Glusburn Community Primary School

Glusburn Community Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 23–24 May 2012 Inspection number 380241 Unique Reference Number 121447 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 380241 Inspection dates 23–24 May 2012 Lead inspector Cathy Morgan

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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 Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 290 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Wheeler Headteacher Richard Hunt Date of previous school inspection 24 September 2007 School address Colne Road Glusburn Keighley BD20 8PJ Telephone number 01535 632145 Fax number 01535 631108 Email address headteacher@glusburn.n-yorks.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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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

Cathy Morgan Fiona Gowers Additional inspector Additional inspector Rosemary Batty Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspectors observed parts of 23 lessons from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6, taught by 13 teachers. Inspectors observed an assembly, listened to some pupils reading, and held discussions with staff, members of the governing body and a group of pupils. They observed the school's work and looked at a range of documentation. These included the school’s safeguarding procedures, information about the progress and attainment of pupils, school improvement planning, the school’s self-evaluation, curriculum and lesson planning, a range of policies and monitoring undertaken by senior leaders and the governing body. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. The team scrutinised 110 parental questionnaires and others returned by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

This is a larger-than-average primary school in a semi-rural area close to the town of Keighley. The large majority of pupils are from a White British heritage with a higher proportion of boys than girls. Few pupils are at an early stage of learning to speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average but rising. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average. The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress. The school suffered severe disruption due to flooding in 2010 which led to the use of temporary accommodation for a significant part of the academic year. Since the time of the last inspection the school has received the Rights Respecting School Award recognised by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Basic Skills

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Information about the school

Quality Mark, the Fairtrade award, the Eco Schools’ Silver Award and the National Sing-Up Silver Award. 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

 This is a good school. It has outstanding provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage. As a result children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make outstanding progress from their starting points. Attainment is above national averages by the end of Year 6. Good-quality safeguarding ensures that every pupil feels safe. The school is not outstanding because pupils’ progress is not yet rapid enough to ensure that attainment is consistently above average over a sustained period of time.

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Key Findings

 The leadership of teaching and learning, and the management of teacher performance, have been effective in improving teaching and learning. As a result teaching is good overall, with some outstanding practice. As yet, however, not all of the key initiatives identified by school leaders to improve the quality of teaching are applied consistently across the school.

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Key Findings

 Skilled teaching of sounds that letters make (phonics) enables pupils to develop successful strategies for reading and writing and to achieve well. Well-planned support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs ensures that they make good progress. Pupils are challenged to work independently and this is particularly beneficial in enabling the more-able pupils to achieve high levels.

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Key Findings

 Pupils’ behaviour is good and they feel very safe, which is confirmed by the views of parents and carers. Pupils are polite and respectful and they have positive attitudes to learning. Attendance is currently above average but the rate of absence is beginning to increase because targets relating to attendance are not set, monitored or reviewed with parents, carers and governors.

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Key Findings

 Leaders and managers, including the governing body, have a very clear focus on the right priorities to improve the school further. Their response to the decline in pupil achievement caused by the flooding of the school in 2010 was rapid and successful. The outstanding curriculum, rigorous monitoring of pupil performance and evaluation of teaching supported by excellent professional development opportunities, have effectively secured the good progress made by all pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure all pupils make the best possible progress by: - fully embedding the key initiatives to improve the quality of teaching, particularly the ‘modelling talk’ and ‘providing feedback’ aspects - setting clear targets for good attendance, monitoring these and communicating them to parents.

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Achievement of pupils

All parents and carers who completed the inspection questionnaire rightly believe that their child is making good progress at school. Pupils are very proud of their work and in lessons they often demonstrate a genuine enjoyment of learning independently, which has a major and positive impact on their achievement. This was evident in a Year 3 science lesson which enabled enthusiastic pupils to demonstrate their understanding of plant growth through drama.

