All Saints CofE Primary School

All Saints CofE Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 07–08 February 2012 Inspection number 377208 Unique Reference Number 105238 Local authority Bolton Inspection number 377208 Inspection dates 7–8 February 2012 Lead inspector Allan Torr HMI

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 223 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Anthony Slack Headteacher Jo Briggs Date of previous school inspection 24 January 2011 School address Devon Street Farnworth Bolton BL4 7PY Telephone number 01204 333083 Fax number 01204 333085 Email address office@all-saints.bolton.sch.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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Introduction

Allan Torr Jean Tarry Her Majesty's Inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. Inspectors observed each teacher teaching at least twice and, in total, visited 18 lessons. These lessons included shorter visits to observe the teaching of phonic sessions (phonics is the system of learning to read linking letters to the sounds the make) and visits to guided reading sessions. Inspectors also visited an assembly, observed a lesson taught by a music specialist from the local authority and listened to individual pupils read their reading books. Inspectors held meetings with a representative from the local authority, teachers, two members of the governing body, and the school council. Inspectors took account of the 124 questionnaires returned by pupils, 21 returned by parents and carers and 23 returned by staff. There were no responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors looked at pupils’ work, the school’s improvement plan, information about pupils’ standards in reading, writing and mathematics

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Introduction

and its records about teaching. They also looked at the behaviour and bullying records, attendance and punctuality information and other school documents.

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Information about the school

All Saints is an average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. The proportion of pupils with a disability and those that have been identified as having special educational needs is average. Approximately three quarters of pupils are from heritages other than White British, the largest group has a Pakistani heritage. Almost three quarters of pupils speak English as an additional language. Early Years Foundation Stage provision is for children aged three to five years in a combined Nursery and Reception unit.

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Information about the school

In January 2010, the school was judged to require significant improvement and was given a notice to improve. There have been significant changes to staffing and leadership and management. At the monitoring visit in September 2011, the school was judged to be making satisfactory progress. One teacher resigned in December and another two are absent, which means that two classes are being taught by teachers on short-term or supply contracts. In 2011, the school met the current floor standard. However, fewer pupils than average made two levels progress in Key Stage 2 in English and mathematics.

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Information about the school

The school has gained the Woodland Trust Award, Eco silver award and the Activemark. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

 In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school no longer requires significant improvement.  All Saints is a satisfactory school. It has made a rapid and impressive improvement since the previous inspection. This is because of the relentless focus on improving the quality of teaching, the outstanding systems in place to monitor teaching and pupils’ progress, and the outstanding leadership provided by the headteacher and deputy headteachers.  Leadership and management are good overall. Since the previous inspection, subject leaders and those in middle leadership positions have begun monitoring and taking responsibility for their areas. Leadership is hampered from becoming outstanding because of staffing turbulence and the high number of newly-qualified or supply teachers who are unable to take on leadership roles.  Pupils’ achievement has improved and is now satisfactory. Pupils are now making rapid

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Key Findings

progress in reading and mathematics, particularly in Years 4 to 6 which was an issue at the previous inspection. Children’s achievement in the Early Years Foundation Stage (nursery and reception) is satisfactory but they enter into Year 1 with skills, knowledge and development which are low and teaching is not yet good enough to raise standards. Across the school, the quality of pupils’ writing lags behind their reading. Although the quality of writing is improving, pupils’ progress is not as rapid as in other subjects. This is partially linked to a lack of skills in speaking.  Teaching since the previous inspection has improved but over time it remains satisfactory. Significant improvements have been made in the last six months so that the teaching observed during this inspection was good and almost a quarter of it was outstanding.  Pupils’ behaviour and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are good.

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Key Findings

They are well behaved in lessons and respectful. Their attendance has risen significantly over the last two years.

