Paston Ridings Primary School

Paston Ridings Primary School Paston Ridings, Peterborough, PE4 7XG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Standards are below average in all key stages and have not improved sufficiently since the last inspection. Pupils are not consistently making the rapid progress needed for them to catch up.  Teachers, including those in Reception, do not use the information on the progress of pupils sufficiently well when planning lessons.  Tasks for the more-able pupils are often too easy in English and mathematics.  Teaching assistants do not always possess the skills required to help pupils with complex and specific learning difficulties, including those whose first language is not English, to make rapid progress.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ books and their expectations of the quality of pupils’ class work and homework are not consistently good in all classes.  There have been recent incidents of poor behaviour and some pupils do not show mature attitudes in lessons or present work to a high standard.  Leaders do not monitor the progress of

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

individual and groups of pupils with sufficient rigour or ensure that teachers’ pay is linked directly to their impact on achievement.  Governors are not sufficiently rigorous in monitoring risk assessments and the performance of the school.  Parents are not made aware of how they can help to improve their children’s’ learning and attendance.

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The school has the following strengths

 The new headteacher and senior leadership team have brought about rapid improvement. Standards are now rising and there is a greater stability in staffing.  Improved teaching is leading to higher standards in reading across the school.  Most children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The school communicates effectively with the parents of disabled pupils and those with a range of sometimes complex learning needs.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in 15 lessons or parts of lessons, five of which were seen together with the headteacher or senior leaders. In addition, the inspectors made a number of short visits to small group sessions and learning areas.  Separate meetings were conducted with governors, staff, school leaders and managers, an adviser from the local authority and two groups of pupils. The inspectors talked to pupils during lessons, listened to pupils read and scrutinised samples of their work.  As there were very few responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), the results of the school’s own survey of parents’ views were taken into account. The views of several parents who communicated with the inspectors during the inspection were also taken into consideration.  The inspectors took account of the 57 responses to the staff questionnaire and held conversations with members of staff throughout the inspection in order to gain their views.

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Information about this inspection

 A number of documents were reviewed. These included the school’s improvement plan, information about pupils’ current progress, arrangements for safeguarding and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. Reports from the local authority about the school’s effectiveness were also examined.

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Inspection team

Catherine Morgan, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Graham Gossage Additional Inspector Elizabeth Macfarlane Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school. The school building has been significantly extended and the number of pupils has increased by a third since the time of the previous inspection.  Two thirds of pupils are of White British heritage with the rest of the pupils coming from a range of minority ethnic heritages. Over two-fifths of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportions of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action, school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs are all above average.  Almost one half of pupils are eligible for support through the pupil premium, which is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after by the local authority and other groups.  A high proportion of pupils leave or join the school at other than the usual times.

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Information about this school

 A very small number of pupils attend the pupil referral unit at St George’s School in Peterborough.  The school provides a breakfast club for pupils on site.  The headteacher left the school at the end of the summer term in 2013 and the deputy headteacher was appointed as the acting headteacher. The current headteacher was appointed on January 1 st 2014, having supported the school during the autumn term 2013.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by making sure that:  all teachers manage pupils behaviour effectively, have high expectations of their achievement and ensure they complete class and homework tasks neatly and accurately  teachers, including those in Reception, make better use of the data they have on pupils’ achievement so that the work they set is always hard enough to move pupils’ learning forward, particularly that of more-able pupils  teaching assistants are given the training they need to support pupils with complex and specific learning difficulties, including those who speak English as an additional language  marking gives pupils clear guidance on how to improve in all classes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by ensuring leaders:  check the progress of individual pupils and groups more rigorously so that they can respond promptly to any underachievement  only reward staff with pay rises when their pupils have made at least expected progress  make sure parents know how they can help to improve their children’s’ learning and attendance  undertake risk assessments more rigorously and ensure governors monitor the implementation of these procedures and the overall performance of the school more effectively.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

