Stanley Grove Primary and Nursery School

Stanley Grove Primary and Nursery School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 13–14 June 2012 Inspection number 395491 Unique Reference Number 108162 Local authority Wakefield Inspection number 395491 Inspection dates 13–14 June 2012 Lead inspector Lynne Blakelock

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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 202 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kathleen Webster Headteacher Joanne Frost Date of previous school inspection 1 May 2007 School address Aberford Road Stanley Wakefield WF3 4NT Telephone number 01924 303805 Fax number 01924 303805 Email address headteacher@stanleygrove.wakefield.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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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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Introduction

Lynne Blakelock Nancy Walker Additional Inspector Additional Inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspectors observed 16 lessons taught by nine teachers, over approximately nine hours. They held meetings with a group of pupils, senior and middle leaders and representatives of the governing body. The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at documentation relating to the achievement of all groups of pupils, the school’s improvement planning and a range of school policies and procedures. They analysed the 67 questionnaires returned by parents and carers.

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Information about the school

This is smaller than mostprimary schools, although the number on roll is increasing steadily. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The proportion of pupils who are supported by School Action Plus or have a statement of special educational needs is well below average.

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Information about the school

The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress. It has recently been re-awarded the Investors in Pupils Award. The school runs a breakfast-club.

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Information about the school

The headteacher took up her post in September 2008. Staffing is stable after a period of several long-term absences. Most classes, but not all, are mixed-age and several classes are staffed by job-share teachers. 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 satisfactory school. It is not yet good because there are inconsistencies in the quality of planning of teaching and learning. Senior and middle leaders monitor the school’s work regularly, but their impact on driving improvement is variable. Schools whose overall effectiveness is satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Key Findings

 From their individual starting points when they join the Early Years Foundation Stage, pupils make satisfactory progress throughout the school and achieve satifactorily. They reach average levels in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Key Findings

 Most teaching is satisfactory. At times, teachers’ planning does not regularly enough result in activities that match accurately the levels at which pupils are working, therefore restricting their progress. The pace of learning is not always brisk enough to engage pupils fully. There is some good teaching, which motivates and engages pupils of all abilities and accelerates the pace of their progress.

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Key Findings

 The behaviour of pupils, although good around the school, is satisfactory in lessons and overall, as are their attitudes to learning. There is a direct correlation between pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning and the quality of teaching. Pupils feel safe and demonstrate appropriate understanding for their age of possible dangers to their health and well-being.

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Key Findings

 The leadership and management of the school, including the management of teaching, are satisfactory. Performance management targets and staff training reflect the priority on improving teaching. However, leaders and managers do not all have a full picture of practices and performance in their areas and improvements are not often carried out as whole-school initiatives, in order to increase the consistency of good practices. Over time, there has not been consistent monitoring of the quality of teaching and support for disabled pupils or those who have special educational needs.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

   Quicken pupils’ progress and raise standards in reading, writing and mathematics, through consistently good teaching, by making sure that: - all tasks offer an accurate level of challenge to pupils of all abilities, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs - there is a brisk pace to learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the effectiveness of leadership and management by making sure that: - leaders and managers plan together to bring about whole-school improvements in the quality of teaching - there is a major focus and structure to the monitoring of the quality of classroom teaching and support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and the pace of their progress - all leaders have and maintain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of practices and performance in their areas.

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Achievement of pupils

Children join the Nursery with levels of knowledge and skills that are below expectations for their age. They make satisfactory progress overall throughout Nursery and Reception in their learning, and good progress in their personal, emotional and social development. The children show emerging skills in organising themselves and co-operate well with each other in their learning and playing. Most children are able to enunciate accurately the sounds made by a letter or groups of letters. Many shape letters accurately and some write simple, short sentences.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ satisfactory progress continues throughout Key Stage 1. By the end of Key Stage 1, reading levels are average. Pupils enjoy reading and some read with expression. A few pupils have below average skills in mastering the sounds and shapes of words, an underachievement which is being tackled.

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Achievement of pupils

Although progress through Key Stage 2 is satisfactory, pupils in a Years 3/4 class achieve well, in a business-like learning environment. In a literacy lesson, they demonstrated increasing skills in selecting information and in evaluating the work of their peers against the learning objectives. In other lessons where teaching is consistently good, there is also accelerated progress. Pupils showed a good awareness of how characters can be portrayed and how authors achieve this. Many are articulate and confident in expressing their opinions. However, over time, because of previous gaps in learning, their overall progress is satisfactory. Attainment is average by the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics. Over time pupils capable of reaching higher and average levels make more uniform progress from Nursery onwards than lower-ability pupils and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This is due to planning that does not

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Achievement of pupils

always cater accurately enough for their needs. Intervention work during the inspection, however, showed pupils’ more confident recall of key words and their spellings. There are no significant differences between the rates of progress of boys and girls, or those known to be eligible for free school meals.

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Achievement of pupils

Most of the parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire said that their children make good progress. In some classes, this is so, but over time, progress is satisfactory.

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Quality of teaching

Much teaching, from Nursery onwards, is satisfactory. In the mixed Years 3/4 and 5/6 classes, it is consistently good and results in pupils’ good progress.

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Quality of teaching

The daily teaching of letters and sounds throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 is systematic and enables pupils to build up skills in sounding out words and in linking them to spelling and writing. Literacy skills are promoted effectively in good lessons, including through topics. In a good lesson in Years 3/4, based on a history and geography theme, teaching focused on unfamiliar vocabulary, questioning was levelled accurately, often promoting higher level skills, and pupils developed skills in scanning. In this, as in several other lessons, spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding was promoted. Texts are used effectively in the best lessons to encourage pupils to discuss moral and cultural situations.

