Schools & FE · School inspection (CIF)
Eldwick Primary School
Summary
James McGrath (lead), Carol Machell, Liam Trippier
What we read, and from where
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- Inspection date verified
22 Oct 2014
- Inspectors verified
Carol Machell, James McGrath, Liam Trippier
- Early years verified
Good
- Leadership and management verified
Good
- Overall effectiveness verified
Good
- Previous overall verified
Good
- Postcode verified
BD16 3LE
- Name on report verified
Eldwick Primary School
- URN verified
107255
Deep dive
What this report says
In plain English
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Grade profile
Hollow rings show the previous inspection, 2006.
- OverallGood
- Early yearsGood
- Leadership and managementGood
Tone of the report
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In line with other reports of this type graded Good.
Markers show where typical reports of each grade sit.
How the report reads, start to finish
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Strengths
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- Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. p.8
- Excellent oral discussion and refining of vocabulary led to outstanding attitudes to learning and very strong development of geographical knowledge and skills. p.5
- Achievement is outstanding in reading because there is consistently strong teaching in this subject. p.1
- Pupils enjoy books tremendously and are exceptionally keen readers at home and at school. p.1
- As a result, teaching is good with pupils making outstanding progress in reading and good progress overall. p.4
Concerns
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- 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. p.8
- Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. p.8
- However, leaders are not sufficiently well informed about the effectiveness of their actions because checks and measures to judge success are not regular or precise enough. p.4
Next steps
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What the report dwells on
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Anatomy of the report
How the report is built, against others of the same type and grade.
- Pages
- 10
- Words of findings
- 2,897
- about usual (typical 2966)
- Reading level
- Fairly hard
- Flesch 53, typical 48
- Average sentence
- 16 words
- Next steps
- 1
- typical 2
- Hedged sentences
- 5%
- “some”, “not always”, “most”…
Where the words go
Full report text
Warren Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 3LE
p.1
Overall effectiveness
Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2
p.1
Summary of key findings for parents and pupils
Over time, pupils make good progress from their starting points. They reach standards that are well above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Achievement is outstanding in reading because there is consistently strong teaching in this subject. Pupils enjoy books tremendously and are exceptionally keen readers at home and at school. Teaching is good with some that is outstanding. The work set for pupils is interesting and helps them to learn well. Children in the early years make good progress and are well prepared for their next stage of education. Safety is outstanding. All pupils say they feel safe in school. Parents and staff agree. Behaviour is good. Pupils behave well and lessons flow smoothly. The curriculum provides a wealth of exciting opportunities that broaden pupils’ experiences. It supports the strong development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding.
p.1
Summary of key findings for parents and pupils
Leaders, managers and governors have developed a strong sense of purpose amongst all staff to drive forward sustained improvement. This contributes well to ensuring good teaching and achievement. The headteacher and governors have a good understanding of how well the school is doing and what needs to be done to further improve achievement for pupils.
p.1
It is not yet an outstanding school because
Not enough pupils make better than expected progress in mathematics and writing. Occasionally, work set for pupils, including homework, does not challenge pupils enough for them to make swift progress. Marking does not consistently provide pupils with clear ways to improve their work. Sometimes pupils are not given enough time to improve their work. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their skills in mathematics in other subjects. Middle leaders do not check the quality of marking and pupils’ response sufficiently well to ensure outstanding achievement. The school’s plans for improvement do not show with enough clarity, how the impact of changes will be judged to have been successful, or when they will be checked.
p.1
Information about this inspection
Inspectors observed 18 lessons taught by 18 teachers. Two observations were undertaken jointly with the headteacher. In addition, an inspector visited school assemblies and small groups of pupils taught by learning support assistants. Inspectors spoke with two groups of pupils about their learning in lessons and their safety in school. Inspectors also listened to some pupils reading. Meetings were held with five governors and school staff. A telephone conversation took place with a representative of the local authority. Inspectors also looked at the school’s review of its own performance, its development plan, subject development plans, school policies and the minutes of governing body meetings. Inspectors considered a range of documentation in relation to child protection, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance. Inspectors looked at pupils’ work in lessons and analysed a sample of their books.
