Worthinghead Primary School

Worthinghead Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 12–13 July 2012 Inspection number 377557 Unique Reference Number 107246 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 377557 Inspection dates 12–13 July 2012 Lead inspector Robert Birtwell

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 192 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jim Tate Headteacher Lillian Allen Date of previous school inspection 30 January 2009 School address Wyke Lane Wyke Bradford BD12 9EL Telephone number 01274 414904 Fax number 01274 414904 Email address office@worthinghead.bradford.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

Robert Birtwell Jane Hughes Additional Inspector Additional Inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors visited 18 lessons observing eight teachers, and listened to pupils reading. Meetings were held with three members of the governing body and with groups of staff and pupils. Inspectors observed the school's work, and looked at evidence to support the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, the records of monitoring of teaching, pupils’ work, systems for monitoring and tracking pupils’ progress, and attendance and safeguarding documentation. Inspectors analysed 60 questionnaires from parents and carers as well as those completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

Worthinghead is a smaller than average sized primary school. The large majority of the pupils are from White British backgrounds and the proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is in line with the national average. The proportion supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is similar to the national average. The school meets the current floor standards, which set the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

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Information about the school

Worthinghead has gained Healthy Schools status and holds an Activemark 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 satisfactory school. It is not yet good because pupils’ attainment and progress in English, particularly in writing, are below average and the quality of teaching over time is only satisfactory. 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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Key Findings

■ Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. Children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Throughout the rest of the school, pupils make satisfactory progress overall. While achievement is above average in mathematics, in recent years it has been below in English.

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Key Findings

■ Although examples of good teaching were seen during the inspection, this was inconsistent across the school. At times, teachers talk too much and too many lessons are not planned to challenge all pupils effectively enough. In addition, the quality of assessment is inconsistent so pupils are not clear what they need to do to improve.

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Key Findings

■ Behaviour is good. Pupils feel safe and say they enjoy school. They have positive attitudes to learning and respond well to reward schemes. They are welcoming and polite and show support for their peers and younger children through the school council and ‘buddy’ systems.

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Key Findings

■ Leadership and management are satisfactory. Senior leaders have a clear vision for improvement. They have improved the quality of teaching through performance management and have an accurate understanding of strengths and weaknesses in the school’s performance. Middle leaders are increasingly effective in monitoring and evaluating performance. However, their role is inconsistent in applying initiatives to improve achievement across the school. The newly introduced creative curriculum, planned around particular themes, is having a positive impact in engaging and motivating pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in English, especially in writing, by:  focusing more on improving and embedding pupils’ basic skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence construction  ensuring pupils have more opportunities to practise their writing skills across the curriculum.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better by:  ensuring all lessons are carefully planned to build on pupils’ prior learning and provide effective challenge for all pupils  making sure the pace of learning in all lessons maximises pupils’ progress  ensuring there is more consistency in the assessment of pupils’ work so that pupils know how well they are doing and more precisely what they need to do to improve.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Improve the quality of leadership and management by:  strengthening the impact of middle leaders through ensuring initiatives are applied consistently across the school  ensuring the creative curriculum is further developed across the school.

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Achievement of pupils

Achievement is satisfactory. Parents and carers believe that their children make good progress, but inspectors judged that achievement is satisfactory overall. Most pupils make progress that is similar to all pupils nationally overall. The school’s inclusive nature and support programmes mean all groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, achieve equally well.

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Achievement of pupils

Children join the Reception class with knowledge and skills in line with those expected for their age. They make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and are well prepared to enter Key Stage 1. By the end of Year 2, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is broadly average. Pupils make satisfactory progress through Key Stage 2 and, by the end of Year 6, their attainment is broadly average overall. In 2011, attainment in mathematics was above average and progress at Key Stage 2 significantly above average. Although attainment and progress in reading were above average, overall attainment in English overall was below average, and progress significantly below average due to pupils’ slower progress in writing. Pupils’ spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence construction have not been embedded early enough to enable them to successfully raise their attainment in later years. However, the school’s assessment and tracking information and inspection

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Achievement of pupils

evidence shows that attainment in writing is improving and progress is accelerating this year. This is confirmed by the school’s provisional results in the national tests for 2012.

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Achievement of pupils

In lessons, pupils make at least satisfactory progress, with progress in a majority being good. In an English lesson, for example, pupils used a variety of resources to obtain information about particular athletes before writing a short biography of each. This engaged them fully in their learning and they responded effectively. Scrutiny of pupils’ work shows that there are variations between subjects and classes, particularly in the quality of presentation of written work. Pupils’ work in creative writing is starting to show the impact of initiatives to raise expectations and achievement. However, there are fewer opportunities for pupils to practise their writing in subjects across the curriculum.

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Quality of teaching

Almost all parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire believe that their children are well taught, and pupils agree. However, inspection evidence shows that the quality of teaching is satisfactory overall. While the majority of the teaching seen during the inspection was good, the impact of teaching over time has been satisfactory. The teaching of reading and mathematics has been more effective than that of writing, although there are signs that the teaching of writing is improving.

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Quality of teaching

In all lessons, relationships between teachers and the adults who work with them are good, and disabled pupils and those with special educational needs benefit from focused teaching and support in class, and also in small group sessions.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, there is a good balance of child-initiated and teacher- led tasks, and of indoor and outdoor activities. Children have many opportunities to investigate, explore, make choices and they make good progress. This was seen in a lesson when children were introduced to plants from the rainforest and were given opportunities to investigate and taste different fruits.

