Crigglestone Dane Royd Junior and Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the proportion of pupils, particularly the middle-attaining group, reaching the highest levels of attainment in mathematics by the end of key stage 2.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The exceptional headteacher, together with the highly effective leadership team, has created a strong sense of purpose across the school. Staff and pupils share a vision of high levels of success. Leaders and governors have successfully created an ethos of high expectations. The ambition to be as inclusive as possible permeates every aspect of school life.
• Governors and leaders have a very clear view of the school’s strengths and areas for development. There is no complacency. This indicates their uncompromising approach to sustain strengths and to further improvement.
• There is high-quality leadership beyond the senior leadership team. Middle leaders are passionate about developing their subject areas, ensuring that pupils receive stimulating and exciting learning opportunities. The leader for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is knowledgeable and highly organised. She ensures that provision for pupils is in place and regularly monitors its impact.
• Leaders, staff and governors analyse information about pupils’ progress regularly and in great detail. They are quick to identify when pupils require additional support, including from external agencies. Consequently, pupils of all abilities make substantial progress.
• A rich, varied and well-thought-out curriculum is one of the school’s key strengths. It has tremendous breadth, offers challenging learning and captures the interest of all pupils. Pupils are proud to show visitors around the school. The learning environment has been enhanced with high-quality artwork and displays. For example, art-work has been created as a result of the school’s ongoing visits and work in Chengdu, China. Another display demonstrates pupils’ responses and understanding of Remembrance Day. Pupils say that they enjoy learning across a wide range of subjects and talk enthusiastically about school trips to places such as Robin Wood and the Sculpture Park. Work in pupils’ books confirms the breadth and depth of their learning across the curriculum.
• The school very effectively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils learn to be reflective and are encouraged to think about sensitive issues. They have a strong sense of what is right and wrong and recognise what is fair and what is not. Visits to different places of worship, such as a mosque, gurdwara and church, provide pupils with a greater understanding of the multicultural nature of Britain. This is shown in their ability to mix with, be accepting of, and excited by differences. Pupils are extremely well-prepared for life in modern Britain. They are also given many opportunities to explore and develop their own creative talents in areas such as art and music.
• The curriculum is further enhanced by a wide range of after-school clubs and activities, ranging from team sports and multi-sports to cookery and opportunities to play the ocarina.
• The school makes excellent use of the additional funding it receives. Pupils who are disadvantaged receive effective additional support to ensure that they make strong progress and have the same opportunities to learn as others.
• Specific funding finances effective provision and support for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Additional funding to support the promotion of sport and increase physical activity provides expert coaching, develops staff expertise and increases pupils’ participation in sport. Pupils are able to take part in a variety of sporting activities, including competitive team events with other local schools.
• Staff receive a wide range of training, linked to the school’s priorities, which is regularly monitored and evaluated to ensure that it is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Leaders within school are committed to the development of new leaders at all levels and enabling staff to take on new responsibilities. Middle leaders spoken to say they are trusted to act, and are enabled by the headteacher and senior leaders to develop their own subject areas. All staff who responded to the online questionnaire indicated, overwhelmingly, that they are proud to work in Dane Royd Junior and Infant School.
• Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school, and all who spoke to inspectors, or took part in the online questionnaire, Parent View, would unhesitatingly recommend the school to others. One typical response was, ‘The school went over and beyond in settling my child and ensuring all of his needs had been met. His progress is fantastic. The school deserves special recognition.’
• Leaders and governors have a very accurate view of the school’s strengths. Their ongoing monitoring and evaluation are thorough and rigorous. While judging the school’s effectiveness to be ‘outstanding’ overall, leaders do not shy away from addressing any concerns that might arise. Leaders are quite clear that in outcomes for pupils in Year 6 in 2018 the progress, particularly of middle attainers in mathematics, dipped below national average.
• The local authority recognises the school’s many strengths and sees the school as being as much a giver as a receiver of support. The school works well within its local cluster of schools. School leaders have been able to use their skills and knowledge to provide support and advice to other schools, through hosting visits and sharing their excellent practice.