p.2
Information about this inspection
Inspectors analysed the 134 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) and 52 questionnaires completed by staff. An inspector spoke with some parents at the end of the first day of the inspection.
p.2
Inspection team
James McGrath, Lead inspector Additional Inspector
p.2
Information about this school
The school is much larger than the average sized primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is well below average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.) Most pupils are White British. Almost all pupils speak English as their first language. The proportion of pupils supported at school action is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is well below average. The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics. The school holds the Artsmark Gold award and an Inclusion Quality Mark.
p.3
What does the school need to do to improve further?
Improve the quality of teaching so that pupils’ achievement in mathematics and writing are outstanding, by making sure all teachers: create more opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills in a wide range of subjects set a greater amount of challenging work, including homework for pupils, particularly in mathematics provide more opportunities for pupils to write at length provide clear information when marking pupils’ work that tells them what they need to do to improve provide enough time for pupils to respond to teachers’ comments.
p.3
What does the school need to do to improve further?
Increase the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that: planned actions are checked regularly against clear targets relating to pupils’ progress to determine how much they are contributing to improvements in teaching and achievement middle leaders are more rigorous when checking the quality, consistency and impact of teachers’ marking.
p.3
The leadership and management are good
The headteacher and governors have developed a strong sense of purpose among all the staff and are ambitious for the pupils. As a result, teaching is good with pupils making outstanding progress in reading and good progress overall. Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. The plan for improvement correctly identifies the main priorities for the school. For example, inspectors noted that pupils’ speed of mental recall of number facts was not quick enough. School leaders had already identified this and are working to improve it. However, leaders are not sufficiently well informed about the effectiveness of their actions because checks and measures to judge success are not regular or precise enough. There is a thorough system for monitoring pupils’ achievement. This allows senior leaders to identify those pupils who might be falling behind and to provide additional support for them. In particular, the very few
p.4
The leadership and management are good
disadvantaged pupils benefit well from this extra support and make good progress in school, underlining the school’s commitment to equal opportunities for all. Leaders and managers check the quality of teaching regularly and are working to ensure that it is at least consistently good. However, middle leaders do not check the quality of pupils’ work rigorously enough. For example, checking to see whether marking provides consistently clear advice for improvement and pupils are responding well. The systems to check the performance of teachers are thorough and help staff to improve their work. The curriculum provides exciting opportunities for pupils, through a wide range of subjects they learn about global issues, such as rainforests, the ebola virus, life in The Gambia as well as gathering information from visits to support their work. Across a wide range of subjects, there are many opportunities for pupils to develop their good literacy skills. Inspectors saw much high quality writing in
p.4
The leadership and management are good
pupils’ topic files. The school promotes British values well through assemblies and personal, social and health education lessons. Its commitment to a partnership with a multicultural school in the locality, visits to mosques and cathedrals, singing in the community and collecting for food banks contributes exceptionally well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The primary school sports funding is used well. Pupils say they enjoy keeping fit and they are taking part in an increasing range of sporting activities. The school’s specialist teacher of physical education is working alongside other teachers in the school and this is helping to improve the teaching of physical education. During the inspection, pupils participated in sporting activities with great enthusiasm. The local authority is working in partnership with the school and providing good challenge for pupils to
p.4
The leadership and management are good
maintain standards.. The headteacher shares the school’s strengths at local authority meetings to support the development of other schools. The local authority is confident that the school provides a good education for its pupils. The governance of the school: Governors have a strong understanding of how well the school is doing. They visit the school to see pupils’ work. Governors are clear about the progress made by the pupils through their good knowledge of national performance measures and how the school compares with them. They challenge and support the headteacher very effectively and have been closely involved in planning for improvement. They hold ‘visioning days’ where they work with school leaders to determine the strategic direction of the school. Governors are beginning to work in partnership with governing bodies of other schools to share best practice to further improve their work. They use their skills to check the school’s budget and
p.4
The leadership and management are good
have approved the use of pupil premium funding and know its impact on pupils’ achievement in detail. Governors understand the arrangements linking teachers’ performance to pay. The school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements.
