Pinehurst Primary School

Pinehurst Primary School Pinehurst Avenue, Liverpool, Merseyside, L4 7UF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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, alongside leaders at all levels and highly committed staff, has driven good improvements in teaching and achievement.  Governors are effective. They provide good support and challenge for the school.  Most pupils achieve well across the school in reading, writing and mathematics.  Results at the end of Year 2, are improving well.  The quality of teaching is consistently good. Some teaching is now outstanding.  The curriculum is enriched with visits and visitors. Enterprise skills are promoted well.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. They display strong levels of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Pupils’ team work is very strong, particularly as demonstrated though their success at running a business for the school and using the profits to purchase needed equipment for the school.  Pupils show a good understanding of safety and bullying. They feel safe and enjoy school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough teaching is outstanding. Some teachers do not adapt pupils’ work quickly enough in lessons, to ensure that they make more rapid progress. This is especially the case in mathematics.  Pupils are not given enough time to respond to the good guidance given in marking by teachers in their books. Therefore, they do not go over the gaps in their learning, especially in mathematics.  Progress in mathematics is not as strong as in reading or writing.  Not enough teachers observe and learn from outstanding practice within the school.  Some parents are still not bringing their children regularly to school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 11 lessons of which two were joint observations with the headteacher. In addition, the inspection team made a number of shorter visits to lessons.  Inspectors listened to pupils read from Years 1, 2 and 6.  Inspectors took account of 12 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) and responses to a parental questionnaire recently carried out by the school.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils and inspectors spoke to pupils at break and lunch times.  Inspectors also held discussions with the Chair of the Governing Body, a representative of the local authority and school staff.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ current progress, documents relating to the school’s plans for improvement, its procedures for checking the quality of teaching, records relating to behaviour and attendance and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Information about this inspection

 Pupils’ books were checked closely by inspectors.

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Inspection team

Clarice Nelson-Rowe, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Emma Jackson Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an averaged-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  A high proportion of pupils are supported by the pupil premium. (The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children who are looked after by the local authority.).  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is above average.  The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  A much higher than average proportion of pupils join and leave the school partway through their education.  In 2012, the school did not meet 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 the proportion of outstanding teaching, in order to improve pupils’ achievement further, by:  regularly providing time for pupils to act on the good guidance given by teachers in marking, so that they regularly address gaps in their learning, especially in mathematics  ensuring teachers frequently check on how well pupils are learning during lessons and adjust work more quickly when necessary to make sure all pupils make rapid progress, especially in mathematics  improving opportunities for teachers to observe and learn from the outstanding practice within the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve attendance, by continuing to remind parents about their responsibilities for ensuring children attend school regularly.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from different backgrounds and those who have been in the school for different lengths of time, make good overall progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is due to good teaching and to the good quality of support provided for individual pupils.  Most children enter the Reception classes with knowledge and skills that are below those typically expected for their age. They make good progress due to a good range of resources, including a vegetable garden, and well-organised activities that help children to learn independently.  Pupils largely read well. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 increasingly tackle new and unfamiliar words well because they develop a good understanding of letters and their sounds. By Year 6, pupils read with expression and understanding. All pupils show good enjoyment of reading due to the range of support in lessons, but also because of the after-school reading club, which pupils say

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The achievement of pupils is good

helps them to improve further in their reading skills.  Overall, pupils achieve well in writing. In Years 1 and 2, the presentation of work and use of sentences is good. As pupils move up the school into Years 3 to 6, they show good understanding of the different techniques used by writers. This was particularly evident in a mixed Years 5 and 6 class. For example, pupils made outstanding progress in using an excellent range of language in paragraphs, describing mysterious images displayed on the interactive whiteboard.  Pupils’ achievement in mathematics is improving. Pupils now enjoy more problem-solving activities which help them to apply a range of mathematical skills working in groups. Pupils show good estimating skills as well as very strong understanding of business-related terms, such as ‘profit margin’ and ‘staffing costs’, due to activities that help to strengthen their enterprise skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils supported by the pupil premium make good progress as well as others in the school. National tests in 2012 show that their attainment, as measured by average point scores, moved much closer to other pupils in the school. In English, it was similar, and in mathematics it was just over a term behind. This is evidence of the school’s success in giving all its pupils equality of opportunity to succeed.  Pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs make the same rates of progress as their classmates and sometimes better, particularly in reading. This happens because of the skilled support of teaching assistants who quickly adjust and design activities to help them learn well.  By the end of Year 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics show a strong rising trend of improvements, so that pupils are now reaching the national average in these subjects. The trend of improvements, continue to move upwards throughout the school, to the end of Year 6.