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Achievement of pupils

On entry to the Early Years Foundation Stage, children’s skills are in line with the expectations for their age group. Staff provide extensive learning opportunities in an imaginative environment, which enable the nurturing of individual children. The analysis of assessment information by the school is rigorous and extensive. It demonstrates that the rate of progress of pupils through the school is accelerating swiftly following a decline in 2010, when the school was severely affected by flooding. Since then, standards of attainment in English and mathematics have continued to be above those expected nationally.

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Achievement of pupils

By the time pupils complete Year 2, their attainment is above that expected for their age. Those in Year 6 are on course to exceed their challenging targets and an above-average proportion of pupils are on track to reach the higher Levels 5 and 6. Evidence from the school’s assessment data, from lesson observations and from scrutiny of work in pupils’ books confirms that pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs and those known to be eligible for free school meals make good progress, as a result of the well-targeted support which the school provides for them. Pupils’ attainment in reading is above average by the end of both key stages because the skilled teaching of sounds that letters make (phonics) is a key focus for the school. Initiatives such as ‘book corners’ and ‘free choice Friday’ successfully increase pupils’ enthusiasm for reading and encourage parental involvement.

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Quality of teaching

Almost all teaching is good and sometimes it is outstanding. The outstanding lessons make use of innovative and stimulating resources for indoor and outdoor learning which enable pupils to make excellent progress because activities are challenging, stimulating and matched extremely well to their needs. An outstanding Year 4 geography lesson was imaginatively planned to integrate the themes of ancient Greece and orienteering. Pupils worked enthusiastically in pairs to translate clues enabling them to locate missing pieces of a Greek pot using maps of the school grounds. All parents and carers who replied to the questionnaire believe that children are taught well. A typical comment is that, ‘We are very lucky parents to have this school around the corner from our home.’ Teachers are highly committed and use their excellent subject knowledge to plan imaginative approaches to lessons, particularly topic work. Typically, lessons are

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Quality of teaching

designed to include activities which engage pupils’ interest and enable them to become effective independent learners. Pupils make good use of the resources designed to enable them to solve their own problems, for example, punctuation pyramids, handy helpers and writing target cards. Reading skills are taught well. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the focus on personalised learning successfully enables children to become independent and develop high-quality problem solving, communication and language skills. They thoroughly enjoy activities which include designing their own games, constructing buildings, cooking pasta and the opportunities they have to celebrate their successes.

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Quality of teaching

Highly skilled teaching assistants play a major part in lessons, ensuring that disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are supported very effectively to make good progress. Assessment information is used extremely well to identify the specific learning needs of pupils and target specialist support.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively and they develop excellent social skills through planned opportunities to work together. This was an outstanding feature of a Year 6 literacy lesson. The teacher made effective use of inclusive resources to extend all pupils’ understanding and use of persuasive writing. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed using a ‘minotaur-ometer’ to accurately grade the quality of each other’s persuasive sentences.

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Quality of teaching

Senior leaders have worked extremely hard to implement key initiatives designed to accelerate the progress made by pupils in lessons. As yet however, not all initiatives designed to improve the quality of teaching are fully embedded nor applied consistently across all subjects. Teachers do not always plan opportunities to allow pupils to explain and reason in front of the class or implement the revised marking policy to increase opportunities for peer assessment.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are pro-active in promoting good behaviour. They played a significant part in securing the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award which recognises the school’s achievement in putting the rights of the child at the heart of their planning, policies, practice and ethos. Pupils behave well around school and in lessons. They are respectful and kind to one another. All parents and carers who returned a questionnaire said their child was happy in school. Almost all thought that behaviour was at least good.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are aware of different types of bullying and express their confidence in bringing any concerns to the attention of staff. Reported incidents of bullying are extremely rare and records confirm the views of parents, carers and pupils that these are dealt with well. The recently introduced mentoring for pupils who present challenging behaviour is very effective.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are acutely aware of unsafe situations, and they know how to keep themselves safe when using new technologies. Pupils enjoy coming to school and are willing to help one another by adopting the role of mentors and learning buddies. They contribute suggestions through the school council where they are rightly proud of their extensive and imaginative charitable work.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Attendance is slightly above average. The school has implemented a range of positive initiatives to improve the recent increase in the rate of pupil absence, including discouraging parents from taking children out of school during term time. However, there are missed opportunities to set targets relating to attendance, to review these frequently with parents and carers and for governors to regularly monitor this process.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher’s successful drive for continuous improvement is shared by all members of the school team. As a result pupils make good progress. Staff are highly enthusiastic, feel valued and share a common vision for taking the school forward. The governing body and the whole staff share the headteacher’s pride in their school. A typical comment from staff is that, ‘I am proud to be a member of staff at this school’.

