Setting

CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 1231231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566934 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email: gtunnicliffe@cfbt.com

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Mrs Diana Mann Headteacher Iveson Primary School Iveson Rise Leeds West Yorkshire LS16 6LW

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 10 October 2012 and for the information which you provided during the inspection. Please give my thanks also to the representative of the local authority and the local leader of education, who gave their time to talk to me by telephone, and to the pupils who met with me.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The school has changed its status since the last inspection and is now a foundation school and part of the North West Leeds Education Partnership Trust. The school is in the early stages of considering academy status. There have been significant changes in staffing, with three new teachers joining the school in September 2012. The school is experiencing an increasingly high proportion of pupils joining and leaving at times other than the usual.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 30 January 2012, the school was asked to address the most important areas for improvement which are set out in the annex to this letter. Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the school is making satisfactory progress in addressing the issues for improvement and in raising the pupils' achievement.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The school data indicates that the pupils currently at the school are making better rates of progress than previously, though with clear variations between year groups. Provisional data for test and assessment results in 2012 shows improvements since the last inspection in the pupils’ levels in reading and writing by the end of Key Stage 1. As a result, the gap between the school’s results and the national averages in those subjects is reducing, albeit slowly. The pupils’ attainment in mathematics by the end of Key Stage 1 does not show the same improvement. The provisional data for Key Stage 2 shows a mixed picture, though one of gradual improvement overall. The proportion of the pupils reaching the expected Level 4 and above in English remained broadly the same as in 2011. While the pupils’ test results in writing increased, they declined in reading. Nevertheless, the proportion of pupils making

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

the expected minimum of two levels of progress increased in English. It declined in mathematics, however. In both subjects, the school has not yet secured average rates of January 2012

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

Page2 progress. The proportions of pupils reaching Level 5 and above increased notably in both English and mathematics.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

Important work to embed fundamental processes for monitoring the quality of teaching, deal with examples of inadequate teaching and to secure appropriate pupil behaviour and dispositions for learning have been successful and are supporting improvements in the quality of teaching. Leadership and management activities have become more focused and purposeful and this is helping to raise expectations of what can be done and what the pupils can achieve. Discussions with the inspector suggested, however, an occasional tendency to focus on a generally positive view of improvement at the school, rather than a clear view of the challenges, which the data shows remain.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The pupils are generally alert to the levels they are working at currently and what they need to do to reach higher levels. Older pupils, particularly, are clear about both and were keen to explain them to the inspector, though younger ones struggled to do so sometimes. The pupils are helped to understand their targets by the teachers’ consistent use of information placed at the front of the pupils’ exercise books and regular use of the pupil planners. The inspector saw much marking of the pupils’ work that focused on providing informative comments, both on what had been done well and what needed improving, and the marking is done frequently. Discussions with the pupils demonstrated that, generally, the marking is helping the pupils to understand better how well they are doing, though some pupils struggled to read the teachers’ comments.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The teachers’ planning, the work in the pupils’ books and the pupils themselves in discussions with the inspector indicate that the pupils are being given a variety of opportunities to write in different ways and for different purposes. In particular, the pupils referred to work they had undertaken as part of the school’s ‘Big Write’ initiative. The teachers’ planning showed greater attention is being given to developing the pupils’ problem-solving skills in mathematics. Lesson observations and discussions with the pupils showed that the pupils are learning more about mathematical language. The pupils were keen to demonstrate their understanding of mathematical vocabulary and their pride when doing so accurately was evident. There was, however, limited evidence of work to develop the pupils’ numeracy skills in different subjects of the curriculum. The school acknowledges that priority has been given to making improvements in literacy work, but developments to

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

improve mathematics were imminent at the time of this visit.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The teaching support staff spoke enthusiastically about the professional development opportunities they have been given, including in relation to supporting pupils with their reading. Their understanding of what they are doing has increased and their confidence also, accordingly. Approaches to deploying support staff in lessons, and to briefing and debriefing them, are not yet consistent, however.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The school has established more-consistent approaches to planning lessons, to providing appropriate work for pupils with different learning needs and to marking the pupils’ work. Lesson observations showed consistent approaches being used successfully by the teachers January 2012

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

Page3 to manage the pupils’ behaviour. The developments are bringing improvements to the quality of learning in lessons. The pupils say that the work they are given is more interesting and that lessons are more engaging than previously; one pupil described them as ‘more interactive’. It was evident that the changes are increasing the pupils’ levels of motivation.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

The local authority statement of action for the school is fit for purpose. The school is responding well to the external support that has been provided, particularly the partnership with another school, and the support has been an important element in the progress made so far. The support is leading to improvements in the quality of teaching. The members of staff are keen to apply the learning from the professional development opportunities that they are receiving.

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Notice to improve: monitoring inspection of Iveson Primary School

I hope that you have found the visit helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

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January 2012

 Raise pupils’ attainment and improve their progress in reading, writing and mathematics by: - developing the use of individual targets in reading to inform pupils more precisely about their progress and the next steps they need to take to improve further - ensuring that all staff involved in teaching reading are fully equipped to do so effectively - giving pupils more opportunities to learn to write in different styles to suit different purposes - ensuring pupils develop their mathematical skills in calculating and problem- solving and learn better how to use the language of mathematics - planning more formally to give pupils additional opportunities to use the basic skills of communication and mathematics in other areas of the curriculum.

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January 2012

 Increase the amount of good teaching by: - building on the examples of good practice that exist to obtain greater consistency in the quality of teaching and learning - focusing teachers’ planning on what they expect pupils of different abilities to achieve in lessons and using this to challenge all pupils to make good progress.

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