A review of governance should be undertaken so that this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment by the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 has been below average over time in reading, writing and mathematics and not enough pupils are making good progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children join the Reception class with levels of skills which are well below those usually found in children of that age. Careful nurturing and effective teaching enable many to make good progress so they enter Year 1 with standards broadly in line with those expected. Children’s work is assessed regularly but their assessments are not always recorded effectively or used by staff to identify any gaps in achievement quickly and move all children on in their learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Until recently, the progress made in Key Stage 1 has been too slow and attainment has been below average by the end of Year 2, with very few pupils reaching higher levels. Pupils’ below- average achievement in the national phonics screening check and the decline in attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 in 2013, however, was primarily due to the late arrival and challenging circumstances facing a large proportion of pupils who joined Year 1 in 2012 and 2013; most of these pupils were new arrivals to the country with little or no spoken English.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Although pupils’ attainment has been better at the end of Key Stage 2, over time there have still been too many who have failed to reach expected levels because teachers do not assess pupils accurately. Since the arrival of the new headteacher, these weaknesses have been addressed rigorously so that standards are rising. Virtually all pupils currently in the school are now making the progress expected, or better.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school rightly prides itself in the provision it has made for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, which are often complex in nature. The progress of every pupil receiving additional support is tracked carefully and there is good communication with and involvement of parents. This support is more effective in writing than in reading or maths however. Not all teaching assistants have the skills necessary to improve the rate of progress made by these pupils and those whose first language is not English.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The funding for the large number of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium has been used successfully to narrow the gap in attainment between pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and other pupils in school. As a result, the attainment by the end of Year 6 of this group of pupils is more than one term ahead of other pupils in mathematics. It is around one term behind other pupils in reading and writing, which reflects the high proportion of those for whom English is an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The additional funding provided for sport and physical education has a positive impact on the standards being achieved by many pupils. Teaching has improved because the teachers have benefitted from additional support and training, while pupils are able to participate in a range of sporting activities and inter-school competitions for the first time. Pupils say this has added to their enjoyment of learning and school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching requires improvement because too much teaching over time has not been good enough to accelerate the progress of all pupils or ensure that sufficient numbers reach the higher levels in all subjects and across all classes.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not always use the information on the progress of pupils sufficiently well to ensure that individual needs are taken into account when planning lessons and organising the work of the teaching assistants. This frequently prevents pupils from doing as well as they should.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 There is still too much variability in the amount of class work and homework that staff expect pupils to produce and also in the quality of presentation expected in pupils’ books. There are also differences in the quality of teachers’ marking of pupils’ books and comments to pupils. This prevents them from being clear about their targets and knowing how they can improve their work. The tasks set for more-able pupils do not always enable them to reach the high standards they are capable of in all lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 As a result of the action taken by the new headteacher, teaching is improving across the school. Teachers have more opportunities to work together, share their ideas and learn from one another. This has been particularly effective in Reception where all three classes make excellent use of the attractive outdoor area to improve children’s personal, social and emotional development, particularly their moving and handling skills. However, as elsewhere in the school, teachers in Reception do not always make the best use of data on children’s progress to bring about rapid gains in their achievement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Much of the teaching of small group and individual pupils is of a very high quality, for example, that observed in the reading recovery sessions and the lunchtime reading club for boys, which enabled pupils to make outstanding progress and develop their interest in a wide range of books.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement because the behaviour of a significant minority is not as good as it should be.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school recognises that there are weaknesses in behaviour and staff are working closely with families and specialist agencies to bring about rapid improvements. There have been some serious incidents recorded during the past two years but the school is working effectively to prevent this type of behaviour from happening again.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The vast majority of pupils have positive attitudes to learning and take pride in their work. On occasion, when teaching is not of the highest quality, pupils do not always show mature attitudes to their learning and their work which is not always presented to a high standard.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The senior leadership team, learning mentors and family liaison team, work very effectively to provide high quality support for pupils who have behavioural, social and emotional needs. The arrangements for a small number of pupils to access alternative provision on a part-time basis are proving to be very successful. This demonstrates the school’s successful commitment to equality of opportunity and to tackling discrimination.