Lift Green Way

The Green Way Academy 21 st Avenue, Hull, HU6 8HD

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching Inadequate 4 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Inadequate 4

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires special measures.  Achievement in Key Stage 1 is inadequate. Children are not learning to read, write and spell well enough. This means they are not prepared for the next stage in their education.  Not all teachers consistently follow the school’s teaching and learning policies, so pupils do not get the feedback that they need. Teachers do not adapt tasks to challenge the most able, or to support those who need extra help. Consequently, some pupils make inadequate progress.  Leaders and governors have an inaccurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  The checking of the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress by leaders is ineffective. As a result underachievement has not been detected and action has not been taken to help pupils get back on track.  The school’s pupil progress data seen by governors is not accurate and this has limited their ability to challenge the school to improve

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

its performance.  Leaders’ actions to improve teaching and pupils’ achievement are not working because leaders do not do enough to check that staff follow agreed approaches.  Since 2013 the quality of teaching has deteriorated and pupils’ attainment has declined in both key stages.  While pupils feel safe at school, some record keeping about some pupils’ welfare or their particular circumstances is incomplete. Consequently, the school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement.

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The school has the following strengths

 The behaviour of pupils is good, both in lessons and around the school grounds. They are happy, confident, friendly and enjoy learning.  The school has worked hard to successfully improve its work with families. This has led to increased attendance rates and better relationships with parents.  The Early Years Foundation Stage gives children a good start in their school career. By the end of their Reception Year, they have made good progress.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress in their language development because of the specialist support they receive.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors saw 18 parts of lessons, six of which were observed jointly with the senior leaders in the school.  Inspectors scrutinised a large number of pupils’ books, from all years, subjects and sets, used by pupils since the start of the year to the last week of term. Two of these book scrutinies were done jointly with the school’s senior leaders.  Meetings were held with senior leaders and middle leaders responsible for: curriculum subjects; the Early Years Foundation Stage; and the coordination of special educational needs.  A meeting with a representative from the school’s academy chain sponsor also took place.  A large number of documents were seen. These included: documents covering the school’s tracking and monitoring procedures for pupils and staff; school policies; plans and improvement activity; records of behaviour and support for those with special educational needs; and records of support from the school’s academy sponsors.

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Information about this inspection

 The 31 responses to the online questionnaire ‘Parent View’ were considered, alongside the school’s own questionnaire for parents, and letters and comments from parents who spoke to inspectors during the inspection.  Staff responses to the school’s own questionnaire were also included.

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Inspection team

Rebecca Lawton, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Christine Birchall Additional Inspector Steven Goldsmith Additional Inspector

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Full report

In accordance section 44 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended), Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger than average-sized primary school that converted into an academy in 2012.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is slightly higher than average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is significantly higher than average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium, the additional funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority, is very high: more than half of the school roll.  A small proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language. This proportion has increased slightly since the academy was opened.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The current headteacher was appointed in September 2013.

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Information about this school

 In Key Stage 2, pupils are taught some subjects in classes set by ability.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently improve the quality and consistency of teaching so that it is at least good, by ensuring:  all staff consistently use the school’s agreed methods for the teaching of reading  teachers’ checks on pupils’ progress and attainment are accurate, particularly in Key Stage 1, so that work can be pitched at the right level  pupils with special educational needs receive the support that they need  that the most able pupils are provided with work that offers sufficient challenge  that pupils are given clear guidance in the feedback they receive about how to make progress in their work and learning and are challenged to do so  marking and feedback in subjects other than English and mathematics helps pupils to improve their subject specific skills rather than just focusing on aspects such as grammar or presentation.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ progress and attainment, particularly in reading, writing and spelling and in the application of numeracy skills by:  ensuring Key Stage 1 pupils make at least good progress in the learning of letters and the sounds that they make  urgently improving the teaching of reading across the school but particularly in Year 1 so that it builds on the good start made in the Early Years Foundation Stage  increasing the range of contexts pupils are given to apply their mathematical learning  ensuring pupils get effective feedback especially on how to improve their numeracy skills.  Improve the effectiveness of the school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure by making sure record keeping, particularly in relation to some pupils’ welfare and circumstances, is always kept up-to-date.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently improve the impact of leadership and management by:  ensuring leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses  reviewing the school’s systems for gathering evidence of pupils’ progress and making regular checks to make sure these are accurate  improving the procedures for holding staff to account for the quality of their teaching and pupils’ progress by carrying more regular and focused checks on the teaching and support pupils receive in lessons, and on the work in their books  setting ambitious goals for the outcomes pupils are expected to achieve.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 The achievement of pupils is inadequate, as pupils are not being taught to read and write well enough in Key Stage 1 for them to succeed in the next stage of their education.  In Key Stage 1, pupils’ progress is far too variable. In reading, pupils fall well behind their peers nationally. In 2014, only 23% of pupils reached the expected standard in the Year 1 national phonics reading check. This is a significant decline from the previous year. In lessons, pupils do not make fast enough progress in developing their reading skills. They do not have a good grasp of how to spell or techniques to help them work out the meanings of words, and so are not adequately prepared to access the learning in Key Stage 2.  From the scrutiny of a vast number of pupils’ books detailing the progress made by pupils this academic year in all subjects and years, the progress made by pupils in different year groups and classes is too variable. Too often pupils in Key Stage 1 and pupils in some science and

