Coit Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

Further improve outcomes for pupils by:

• making sure that work set for the most able pupils in lower key stage 2 enables them to make accelerated progress
• completing planned improvements to the outside provision in the early years unit in order to ensure that children have equal access to high-quality learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The executive headteacher and head of school have a very clear understanding of the school’s strengths. They work relentlessly on developing all areas of the school and constantly check for new ways to make it even better.
• Leaders’ outward focus both into the community and as part of a hard federation with Ecclesfield Primary School has enabled them to bring about a range of different initiatives which have benefited both pupils and their families. For example, through her work in the locality the executive headteacher is chairing fortnightly meetings of staff from local schools to discuss the needs of vulnerable pupils. The meetings are also attended by representatives from health and social care. The actions put in place as a result of these meetings have already significantly improved the lives of some pupils and have resulted in strong improvement in the attendance of others.
• The involvement in external duties of both senior leaders has given middle leaders an opportunity to develop and to bring about improvement in their own right. The mathematics and English curriculum leaders, alongside the early years coordinator and key stage 1 and 2 leaders, form a highly effective and knowledgeable team which closely monitors and evaluates the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress across the school. They have played a highly pivotal role in accelerating pupils’ progress.
• Due to the very carefully targeted use of funding and very close checks carried out on pupils’ progress, the very small numbers of disadvantaged pupils are making excellent progress from their starting points.
• Senior leaders are exceptionally innovative in their use of the sports premium budget. Their very clear focus on developing a love of sport and an active lifestyle in all pupils enables everyone to be active and participate in sport. Myriad different hoops, bats, balls, skipping ropes and ‘space hoppers’ are available at break and lunchtimes. Sports clubs, including basketball, handball, badminton and football are run by sports coaches. This approach, which assumes that being healthy and active is for everyone, has led to a large increase in the numbers of pupils joining sports clubs both inside and outside the school.
• The performance of all staff is very closely linked to further school improvement. As staff complete work towards targets set by senior leaders, they enter this on the whole- school plan. This enables leaders to monitor progress very closely and reward excellence accordingly.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make very good progress overall. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), who is also the head of school, has an exceptionally good knowledge of the needs of her pupils. The school has seen a significant increase in the numbers of pupils with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). This is largely due, according to parents spoken to during the inspection, to the excellent support and provision their children receive when they come to the school. Many parents could not speak highly enough of the support given to them and their children, saying that the SENCo and staff ‘have helped us through some very challenging times’.

