Hendal Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve progress and outcomes in mathematics across the school, especially in key stage 2, by:
  • ensuring that pupils are taught to recall times tables facts
  • ensuring that pupils further develop their ability to apply mathematical skills in meaningful contexts through problem-solving and reasoning.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that all pupils make more good progress by:
  • reducing the amount or lost learning time so that learning is maximised
  • ensuring that teachers provide tasks that are closely matched to the needs of all groups of pupils
  • ensuring that the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged so that they have more opportunities to work at greater depth
  • making better use of accurate assessment information to plan the next learning steps.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management at all levels by:
  • further developing leaders’ skills so they are able to improve progress and outcomes across the school in a broad range of subjects further developing the curriculum so that pupils develop knowledge, skills and understanding across a wide range of subjects
  • ensuring that the website includes all of the required detail relating to the planned curriculum.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The headteacher and staff are committed to providing the best possible education for pupils. Following her appointment, she and the staff worked effectively to improve their management of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. As a consequence, following a decline, both improved. However, leadership and management require improvement because the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is uneven across the school and outcomes for pupils are not consistently good.
• Leaders acknowledge that there remains some variability in the quality of teaching across the school. This is due to many changes of staff over the last three years and an expanding teaching team as the school roll increases. Senior leaders set high expectations for teachers but these are not yet embedded in all classes.
• There have been many changes to the leadership team and a number of new leaders took up their roles in the last year. As a result, many subject leaders are new to their roles and, while they are very keen to make improvements, it is too soon to see the impact of their work.
• The headteacher and governors are clear about the areas which the school needs to improve and they are taking action to tackle these. For example, disappointing outcomes in writing at the end of Year 6 in 2017 have led to a focus on this area. As a consequence, there have been some recent improvements in the quality of writing across the school, including handwriting and presentation, particularly in Year 6.
• While leaders have rightly focused on English and mathematics, other aspects of the curriculum, such as science and religious education, are less well developed. Not all pupils access a broad range of subjects. Although these shortcomings limit pupils learning in some of the required areas of the national curriculum, pupils enjoy some of the opportunities that the school offers them to extend and enhance their learning. For example, some topics are brought to life through trips and older pupils have the opportunity to take part in an annual residential trip. Pupils’ artistic skills are developed well and their work is used to enhance the classrooms and corridors. Pupils also benefit from a range of extra-curricular opportunities, including a range of different sports clubs.
• Leaders have ensured that the quality of work in the early years remains good. Children get off to a good start and most reach a good level of development so they are well prepared for their move into Year 1.
• There are effective systems in place to support pupils’ welfare and behaviour. The school is a happy, safe environment. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively. Pupils are taught about different faiths and cultures. British values, such as democracy, are brought to life through elections for school councillors and displays around the school celebrate the school’s work in seeking to develop equality, tolerance and respect.
• School leaders make appropriate use of the funding to support disadvantaged pupils. This includes additional staff to work with pupils in small groups. The impact of activities is closely tracked. Although this is largely leading to positive gains for pupils, in some cases, the planned work has not taken place due to staff absence.
• The primary school physical education (PE) and sports funding is used effectively to improve pupils’ participation in and enjoyment of sport. There is a range of activities, run by a sports coach, on offer during and after school. Pupils have the opportunity to participate in a variety of sporting events and competitions against other local schools. Training for staff is helping to ensure that the quality of PE teaching across the school is improving.
• The school has secure systems in place to identify and assess pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. A wide range of plans are in place to address their needs in a variety of ways, including extra support in class and specialist interventions from both school staff and external agencies. A particular strength is the work of the nurture team that works with pupils to develop their social and emotional skills. The impact of additional support is tracked carefully and staff adapt activities as necessary. Leaders make good use of additional funding to support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Although most parents who spoke to inspectors were positive about some aspects of the school’s work, a significant proportion expressed discontent, particularly about recent changes to the way that pupils and their parents access the school site. Senior leaders are aware of this and are seeking parents’ views about ways forward. To some extent, findings of this inspection reflect other concerns that parents expressed.
• School leaders have engaged appropriately with the local authority. The local authority officer knows the school well and has provided appropriate challenge.