Governance of the school

• Governors are passionately committed to the success of the school.
• They are well-informed and highly skilled. Their secure grasp of the school’s performance, together with regular visits, enables them to ask insightful questions and make excellent contributions to the school’s development.
• Governors regularly work together, with teachers, to review pupils’ progress across the school. They check that teachers are continuously planning challenging learning opportunities in all subject areas. This is followed up with a planned programme of visits to make sure that pupils’ experiences in the classroom are of the highest quality.
• The governing body has been highly effective in ensuring that finances are well-used and managed and, as a result, the school has been able to develop a well-resourced, high-quality learning environment.
• Governors are proactive, using a range of ways to communicate and gather the views of all stakeholders in the school and the community. For example, a regular newsletter keeps parents informed about their role. Pupils from the school council have opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions about how to further develop their school.
• The governing body is very clear that children and their families are always at the centre of everything they do.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is an exceptionally strong safeguarding culture throughout the school. All staff spoken to describe safeguarding as being everyone’s responsibility. All are aware of the key signs to look out for that could indicate a welfare concern. They have a clear understanding of the procedures to follow if they are worried about a child’s well-being. The designated leader and deputy leaders for safeguarding maintain highly detailed records of any concerns and check that they are rigorously followed up.
• There is a detailed induction programme for all staff new to the school and regular updates are provided. Regular training is in place to make sure that their knowledge of best practice in safeguarding and child protection is up to date.
• Thorough checks are made on staff, governors and volunteers to ensure that they are suitable people to work with pupils. The school maintains appropriately detailed records of these checks. The school’s recruitment procedures are robust and comprehensive.
• The school provides very high levels of pastoral care for pupils and their families. The school’s safeguarding and child protection team knows families extremely well and parents know they can rely on the school for support. This excellent provision is enhanced by the strong partnerships that have been established with external agencies.
• The designated lead and team are tenacious in following up all concerns and ensuring that where action is meant to happen, it does.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• The quality of teaching is consistently very strong across the school. Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and work with great enthusiasm and skill. They bring learning alive for pupils. Through probing questioning and activities designed to challenge them, teachers ensure that pupils think deeply about their learning. One pupil spoken to stated, ‘Lessons are fun, always different, and learning is interesting.’
• Across the school, teachers make learning enjoyable. This is also a reflection of their own passion and enjoyment in what they do. Teachers work hard to ensure that they respond to the needs and interests of all of their pupils, ensuring that everyone is challenged. In Year 5, for example, pupils were able to practise using different methods of calculation through circuit training, increasing speed and accuracy.
• Teachers are successful in motivating all pupils. They provide a range of tasks that encourage pupils to want to succeed. Pupils are keen to live up to the expectations of the adults around them, and their positive attitudes to learning contribute much to their strong, and sometimes outstanding, progress.
• Pupils have frequent opportunities to read. They talk enthusiastically about favourite authors and types of books they like to read. For example, a pupil in Year 6 was able to reflect on the benefit of re-reading books as, ‘You can find new meanings and extra things when you read a good book again.’
• Teachers know their pupils very well and recognise exactly what they can do. This enables them to plan work that moves pupils on in their understanding at a brisk pace in all subjects. Every subject leader has an excellent understanding of pupils’ attainment and progress. They use this to check that pupils are building the skills they need over time.
• Pupils produce high-quality work across the curriculum. They successfully apply their literacy and numeracy skills across all subjects. For example, in Year 3, pupils studying the Stone Age were able to use their understanding of coordinates to carefully plot the layout of their house to ensure that they would keep warm and safe.
• Teachers and teaching assistants work highly effectively in partnership. Teaching assistants are skilled, have good subject knowledge and have a very good understanding of the age range of pupils they are working with. They work very well with teachers to provide targeted support and teaching that addresses identified gaps in pupils’ learning.
• The teaching of phonics, spelling and punctuation is well structured. Teachers look closely at the progress pupils make and put extra support in place quickly if pupils fall behind. Consequently, pupils have the skills to support their reading development and make substantial progress.
• The teaching of writing is highly effective. Teachers ensure that pupils develop a clear understanding of key writing skills and then provide them with a wide range of opportunities to practise and refine these skills by writing for different purposes. As a result, by the time they are in Year 6, pupils are able to write extremely well in a range of styles, including persuasive letters and powerful descriptions, using increasingly sophisticated sentence structures and vocabulary.
• Pupils with SEND make very strong progress. This is because the school identifies their learning needs promptly and then plans high-quality experiences for them. They particularly benefit from well-matched, individualised support from teachers and additional adults.
• The teaching of mathematics is very strong. It is a reflection of the subject lead’s passion and desire to ensure that all pupils get the best possible experiences to enhance their learning. However, due to a dip in the attainment of Year 6 in 2018, leaders have carried out a detailed analysis of pupils’ results. Teachers have identified key areas for further work and are now focused on ensuring that pupils check calculations carefully and identify quickly where there are errors.
• Parents are well informed about pupils’ progress. They receive regular information through meetings and written reports. Workshops offer parents support with their children’s learning at home.