Governance of the school

• Governors are knowledgeable, eloquent and feisty, particularly in defence of the school.
• Their pride in the progress made by pupils in the school is palpable. Their belief in the excellent job done by staff is based on a good working knowledge of pupils’ progress data.
• While they receive an accurate report from the executive headteacher, they are clear that this is not the only way they receive information about the school. Through visits to the school and discussions with staff, they gather what they feel is the whole picture.
• Governing body minutes show clearly how effectively they hold leaders to account, particularly over the progress made by different groups of pupils.
• Since the previous inspection changes have been made to the governing body. The hard federation between Ecclesfield Primary School and Coit Primary School has resulted in the creation of a single governing body across both schools.
• There has been a recent change to the chair of the governing body as the local leader of governance, who was appointed to oversee the changes, has very recently stood down but remains on the committee.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The leadership team and governors have ensured that the school meets all statutory requirements for safeguarding. This includes robust checks carried out on all adults to ensure their suitability for working with children.
• School leaders have developed a clear culture of safeguarding within the school which ensures that keeping children safe is everyone’s responsibility. Staff are very well trained and are vigilant in recording their concerns. The newly introduced system for recording has helped them in this and relevant staff are now alerted and respond quickly should a concern be raised.
• The well-written and detailed safeguarding policy ensures that all staff are clear about what constitutes a safeguarding concern and what actions are required.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers and teaching assistants work very closely together and have time allocated to plan learning for all pupils. This ensures that all adults have a very clear shared understanding of pupils’ learning. As a result, teaching assistants make an excellent contribution to pupils’ learning.
• Staff are very knowledgeable and creative in their approach. They craft learning so that it engages all pupils whatever their starting point, and deepens their knowledge through active participation. For example, staff encouraged pupils to think from the perspective of the witch in the tale of Hansel and Gretel, an activity which caused much merriment and some excellent writing from a Year 2 class.
• Teachers recognise that pupils learn best when they are offered challenges which make them think and deepen their understanding. The mathematics coordinator ensures that this happens in mathematics across the school. A clear focus on mastering concepts and then using them to solve problems has been introduced across the school and has been key to the continuing improvement and excellent progress made by pupils.
• Activities such as this abound across the school and make learning both relevant and engaging for pupils. As a pupil commented, ‘I look forward to learning something new every day, which is why I love school so much.’
• Phonics teaching is highly effective and as a result nearly all pupils score highly in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Because of the very high expectations of staff and their perseverance and patience in ensuring that all succeed, very few do not reach the required standard.
• The school’s focus on improving pupils’ vocabulary is now being reflected in their writing across the curriculum. Staff are justifiably pleased by the acceleration in reading since the introduction of whole-class reading sessions. In Year 6 these include sessions led by pupils in which they analyse and question the text. This forensic approach enables pupils to hone and develop their analytical skills in preparation for their transfer to high school.
• Staff assess pupils’ needs exceptionally well. They check and measure progress very carefully and ensure that any gaps in learning are addressed through catch-up sessions.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress because of the excellent quality of the extra help they receive. For example, the school SENCo recognised that pupils often make very good progress in catch-up sessions but struggle with the same concepts when back in the classroom. Discussions with pupils as to why this may be so showed that they often forgot how to carry out the procedure once back in their classroom. As a result, a set of mats has been introduced which enables pupils to place their books in the centre and prompts from catch-up sessions are displayed along the edge. This simple system has significantly accelerated the progress of this group across the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are immensely proud of their school. Those spoken to during the inspection were very keen to explain to the inspection team how well cared for and safe they felt in school.
• School leaders and pupils have developed a highly effective way of giving pupils the opportunity to make a difference in the school and beyond. The champions-of-change programme consists of five groups of democratically elected pupils who work with teaching assistants to produce a plan to bring about whole-school involvement in five different areas. These are: improving the environment, raising money for charity, developing a training programme for pupils to enable them to learn how to mediate disputes, developing break and lunchtime activities and promoting healthy eating.
• These projects, pupils said, have enabled them to feel as if they are making a difference. They also said it has made them feel listened to and has improved their understanding of the needs of others.
• A well-designed sensory garden has been created as part of the pupils’ contribution to improving the school environment, which pupils describe as a special peaceful place and ‘where I go to when life is too hectic’. Activities such as these contribute to pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values and increase their spiritual, moral, social and cultural knowledge and skills.
• Pupils are very clear about how to stay safe both in and out of school because of the very clear guidance they receive. For example, children in Reception and Year 1 explained to the inspection team how important it was to stay safe when using the internet.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils of all ages who spoke to the inspection team were very clear that behaviour in school is very good. They feel no one is left out in the playground and should there be a dispute they know that both adults, and pupils trained in mediation, will help to resolve it.
• Pupils recognise clearly what bullying behaviour is and have learned about how to deal with should it occur. They are also very clearly aware of the difference between occasional fallouts between friends and sustained and continuous bullying behaviour ‘which is not tolerated in school’.
