Sharley Park Community Primary School

Sharley Park Community Primary School Pilsley Road, Danesmoor, Chesterfield, S45 9BN

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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.  The headteacher provides highly effective leadership in all parts of the school’s work.  Pupils’ attainment in Year 6 has risen markedly in the last two years. Pupils achieve well.  Nearly all teaching is good and a few lessons are outstanding.  Staff work exceptionally well together to promote pupils’ learning. They use extra funding thoughtfully to support pupils who need extra help to succeed.  Staff are very committed to pupils’ welfare and achievement, and pursue these goals energetically and successfully.  Pupils enjoy excellent and respectful relationships with staff, and know they are valued. They are very happy and feel safe in school. Their behaviour is never less than good, and on a few occasions in lessons it is excellent.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough pupils reach the higher National Curriculum levels.  A few minor weaknesses in teaching and the curriculum hold back pupils’ achievement, most notably in writing and information and communication technology (ICT).  While attendance has improved in the last few years, it remains below average and as a result some pupils achieve less well.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 21 lessons or parts of lessons, taught by 17 teachers and/or teaching assistants. Two of these lessons were joint observations with the headteacher. Samples of pupils’ written work were analysed. An inspector, with the headteacher, listened to some Year 2 pupils reading.  Meetings were held with school staff, a group of pupils, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and a link adviser from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 15 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), parents’ and pupils’ responses to the school’s own surveys and the 43 questionnaires completed by staff. An inspector also spoke to several parents and carers informally at the start of the school day.  Inspectors looked at a range of evidence including: the work pupils were doing in their books; self-evaluation documents; the school’s own data on pupils’ progress; minutes of the governing

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Information about this inspection

body meetings; and policies, procedures and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Derek Aitken, Lead inspector Additional Inspector John Taylor Additional Inspector Gillian Broughton Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Sharley Park is larger than the average primary school, and the number of pupils has increased by 40% since it opened in April 2009.  The large majority of pupils are White British. An above-average proportion of pupils are supported by the ‘pupil premium’, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of pupils with additional needs is above average.  The school has three Reception classes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Clubs running before and after school, managed by the school, were observed as part of this inspection.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ learning and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching and further raise attainment, especially for more-able pupils, by: – creating better assessment opportunities through marking, and in lessons, for pupils to find out how well they are learning and to work out what they need to do to improve – making sure that teachers challenge more-able pupils more consistently, using sharply focused questioning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ achievement in writing and ICT by:  providing pupils with better opportunities to improve their writing skills in subjects other than English  providing pupils with more creative opportunities to apply their ICT skills and use them to support their learning in other subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Redouble efforts to work with parents and carers to ensure attendance meets or exceeds the national average of 94.8%.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most children enter Reception with levels of skills and knowledge well below those typically seen for their age. By the end of Reception and Year 2, they are making up lost ground but few pupils attain highly. Attainment in Key Stage 2 has risen considerably in the last two years. By the end of Year 6, most pupils achieve the nationally expected Level 4. This represents good progress from their starting points but a below-average proportion of pupils attain the higher Level 5 in English and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Reception children make especially good progress in the development of their speaking skills in the parts of lessons that are led by adults, but on a few occasions teachers miss opportunities to challenge more-able children when they are choosing their own activities.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are no significant differences between the achievements of boys and girls. Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals regularly achieve better than counterparts across the country. Some pupils with lower levels of attendance do less well than their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils acquire over time a secure grounding in knowing the sounds that letters make. Most of the less-able pupils know how to sound out tricky words and read accurately and confidently. Some of them have a limited range of vocabulary that prevents them from understanding the texts fully.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most pupils are responsive, confident talkers. This is because staff have established excellent relationships with them and constantly engage them in conversation. However, this confidence is not seen in their writing. Pupils, including the more able, do not use a wide variety of sentence structures and they do not have enough good opportunities to extend their writing skills in subjects other than English.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Nearly all teaching is good and there are a few lessons with outstanding features, especially in Reception and in ‘booster’ classes. In these two areas teachers make expert use of assessment and questioning to capture pupils’ interest and to challenge them. These pupils learn at a fast pace because teachers have very high expectations, and build well on pupils’ prior knowledge and answers to help them think very clearly and enrich their vocabulary.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers organise their lessons effectively and use additional adults exceptionally well to support pupils of different abilities, especially during small-group work. Staff work energetically to make sure resources are ready to hand and pupils settle quickly to their work, for example when pupils change groups between lessons. Staff’s good use of resources, including ICT, and constant questioning of pupils in small groups ensure that no pupil is overlooked or loses concentration.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils feel highly valued by staff. They are keen to please and answer staff’s questions willingly. Teachers capitalise effectively on these excellent relationships by making sure that lessons include a suitable amount of paired or group tasks to keep pupils fully involved. On a few occasions opportunities are missed to build on pupils’ responses to challenge more-able pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching makes a strong contribution to pupils’ moral and social development. This was convincingly shown in a Key Stage 2 lesson where pupils quickly ‘brain-stormed’ a good range of ideas for making playtimes more enjoyable for physically disabled pupils.  Good teaching, grouping by levels of ability and high-quality teamwork make a major contribution to pupils’ progress and well-being in school. Teachers quickly identify many pupils who are at risk of underachieving and enable them to make big leaps in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because teachers make sure that resources and activities are well matched to their abilities. This was shown in a Year 6 mathematics lesson when the teacher provided real shapes for these pupils to explore. The pupils quickly understood a range of terms associated with two-dimensional shapes.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers do not create enough opportunities in lessons for pupils to judge how well they are learning and to work out for themselves what they need to do next to improve. Similarly, marking does not always show pupils exactly how to improve their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching of key skills in ICT lessons is sound, but pupils are not given enough opportunities to apply their knowledge in other subjects and to make best use of these skills to support their learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The children who recently arrived in Reception have settled well into firmly established routines, and are starting to develop good working relationships with each other. Pupils are friendly, polite and behave well around school. Their behaviour is outstanding, particularly when they are enthused by their learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are very happy in school. They are convinced that no-one gets left behind and that all pupils are treated equally. They considerate the needs and feelings of others and their less fortunate classmates, including physically disabled pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils try hard to participate fully in the variety of physical activities, including tai-chi. These and similar activities contribute well to their sense of well-being in school. The after-school club helps those who attend to round off their school day in an enjoyable way.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils trust the adults with whom they work, and are very cooperative. The questionnaires confirm that pupils feel entirely safe in school. They understand the risks relating to water and road safety, but have less knowledge of how to keep safe when using the internet and a few types of bullying. School logs show that incidents of bullying are extremely rare.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Exclusions are almost non-existent. The school is justifiably proud of its success in integrating new pupils, some of whom had difficulty in controlling their behaviour in previous schools. They also make good progress in their learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils know that staff listen to them, deal with their concerns quickly and act on their views. School council members fulfil their duties responsibly, for example in carrying out an extensive survey to gauge pupils’ views on homework.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ rates of attendance are below average but have improved steadily in the last few years. The number of persistent absentees has dropped considerably.