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Quality of teaching

In Key Stages 1 and 2, the impact of teaching is satisfactory. Where teaching is most effective, tasks are well planned and based on pupils’ prior learning. There is a variety of activities to meet the needs of all pupils and ensure that they are well challenged, and pupils are given opportunities to work with others and discuss their ideas. In a mathematics lesson, for example, pupils discussed how to select and present data before constructing a tally chart and making a graph of the results. In a history lesson, pupils watched a video and looked at photographs to investigate what a visit to the seaside was like in the past, before writing postcards about such a visit. This effectively promoted their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. However, in other lessons, teachers talk too much, planning does not build on pupils’ prior learning and ‘a one-size fits all’ approach to activities

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Quality of teaching

means that not all pupils are sufficiently challenged. There are fewer opportunities for pupils to find things out for themselves. In these lessons, the pace of learning is slower.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of marking and assessment is inconsistent. While some work is well marked with detailed comments and suggestions for improvement, in other work it is not clear to pupils how well they are doing or what they need to do to improve.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour and safety are good. Pupils are polite and courteous; they show respect for each other and for adults. They enjoy school, have positive attitudes to learning and routinely behave well in lessons and around the school. They take on responsibility in a variety of areas, such as school councillors or as ‘buddies’ looking after younger children during break and lunchtime. Pupils say they feel safe in school and their parents and carers agree. Pupils have a good understanding of issues related to their safety, including different types of bullying. They are aware of different risks that they face in and out of school, and have been involved with the local police in a speed awareness campaign on local roads. They understand how to use the internet safely. Pupils say that, when bullying occasionally occurs, they know who to turn to and the school deals with it quickly and effectively. Incentives and rewards are used

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

consistently across the school to celebrate good behaviour, and pupils have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and what is right and wrong. Potentially vulnerable pupils and some pupils who have difficulty managing their behaviour receive effective support so they are fully included in the life of the school. Attendance is average but has been improving steadily as a result of the school’s actions.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The majority of parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire rightly believe that behaviour is good. A small number expressed concerns about the behaviour of particular pupils and disruption in lessons. Inspection evidence confirms behaviour is typically good in lessons and around the school, and the school takes effective steps to manage the behaviour of potentially disruptive pupils.

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Leadership and management

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The headteacher has a clear vision for the school and this is fully shared with all staff. Self-evaluation is thorough and clear and successfully identifies key strengths and weaknesses of the school. It is used to set challenging targets for improvement. Leaders have high expectations of staff and pupils and there is a sense of purpose and a determination to raise pupils’ achievement. More rigorous and robust performance management and an emphasis on professional development are improving teaching and beginning to provide a much sharper focus to improving pupils’ outcomes. The role of core subject leaders has been strengthened so they are more responsible and accountable for their areas, although their role in helping to embed good practice in teaching is not fully developed, and initiatives to increase achievement are not applied consistently enough.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is broad and balanced. The school has moved to a more creative curriculum so that it can more effectively meet the needs of pupils. The outside ‘Forest School’ area of the site is being developed and integrated into the curriculum. This is used both as a basis for practical investigation and as a stimulus for creative work. This helps to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, which is well developed throughout the curriculum. There is a good range of enrichment activity which is valued by pupils. This includes music, sports, art, trips and visits.

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Leadership and management

The governing body has a clear understanding of its strategic role and takes its responsibilities seriously. It ensures that safeguarding arrangements meet current government requirements. The school has successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection. The governing body is now more fully involved in evaluating the school’s work. The school is focusing on improving writing, and staff are beginning to embed writing skills in the teaching of other subjects more effectively. Together with determined and resolute leadership and management, effective management of pupils with behavioural difficulties, and rising attendance, this demonstrates that the school has the capacity to improve further. The school is an inclusive community which promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination effectively. Parents and carers appreciate the harmonious nature of the school with one commenting: ‘My child and I love Worthinghead. They are a kind and caring

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Leadership and management

school and my child has blossomed whilst at the school.’

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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 Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

Thank you for making us so welcome when we visited your school recently. We very much enjoyed our visit. We would especially like to thank the pupils who met with us and told us about the work and all the other things you do in school.

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Inspection of Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

During our visit we were impressed with your good behaviour. You are polite, get along well with each other and are keen to learn in lessons. You told inspectors that you feel safe and enjoy coming to school.

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Inspection of Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

Worthinghead is a satisfactory school. The headteacher and staff know how well the school is doing and how to improve it in the future. All the adults work hard for you and look after you carefully. We noticed that you make better progress in reading and mathematics than you do in writing. However, we could see that this is now improving. We have asked the school to help you to improve your writing even further. We want you to be challenged more in lessons because we know that you can reach even higher standards in your work. We have also asked the teachers to tell you more often how well you are doing and how to improve your work. We also want to see you practise your writing more when you work in different subjects within the creative curriculum. We have asked the school’s leaders to make sure that changes are applied right across the school.

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Inspection of Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

You can help your school by continuing to behave well and work hard.

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Inspection of Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

Thank you again and best wishes for the future.

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Inspection of Worthinghead Primary School, Bradford, BD12 9EL

Robert Birtwell 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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