• School leaders have a very clear focus on pupils’ well-being, particularly their mental health. Even small changes in pupils’ behaviour are regularly discussed in meetings and very careful consideration is given to the root cause. Case studies demonstrate that this approach has enabled several pupils and their families to receive highly effective help and guidance at an early stage.
• The school has a larger than average group of pupils with ASD who may occasionally behave differently to other pupils. Parents of pupils in this group say that they have been exceptionally pleased by the mature attitudes of pupils in the school, who regard everyone as different but equal. This, they feel, has helped their children to settle very well and very quickly into school life.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are excellent. Off-task behaviour is rarely seen in lessons and behaviour outside the classroom is often exemplary.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Outcomes for pupils have continued to improve since the last inspection.
• Last year national data showed that pupils in key stage 2 attained well in reading and mathematics but slightly less well in writing. School leaders were initially very concerned by these results but immediately set about putting in place strategies to ensure that this dip does not reoccur.
• Current data collected by school is demonstrating a pleasing picture. The clear focus on improving pupils’ vocabulary has accelerated their progress in writing, which is now back to previous levels.
• Work in pupils’ books confirms that pupils are making good and often exceptional progress from a range of starting points. Work in last year’s books also confirms the very strong progress made by pupils. This represents exceptional progress over time.
• Currently the most able pupils are making excellent progress, particularly in Years 5 and 6. Strategies in place to deepen pupils’ knowledge and skills, particularly in mathematics, are having an effect and data shows very few gaps in pupils’ knowledge.
• The few disadvantaged pupils who attend the school are also making very strong progress across the curriculum. Work in science books demonstrates that the most able in this group are making accelerated progress over time.
• The curriculum is very well planned and matches pupils’ needs closely.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make exceptional progress from their starting points. Their progress alongside others is very closely tracked and monitored and gaps in their learning or misconceptions are very quickly addressed and followed up very well in the classroom.
• Pupils across the school enjoy reading. The well-stocked library enables pupils to choose from a wide range of books and they very confidently talk about their favourite authors. Those who read to the inspectors were exceptionally confident and used quotes from the text to illustrate their understanding. From their starting points this demonstrated excellent progress.
• The most able pupils are all working at greater depth across the curriculum. A large proportion of middle-ability pupils are also making this accelerated progress. Where pupils have not yet reached their age-related expectations, often because they have additional needs, the expectation is that they will reach the required standard and support, including before- and after-school clubs, is put in place.
• Pupils’ spelling, grammar and punctuation are as well developed in subjects other than English as in their English books.
• Very occasionally, work set for more able pupils in one lower key stage 2 class does not offer them sufficient challenge. When this happens their progress slows. Senior leaders are aware of this and are carefully monitoring the progress made in this year group.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children join the early years with a range of different skills and knowledge. Overall they are broadly in line with others nationally. However, an increasing number have additional needs.
• Children settle very quickly thanks to the excellent care and attention given by skilled staff. Parents feel that staff are very approachable and make the transition to ‘big school’ as easy as possible.
• Children make excellent progress due to the skills of staff and the well-organised curriculum. Most, including those with additional needs, leave having reached and/or exceeded the early learning goals. As a result they enter Year 1 with skills which are above those expected nationally.
• The early years leader has a very accurate picture of the strengths and areas for development within the unit. She also works very closely with five nurseries and providers which transfer children to the school. Through regular meetings and training opportunities with this group, she is beginning to develop a shared approach to assessment of children at the end of their time in Nursery.
• Staff plan work which engages boys and girls. As a result, both groups currently make equally excellent progress.
• Staff recognise that there is more work to be done to ensure that the outdoor area matches the excellent provision in the classroom. Although progress is being made on planned improvements, a finish date has not yet been agreed.
• Statutory welfare requirements are met.

School details

Unique reference number 107060 Local authority Sheffield Inspection number 10019328 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Maintained Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 208 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Alison Warner Executive Headteacher Mrs J Eagleton Telephone number 01142 468710 Website www.coitprimary.co.uk Email address headteacher@coit.sheffield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 10–11 November 2011

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• This is a slightly smaller than average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average but has recently increased.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is low compared with the national average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The school provides full-time early years provision in the Reception class.
• The school meets current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment in mathematics and English by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed learning in a range of lessons and parts of lessons across the school. Some observations were carried out jointly with members of the leadership team.
• Meetings were held with the executive headteacher, senior and middle leaders, five members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.
• The inspectors spoke with parents and staff and took account of responses to the Ofsted online parent questionnaire, Parent View.
• Inspectors also took account of the small number of responses to the pupil online questionnaire and met with groups of pupils both formally and informally during the inspection.

Inspection team

Marian Thomas, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Larissa Thorpe Ofsted Inspector Cathy Morgan Ofsted Inspector