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

mathematics sessions in Key Stage 2 do not make adequate progress over time.  Writing in Key Stage 1 is not monitored carefully enough, and progress rates vary significantly between different teachers and ability sets. Some pupils make more progress than others, and some get more support to improve their work than others. Some pupils with special educational needs, however, are not having their needs met, so their progress is limited.  A scrutiny of current Key Stage 1 mathematics books showed pupils make better progress in their use of number than in other areas, such as data handling or money. In some cases, feedback to pupils does not always help them to improve their numeracy skills outside of mathematics lessons. Nevertheless, achievement in mathematics is stronger than achievement in reading and writing, although shortcomings in the school’s assessment procedures make it difficult to accurately track progress.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Across Key Stage 2, the progress of pupils in mathematics, reading and writing is more consistent. However, some pupils in the lower-ability sets make slow progress, and are underachieving. In some cases, this is because their special educational needs are not being met by all teachers. In the higher-ability sets, work is not consistently challenging the most able pupils to reach the higher levels of which they are capable.  In subjects other than English and mathematics in Key Stage 2, pupils’ progress is variable. Teachers do not adapt tasks to challenge the most able, or to support those who need extra help. Feedback does not help pupils to improve their skills in, for example, geography or history, and instead focuses on aspects such as grammar and presentation.  The most recent national test results available to the school show that pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6 has declined from the previous year.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 The small numbers of pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress and develop their skills well. They make faster progress than their peers in a number of subjects. The provision for these children in the Early Years Foundation Stage supports their progress particularly well, as does the specialist help they receive in other classes.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children arrive with skills and abilities well below those typical for their age. They make good progress in all areas of learning and development and, by the time they start Year 1, they are only slightly behind others of their age.  Across the school, some pupils with special educational needs get help that enables them to do well. Additional provision, such as the use of speech and language experts, meets specific needs and assists progress in those aspects not directly related to academic achievement. However, it

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

is also clear that some pupils with particular needs are not getting the assistance they need and are falling behind. Weaknesses in the school’s pupil progress tracking systems also hinder teachers’ ability to target extra help where it is needed.  The school works hard to provide equality of opportunity, although the underachievement of some pupils, particularly in reading and writing at Key Stage 1, means that not all are getting equal opportunities to succeed.  In 2014, from books seen, standards at the end of Key Stage 2 were below average in reading and writing and broadly average in mathematics. The end of Year 6 unvalidated national test results for 2014 show that, in English and mathematics, there is less than half a term’s difference between the attainment of pupils supported by the pupil premium and their peers. While the in-school attainment gap is narrow, both groups of pupils did better in mathematics

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

than in English.  The school’s own assessments of progress and levels of attainment have been found to be inaccurate. It is difficult, therefore, for the school to accurately track the progress of different pupil groups currently in the school and this is a significant shortcoming in the school’s work.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 As a result of weak teaching over time pupils are making inadequate progress in their reading, writing and spelling in Key Stage 1. In addition, weaknesses in assessment mean that teachers do not know how well pupils are doing.  Checks on the quality of teaching have failed to ensure that all teachers follow the school’s policies and strategies to consistently challenge the most able pupils and provide support to those who need it.  When teaching reading, the school’s strategies do not currently support pupils to make the progress needed to be able to read well enough by the end of Key Stage 1. However, the teaching of reading in Key Stage 2 is more effective.  Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ achievements are not always accurate. In some subjects and classes, teachers are either too generous or too harsh when marking pupils’ work. This leads to inaccurate judgements of the progress pupils make over time and means that work is not

