Setting

Mrs Lisa Davison Headteacher Burnley Stoneyholme Community Primary School Oswald Street Burnley Lancashire BB12 0BN

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Community Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 7 February 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings.

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Community Primary School

The inspection was a monitoring inspection carried out in accordance with no formal designation procedures and conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was carried out because the Chief Inspector was concerned about the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements at the school.

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Evidence

During my visit I met with you, a senior leader with responsibility for inclusion, integration and child protection, two members of the governing body and a local authority representative to discuss the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe. I met with two groups of Key Stage 2 pupils to discuss their views on behaviour and safety. I also chatted to other pupils during play and lunchtime to hear their views and to observe their behaviour outside of the classroom. We toured the school site to check security and we visited each class to watch pupils at work. We also observed one lesson led by one teacher. I scrutinised a range of documents, including the single central record, the child protection policy, behaviour logs and attendance data, to evaluate the effectiveness of your work in keeping pupils safe. I also chatted informally to adults other than teachers to check how well they understood their role in protecting pupils.

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Evidence

CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566939 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email: glaw@cfbt.com Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school’s safeguarding arrangements meet requirements.

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Context

Stoneyholme is a larger than average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding is almost twice the national average. (The pupil premium is additional funding provided by the government for pupils who are known to be eligible for free schools meals, those who are looked after by the local authority or are children of families in the services). Almost all pupils come from minority ethnic groups and speak English as an additional language. The majority of pupils are from Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage. The proportion of pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs supported at the school action level is below average. A smaller than average proportion of pupils have a statement of educational need or have extra support because they have been identified as requiring support at the school action plus level. More pupils join the school at different times of the year than found in most

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Context

Since the inspection in July 2012, there have been few changes in staff. A senior leader with responsibility for inclusion, integration and child protection has been appointed.

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Context

The monitoring inspection was in response to a qualifying complaint which raised wider concerns about pupils’ safety and well-being.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are very loyal; they do not think there is anything that needs to be changed to make their time at school happier or safer. They are full of praise for teachers who make learning fun and keep them safe. Pupils are equally sure the adults who look after them at other times of the day listen to and act on their concerns.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Different groups of pupils say they feel safe. They like the ‘Sparkle Box’ because they can share any worries privately and they know an adult will come and seek them out for a chat. Your records show this strategy is popular with pupils; they clearly value the time and energy you put into giving them a voice. The ‘Sparkle Box’ is proving to be an effective tool in helping you keep in tune with how the pupils in your care are feeling on a day-to-day basis. Many pupils put their name in the box because they just want to talk to an adult and not because they are particularly troubled. However, this is not a problem for your or your staff; you treat each entry with equal consideration and respect.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils behave well in classrooms and around the school. They work together without any difficulty, showing respect and consideration for each other. For example, pupils in a Year 2 mathematics lesson willingly shared resources and discussed their ideas to solve simple calculation problems. Similarly, pupils wait patiently in the dining hall for their friends and class mates to finish their lunches without any fuss. Pupils are proud of their school. This means they are happy to tidy up and play their part in keeping classrooms bright and safe. Pupils’ ready smiles, willingness to chat and good manners show their respect for adults and school visitors. They automatically step aside to let adults pass and open doors without any prompting.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils say behaviour in school is mostly good and poor behaviour hardly ever gets in the way of their learning. They say incidents of bullying are rare; they know you frown heavily on this type of behaviour. They are in no doubt how seriously you deal with any type of nastiness which causes individual pupils to be upset.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Your work to promote pupils’ safety when using the internet is bearing fruit. Pupils have a good grasp of how to keep themselves safe from any strangers on the internet who may wish to cause them harm. They also know what they should do in the event of any cyber-bullying. Nonetheless, pupils’ understanding of homophobic bullying is less secure.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Your relentless focus on reducing pupils’ absence from school is making a difference. Attendance is improving year on year and almost matched the national average at the end of the last academic year. Your own attendance data show this positive trend is set to continue; far more pupils are attending school regularly and on time than at this time last year.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

You have responded appropriately to a serious incident at the school last year and used the experience to reconsider your procedures for keeping pupils safe. You and other senior leaders have refreshed your training to check you are following the government’s guidelines when appointing new staff. Almost a third of your governing body are also trained in this area so there is a pool of expertise to help you make the right decisions about the adults who want to work at your school. Risk assessments have been updated so you know individual pupils are safe when working with adults in specially designed rooms. This is also helping you protect adults from unfounded allegations.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The senior leader with responsibility for integration, inclusion and child protection has reviewed your policy and system for protecting the most vulnerable pupils. This work and your clear direction to staff mean child protection is becoming everyone’s responsibility and adults know they have to report any concerns immediately. Your updated guidance for new or temporary staff is much sharper in outlining what is expected to keep pupils safe from harm. There are clear systems in place to identify any pupils who are at risk or need extra help to cope with challenging circumstances in or outside of school. You have a wide range of programmes in place to support these pupils. Activities, such as ‘Feel Good Friends’ and drawing and talking therapy, are used well to shore up pupils’ emotional and mental well-being so their learning does not falter and they feel more secure. Your records show serious behaviour incidents are escalated to the highest levels

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

and are followed up thoroughly. Other, less serious incidents, are also dutifully recorded by those teachers who lead the year group units. However, you do not routinely collate and analyse the information on smaller misdemeanours to find out if there are any particular patterns in the behaviour of individuals or particular groups of pupils.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

You are making sure that pupils have appropriate opportunities to learn how to keep themselves safe. Each year group has a unit of work on staying safe. This is organised well so pupils can build on their knowledge and understanding as they move from class to class. This starts with the basics, such as road safety for younger pupils. However, you are also giving due weight to pupils’ maturing attitudes as they near the end of their primary school career, so topics, such as respecting personal space, are not shirked. Your work on enhancing pupils’ experiences is really helping them to assess and manage risk for themselves. Activities such as gardening, skiing and the work pupils do in the school grounds mean they have real-life opportunities to work safely both inside and outside of the classroom.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

You keep the governing body up to date with any issues around pupils’ safety and regularly report on behaviour, bullying and racist incidents. This means governors have an adequate understanding of this aspect of school life. Nonetheless, they do not check safeguarding arrangements in the school closely enough. For example, they are not always making sure your records on adults who have been cleared to work with pupils are fully in line with government guidelines. Governors are aware there is scope to develop their monitoring role; this is already an action in your school improvement plan.

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External support

The local authority provided an appropriate level of support following a serious incident last year. Senior officers with responsibility for safeguarding visited the school to review your procedures for checking on adults who are appointed to the school. This has been helpful in confirming your systems comply with government guidelines.

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Priorities for further improvement

 Strengthen the role of the governing body in checking the impact and effectiveness of the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe.

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Priorities for further improvement

 Develop pupils’ understanding of homophobic bullying

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Priorities for further improvement

 Collate and analyse the records on less serious behaviour incidents to identify any patterns for individuals or groups of pupils. I am copying this letter to the Interim Executive Director for Children & Young People for Lancashire, to the Secretary of State for Education and the Chair of the Governing Body. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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