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Key Findings

Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise pupils’ achievement particularly in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 by: - planning and teaching activities that extend all pupils’ knowledge, skills and thinking - improving the quality and effectiveness of induction into the Early Years Foundation Stage and transition into Year 1 - ensuring home reading books are challenging enough across all year groups and reading records are improved - training teaching assistants in how to have a greater impact on pupils’ learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of pupils’ writing by: - developing pupils’ vocabulary and their speaking skills - ensuring early writing skills are developed quickly and progressively.

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Achievement of pupils

'Most learning takes place in literacy, maths and reading' was a comment from a member of the school council and this sums up what inspectors found. Pupils make good gains in their knowledge, skills and understanding in a large majority of lessons in Key Stages 1 and 2. They build on and consolidated their prior learning. Inspectors also agree with parents and carers who said their children are making good progress. Attainment has risen in the last year from low to below average.

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Achievement of pupils

Children’s progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage is satisfactory. When they enter Year 1, pupils’ skills and knowledge are low which hinders the teachers in Key Stage 1 in accelerating progress because they have to fill too many gaps in pupils’ knowledge. After this slow start, pupils now make good progress which is beginning to show in their work as well as their national assessments (SATs). In 2011, for example, by the end of Year 6, three quarters attained the expected Level 4 in reading and in English. This shows that pupils’ attainment is getting closer to the national average and is a significant increase from previous years. Pupils, in sessions observed by inspectors, increased their knowledge of phonics through rhymes, games and through being challenged by teachers. In one session, for example, Year 2 pupils linked the new sound they were learning to spelling and writing. They had opportunities to think of other words which used the same sound and spelling

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Achievement of pupils

pattern and made good progress in their understanding. Standards in reading remain well below average by the end of Year 2. This in part is because of pupils are having to make too much ground to catch up from the end of reception and because of previous disruptions to their learning.

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Achievement of pupils

‘If we are Level 5 in writing we have to show the same thing in other subjects’. was the comment made by a pupil and reflects what inspectors found. In pupils’ work, the standard of writing was the same in English as it was in other areas of the curriculum. For example, in Year 4, pupils wrote a recount of an archaeological dig. Their work reflected and built successfully on their previous writing in English. In Year 6, pupils wrote and used information and communication technology (ICT) to construct some good pieces of work relating to the topic of ‘chocolate’. Pupils’ attainment in writing has risen considerably in the last two years but it lags behind reading. In addition, pupils’ progress across each key stage is not as strong as it is in reading and mathematics, in part because pupils’ early writing skills are not developed as quickly or a progressively as they could be. When pupils enter Year 1 very few pupils are writing readable sentences. Pupils’ low standards in writing in the

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Achievement of pupils

Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 can also be attributed to a lack of vocabulary and fluency in sentence structure. Pupils’ speaking skills are not as strong as they need to be to influence their writing positively.

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Achievement of pupils

In mathematics, pupils are now making rapid progress particularly in Years 4 to 6. In 2011 almost a third of pupils attained the higher Level 5 and over 80% attained Level 4. Standards by the end of Year 2 in mathematics are well below average because only a small proportion reaches the higher grade within Level 2 or Level 3. Standards remain low in the younger classes because pupils have too much ground to catch up from the end of Reception.

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Achievement of pupils

The number of disabled pupils is small but inspection evidence indicates they have made satisfactory progress over time. Since the last inspection, however, their progress and attainment is improving because staff have introduced well-planned teaching programmes to meet their learning needs. Pupils who have special educational needs have in the past not made the progress they should. Observations in lessons suggest this group is achieving much better than previously. All pupils in this group make satisfactory progress and a small but growing proportion make good progress. Pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals attain as well as their peers particularly in Key Stage 1. This group of pupils is making good progress mainly because teachers and senior leaders have targeted and tracked this group to make sure they are not falling behind. The gap between boys and girls has fluctuated considerably and at times either boys or girls have been well below other

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Achievement of pupils

groups of pupils. The school’s evidence suggests this gap still exists in some classes but the gap is beginning to close.