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 a delight. They are friendly and extremely enthusiastic about learning. Pupils in class are motivated to achieve. They show great pride in themselves and their school.
• There is a culture of mutual support and respect throughout the school. Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and positive, and pupils are highly supportive of each other. More than once, inspectors observed pupils praising and encouraging each other. For example, pupils in a Year 6 English group praised each other’s extended writing when they were describing Christmas in the trenches. They commented carefully on the chosen words that made them feel ‘warm inside’.
• Pupils say they feel very safe in school and they are safe. Pupils spoken to feel that they trust all adults in school to care for them. They are confident that staff will resolve any problems that they may have. Equally, pupils see that they are also able themselves to ‘sort out any problems’. They are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions. Pupils have a very good understanding of different types of bullying, but say that, in their school, bullying is very rare.
• Pupils enjoy a wide range of opportunities to take on positions of responsibility and share their ideas for the school. Pupils on the school council regularly meet with their link on the governing body to discuss any concerns or new ideas to further improve their school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils, parents and staff are very positive about behaviour at school.
• Pupils from different backgrounds and with different abilities and needs play and work happily together. Through the ongoing work of leaders and teachers, pupils can see that there are no barriers to friendship.
• In the classroom, and around school as a whole, there is a very positive and purposeful atmosphere. Pupils arrive promptly to their lessons and are eager to learn, with very little prompting from adults. Pupils are very capable of managing their own behaviours.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school and appreciate all that their school can offer them. As a result, attendance is currently above the national average. Leaders offer effective support to parents and pupils to ensure that all pupils continue to attend well.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Children enter the school with skills that are slightly below those that are typical for their age. They make very strong progress in Reception and are very well prepared for Year 1.
• By the time they leave key stage 2, the proportion of pupils who are consistently reaching standards of attainment at expected and higher levels, is above the national average in reading and writing, and increasingly so in mathematics. However, leaders have recognised that in 2018 the proportion of pupils reaching both the expected and higher standards in mathematics did not meet national figures. This was identified as being due to a number of pupils who missed these standards, sometimes by only one mark. The school is aware that the proportion of pupils in mathematics reaching the expected and higher standards, particularly for middle-attaining groups, needs to increase quickly.
• The school’s own performance information shows that all current year groups make at least good progress, and often better, particularly in Reception and key stage 1.
• Pupils’ work illustrates the strong progress that pupils make over time. Their work is neatly presented, and of high quality, in all subjects. Skills are taught effectively across the curriculum.
• Pupils with SEND make good and sometimes outstanding progress from different starting points. This is because the school identifies their learning needs promptly and provides high levels of targeted support. They particularly benefit from well-matched, individualised support from teachers and additional adults.
• Pupils enjoy reading, and by the end of Year 1 they have learned how to use phonics well to help them tackle unfamiliar words. In 2018, the proportion of pupils overall who reached the expected standard in the phonics screening check was above the published national average.
• The proportion of pupils in the school who are disadvantaged is small. The school has strong systems in place to ensure that these pupils make substantial progress.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The leader of the early years team demonstrates the determination, expertise and skills to sustain the highly effective provision. Staff, including those new to the age group, are very well supported. All staff within early years clearly show they have great enthusiasm and passion for the work they do.
• Children’s starting points in early years vary from year to year, but, broadly, they are below those typical for their age. However, as the result of highly skilled teaching staff, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development as they leave Reception has been above the national average for the last three years. This means that children make very strong progress and are extremely well-prepared for Year 1.
• Staff make regular, high-quality observations of children’s learning to check their progress and to ensure that they plan effectively to meet the next steps. Tracking of children’s progress is detailed, thorough and regularly checked by leaders within school and, externally, by local authority advisers.
• Teaching in early years is very strong. High expectations and very well-established routines lead children to develop excellent attitudes to learning. Children’s learning needs are very well met by the high-quality teaching and provision, both in the classroom and outdoors. Adults promote children’s communication skills at every opportunity. As a result, children are able to confidently hold conversations with adults and other children. For example, in Reception, children were able to explain what it would be like to live in the coldest regions in the world and the variety of animals that could live there. They were able to reason that certain animals, for example Arctic foxes, were really suited to living there as they had white fur and would be able to hide from anything that wanted to eat them.
• Children feel safe and secure and their behaviour is excellent. They work and play with each other in harmony. A stimulating environment and curriculum support the rapid rate of progress that children make in early years.
• Partnerships with parents are quickly established. Parents are made to feel very welcome and see themselves as a key part of their children’s education. Across the year, parents have a range of opportunities to visit the provision and stay and work alongside their children.
• Children are well motivated and develop the characteristics of effective learners. They are curious, resilient, creative and develop a good level of independence and self-control.
• Parents are very positive about the work of the early years. They said that their children were taught very well and made excellent progress from Nursery onwards. Parents, rightly, have every confidence that their children are kept safe and cared for very well.

School details

Unique reference number 108212 Local authority Wakefield Inspection number 10053759 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Junior and First School School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 354 Appropriate authority Local authority Chair Ian Patterson Headteacher Clare Kelly Telephone number 01924 242917 Website www.daneroyd.com Email address headteacher@daneroyd.wakefield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 14 February 2018

Information about this school

• The school is an above-average-sized school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average.
• The school offers wraparound care.
• The majority of pupils are White British, and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classrooms. A number of visits were conducted jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors also looked at pupils’ work in books, records of children’s learning in the early years and other information about pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Inspectors met with members of the governing body, including the chair and vice chair.
• Inspectors met with a member of the local authority.
• Meetings were held with the senior leadership team, middle leaders and leaders responsible for the curriculum, provision for pupils with SEND, for children in the early years and with the designated leads for safeguarding.
• Inspectors listened to pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 read, and held discussions with a group of pupils. Inspectors also talked to pupils informally around the school.
• Inspectors took account of 190 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, 77 free-text responses, 29 responses to the staff survey and 26 responses to the pupil survey. In addition, inspectors spoke with a number of parents before the start of the school day.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents. These included information about pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s reviews of its own performance, and checks on the quality of teaching and development plans. Inspectors also examined safeguarding documentation and various records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour.

Inspection team

Anne Vernon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Gerry Wilson Ofsted Inspector Catherine Precious Ofsted Inspector