Governance of the school

• Governors are clear about the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They are clear about what needs to be done to secure further improvement. Governors understand the school’s data and the quality of teaching within school. They have clear performance management systems in place that ensure that staff are held accountable for pupils’ progress. Governors provide senior leaders with an effective balance of support and challenge. They are clear about how additional funding is spent to impact on pupils’ progress.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a culture of care and safeguarding across the school and staff know that safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. As a result, the school is a safe environment where pupils say they feel safe and well cared for.
• Leaders ensure that appropriate checks are carried out on all adults appointed to work at the school. Staff have regular training to understand their responsibilities for keeping pupils safe. Several members of staff, including lunchtime supervisors, are trained in administering first aid.
• Pupils are taught how to keep safe online and talk with confidence about e-safety. They know that the school rules are there to keep everyone safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Although the quality of teaching is improving, learning and assessment are not consistent enough to ensure that all pupils make securely good progress in English, mathematics and a broad range of other subjects. Not all teachers make effective use of assessment to provide tasks at just the right level to challenge and extend the learning of all pupils, particularly the most able.
• The most able pupils are not given enough opportunities to work at greater depth and this is preventing them from reaching the higher standards of which they are capable. For example, in mathematics, they often complete the same work as the majority of the class and, while activities are presented at different levels, there is little opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge to problems.
• Sometimes learning time is lost because staff have to complete administrative tasks on the computer or classes are slow to return from playtimes. In some cases, pupils lose concentration and interest when they sit for too long listening to instructions when they are ready to begin their work. This is especially true for some of the most able pupils who say they often have to listen to all of the instructions and explanations about tasks when they are already able to begin.
• There are very detailed systems for identifying pupils who need extra help and leaders have a wide range of plans in place to provide this support to many groups of pupils across the school. However, on a class level, teachers do not always use what they know about their pupils, from assessments, to plan tasks at just the right level for all pupils.
• Work seen in pupils’ books confirms that there is a focus on developing basic computation skills, but there are insufficient opportunities to apply this to problems in some form of meaningful context. This means that pupils have limited opportunities to develop skills in reasoning and solving problems. Pupils are not developing a secure ability to recall multiplication facts and work in books shows that this is limiting their ability to solve problems.
• Pupils enjoy good relationships with their teachers and additional adults. Classrooms are calm and orderly. Where teaching is effective, teachers’ explanations are clear and they use questioning to develop pupils’ understanding well.
• Work in books confirms that the quality of pupils’ writing is improving, particularly in Years 5 and 6. Where pupils have the opportunity to write at length, they demonstrate a developing use of grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.
• Phonics teaching is largely effective. Most teachers and teaching assistants model letter sounds clearly and provide a range of activities to help pupils’ learning. Pupils are enthusiastic readers and say they enjoy reading. Younger pupils are able to apply their phonics skills to read new unfamiliar words. However, the pupils who have been unsuccessful in the Year 1 phonic check do not all benefit from the planned additional support to help them reach the required standard by the end of Year 2. Leaders are aware that this is because of some staff absence.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, including racism, and they say that bullying is rare. They say that if bullying does occur they are confident that staff will deal with it.
• Older pupils talk with confidence about the need to treat everyone equally and fairly. For example, they talked sensitively about the need to treat transgender people equally. Pupils explained that understanding different people’s beliefs will help everyone to get on better.
• There is good support to help Year 6 pupils to prepare for their move to secondary school, using the ‘Luggage for Life’ scheme, which helps pupils to prepare for change in the future.
• There is good support for pupils whose particular special needs mean that they find learning difficult and do not always behave well. The good support provided by the nurture team means that these pupils are largely well managed and their behaviour and attendance are improving. Exclusions and physical interventions are reducing.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Most pupils are well mannered, confident and friendly. They generally work well together, taking turns and sharing resources where appropriate. Behaviour in classrooms is typically good, with most pupils being keen to learn. Occasionally, pupils lose focus or become distracted if the work or the pace of the lesson is not right for them. This can impact on the progress that they make.
• Older pupils say that behaviour has improved over the last year. The school’s behaviour policy is effective and focuses on encouraging pupils to behave well. Pupils understand the rules and say that staff are fair.
• Pupils enjoy playtimes and get on well together. Pupils are well supervised on the playground. Their conduct around the school is good. Pupils open doors for visitors and are polite to each other and adults alike.
• Attendance levels have improved and are now in line with the national average. School leaders are taking concerted action to address the attendance of any pupils who are persistently absent. As a consequence, persistent absences have reduced for some individual pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils do not make consistently good progress as they move through the school because teaching has been variable in quality and impact. Outcomes at the end of 2016 and provisional results from 2017 show that too few pupils reach the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave at the end of key stage 2. This reflects the inconsistent quality of teaching over time. Inspection evidence, including work in pupils’ books, shows that pupils’ progress in reading and writing is beginning to improve. However, in mathematics, progress is limited because of pupils’ underdeveloped knowledge of multiplication facts and their problem-solving and reasoning skills.
• Improved teaching of phonics and early reading resulted in higher proportions of Year 1 pupils reaching the required standard in the phonic check in 2015 and 2016. Provisional results show that the proportions successful in the phonic check have been maintained in 2017 but boys did not do as well as girls.
• Provisional 2017 outcomes at the end of Year 2 show that most pupils make at least expected progress from their starting points. In mathematics, standards were in line with the national average. In reading and writing, standards were a little below average. There was, however, an increase in the proportion of pupils working at greater depth in key stage 1 in reading and mathematics.
• School assessment information and evidence gathered during the inspection show that progress and attainment for pupils in mathematics are inconsistent across the school, particularly in key stage 2. The most able pupils do not make enough progress. This is because the work they are set does not provide them with the opportunity to apply their skills to problems so they deepen their understanding.
• The inconsistencies in the planning and delivery of the curriculum mean that pupils do not all make enough progress in a broad range of subjects.
• The rates of progress for disadvantaged pupils across the school are generally improving, although outcomes do vary between subjects and year groups. Generally, at the end of Year 2 and Year 6, disadvantaged pupils do not do as well as other pupils.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making better progress from their starting points. This is because the additional support provided is being more carefully tracked and monitored. There are no significant differences in outcomes between pupils from different ethnic groups.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is good. Children get off to a good start in a well-ordered and stimulating learning environment where all children are valued and well cared for. Children’s behaviour is good and they enjoy their time in the setting. Parents are positive about their children’s experiences.
• Teaching and the provision are effective so that the proportion of children reaching a good level of development increased year-on-year between 2014 and 2016. During this time, the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers narrowed as did the differences between boys and girls. Most pupils are well prepared for their move into Year 1.
• In 2017, although the proportions of children reaching a good level of development were broadly similar to 2016, boys did not do as well as girls, particularly in reading and writing. From their individual starting points, which are usually below what is typical for their age, this represents good progress.
• Children enjoy positive relationships with adults and with each other. Children are happy and enjoy their time in the setting. They explore their surroundings and use their imagination well, for example when using the role play area. Most adults provide children with a strong model of spoken language and use questioning effectively to check on children’s learning. This contributes well to the development of their speaking, listening and creative skills.
• The outdoor areas make a particularly strong contribution to children’s learning. They enjoy the interesting activities that are presented to them and enjoy working in groups outdoors with adult direction.
• Pupil premium funding is used effectively to provide children with extra help, including support with reading and writing. This is contributing to the good progress of disadvantaged pupils.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 108218 Wakefield 10036422 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 Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 390 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mr Terry Carter Mrs Kelly Ashton 01924 259 465 www.hendal.schooljotter2.com headteacher@hendal.wakefield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection November 2012