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The achievement of pupils is good

However, the rates of improvements are not as strong for mathematics as they are for English.  In 2012, the previous good achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, dipped for Year 6 pupils. This reflected pupils’ previously very low starting points but also due to pupils being taught by a higher number of different teachers than would be usually expected in previous years, and pupils leaving the group before reaching the end of Year 6. However, lesson objectives, scrutiny of pupils’ work and the school’s own data tracking, shows that the dip has now been reversed.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good and sometimes outstanding. All adults enjoy very good relationships with pupils, which help to create a positive learning environment in all classrooms.  Common features of teaching include: a variety of activities that are designed to challenge and support different ability groups; a good range of resources; very effective use of information and communication technology and skilled teaching assistants to support individual pupils.  Pupils are given good opportunities to discuss their learning in lessons and to work in groups. They particularly learn best when given real-life situations to explore, such as reporting on a famous local footballer who had visited the school or exploring the costs involved when designing a theme park.  Teachers demonstrate high expectations of pupils. An outstanding example was seen in a Year 3 mathematics lesson in the school’s computer room. Due to regular checks made on pupils in the

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The quality of teaching is good

lesson, the teacher and teaching assistant were constantly directing pupils to go onto higher levels of mathematics games and were regularly giving more challenging ‘sums’ to complete on the interactive white board. This ensured that pupils were constantly being stretched and, as a result, pupils’ progress in their understanding of numbers was outstanding.  However, strong monitoring in lessons is not consistent across the school. Some teachers do not intervene quickly enough to adapt lessons to ensure that pupils make faster progress. This is particularly the case in mathematics.  Teachers use questioning well to check and develop pupils’ learning during lessons. An outstanding example of this was seen in a Year 2 lesson. This is because the teacher’s questioning enabled the pupils to think and learn on a higher level, about the symbolism of the different parts of a Christening service and objects used. When pupils reviewed their learning

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The quality of teaching is good

and were unsure about particular aspects, the teacher used other pupils to help those who were struggling with their understanding. This developed pupils’ excellent spiritual and social development.  Marking is generally good. Teachers give good guidance to pupils, such as showing them how best to show their working out of mathematical problems or how to improve the quality of their writing. However, there is limited evidence of pupils being given time to respond to the good guidance given by teachers, and so they do not consistently address the gaps in their learning. This is particularly the case in mathematics.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel very safe and happy at the school. The overwhelming majority of parents agree that their children are safe and happy.  Good behaviour is promoted and managed consistently by staff across the school. Records related to pupils’ behaviour, confirm that any incidents of poor behaviour have fallen dramatically since the last inspection and there have been no exclusions since September. Pupils view behaviour as good in and outside lessons and many older pupils view behaviour as improving well since they have been in the school.  Pupils show a very clear understanding of the high expectations of staff and enjoy the many rewards given to them. The celebration of all achievements plays an important role in the life of the school. Parents are invited into celebration assemblies to witness their children being rewarded for their hard work and positive attitudes.  Pupils work well together in lessons and are polite and courteous. They also show very good

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

team work and enterprise skills in running a business at the school and selling products. The profits have been used to purchase additional resources at the school.  Pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the risks when using the internet, mobile phones are good and their awareness of other aspects of safety such as road safety and knife crime, are very strong. This is due to the way that the school uses outside organisations and individuals, including the police, to promote pupils’ safety awareness.  Pupils feel safe around the school due to good security. Whilst they report that they have ‘fall outs’ from time to time with each other, they also say that they feel safe from bullying and that it is rare. Pupils display very good awareness of the different types or bullying.  Although attendance has improved, despite all the school’s efforts, some parents are still not regularly bringing their children to school. Therefore, attendance is not as good as it could be.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, subject leaders, governors and all staff have worked determinedly and successfully, to keep the good improvements made to the school.  Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s work and have dealt with the key priorities to improve pupils’ enterprise skills and to further improve the consistency of teaching. Furthermore, results at the end of Year 2 have improved rapidly, exclusions have fallen to zero, there is now an improving proportion of outstanding teaching and current progress across the school is good.  Leaders’ management of teaching and teachers’ performance is good. There are firmly established routines for checking teachers’ effectiveness, underpinned by the Teachers’ Standards document. All teachers know that they are accountable for pupils’ progress and this, too, is checked regularly. Teachers are fully aware that salary progression is linked to performance in the classroom.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has taken up opportunities to learn from outstanding practice within other schools. The local authority has also been effective in providing a range of training opportunities for staff to improve further their teaching and leadership skills. However, there are still not enough opportunities for teachers to learn from the outstanding practice within the school.  A lively and interesting curriculum has been developed. A good range of visits and visitors to school helps to develop pupils’ very strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and widens their knowledge about the world around them. Enterprise skills are promoted well.  The governance of the school:  Governors of the school are very effective. They challenge school leaders about the achievement of pupils but are also highly supportive. They have a good handle on the quality of teaching and have been appropriately trained on understanding achievement data to be

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The leadership and management are good

able to check whether pupils are learning as best as they can. They are well aware of the performance and salary progression of staff and ensure that the school is financially stable. They make sure that policies, including those relating to safeguarding pupils, are regularly reviewed and updated and are implemented effectively.

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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 134471 Local authority Liverpool Inspection number 400153

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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 242 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sarah Rodgers Headteacher Stephanie Tasker Date of previous school inspection 24 March 2011 Telephone number 0151 263 1300 Fax number 0151 260 4561 Email address pinehurst-ao@liverpool.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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