The Rookeries Carleton Junior and Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that it is consistently good or better, and improve pupils’ outcomes, particularly in key stage 2, by ensuring that:
  • teachers are well equipped with strong subject knowledge in reading
  • teachers use high-quality texts when developing pupils’ reading comprehension skills
  • work to develop reading comprehension skills is suitably challenging for all groups of pupils, especially the most able pupils
  • pupils have frequent opportunities to improve their work in reading
  • pupils apply their English grammar, punctuation and spelling skills consistently and accurately in their independent writing
  • activities in wider curriculum subjects, such as history and geography, present a suitable level of challenge.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders use information about assessment and their evaluations of teaching to check that pupils make strong progress
  • leaders’ improvement plans are focused tightly on improving pupils’ outcomes
  • trustees, governors and senior leaders hold staff to account effectively for their work to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes
  • leaders identify disadvantaged pupils’ barriers to learning with increasing accuracy and check closely on the progress that pupils make.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Over time, leaders have not ensured that key stage 2 pupils have made sufficient progress in reading and writing. They have identified appropriate priorities and have led improvements in key areas with some success. However, they have not made sure that the quality of teaching and learning is consistently good. Consequently, pupils’ progress is variable across the school.
• Leaders’ plans for improvement identify key priorities for the school and the actions to be taken. However, their targets are too broad and are not tightly focused on pupils’ outcomes. Therefore, it is not possible for leaders, including trustees and governors, to hold members of staff and each other to account effectively.
• The effectiveness of pupil premium funding spending is variable. Leaders have not identified pupils’ barriers to learning with sufficient precision. As a result, too many disadvantaged pupils are working below the standards expected for their age and are not catching up quickly enough.
• Pupils enjoy a broad and interesting curriculum. Leaders ensure that educational visits and workshops delivered by expert visitors provide an exciting start to each theme. However, due to the variability in the quality of teaching in wider curriculum subjects, such as history and science, pupils’ learning is not as effective as it should be.
• Subject leaders take responsibility for improving pupils’ outcomes through monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. They are knowledgeable and enthused about their subjects. As a result of their efforts, improvements in some subjects are evident. However, in others, inconsistencies in the quality of teaching remain.
• The curriculum has a positive effect on pupils’ understanding of British values and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils cooperate well with each other in all year groups and this reflects their strong social skills.
• Leaders use the primary physical education (PE) and sports funding to provide increased opportunities for pupils to participate in a wide range of sports. They also use the funding to support pupils to be more active at lunchtimes. Pupils enjoy taking part in competitions with other trust schools and attending after-school clubs.
• The appointment of new senior leaders within the trust has been instrumental in ensuring that improvements to the quality of teaching are now happening at a more rapid pace.
• Leaders have created an inclusive and caring ethos in the school. Staff and pupils feel supported and valued by leaders.
• The leader for special educational needs is knowledgeable and ambitious for all pupils. Each pupil with SEND has an individual plan that links identified needs and support required. The special educational needs coordinator and the lead teacher for hearing-impaired pupils work well together to ensure that most of these pupils make good progress.