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The leadership and management are good

 The dynamic and caring headteacher is a highly effective role-model for the school community. Together with his senior staff, he drives improvement well. Morale is high and staff’s strong commitment to their pupils’ welfare and achievement is reflected in their very successful teamwork.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders check carefully on the progress of individual pupils. Extra funding has enabled the school to reorganise teaching in ways that are better matched to the needs of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals. About half of these pupils are disabled or have special educational needs, and additional staff have been employed to give them one-to-one support and quicken their progress. This support is generally effective, but has not yet been monitored in enough detail by leaders or governors to judge its full impact on achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school benefits from stable and experienced staff. Performance management arrangements, including suitable procedures for salary progression, are clear. Staff’s targets are linked closely to whole-school priorities and their individual responsibilities for ensuring pupils’ progress. Training has been used well to develop their expertise, for example in assessment techniques.

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The leadership and management are good

 Effective monitoring arrangements, including procedures for assessing pupils’ progress and leading teaching, have improved the consistency of teaching since the previous inspection. Leaders constantly seek out new ideas to raise pupils’ achievement. For example, the school has recently set up a link with a neighbouring school to learn from its success in raising pupils’ attainment at the higher levels.

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The leadership and management are good

 The way subjects are taught is well planned. Teachers deliver lessons imaginatively and foster pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development successfully. This contributes greatly to pupils’ good achievement and, overall, promotes equal opportunities well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has supported the school effectively, for example through its close monitoring of the actions taken to tackle the areas that most need to be improved.

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The leadership and management are good

 All statutory requirements for safeguarding are met.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is good, as it was at the previous inspection. Governors know the local community well, have a keen appreciation of the skills pupils need to acquire to succeed in life, and understand how well the school meets pupils’ needs. They know, through their committees and developing skills, how well the school is doing. They monitor teaching and learning, ask searching questions of senior leaders, and are fully committed to acting on the school’s few weaker areas. They are directly involved in performance management and have helped to ensure that the school’s overall effectiveness has improved since the previous inspection.

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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 is

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Grade Judgement Description

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 135498 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 402710

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 375 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Peter Riggott Headteacher Geoff Leyland Date of previous school inspection 17 July 2010 Telephone number 01246 864833 Fax number 01246 864833 Email address info@sharleypark.derbyshire.sch.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, please

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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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