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

pitched at the right level of challenge in order to support pupils’ learning needs.  In mathematics and science lessons, pupils are not consistently given opportunities to apply their numeracy skills, and are not always given feedback on their learning to help them to improve.  Within books, teachers’ feedback to pupils on the levels they have reached, and the steps they can take to improve their work, are not always helpful or accurate. This poor-quality feedback limits the progress pupils make.  Pupils with special educational needs are not always provided with additional resources or tasks adjusted to meet their learning needs. In some classes, teachers instead provide overly simplified tasks that do not help pupils to learn or make progress but merely keep them occupied. For example, relying on a ‘cutting and gluing’ exercise rather than asking pupils to write and giving them a more realistic and ambitious goal for success.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 Not all teachers, particularly in Key Stage 1, support pupils to learn the spellings of key words linked to the topics they are studying. For example, in a topic about ‘the farm’, pupils had no support to spell words such as ‘goat’ or ‘hay bale’ despite these being the activities they were writing about, and so continually made errors in their writing that were then left uncorrected.  Generally, teaching assistants are deployed well and have a positive impact on the pupils they support. Intervention programmes to support pupils who have low levels of reading, writing and mathematics, for example, have met with some success in raising the achievement of some pupils. Particular support for those pupils who speak English as an additional language has increased their progress in English and they are integrated well into mainstream lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. The school caters for a substantial number of pupils who have specific additional needs due to their circumstances, and current procedures for maintaining records on these pupils have some shortcomings. Not all the information that should be recorded is properly logged and some records are not up-to-date. This means there is potential for a lack of speed in responding to any problems that might arise.  Adequate opportunities are provided by the school for pupils to learn how to keep safe, including staying safe online, and pupils report feeling able to manage their own safety.  The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are confident, well mannered and enjoy school. They take care of the school environment and of each other, and they play together well.  Teachers and pupils have good relationships which support a positive atmosphere for learning in

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

classrooms. Pupils show resilience and value their education highly; they are keen to learn how to make progress and support one another’s learning  Pupils take pride in their uniform, and behave well in the dining hall. They appreciate the environment at lunch times, which has been specifically designed to help them improve their social skills. They eat together politely and respect the mid-day staff.  There are very few instances of poor behaviour in lessons, and pupils report that they have no particular concerns about behaviour in school. There are few incidents of bullying reported. Pupils are aware of the different forms of bullying and say they are confident school staff will always deal with any incidents that occur.  There is a support worker for the school who works with families and, since it opened in 2012, the impact of the school’s work with parents has improved significantly. Contact with parents has

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

got better and parents report increased satisfaction with the work of the school.  The school has worked hard to improve pupils’ attendance, which has increased and is now in line with national averages. The rates of exclusion from school are low.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The school’s capacity for further improvement is limited because leaders have not demonstrated the ability to make improvements to pupils’ progress and attainment over the last academic year, and were unaware of the decline in pupils’ attainment until the most recent set of external test results.  Leaders, including governors, have been unaware of the actual progress and achievement of pupils, because the system used to track pupils’ progress was not robust enough. Consequently, they have been unaware of the lack of progress of some pupils in reading and writing, and the inconsistency in the quality of teaching, until it was too late to remedy.  Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s own performance is based on incorrect information and, as such, presents an overly generous view. The procedures used to gather evidence do not work well enough. Checks on pupils’ work, for example, are not robust enough to accurately judge the

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The leadership and management are inadequate

quality of teaching and learning over time.  Checks carried out by middle leaders on teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility have not ensured all members of staff follow agreed school policies; for example, in the approaches to providing marking and feedback to pupils, the use of assessment to help meet pupils’ learning needs or the teaching of reading.  The school’s curriculum is planned carefully and the school has well-designed plans for a new curriculum to be implemented in September 2014. These plans are detailed and include a more comprehensive guide to the assessment of pupils’ skills and ability for teachers to use.  The primary sport funding is used to improve pupils’ engagement and interest in school sports during the time-tabled day, and is starting to improve attendance and engagement in extra- curricular sports, too.  The school’s provision for the pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is well

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The leadership and management are inadequate

planned. Trips and visitors to school expand the pupils’ experiences and enrich the subjects being studied.  Support from the academy chain has recently improved, and is starting to have an impact on the training and support for leaders. School leaders have devised plans to remedy the weaknesses in teaching and the inaccuracy in assessment and to improve the performance of the school; but these plans are very new and have yet to have any impact.  Inspectors strongly recommend that the school should not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers.  The governance of the school:  Governors have been challenging leaders and making their decisions and evaluations of the school’s performance based on information that they thought was correct. This information gave an inaccurate picture of the pupils’ progress, and governors were unaware of the weaknesses until the external national test results at the end of this academic year.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The governors had relied upon the academy trust to provide validation of the assessment data they were using to monitor the performance of pupils. The academy has until recently not picked up on internal errors, and so was not providing the robust quality assurance that the governors had expected.  Governors have been tracking the spending and impact of pupil premium funding and sports funding using procedures that are robust in design, but which include information that is inaccurate. As such, a review of the spending of pupil premium is recommended.  Governors manage finances, resources and staffing well, and have linked pay to staff performance. Nevertheless, they are measuring the quality of teaching and impact of teaching over time using flawed information, and as such they have an overly positive view of the quality of teaching in the school.

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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 138678 Local authority Kingston upon Hull City of Inspection number 440107

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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 Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 425 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Christine Randall Headteacher Simon Bush Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01482 331378 Fax number Not applicable Email address sbush@thegreenwayacademy.org 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 and 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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