Governance of the school

• Trustees and governors are passionate about the school and are ambitious for its future development. They are a skilled group who have a secure understanding of pupils’ academic performance.
• Governors’ effectiveness has been enhanced through the support of the new trust leaders. Governors now work more collaboratively with other trust schools, which is extending their expertise. Governors are working alongside school leaders to help shape the strategic direction of the school with the support of the trust leadership team.
• Governors check that the pupil premium funding is spent appropriately. However, they have not checked closely enough on how the funding has had an effect on school improvement priorities, such as improving disadvantaged pupils’ progress in reading.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Senior leaders ensure that safeguarding pupils is a key priority for the school. As such, a culture of vigilance and care permeates the school. Strong relationships exist between pupils and staff. Pupils who shared their views during the inspection said that they trusted staff to support them with any worries which may arise.
• Staff are knowledgeable about the risks that pupils may face, and their responsibilities in keeping children safe are understood.
• The designated safeguarding leader relates well to parents and carers. Families whose circumstances make them vulnerable are supported effectively by members of staff.
• Leaders work effectively with external agencies, making timely referrals where necessary. The school’s records in respect of safeguarding are detailed and well maintained.
• Leaders carry out appropriate checks on all adults and volunteers to ensure their suitability to work with children.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is not yet consistently good. The effectiveness of teaching in key stage 2 is variable, particularly in English. Although stronger practice does exist in some year groups, particularly across key stage 1, this variability hinders pupils’ progress.
• Pupils are taught a wide and varied curriculum, but some activities limit the responses that pupils can make, which means that not all pupils are challenged in every subject.
• In wider curriculum subjects, such as geography, teachers’ expectations of pupils’ learning are often too low. Too frequently, activities are not sufficiently challenging for the most able pupils.
• Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching reading. As a result, pupils now have opportunities to develop a range of comprehension skills, including inference and prediction. However, in key stage 2, the texts that pupils use and the questions they answer in lessons are often undemanding. Additionally, too often, pupils’ underdeveloped or incorrect answers are not picked up by teachers. These factors hinder pupils’ progress.
• In some year groups in key stage 2, teachers’ expectations of pupils’ application of English grammar, punctuation and spelling skills are not high enough. As a result, pupils repeat basic errors, and this restricts the progress they make in writing.
• Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching mathematics this year. Teaching is now effective in ensuring that pupils have a balance of work in fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. Teachers typically pitch work that offers a suitable level of challenge. Consequently, pupils are making good progress in mathematics.
• Leaders now have more accurate systems in place to identify pupils who are not making enough progress. They use this information to plan additional teaching for individual pupils and this is often effective in filling gaps in pupils’ learning. For example, selected pupils who read to an adult daily are becoming increasingly fluent in their reading.
• The teaching of phonics is effective in key stage 1. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to ensure that pupils develop their early reading skills well.
• Pupils with SEND are fully included in lessons and make good progress. Pupils with a range of needs are well supported. Teaching assistants ensure that pupils are able to learn alongside their peers. The school is taking effective steps to ensure that hearing-impaired pupils can participate fully in the school’s curriculum.