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Quality of teaching

All pupils benefit from a well-organised system of teaching phonics, particularly those who speak English as an additional language and those who are international new arrivals. Teachers use resources, ICT equipment, and short, exciting games and tasks to inspire and motivate pupils. Because many of the resources are visual it helps these two groups in particular and pupils who are known to have special educational needs to make rapid gains in their English. An aspect hindering more rapid progress in reading is the system of reading at home. Some pupils have reading books that are too easy, some pupils have been on their reading book for too long and reading records are not as useful as they could be in extending pupils’ reading at home. Pupils agreed there was a problem with the system, one said, 'reading records need to be looked at'.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils, parents and carers and inspectors agreed that teaching in the school is now often good. In a majority of lessons the pace of learning was rapid, pupils were fully involved in the lesson and the activities were well designed to build on pupils’ prior knowledge and learning. Teacher expectations are much higher than at the previous inspection. Pupils use talking partners very well to explain and to think out their answers. One of the reasons why teaching overall is satisfactory and not good is because in the Early Years Foundation Stage activities set for children do not extend their knowledge or their development quickly or well enough. Expectations are too low and child-initiated activities are not planned well enough to have a positive impact on learning. Teaching assistants, particularly in the nursery, reception and Key Stage 1 do not extend pupils’ thinking or learning as well as they could,

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Quality of teaching

for example, through well-crafted questions. In other sessions and small groups, teaching assistants miss opportunities to extend pupils’ thinking by doing a lot of the work themselves or by over-focussing on completing the activity.

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Quality of teaching

Over 80% of pupils agreed they know how well they are doing, teaching helps them to develop skills in communication, reading, writing and mathematics and teachers are interested in their views. The curriculum has been re-designed to have a greater focus on these aspects in order to bridge the many gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding. 'I will remember the support I have been given and the level of challenge that requires me to work harder', was a comment from a member of the school council. This comment typifies the view of most pupils and is an indication of how far the school has come. Teachers have improved significantly how well they use marking and pupils’ self-marking to extend pupils’ skills further. Another pupil said, 'children have to respond to English and maths marking – this makes a real difference.'

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Quality of teaching

Teaching has a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In several classes, for example, teachers arranged for pupils to work enthusiastically and positively in groups with different genders, ethnic backgrounds, abilities and with pupils from different religions and beliefs. As a result, pupils held each other in mutual respect and were keen to learn from each other. Teachers provided classes with good opportunities to reflect, consider, research topics and ideas and make suggestions.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils, parents and carers, staff and inspectors agreed that behaviour in school and in lessons is good, that bullying rarely takes place and pupils feel safe. Pupils rightly commented that behaviour is better in class than around the school. It is very apparent that over time adults have strong caring and positive relationships with pupils and model good behaviour. Around the school pupils are polite, friendly, open doors for others and move sensibly around the school. There is an atmosphere of respect and trust as one pupil reflected 'supply teachers are treated with respect here.' Behaviour has improved since the previous inspection because pupils are much more involved in their learning and are active in lessons. In a few lessons, pupils are too noisy, particularly in groups led by teaching assistants, which hampers pupils’ learning.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The behaviour and anti-bullying systems are consistently applied by staff. They have been extended and enhanced by having a silver and gold smiley face to denote better than expected behaviour. Although bullying records identify a small number incidents of racism, which also relate to differences between religions, these instances are very rare. Although there is no logging by the school of incidents of other types of bullying, such as homophobic language, cyber bullying, intimidation, harassment, and name calling, pupils told inspectors that these do not happen in this school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Teachers work very well with outside agencies, such as the police, medical professionals and the local authority to show pupils how to be safe. Trips, visits and visitors have done much to help pupils gain knowledge about road safety, fireworks safety, ‘trick or treat’ and water safety. There has been a significant rise in pupils’ attendance in the last three years and in their punctuality and a significant reduction in persistent absence. The number of families targeted for poor attendance has fallen significantly. These improvements have been in part because of closer working with ‘hard to reach’ families, targeted action to engage families but also because of better teaching, a more exciting curriculum and an improvement in the quality of the school.