p.4
Behaviour
The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite and courteous. They show good respect for each other and for the school environment. Pupils discuss and establish a set of rules for their classroom. These really help to keep classrooms calm and well-organised so that pupils learn well. This in turn does much to help pupils manage their own behaviour well. Pupils get on well together at lunchtimes and playtimes. They are very active in their play and enjoy using the equipment that is set out for them. Pupils enjoy school and are proud of it. They say that bullying is very rare. They know that the school does not tolerate bullying, and that when it does occur they are confident that it is dealt with very swiftly. A scrutiny of pupils’ workbooks throughout the school shows that pupils do not readily respond to the advice their teachers give them to improve their work and this slows their progress. Some pupils do not
p.4
Behaviour
always take enough pride in the presentation of their work.
p.5
Safety
The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Child protection procedures are extremely thorough. All pupils say they feel happy and safe in school. The school’s work to ensure pupils attend well is outstanding. Swift action by staff, the efforts of the school’s parental involvement worker, the early morning ‘natter chatter club’ and the support of parents has resulted in almost all pupils attending every day with regular absence being exceptionally rare. The school educates pupils well in assessing risk and pupils have a clear understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe. Pupils of all ages know how to stay safe and avoid unnecessary risk. They have an excellent understanding of internet safety. This is promoted extremely well by the school. The school’s policy is very comprehensive and internet safety is regularly checked by an ‘e-safety monitoring group’ and a nominated governor.
p.5
Safety
Parents and staff are overwhelmingly confident that children are safe and happy at school.
p.5
The quality of teaching is good
Overall, teaching is good. Some is outstanding, with a small amount that is not always consistently good. Good relationships and the way praise is used to encourage and motivate pupils is a strong features in all lessons. As a result, pupils work hard and do their best. Interesting and topical work is set, capturing pupils’ imagination and motivating them exceptionally well. Pupils studying work on ‘The Plague’ linked it well to the ebola outbreak in a drama topic. Others studying deforestation were encouraged to share ideas and challenged to write extensively. Excellent oral discussion and refining of vocabulary led to outstanding attitudes to learning and very strong development of geographical knowledge and skills. Questioning is used consistently well to involve pupils and to assess what they understand. Pupils are given time to explain fully what they have learned. Their responses are used skilfully to assess what an
p.5
The quality of teaching is good
individual might know and to search out the knowledge of others and deepen their understanding. Good opportunities are created for pupils to use computers to develop their work. Pupils used them to search the internet for features of a Tudor house, to start writing about how they might try to develop a description in order to sell it. In mathematics, spreadsheets were used by older pupils to calculate a profit for their business. Pupils’ skills in using computers to support their learning are good. Pupils’ work is marked regularly. However, there are occasions when suggestions for improvement are not full enough for pupils to understand how to make their work better. As a result, they do not adjust their work effectively to ensure they make improvements to support stronger progress. There are occasions when pupils do not improve their work, even when the points for improvement are clear, sometimes
p.5
The quality of teaching is good
owing to a lack of available time. An analysis of work in pupils’ books and in their homework showed that they were making good progress because of good teaching. Sometimes, however, work in mathematics is not challenging enough for pupils and they find the work too easy, including in the homework. When this occurs, their progress slows. Also, inspectors found that there are too few opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills in other subjects or to write extensively. Reading, writing and communication are taught well. Pupils have studied ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and talked enthusiastically of using the school’s small outdoor forest area to act out some scenes. Highly-skilled learning support assistants make a good contribution to pupils’ learning. They are well managed and support pupils well. They work skilfully with individuals or groups of pupils, both inside and outside the classroom.
