Edale Rise Primary & Nursery School

Edale Rise Primary & Nursery School Edale Road, Sneinton Dale, Nottingham, NG2 4HT

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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 from low starting points because progress is good in every class.  From Year 2 to Year 5 standards are at expected levels for the pupils' ages.  Attainment is below average in Year 6. Many pupils have joined this class since Year 2 with little English or significant special educational needs. They are catching up rapidly.  Teaching is good and sometimes outstanding. Teachers and other staff work well together as a team.  Pupils from all backgrounds are happy at school and get on well together. Behaviour is good and pupils feel safe and well looked after.  The school is well led and managed. The headteacher, staff and governing body all play their part in improving teaching and raising standards.  Good support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and for those learning English is an additional language ensures that they do better than

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

similar pupils nationally.  Very effective support is given to families finding it difficult to get their children to school every day. As a result, attendance has improved significantly since the last inspection.  A wide range of activities and trips is provided to engage the pupils’ interest, both within and beyond lessons.  The school enjoys strong support from parents and carers.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers sometimes stick too closely to their original plans instead of adjusting the lesson as it proceeds in the light of pupils' responses.  Pupils do not develop skills in art and music as well as in other subjects.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 18 lessons and saw all the teachers teaching. They also observed playtimes and lunchtimes, talked to pupils about their views and looked at samples of their work.  The inspection team examined various documents including monitoring files, teachers’ planning, records of pupils’ progress, and polices relating to keeping pupils safe.  Meetings were held with teaching staff and members of the governing body, and a telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors talked with parents before and after school and took into account the views of the 26 parents who had completed the online Parent View questionnaire

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Inspection team

Peter Kerr, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Jenny Edginton Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Edale Rise is an average-sized primary school.  The current Year 6 is the first Year 6 cohort to come through since the transition from infant to primary status in 2009.  Most of the pupils are from minority ethnic groups, and most of these speak English as an additional language.  A well above-average proportion of pupils join the school partway through their primary education, often from other countries and with little or no English and sometimes no previous experience of formal schooling.  Around half of the pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. This is a much higher proportion than in most schools.  An above-average proportion of pupils are supported through school action. Many of these pupils have behaviour, emotional and social difficulties as well as moderate learning difficulties.

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Information about this school

Fewer pupils than average for this size of school are supported either through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  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?

 Make more of the good teaching outstanding by:  ensuring that all teachers take account of how well pupils are learning and adapt activities so that pupils are always working at the right level.  providing more opportunities for pupils to do practical things that help them to understand and apply what they are learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that pupils achieve equally well in all subjects by ensuring that:  lessons enable pupils to systematically develop skills in all subjects, including art and music, as they move through the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children learn rapidly in the Early Years Foundation Stage, mostly through playing with their friends. They quickly gain confidence in looking after themselves because they receive good support from the staff. Children develop their communication and mathematical skills well because staff teach these regularly and help them to practise them as they play.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Progress is good in reading throughout the school because the technical skills that enable pupils to recognise words and spell them correctly are taught well. Pupils become increasingly motivated to read because interesting books are read to them and made available for them to read.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils respond well to teachers’ advice on how to improve, especially in literacy. As a result, the content and presentation of pupils’ writing are much better this term than last year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties achieve well because they enjoy a wide range of support, in lessons and through individual and small-group activities. This support helps them to manage their feelings, relate better to other pupils and concentrate in lessons.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 More able pupils make good progress in English and mathematics because the school gives extra challenging tasks to pupils who find their work easy.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The gap between the attainment of pupils with low starting points and other pupils of the same age is narrowing. These pupils make good progress because the support they receive helps them to build steadily on what they already know.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The many pupils who join the school partway through their primary education include a number who are new to learning English. These pupils settle in well. They learn English rapidly in well- planned group sessions and from interacting with classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Some good learning occurs in all subjects. For example, in art, Year 1 pupils quickly mastered basic techniques for working clay because they were first taught the skills then supported to apply what they had learnt. Learning is not consistently good across subjects, and is especially patchy in art and music, so gaps develop in pupils’ skills.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers plan lessons thoroughly, mark pupils’ work regularly, giving pointers for improvement, and display pupils’ work attractively to reward effort and motivate them to do their best.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the most successful lessons, teachers captivate pupils’ interests by making them think for themselves and keep them actively learning throughout the lesson. Pupils are often encouraged to explore their own ideas in an open-ended way during these lessons.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Outstanding teaching got the best out of Year 5 pupils when they were asked to write a piece advocating the abolition of homework. The teacher showed that he valued their ideas and encouraged them to ‘get inside the head’ of the people they were trying to persuade. As a result, the pupils came up with interesting and persuasive arguments, for example pointing out what enjoyable things teachers could be doing at the weekend rather than marking homework.  Excellent teamwork between teachers and teaching assistants helps learning considerably on occasions. For example, close collaboration during the introduction to a Year 6 mathematics lesson enabled the teacher to identify those pupils who needed extra support and those needing further challenge. As a result, the whole class were continually engaged and made good progress relative to their starting points.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants are also effective when teaching groups of pupils directly because they are well briefed. For example, a teaching assistant in Year 1 helped pupils to decide which containers held most by using another container to fill them while the teacher helped other pupils learn practically how to use litres and millilitres.