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Leadership and management

Staff are proud to be at All Saints. They agree that they know what the school is trying to achieve, that policies are consistently applied and the school is well led and managed.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher provides outstanding leadership and has been integral to the transformation and improvement of the school. The school has outstanding systems in place to monitor teaching and learning and compare the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils. There is a relentless focus on learning and on making sure the mission statement of ‘to be the best I can be’ comes true. The monitoring has provided a very clear steer to staff and alongside well-targeted and effective training to help each member of staff to improve their practice. The school’s capacity to improve is good as seen in the significant improvement in pupils’ achievement, attendance and in the quality of teaching and the curriculum, but it is restricted by instability in staffing.

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Leadership and management

One of the reasons why leadership is good rather than outstanding, is because leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage has been fragmented despite the school’s best efforts, and has not led to enough improvement in children’s learning. The system to start new children into the nursery and transfer them into Key Stage 1 is not strong enough and does not enable pupils to make rapid progress.

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Leadership and management

Members of the governing body play an improved role in monitoring the school’s work, asking challenging questions and in helping the school to improve. They have ensured that safeguarding pupils is a high priority and the school meets its duties for health and safety, security and vetting adults to work in the school. The governing body has not, however, ensured all forms of diversity are covered within the curriculum and within policies and procedures. Some aspects of diversity, such as gender identity and sexuality are yet to be tackled. Other aspects of diversity are covered well in the curriculum and the school is satisfactorily closing the gaps between pupils’ achievement which means that the school’s success in ensuring equal opportunity is satisfactory. The school has worked hard to change the curriculum to focus on the achievement of basic skills, such as reading, ICT and mathematics skills. There has also been a good and successful focus on improving pupils’

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Leadership and management

spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of All Saints CofE Primary School, Bolton BL4 7PY

 You may remember I visited your school with my colleague Mrs Tarry to find out whether All Saints had improved since it was last inspected. Thank you to all of you who completed a questionnaire and took time to meet and talk with us. You said that you enjoyed coming to school, you learn a lot, and you know how well you are doing and what you need to do to improve your work. We agree with you and judged that All Saints has improved tremendously in the last year so that it is now a satisfactory school and some things are good. You and your parents and carers said that you feel safe in school, bullying rarely happens and that behaviour is good most of the time. We took your opinions into consideration and judged behaviour at All Saints to be good.

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Inspection of All Saints CofE Primary School, Bolton BL4 7PY

Staff and your parents and carers who completed questionnaires said the school is well led and managed. We agree. Mrs Briggs and other leaders are doing a good job in making changes to the school. The way in which they check on how well the school is doing is outstanding. Standards in English and mathematics have improved and your attendance has got better so more of you are coming to school more often.

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Inspection of All Saints CofE Primary School, Bolton BL4 7PY

There is still some work to do for All Saints to be a good school. Firstly, we have asked teachers to improve the quality of lessons for the younger children so that they reach higher levels. To do this we have asked that the activities are more challenging and make children gain more knowledge and skills. In addition, we found that some of your reading books that you take home are not challenging enough and are not changed often enough. Some pupils told us the reading records are not good enough, so we have asked teachers to find out ways of making them better. Secondly, we have asked teachers to improve the quality of your writing by improving the vocabulary you use in your work and by extending your speaking skills.

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Inspection of All Saints CofE Primary School, Bolton BL4 7PY

It was a pleasure meeting you and we wish you all the best for the future and hope that ‘you can be the best you can be.’ Yours sincerely

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Inspection of All Saints CofE Primary School, Bolton BL4 7PY

Allan Torr Her Majesty's Inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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