Park Brow Community Primary School

Roby Park Primary School Easton Road, Huyton, Liverpool, L36 4NY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils achieve well in all year groups. Their progress and attainment have improved each year since the last inspection.  The quality of teaching is good because teachers have high expectations of pupils and they teach basic skills well.  Pupils enjoy lessons, behave well and report they feel safe and well cared for.  Children settle in very quickly and make good progress in both the Nursery and Reception Year thanks to the expertise of staff and very good levels of resourcing.  The headteacher provides high-quality leadership. She is well supported by senior staff. Together they have been crucial to the improvements evident since the last inspection.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching has occasional shortcomings. The pace of some parts of lessons is not always quick enough and teaching does not always make the most of opportunities to extend pupils’ skills.  Attendance is just below average and requires improvement.  The governing body has yet to match the high-quality leadership evident in the school’s senior leadership team.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 14 lessons, two of which were joint observations with the headteacher, looked at pupils’ workbooks during lessons and listened to individual pupils reading in Years 2 and 6.  They held meetings with pupils, staff, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority.  They observed the school’s work and looked at documents relating to safeguarding, pupils’ progress and attainment, and the way in which the school evaluates its own performance.  The inspectors took account of the three responses to the on-line questionnaire, (Parent View) and the school’s two parental surveys which were completed during the previous school year.

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Inspection team

Frank Carruthers, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Kathleen Harris Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is above average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is above average.  The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The headteacher is the executive headteacher of this school and of another local primary school.  The governing body manages a breakfast club and the school hosts a privately run pre-school group which is subject to a separate inspection. Its most recent report is available on the Ofsted website.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement further through improving the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or outstanding by:  maintaining a brisk pace to learning in all parts of lessons  making the most of all opportunities to teach skills and extend learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Pursue the drive to improve levels of attendance by:  reducing the number of casual absences  promoting the importance of good attendance among pupils and parents.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of the governing body by:  developing better links with pupils and parents  evaluating their own role and acting on findings.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The skills of most children when they start school are low, especially in speaking and listening, and in their personal and social skills. The children benefit from mixing with older Reception- aged children in the spacious and well-resourced Early Years Foundation Stage unit. They make rapid progress. All staff are attentive to their needs and closely follow their progress.  At this time, early in the new school year, the children were observed enjoying the wide range of resources to play with and learn from, both indoors and outside. They took full advantage of the wet weather and dressed appropriately. They had great fun with beakers, jugs, bowls, pipes and tubes outside. As a result of the great range of things to do, all children make good progress towards the early learning goals. By the time they enter Year 1 most are at levels of attainment appropriate for their age, though a significant minority are still working towards the

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The achievement of pupils is good

learning goals.  Pupils in Year 1 benefit from activities that closely match what they have been doing in the Reception Year, so their progress is continuous. By the end of Year 2, their attainment is in line with the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. There has been a steady improvement in attainment in reading and writing and a significant improvement in mathematics thanks to a concerted focus on the subject by staff. Reading is helped by regular reading sessions and daily lessons about letters and sounds.  Progress in Key Stage 2 classes at the time of the previous inspection was only satisfactory but it has improved significantly since then. Better tracking information and targets for groups of pupils have helped raise the proportion of pupils achieving or exceeding the progress expected of them. Achievement is not outstanding because, although it has improved, it has not yet

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The achievement of pupils is good

been sustained over a period of time.  Improvement in English has been steady, and in mathematics it has been significant. Making up for lost ground, pupils are reaching average standards in English and mathematics in Year 6 and this is significantly better than at the time of the previous inspection.  Pupils eligible for the pupil premium, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs achieve well. Gaps between the performance of various groups of pupils are narrowing and staff are acting on findings rigorously.  Pupils cooperate well in lessons and learn well in small groups. For example, pupils in Year 5 shared their ideas very effectively when they were planning strategies for solving mathematical problems. Pupils knew their targets and what was expected of them. This led to the successful completion of challenging work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The good achievement evident in all classes is the result of good, and at times outstanding, teaching.  Several strengths in teaching can be seen across all age groups. Because senior staff have raised the awareness of all class teachers to what can be expected of pupils’ achievement, teachers have high expectations and plan challenging work for the different levels of attainment pupils are working at.  Teachers manage and engage pupils very well. Relationships between all adults and pupils are good. This is very evident when pupils, for example those with special educational needs, work with teaching assistants. Pupils want to do well and please the adults they are working with and this contributes much to the good quality of their learning.  A further prominent feature of teaching is the good use made of classroom interactive whiteboards for demonstrations, as well as laptop computers and devices such as data loggers