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The quality of teaching is good

 When lessons guide pupils too closely towards a pre-determined outcome, their interest wanes and the quality and variety of their work diminishes. For example, a pupils’ comment about three-dimensional shapes in the introduction to a lesson on two-dimensional shapes was overlooked because it did not fit the plan when the lesson could have been enlivened by using three dimensional shapes to demonstrate the properties of their two-dimensional faces.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers plan for the development of a variety of skills through topic lessons but, in some subjects, for example art and music, the pupils do not learn and practise skills as systematically as in other subjects.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school is a very orderly place. Pupils from all backgrounds behave well, play and work amicably together and show respect for each other. Good staff supervision at playtimes helps considerably in encouraging pupils to play cooperatively and be aware of the needs of others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Rare instances of challenging behaviour, usually by pupils with significant behavioural, emotional and social needs, are handled sensitively and effectively by all staff. The regular support such pupils receive help them to manage their own emotions better and to take account of the feelings of others while at play.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties learn to check their behaviour because skilled interventions by staff help them to consider the feelings of others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good awareness of the different kinds of bullying they may encounter, including cyber-bullying. They say that, occasionally, name-calling upsets some pupils but that the staff sort this out by getting the name-caller to understand the effect it has on the recipient. Such incidents are rare and are resolved well, with the involvement of all families concerned if necessary.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of the way religious belief affects people’s lives. Older pupils for example, showed a mature insight into the difference between worship and meditation following a recent visit to a Buddhist temple.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel safe in school and all the parents and carers expressing a view felt strongly or very strongly that the school keeps their children safe. Pupils know the rules to follow in different situations to keep themselves safe, for example through good road-safety habits and not talking to strangers.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has guided the school well through the transition from infant to primary status. Together with the senior leadership team, she has improved the quality of teaching during this process by setting high expectations of staff and checking their performance regularly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The focus for improvement has rightly been literacy and numeracy. All the other subjects have been taught regularly during this time, but the headteacher is aware that skills in art and music have not been taught as well as skills in other subjects. Achieving a better balance between subjects is an objective already identified by the school for future improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s provision strongly supports the pupils' spiritual, moral and social development. Provision for their cultural development is patchy, particularly in the use of art and music to reflect the variety of cultural backgrounds represented in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The staff is a strong team because all roles are valued. Real responsibility is delegated to teaching assistants and, as a result, they enjoy their work and are highly motivated and effective.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has enlisted effective support from the local authority in providing well-targeted training for staff. Plans for 2013 include timely and relevant training on how teachers can better help pupils to learn through investigation in mathematics.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school spends pupil premium funds in a variety of effective ways. For example, it is used to provide the breakfast club, which is well attended and helps many pupils to begin their school day on a full stomach and in a positive frame of mind. These initiatives have had a positive impact on pupils’ achievement and have helped to improve attendance.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works closely with other local organisations and institutions to enrich provision. For example, a large indoor playing area in an adjacent building is used regularly to extend opportunities for physical education.

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The leadership and management are good

 All of the parents and carers expressing a view said that they would recommend the school to others.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is increasingly effective in holding the school to account. It ensures, for example, that the pupil premium is spent appropriately on the pupils for whom it is intended. Many of the pupils entitled to this support have a history of poor attendance, behavioural, emotional and social difficulties or learning difficulties, and the governing body is rigorous in obtaining regular reports from the headteacher on the impact of this spending on the attendance, personal development and progress of these pupils.  The governing body ensures that promotions and salary increases for staff are linked to their performance by tracking the progress of pupils in each class and the impact of senior staff on the quality of teaching and learning throughout the school.  Governors regularly visit to examine specific aspects of the school’s work and the governing body checks that any recommendations it makes are acted on.

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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 122446 Local authority Nottingham Inspection number 406092

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tracey Laxton Headteacher Jane Swingler Date of previous school inspection 27 September 2010 Telephone number 0115 9150180 Fax number 0115 9150181 Email address admin@edale-rise.nottingham.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

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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