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Leadership and management

The school has a strong capacity to maintain and build on the improvements made since the time of its last inspection. This is demonstrated by the current performance of higher- attaining pupils in English and in the now outstanding provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage. The senior leadership team has secured swift and significant improvements in the achievement of pupils since the decline in 2010.

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Leadership and management

Leaders and governors have an accurate view of their school. The leadership of teaching and learning, and the management of teacher performance, have been effective in improving the attainment of pupils. All staff comment favourably about how they have benefited from professional development opportunities to enhance their skills. As a result of teachers’ support for the new improvement initiatives, the overall quality of teaching is improving.

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Leadership and management

The governing body and leadership team ensure that equality and awareness of diversity are promoted very well. The curriculum is outstanding, resulting in an abundance of exciting and vibrant learning experiences which have a very positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Through the school's emphasis on rights and responsibilities pupils are proactive in community life, recognising that they can make a difference within their own and global communities. The school's approach to working with different communities is outstanding. Pupils are given extensive opportunities to work independently and to use their reading and writing skills within their innovative topic work. Great care is taken to ensure that the core skills of literacy and numeracy are integrated across the curriculum. Pupils are very appreciative of the extensive range of extra-curricular and enrichment activities which are popular and well-attended. Arrangements for

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Leadership and management

safeguarding meet statutory requirements.

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Leadership and management

All parents and carers who returned the questionnaires were unanimous that they would recommend this school to another parent. A typical comment is that, ‘Glusburn school is well led and the staff genuinely care for their pupils.’

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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 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 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 to 31 December 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

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school's efforts to encourage good attendance.

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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

Floor standards the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures

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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 Glusburn Community Primary School, Keighley, BD20 8PJ

Thank you for the welcome you gave us when we carried out our recent inspection. We enjoyed talking to you and it was very useful to have your views. We were impressed with your good behaviour and how hard you were working in lessons. We agree with you and your parents and carers that yours is a good school. We also judge the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage to be outstanding.

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Inspection of Glusburn Community Primary School, Keighley, BD20 8PJ

You are well taught and you achieve well. You enjoy lessons, especially those that allow you to be active and independent. You benefit greatly from the many interesting extra-curricular and lesson activities which are provided for you. Staff look after you well and keep you safe, and so you feel secure in school. You are very kind to one another and you all know how to keep yourselves safe.

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Inspection of Glusburn Community Primary School, Keighley, BD20 8PJ

Your headteacher, the school leaders, staff and the governing body want to continue to improve the school for you. We agree with them that you make good progress and we would like them to make sure that you always make the best progress possible. We have asked them to continue to help teachers to use the very best techniques to help you to achieve your best in all subjects. We have also asked the school to make sure that your attendance continues to improve by paying closer attention to the amount of times you are absent from school. We want the school to share targets for good attendance with your parents and carers and have asked your headteacher and governing body to make sure that these targets are achieved.

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Inspection of Glusburn Community Primary School, Keighley, BD20 8PJ

You can help too by attending school regularly and continuing to work hard. I send you and your teachers my very best wishes for the future.

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Inspection of Glusburn Community Primary School, Keighley, BD20 8PJ

Cathy Morgan Lead 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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