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Quality of teaching

Relationships between staff and pupils are good and promote a positive atmosphere to learning. Teachers make sure that the purpose of learning is clear. There are regular opportunities for pupils to work in pairs and independently and to write at length. Sometimes, the pace of learning is too slow and results in some pupils being off-task and restless, but in other lessons, pupils remain engaged because activities are interesting and involve them.

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Quality of teaching

The main barrier to good progress is that planning does not always take carefully enough into account the levels at which pupils work. As a result, the level of challenge can be inaccurate, including the tasks from commercially-produced worksheets, which are used too often. Work is sometimes too hard, especially for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and questioning is not always specific enough to help them to add to their thinking or knowledge. Nevertheless, in a numeracy lesson taught by a Years 3/4 teacher, the introduction of equivalent fractions was understood by all abilities. The slicing of a cake provided an interesting stimulus and learning proceeded through carefully-planned steps so that pupils were able to see the patterns between different fractions.

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Quality of teaching

Marking in books is a strength in the majority of classes because it is informative and tells pupils the next steps to take. Pupils have targets, but they are not always reminded of them in lessons. The very large majority of parents and carers assessed the quality of teaching as good. Pupils agree. However, it is variable between classes and subjects which means that it is satisfactory overall.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Although many pupils behave sensibly all of the time, overall, behaviour is satisfactory. This is because there is variability in the standard of behaviour in lessons. In good lessons behaviour is always at least good, but in satisfactory lessons, there tends to be restlessness and some pupils are off-task because learning does not motivate them sufficiently. Around the school, during playtimes and in the breakfast-club, however, most pupils behave sensibly and co-operatively. Their attendance is average and shows a continuing improving picture. Most pupils are punctual to school every day.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The large majority of parents and carers, and pupils, believe that behaviour is good. Most parents and carers feel that the school keeps their children safe. Pupils agree and demonstrate, for example, a good awareness of road safety. They also agree with their parents and carers that bullying is dealt with effectively. Although they do not see bullying as anything other than a rare occurrence, they have an appropriate knowledge of different types of bullying, relative to their ages. Internet-safety is regularly revisited so that pupils know the potential dangers of using the Internet and how to avoid them.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

From the Nursery onwards, pupils enjoy having day-to-day roles and responsibilities. The school council leads fund-raising activities thoughtfully.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, through regular monitoring of pupils’ progress, has introduced appropriate strategies to tackle the inconsistent picture of teaching. Reading and mathematics initiatives and specific training to meet individual teachers’ needs have led to the improving progress of pupils and improvements in behaviour. Attendance is also improving due to effective strategies. Assessment information for all groups of pupils is now accurate, enabling the school to assess the rate of their progress quickly. All groups of pupils make satisfactory progress, which demonstrates the school’s satisfactory promotion of equality of opportunity between pupils and freedom from discrimination. However, instability of staffing has resulted in a variable focus on the quality of classroom teaching and the additional support provided to meet the specific needs of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This is now being tackled, although not yet sufficiently

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Leadership and management

The senior leadership team involves all of the staff in school improvement decisions, resulting in a committed staff unit. Staff training and their performance management goals match closely the needs identified in the development plan. In particular, the emphasis on mathematics teaching has resulted in a very appropriate focus on calculation and mental mathematics skills, with resulting improvements. Middle leadership is now stable and staff are monitoring their areas very regularly and making changes, demonstrating that the school has the capacity to make further improvements. However, some leaders have a fuller and more accurate picture of practices and performance in their areas than others. There is not enough joint planning between leaders to tackle common weaknesses as quickly as possible. In particular, lesson planning is variable in its content and good teaching practice is not shared between staff.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum provides the expected range of subjects and opportunities for pupils to develop a range of academic and personal and interpersonal skills. Much learning is through discrete subjects. Pupils enjoy the breadth of learning on offer through topics, some of which are linked to books and enterprise. Visits and visitors make activities, such as writing, more relevant. A regular, quite small range of after-school activities, take place. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is promoted regularly throughout the school day, including through assemblies and routines. Where it is planned as part of learning, such as through texts or artefacts, pupils develop a good insight into human nature and our cultural heritage.

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Leadership and management

The governing body ensures that safeguarding arrangements meet the statutory requirements. Regular reviewing of policies and procedures help to ensure that pupils are kept safe and are well cared for. This extends to the breakfast-club. Governors are well-informed and find some information out for themselves, through their links to subjects or classes.

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Leadership and management

A range of partnerships, such as with neighbouring schools, and external agencies, is helping Stanley Grove to develop its practices, strengthen its care for pupils and prepare Year 6 pupils for secondary school. Parents and carers are supportive of the school, including its regular communication, and greater information about pupils’ progress.

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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 up 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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4NT

We enjoyed watching you learning during our recent visit and discussing your achievements with you. Thank you for your politeness and for making us welcome. Your views about your school have been taken into account in the judgements that we have made.

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4NT

Your school gives you a satisfactory education. Teaching is mainly satisfactory and leads to your satisfactory progress throughout the school. By the end of Year 6, you reach average standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers try hard to make learning interesting, such as through topics and visitors. Activities help you to develop wider skills such as working in teams and making decisions. Many of you always behave well, but in lessons behaviour is satisfactory overall, because some of you go off-task and become restless.

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4NT

The headteacher and the staff are working hard to improve the school. On behalf of the inspection team, I have asked the headteacher to carry out some actions to help you to make quicker progress and reach higher standards. These are to:

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4NT

 give you work that is at just the right level  make sure there is a brisk pace to learning  ensure that the staff plan together to make improvements across the school  check very carefully the teaching and support of those of you who have disabilities or who have special educational needs to make sure that they help you to make quicker progress.

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4NT

I hope that you will help the staff to make these improvements by working hard and responding to the teachers’ advice.

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4NT

Lynne Blakelock 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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