Information about this school

• There have been significant staff changes since the last inspection. This includes a new headteacher, deputy headteacher and 11 new teachers.
• This is larger than an average-sized primary school and has increased in size by almost a third since the last inspection. There are more boys on the school roll than girls.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is broadly average.
• The majority of pupils are White British and there is a small proportion who speak English as an additional language.
• In 2016, the school exceeded the government floor standards, which set the minimum standards and rate of progress expected for pupils.
• A behaviour resource unit shares the site but is not managed by the governing body.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the planned curriculum on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The lead inspector undertook a series of brief classroom observations, which included observations in almost all classes, accompanied by the headteacher.
• Inspectors observed teaching in all classes and this consisted of 15 lessons, including some that were observed jointly with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors spoke to groups of pupils and to parents as they brought their children into school in the morning and collected their children at the end of the school day.
• Inspectors took account of 37 responses from parents to the online Ofsted Parent View survey.
• Meetings were held with four members of the governing body, school staff and a representative from Wakefield local authority.
• Inspectors looked at a number of documents, including the school’s monitoring of teaching and the school improvement plan.
• Inspectors listened to some pupils read and checked the school’s assessment of pupils’ progress in reading. They also looked at the school’s tracking system showing pupils’ progress in mathematics and English.

Inspection team

Amraz Ali, lead inspector Lynda Florence Linda Clay Larissa Thorpe

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector