Priory Pines House

Ward Jackson Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Clark Street, Hartlepool, TS24 7LE

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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This is a good school

 Lively and engaging teaching ensures that the majority of pupils achieve well from very low starting points.  The proportion of pupils attaining expected levels and above in reading, writing and mathematics is improving rapidly.  Pupils who are entitled to the pupil premium, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs often make outstanding progress across Key Stage 2.  Outstanding teaching in the Nursery ensures that pupils settle very quickly into the school and develop the skills to become good learners.  Sensitive and well thought-out behaviour- management systems are consistently applied by all staff, to ensure that pupils are safe and free from harassment and that help develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.  The school works exceptionally well with parents, carers and vulnerable families who are hard to reach.  Leaders, managers and governors have used

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This is a good school

performance management well to improve the quality of teaching across the school. This has had a very positive impact on pupils’ progress and achievement.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 There are inconsistencies in the procedures teachers use to develop younger pupils knowledge of the sounds that letters make.  Attendance and punctuality are too variable.  Senior leaders do not always act quickly and effectively to use the information they gather through their monitoring procedures to improve learning and progress. September 2012 2 of 9

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed six teachers teaching nine lessons, of which two were joint observations with the headteacher. In addition the inspector made a number of shorter visits to observe phonics teaching (the teaching of letters and sounds).  Meetings were held with senior leaders, three groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from Hartlepool local authority. The inspector also listened to six pupils read from Years 2 and 6 and talked to pupils informally around the school.  The inspector took account of the seven parental responses on Parent View.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s current assessment data, the work in pupils’ books, documents relating to the safety of pupils, behaviour and attendance logs and evidence from the schools own monitoring and evaluation of their work.

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Inspection team

Joy Frost Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector September 2012 3 of 9

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Information about this school

 The school opened in September 2012 after changing status to a Church of England Voluntary Aided School.  It is smaller than the average-sized primary school. Over half of all pupils, a proportion much higher than found nationally, are known to be eligible for the pupil premium.  The proportion of pupils who are supported at school action is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who are supported at school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs is double the national average.  A few pupils are disabled or have complex behavioural, social and emotional needs.  The school population includes a higher than national proportion of pupils who are in the care of the local authority.  The majority of pupils are from a White British heritage but an increasing proportion is from an Eastern European background and a few have little or no spoken English.  More pupils than is found nationally, join or leave the school at times other than in the Nursery

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Information about this school

and Year 6.  The school meets the government’s floor standard, which is the minimum expected for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve younger pupils’ knowledge and understanding of phonics, ‘the sounds that letters make’ to improve pupils’ attainment in reading and writing by the end of Year 2, by:  ensuring that phonics are taught consistently across the school  increasing the pace of phonics lessons so that pupils’ progress is consistently good  using a wider range of phonics resources to engage and motivate pupils  ensuring that pupils consolidate their previous learning, practise writing and learn new sounds in every lesson.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management, by:  ensuring that senior leaders use the analysis of their monitoring data more effectively to ensure that when they identify a weakness or inconsistency in the quality of teaching, improvement happens rapidly  improving the management of punctuality and attendance to ensure it is consistently above average, especially for the small number of children who are persistently late or absent, and more generally for pupils in Key Stage 1. September 2012 4 of 9

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter school in the Nursery with low skills, knowledge and understanding; especially in their language, communication and social and emotional development. The school rightly has a focus on developing these skills and through good and often outstanding teaching in the Nursery ensures that children make rapid gains in these areas.  By the time pupils leave the school, they are well prepared for the next phase of learning because their attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is slightly above national expectations, and, considering their starting points, they make good, or better than expected, progress. They develop good learning strategies which enable them to think, reason and solve problems independently.  Pupils who are disabled, in the care of the local authority or have special educational needs and those who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium make good or outstanding

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The achievement of pupils is good

progress, through targeted one-to-one and small group intervention. These pupils’ achievement compares very favourably with all pupils nationally.  Careful attention to the individual needs of pupils leads to good planning for speaking and listening across the school, which ensures that most pupils become independent thinkers and good communicators. In lessons, pupils were routinely observed discussing their work with each other and working cooperatively together to improve their work. For example, in a writing lesson for lower Key Stage 2 pupils, much discussion about appropriate adjectives enabled pupils to improve their sentence structure and make their writing more engaging to the reader.  Pupils develop their mathematical knowledge and understanding well. They can talk confidently about their learning and are able to discuss different strategies for working out calculations. They develop into fluent readers and competent writers by the end of Year 6.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Older pupils use a good range of strategies to read unfamiliar words and discuss a range of favourite authors. Younger pupils, however, often struggle to use their knowledge of letters and sounds confidently and they have limited access to a wide range of different reading materials to enable them to develop a love of literature or choose books for themselves, which include non-fiction books.  Pupils’ spelling is weaker than reading and mathematics because lessons to develop the skills necessary to become good spellers are taught inconsistently and common errors remain as pupils progress into Key Stage 2.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Lessons in this school are lively and engaging. There are pockets of outstanding practice which lead to outstanding progress for most pupil groups. The teaching of phonics is inconsistent.  Teachers’ planning takes account of what pupils already know, understand and can do to make sure that planned activities develop pupils learning step-by-step. Careful attention is paid to common mistakes and teachers routinely check learning throughout lessons.  A common feature observed in lessons is the skilled questioning by teachers and teaching assistants that unpick pupils’ thinking. This, coupled with activities that closely match pupils’ abilities are the main reasons why many pupils make rapid progress.  In a mathematics lesson for the oldest pupils, the teacher had carefully planned different activities for pupils to explore their understanding of place value beyond whole numbers. The activities encouraged pupils to reason and solve problems and activities at all levels, were