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils across the school, including those who do not join at the usual start times, flourish in their personal development because the school fosters strong relationships. The revised behaviour policy that has included the re-establishment of school ‘houses’, and a new system of rewards for positive behaviour is being applied consistently by staff. This ensures that most pupils are respectful and tolerant of others and are aware of the consequences of their actions.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are happy and have good opportunities to participate in thoughtful daily assemblies where their behaviour is impeccable and they enjoy singing together. This promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively.  Attendance is just below average and is improving. The breakfast club provides a safe, nourishing start to the day and has effectively improved attendance for some pupils. The headteacher challenges requests for unauthorised absence and issues appropriate penalties where necessary. However, the school has not ensured parents fully understand how they can help to improve their children’s’ learning and their attendance.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. Whilst all statutory requirements are met there is sometimes a lack of rigour in the risk assessment process which prevents staff from being fully informed about safeguarding arrangements in all situations involving children.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils say that they feel very safe at school and know what they can do to help keep themselves safe. Most pupils have a good understanding of the nature of different types of bullying, and are confident that incidents will be dealt with swiftly and effectively. Year 6 pupils in particular, have a good understanding about how to stay safe online using their ‘SMART’ code.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new headteacher and senior leadership team are securing improvements in the school’s performance, but these have not had time to have full impact. Leadership and management still require improvement because there remain inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. Attainment has remained below average over time and not enough pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Regular reviews of each pupil’s progress are not used effectively to provide leaders and governors with a clear understanding of how much progress individual and groups of pupils are making. Reports provide a large amount of data but this has failed to identify the under- performance of individual pupils, including those in Reception.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Records and analysis of teachers’ performance management are informative but do not demonstrate that staff are only rewarded with pay rises when their pupils have done as well as they should have done. Governors are not playing a strong enough part in ensuring that procedures to monitor the performance of all staff are sufficiently rigorous or that all pupils reach the standards of which they are capable.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Effective intervention by and support from the local authority has ensured that all staff and governors now have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and particularly the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability are now more clearly understood by staff at all levels.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has quickly gained the trust of staff, which has enabled her to focus on improving achievement and teaching quality. Managers are benefitting from further training and teachers are already collaborating effectively to share best practice.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new senior leadership team has made improving the quality of teaching a key priority and inadequate teaching has been eradicated. There is now greater stability in staffing and those teachers identified as needing support or who are new to the profession are well supported and have good opportunities to attend professional development.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The senior leadership team members work well together to provide clear educational direction for the school. They are ambitious and have an accurate view of the school’s performance. The correct areas for further development have been identified and precise plans put into place to bring about improvement. Subject leaders are now developing their skills by providing more robust management, observing the most effective teaching and assessment from across the school, giving firm judgements and offering precise advice about how teachers and their assistants can improve.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The staff questionnaires show that there is a shared desire to improve and support senior leaders. There is secure capacity for further improvement, demonstrated through the rapid improvements made to the quality of teaching and pupils’ behaviour.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils benefit from a range of subjects which provide an appropriate balance of topics, visits, visitors and religious experiences to enable them to learn and apply their reading, writing and mathematics skills and knowledge. Reading is used well in other subjects, and opportunities for writing in lots of different contexts are increasing. This ensures that pupils’ positive attitudes to learning are maintained.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s use of the additional school sport funding is leading to significant improvement in the health and well-being of pupils and in extending the skills of staff and pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The relatively new governing body is determined to improve all aspects of the school’s work. Governors are more aware of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and how effective teaching is across the school. They monitor the school’s financial resources well and have successfully managed the recent building project. They are aware of the impact that pupil premium and primary sports funding are having on the progress of the pupils it is allocated to support.  Governors do not rigorously assess and challenge the school’s performance in order to improve it more rapidly. Governors have relied too much on the school’s reports for information about teachers’ and pupils’ performance and are not sufficiently involved in the appraisal process in terms of linking classroom practice to pay awards. All of the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures meet statutory requirements, but the school’s risk

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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 110778 Local authority Peterborough Inspection number 440518

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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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 498 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jo Evans Headteacher Joanna Cook Date of previous school inspection 7 July 2011 Telephone number 01733 762742 Fax number 01733 703514 Email address admin@pastonridings.peterborough.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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