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 positive attitudes and are keen to learn. Pupils’ efforts are praised, and their resilience is valued by teaching staff.
• Pupils develop moral understanding very well through being encouraged to take responsibility for their choices. They also appreciate the leadership roles on offer to them. For example, pupils enjoy taking part in the school council and having monitor responsibilities in their classrooms. As a result, pupils are sensible and demonstrate high levels of maturity.
• Leaders place heavy emphasis on pupils’ development of social skills. Pupils listen to and show respect for each other and adults. They are welcoming to visitors, confident and well mannered. They enjoy sharing ideas during lessons.
• Pupils are proud of their school and enjoy being there. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and are well looked after. Should they have any worries or concerns, they know that the staff will listen. Pupils attending the breakfast club enjoy the activities on offer and are well supervised.
• In lessons and assemblies, pupils learn how to stay safe and keep safe. They are knowledgeable about bullying and they trust that staff will resolve any issues of bullying should they occur. Consequently, bullying is rare.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils know what is expected of them. They follow school rules and enjoy the rewards they receive for positive attitudes.
• Behaviour is good in lessons and pupils conduct themselves well around the school. Occasionally, pupils lose concentration in lessons. This occurs when their work does not challenge then sufficiently.
• Pupils play well together at break and lunchtimes. They are coping well with the building work, which has resulted in a temporary smaller playground. This has not affected their good behaviour. There are good opportunities for pupils to engage in a wide range of activities provided by the play leaders at lunchtimes.
• Pupils’ attendance is improving and is now very close to the national average for primary schools. Leaders have ensured that pupils understand the importance of their education. They have been successful in improving attendance, particularly for those pupils who had missed school too often.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Published information shows that pupils’ progress in reading and writing has been below average at the end of key stage 2 for the last two years. This is due to the variability which is evident in the quality of teaching, particularly in the lack of challenge for the most able pupils. Hence too few pupils reach the higher standards of learning.
• Leaders have put plans in place to raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. This ambition is embedded in key stage 1 and results in pupils’ outcomes being broadly in line with or above national averages.
• Evidence in pupils’ books show that pupils with SEND make good progress from their individual starting points. Pupils with complex needs are supported very well by teaching assistants and this enables them to participate fully in lessons.
• The new approach to teaching mathematics is ensuring that current pupils are making stronger progress. Teachers use their accurate assessments of pupils’ learning to move pupils on to more challenging work at an appropriate pace. There is a clear sequence of learning over time which allows pupils to improve their fluency of basic skills.
• Similar to other pupils in the school, disadvantaged pupils’ progress is typically strong during key stage 1 but variable across key stage 2.
• The teaching of phonics is effective in supporting pupils to develop early reading skills well. A slightly higher-than-average proportion of pupils without a hearing impairment reach the expected standard for the Year 1 phonics screening check.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the early years with skills and knowledge that are broadly typical for their age. They make strong progress because of skilled teaching and good leadership. Consequently, a significant number of children exceed the expectations for the end of Reception.
• The early years leader is skilled and knowledgeable. She regularly monitors children’s progress and attainment for pupils. Adults have a detailed knowledge of the children and they use this effectively to plan and deliver adult-led activities.
• The leader has systems in place to ensure that children’s learning choices are monitored. All adults ensure that children access a variety of areas of provision and tackle a range of challenges across each week.
• Children make sensible choices with independent learning activities. They spend a sustained amount of time in each area, showing high levels of concentration. Adults show skill in extending children’s learning through questioning and demonstration.
• Children have secure relationships with adults in the setting, which lead to children being confident, inquisitive and independent in their learning. Adults have established appropriate routines and have high expectations of behaviour. As a result, children behave well and show maturity and independence in looking after resources.
• Children cooperate well together and enjoy talking about their learning with others.
• Parents have a range of opportunities to be involved in their child’s education, including joining the ‘inspire’ sessions at the beginning of a topic, making contributions to assessments and attending workshops.
• All appropriate welfare requirements are met within the provision.
• Children flourish in the setting and are well prepared for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139504 Wakefield 10082029 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 Academy converter 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 239 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Head of school Telephone number Website Email address Michelle Neden Nicky Ellwand 01977 600368 www.rookeriescarleton.wakefield.sch.uk admin@rookeries.patrust.org.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 March 2016

Information about this school

• The Rookeries Carleton Junior and Infant School: With Hearing Impairment Resource is part of the Pontefract Multi-Academy Trust. It joined the trust in April 2013. Between April and October 2018, a new team of trust leaders, including a new chief executive officer, was appointed.
• The school is an average-sized primary school. It has a special educational needs resource base for 16 hearing-impaired pupils.
• The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below average.
• The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is well above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is just below average.
• Children attend part time in Nursery and full time in Reception.
• The school has a breakfast club for its pupils.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed a range of teaching and learning in every class in the school. Some observations were joint with senior leaders.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils, both individually and in groups, to gather their views about the school.
• Inspectors reviewed pupils’ work in lessons and scrutinised samples of pupils’ work in their books. Inspectors listened to pupils read.
• The lead inspector held a meeting with the chair of the governing body and three other governors. The lead inspector held a meeting with the trust chief executive officer (CEO) and the executive director of teaching and learning.
• Inspectors also held meetings with senior leaders and other staff.
• Inspectors looked at the school’s review of its own performance, the school’s development and improvement plans, several school policies and the minutes of meetings of the governing body. They scrutinised the school’s latest pupil assessment information, together with a range of documentation in relation to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors analysed the 54 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Parent View. They also analysed the responses to the school’s own pupil and staff questionnaires.

Inspection team

Rebecca Clayton, lead inspector Karine Hendley Zoe Westley

Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector