because staff are constantly engaging with children. Adults in Nursery ask a range of thoughtful questions to develop children’s thinking, creativity and vocabulary skills.
• The school’s very effective partnerships with parents are at the heart of their children’s learning. Parents value the way in which staff go out of their way to ensure that children settle quickly and feel happy in school. One parent wrote, ‘My little girl is a pupil at the Little Beck Nursery and the staff are amazing! There is always a warm, welcoming vibe when you walk through the door and the staff are always happy, smiling and greeting parents and children. Each and every staff member has time to listen to you and, most importantly, to your child.’

School details

Unique reference number 142542 Local authority Sheffield Inspection number 10059085 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 2 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 745 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Mark Wilde Executive Headteacher Sue Bridges Telephone number 01142 467 536 Website www.beckprimaryschool.co.uk Email address enquiries@beck.sheffield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• This school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding is well above the national average.
• The number of pupils with SEND is just above the national average. The number of pupils with education, health and care plans is below the national average.
• The vast majority of pupils are White British.
• The school provides a free breakfast club for pupils in receipt of pupil premium.
• The school provides a range of after-school clubs and on-site after-school care.
• The school converted to academy status in 2016. It is part of Cascade Multi-Academy Trust. The executive headteacher, appointed in September 2017, is also the Chief Executive Officer of the trust. The trust currently comprises of two schools. The executive headteacher is also the executive headteacher at The Crucible Federation of Schools. She splits her time between four schools. Plans are underway to join the Crucible Federation of Schools with Cascade Multi-Academy Trust.
• Two-year-old children are provided for in Little Beck, as part of the school’s early years offer.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes. In some lessons, senior leaders accompanied the inspectors. During lesson observations, inspectors looked at the quality of work and talked to some pupils.
• Meetings were held with members of the governing body, including the chair of governing body, a representative from the local authority, all middle and senior leaders and a group of teaching assistants. A telephone conversation was held with one of the trustees.
• Inspectors observed pupils at lunchtime, breaktime and during lessons. Inspectors talked to different groups of pupils about their learning and behaviour at the school. They listened to several groups of pupils read.
• The inspection team reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation of its overall effectiveness, improvement plans, leaders’ records on monitoring the quality of teaching and learning, pupils’ assessment information, safeguarding and attendance information and a selection of minutes from governing body meetings.
• Inspectors spoke to parents in the playground as they were picking up and dropping their children off. They considered the 60 responses to Ofsted’s parental questionnaire, Parent View, including 15 free-text responses. Inspectors considered the 54 staff responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Janet Lunn, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Peter Marsh Ofsted Inspector Larissa Thorpe Ofsted Inspector Sara Roe Ofsted Inspector