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The quality of teaching is good

in science to promote good learning.  Outstanding elements of teaching were observed in a number of lessons but teaching is not yet outstanding overall because of two shortcomings evident in a few lessons.  First, although much of the teaching has a brisk pace to it, there are times in lessons when the pace dips. For example, in a Year 1 lesson, too much time was given to pupils to talk in pairs about questions the teacher had given them. In addition, there are missed opportunities to capitalise on learning. For example, in a Year 4 lesson, pupils did not have the chance to practise spelling different words because they did not have individual whiteboards to hand.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school. This is evident in their attitudes in lessons and their involvement in the breakfast club and many after-school activities.  A key feature of the pupils’ good attitudes is their growing maturity so that by the time they move on to secondary school they have a good awareness of how well they are doing, what is expected of them and of their responsibility to others. The good range of activities that the school provides to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development has a very positive impact on their attitudes and behaviour.  There are clear expectations for behaviour and the consistent use of sanctions and rewards means pupils know and follow the school rules.  Consequently, pupils behave well and take on responsibility for those younger than themselves through various roles they have in school, for example as buddies. They are polite and courteous. Behaviour in lessons is only rarely less than good, for example when the pace of

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

learning dips. There is minimal disruption to routines and this was evident from lesson observations and school records.  Pupils are confident they feel safe in school and this view is endorsed by parents who responded to the school’s questionnaire last year. They have a good awareness of what constitutes bullying: verbal abuse, name calling, racist abuse, cyber-bullying. They report that it does not happen often and, if it does, then staff deal with it effectively. Exclusions are rare.  The work of the learning mentor and teaching assistants supports the role of the special educational needs coordinator very effectively. They make sure all pupils, including those whose circumstances may make them more likely to be vulnerable, are included in all that the school does.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, care and welfare are a high priority and the children benefit greatly from the warm, supportive atmosphere.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour and safety are not outstanding because attendance is below average and there has been no consistent upward trend since the previous inspection. The school has taken effective steps, however, to eliminate persistent absenteeism. It has highlighted the need to improve attendance in the current school improvement plan and there are signs of improvement in the current school year. Nevertheless, there are too many occasional absences which are not for medical or other legitimate reasons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The positive leadership displayed by the headteacher at the previous inspection has continued to have a very significant impact on pupils’ achievement. With a strong leadership team, she has driven school improvement forward so that, from being satisfactory, the school is now good. Senior leaders identify clear priorities and actions in the school’s annual improvement plan and are effective in meeting the challenging targets they set for the school.  This is true also of how senior leaders manage the performance of teachers and teaching assistants by setting challenging targets for them to achieve. Each class teacher has specific targets for pupils in relation to expected progress. As a result, all staff are now accountable for raising standards and achievement.  A colour-coded system identifies clearly how different groups of pupils are doing, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and those eligible for the pupil

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The leadership and management are good

premium. Targets are monitored regularly and assessed at the end of the performance cycle with new targets set. This system is having a very positive impact on pupils’ progress.  Staff are almost unanimous in reporting that they have good opportunities to develop their teaching and managerial skills. Teachers new to the profession comment that they feel well supported by senior colleagues. The pupil premium is used effectively to provide additional classroom support and to offer these pupils wider life experiences.  The leadership and management of the curriculum are good. Since the previous inspection, an effective emphasis has been given to linking subjects and providing opportunities for the basic skills of literacy and numeracy to be taught in a range of subjects. Both reading and writing standards have been improved as a result.  The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. All pupils

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The leadership and management are good

take a full part in the curriculum and extra-curricular activities, demonstrating the school’s commitment to equal opportunity for all.  All elements of safeguarding pupils’ welfare and the safe recruitment of staff are in place.  The local authority provides light-touch support for this good school. It has provided good support since the previous inspection to raise the expectations of staff for what the school can achieve. It has also taken a high profile last year in helping to reduce persistent absenteeism and advise the school on sanctions and rewards.  Leadership and management are not outstanding because there is more to be done to improve attendance and raise the quality of teaching to outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is well informed about the school as a result of the thorough reports provided by senior leaders. Financial management by its resources committee is rigorous and expenditure is monitored regularly. Resources are efficiently and effectively used.  Members have a good understanding of pupil progress data through regular reports and they monitor the school improvement plan and school self-evaluation well.  However, links with pupils and with the views of parents are underdeveloped.  The governing body has yet to evaluate its own effectiveness, strengths and areas to improve in any detail, to help it to match the quality of the leadership displayed by the school’s senior leaders.

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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.

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School details

Unique reference number 104429 Local authority Knowsley Inspection number 400716

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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 Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 175 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ian Strom Headteacher Ruth Harrison Date of previous school inspection 10 March 2010 Telephone number 0151 4778340 Fax number 0151 4778341 Email address robypark.de@knowsley.gov.uk 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

please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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