p.5
The achievement of pupils
Achievement is good. Throughout the school, progress in reading is outstanding and in writing and mathematics it has been improving and is good. Since the last inspection, standards at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 have remained well above average in reading, writing and mathematics, owing to the good teaching pupils receive. Standards in English grammar, punctuation and spelling are also well above average at the end of Key Stage 2. In comparison to similar pupils nationally, the most able pupils reach standards that are better in reading and writing and broadly in line in mathematics. These pupils are identified early and given extra challenge in lessons. However, challenging work is not as frequent in mathematics as in reading and writing. Disadvantaged pupils across the school are making good progress owing to the good support they receive. There is an extremely small number of disadvantaged pupils in each year group; this has been
p.6
The achievement of pupils
the case each year since the last inspection. Therefore, comparisons between their achievement and that of others in the school and nationally are not statistically valid. Good leadership and teaching mean that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs do well. They are making the same progress as other pupils in reading, mathematics and writing reaching at least average standards in these subjects. An analysis of pupils’ work showed that progress throughout the school is good. However, there are occasions when the quality of marking does not consistently match the best practice in the school. On these occasions, pupils do not respond effectively and their progress slows. Reading is a strength of the school’s work. Pupils read widely and often to a high standard. They show a keen interest and borrow many books from the school library. The school has improved the ways in which
p.6
The achievement of pupils
it develops reading skills for younger pupils. In the most recent screening check for reading at the end of Year 1, pupils’ skills in linking letters and sounds to read words were well above those expected nationally. The school’s summer reading challenge keeps pupils reading avidly throughout the summer holidays. Parents are advised well by the school about how to support reading and they listen regularly to their children. Pupils said they loved reading, they said ‘I like to see the vivid images in my mind when reading’ and ‘I like painting pictures for myself in my mind’. Older pupils were clear that reading helped them to extend their vocabulary, be more accurate with their punctuation and gave them a breadth of knowledge that they can use when writing. Pupils enthused about the joy of reading.
p.6
The early years provision
Children settle well into the early years. Before children start in the Nursery class, the school arranges regular visits to the setting to ‘play and stay’. Parents attend these meeting and attend assemblies. The setting is well organised and relationships are warm and welcoming. Children are safe and happy because of the secure procedures that exist in the early years. Adults know the needs of the children well and give them good care and attention. They carry out regular risk assessments and are well trained in child protection, safeguarding and paediatric first aid. They help children to be ‘safety aware’. For example, nursery children and ‘teddy’ considered safe ways of using the indoor space and ‘teddy’ led by example. Most children are ready to start learning when they enter nursery and have no particular weaknesses in their knowledge of any of the areas of learning. They make good progress so that by the end of the
p.6
The early years provision
Reception Year the large majority are achieving above age-related expectations in many areas of learning. They are well prepared for their next stage of education. There are few children with disabilities or special educational needs. These children make good progress due to the good support they receive right from the start. Before arriving in school, children are visited in their pre-school settings to assess what is needed to help each child settle quickly and make good progress. Parents are involved well in the process of assessing the needs of their children. Adults provide good opportunities for children to learn through play and exploration. Children are provided with interesting activities that promote good independence, respect, working together and problem solving.. Regular and accurate assessment by staff informs planning and the next steps for learning. Because teaching is good, children’s skills develop well, particularly in their communication and language
p.6
The early years provision
skills. Leadership in the early years is good. Leaders have addressed the aspects raised in the previous inspection report to provide more challenge and support in outdoor learning. Adults are well deployed to support all children in making good progress. Children develop skills to work together and are respectful to each other and to adults. They listen well to stories and the instructions given to them, and have good opportunities to talk about what they might decide to write. A wide range of activities makes a strong contribution to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness.
p.6
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 failing
p.8
Grade Judgement Description
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.
p.8
School details
Unique reference number 107255 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 448331
p.9
School details
This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.
p.9
School details
Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 484 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Anne-Marie Edwardes Headteacher Janice Kershaw Date of previous school inspection 21 April 2010 Telephone number 01274 568361 Fax number 01274 511163 Email address office@eldwick.bradford.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 .
p.9
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.
p.10
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
p.10
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
p.10
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’.
p.10
School details
T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk
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