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The quality of teaching is good

challenging, but allowed all pupil groups to succeed and extend their knowledge.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported with a range of good resources which allow them to work independently and make good progress.  Marking has improved significantly and pupils in most classes routinely revise and improve their September 2012 5 of 9

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The quality of teaching is good

work and respond to teachers’ comments in their books.  The majority of lessons are good and are typified by:

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The quality of teaching is good

 high expectations of what all pupils can achieve  effective use of support assistants  teachers’ clear instructions  teachers’ skilful questioning skills  opportunities for pupils to talk and discuss their work  careful planning based on accurate assessments  opportunities for pupils to use a range of different learning strategies which keep them engaged for the whole lesson; consequently, progress rarely slows and learning is enjoyable.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils in this school feel safe. They say that the school takes care of them very well. They have respect for adults in the school and for each other.  Consistently applied behaviour management systems ensure that lessons are rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. Pupils understand the consequences of their actions and think that the ‘golden rules’ are fair. Pupils do not like losing their ‘golden time’ and told the inspector that behaviour is improving all of the time but that some pupils sometimes find it hard to moderate their own behaviour and sanctions have to be applied.  Pupils say that bullying is rare but that when it does occur it is dealt with effectively. The school has developed a sensitive strategy for dealing with bullying and name calling, ‘circle of friends’, which ensures that: pupils have opportunities to discuss these issues in small groups; the anti-bullying message remains high profile; and it is clearly understood by all pupils. Record

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

and logs confirm pupils’ views.  Pupils are knowledgeable about all forms of bullying and harassment including cyber-bullying and predjudice-based bullying. They say that bullying relating to special educational needs, sexual orientation, race, religion and disability do not occur. However, very infrequently, there are examples of pupils using discriminatory and derogatory language relating to racism and homophobia. The school is aware they need to do more to raise pupils understanding of these issues.  Attendance across the school is variable and lower for pupils in Key Stage 1 than Key Stage 2. Despite the sterling work of the Attendance and Inclusion Officer, pupils continue to arrive late for school, often missing the beginning of the day’s lessons. A few children are persistent absentees and attendance is also affected by the increasingly transient nature of some families.

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The leadership and management are good

 The relentless drive of the headteacher and senior leaders has resulted in rapidly improving attainment and progress for all pupil groups. They have worked closely with the governing body and the local community to drive through the change in school status to Voluntary Aided which has secured the future of the school.  The small nature of the school enables staff at all levels to be involved in improving the school’s work. They are ably led by the very effective headteacher who ensures that every child reaches their potential. The school motto of ‘all smiles returned’ is in evidence in all parts of the school.  Careful attention is paid by all staff to ensuring that the needs of all pupils in the school, including those who are disabled and those with complex needs are met. This is achieved through judicious use of the pupil premium to ensure generous staffing levels and an interesting and lively curriculum which has pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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The leadership and management are good

development at its heart.  Senior leaders’ self-evaluation is accurate. Regular monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is closely linked to pay progression. Teachers routinely share good practice and have opportunities to observe outstanding practice in other schools.  Monitoring of all aspects of the school’s work takes place regularly and involves staff at all levels. The data that are collected is analysed and shared amongst the staff and the governing body. However, the weaknesses identified are not always acted upon as quickly as they could be within the self-evaluation cycle.  A good programme of continual professional development is in place. However, some progress has been hampered, for example in phonics, by the changes of staffing in some year groups.  The school tackles discrimination and ensures equality of opportunity for all pupils well. Procedures to safeguard pupils are regularly reviewed and policies meticulously updated.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works exceptionally well with parents, many of whom are reluctant to engage with the school or are hard to reach. Nevertheless, their views are sought and the headteacher consults regularly with parents through weekly newsletters and a very good school website. Parents who completed the online questionnaire on Parent View were overwhelmingly supportive of the school.  The local authority has a very light touch approach to this good school but has provided appropriate support when asked, for example to improve pupils’ writing, which has been successful.  The governance of the school:  Governors are very effective. They are well informed and knowledgeable about every aspect of the school. They are highly effective in the financial management of the school and decisions they have made have had a very positive impact on raising pupils’ achievement.  They are very effective in monitoring and challenging the work of teachers and senior

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. September 2012 8 of 9

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School details

Unique reference number 136953 Local authority Hartlepool Inspection number 400306

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school All-through School category Community Age range of pupils 3  11 Gender of pupils mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 110 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Angela Hall Headteacher Mrs Janette Brough Date of previous school inspection N/A Telephone number 01429 293777 Fax number 01429 293899 Email address admin.wardjackson@school.hartlepool.gov.uk September 2012 9 of 9

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School details

guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

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School details

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

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