Crow Lane Primary and Foundation Stage School

Crow Lane Primary and Foundation Stage School Crow Lane, Milnsbridge, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD3 4QT

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Children in the early years are taught well. They make good progress and are well prepared for learning in Year 1. The early years provision is outstandingly well led and managed.  Pupils in Key Stage 1 are making good progress, with disadvantaged pupils making the same as or better progress than non-disadvantaged pupils.  Pupils in Key Stage 2 are making good progress. Standards at the end of Year 6 are broadly average in reading, writing, mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Some of the most able pupils achieve the highest Level 6 in mathematics.  Teaching is typically good. Marking is detailed and pupils reflect and act upon teachers’ comments to enable them to improve their work.  Teachers and well-trained teaching assistants provide well-targeted support to ensure that pupils are making at least the progress expected of them, and often better progress.  Pupils’ behaviour is good and they feel safe. They

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

are polite and happy and are very caring towards each other.  The headteacher and senior leaders know how successful the school can be and have acted with rigour to bring about rapid improvement across the school. Pupils’ progress, early years provision and the teaching of phonics have all improved significantly.  Governors know the school well. They are dedicated and actively support and challenge the school to improve further.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Girls in Key Stage 2 do not make as rapid progress as boys in mathematics.  The best practice in teaching, that leads to some pupils’ making very rapid progress over time, is not shared widely enough across the school.  Plans for school improvement do not always indicate the ways in which leaders can easily measure the improvements made and hence judge quickly whether further action is needed.

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Information about this inspection

 Teaching was observed in 19 lessons, including one observation carried out jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors reviewed pupils’ work books and listened to pupils read across the year groups.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, middle leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority. They talked informally with many pupils and had formal meetings with pupils from Key Stage 2.  Informal discussions were held with parents. Ten responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were considered as well as 56 responses to a recent school-based parental survey. The views expressed by 28 members of staff on the optional questionnaire were considered.  Pupils’ behaviour was observed around the school and in the playgrounds.  Inspectors reviewed the documents relating to the school’s view of its performance, development planning, safeguarding, attendance and pupils’ achievement. They also scrutinised performance

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Information about this inspection

management records and the minutes of the governing body meetings.

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Inspection team

Fiona Dixon, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Crow Lane Primary and Foundation Stage School is an average-sized primary school.  The majority of pupils are from a White British background, and a lower than average proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups.  The proportion of pupils supported by school action is above average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and so eligible for support through the pupil premium is well above average. The pupil premium is additional funding allocated to the school for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.  Since the previous inspection, there have been considerable changes to staff.  There are more boys than girls on roll, particularly in Key Stage 2.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for

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Information about this school

pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve achievement by:  developing activities in the mathematics curriculum to reflect the interests of girls in Key Stage 2 so as to further improve their progress in this subject  sharing the best practice in teaching found in this and other local schools so that teaching has a consistently outstanding impact over time on pupils’ achievement  making sure that plans for school improvement always show precisely how leaders intend to measure success and hence enable them to judge quickly whether further action might be needed.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, senior leaders and all staff know how successful the school can be and have acted with determination and rigour to bring about rapid improvement across the school. Since the previous inspection, there have been significant improvements in pupils’ progress, in the early years provision, the quality of teaching in phonics (letters and the sounds they make) and the behaviour of pupils.  Leadership of teaching is good. The whole-school policy for marking of pupils’ work and target setting has helped pupils to learn more quickly. A typical comment, ‘Our targets are changed as soon as we show we can do it,’ was evident in practice across the school and has helped to accelerate pupils’ progress. Senior leaders hold teachers to account for the progress pupils make and any increases in salary are linked to pupils’ performance.  Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s performance. Plans for school improvement have accurately

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The leadership and management are good

identified the areas for further development and are frequently checked. However, some targets for pupil progress and attainment are not precise, so it is difficult for leaders to quickly see how successful they have been and to swiftly take further action where necessary.  Middle leaders, some of whom are new to post, are highly motivated and regularly check the quality of teaching and learning in the areas for which they are responsible. Many changes in staff have led to the school’s work to improve all teachers’ knowledge and use of skills to help pupils make rapid progress not being shared widely enough.  The curriculum is topic based and encourages pupils to develop a fascination for their local culture, actively engage in enterprise and broaden their understanding of the world. With more boys than girls, opportunities for girls in Key Stage 2 to be fully interested and involved in learning, particularly in

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The leadership and management are good

mathematics, are sometimes less well developed. The school is aware of this and is actively working to include more content that will interest girls.  The effective use of the primary school sport funding has led to a rapid rise in the number of pupils taking part in a wide range of sports, including karate and archery. The school regularly takes part in local tournaments and talented pupils are encouraged to join specialist clubs. This increased participation is having a positive impact on pupils’ health and lifestyle.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning is a strong feature of the school. It is well planned and helps pupils develop the skills needed to live in modern, democratic Britain.  Parental and staff questionnaires show that there is strong support for the school as the pupils are happy, safe, well behaved, well cared for and are making good progress.  Overall, the school ensures equality of opportunity. The provision of a wide range of extra-curricular

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The leadership and management are good

activities, regular visitors and trips broaden the experiences of all pupils. All teachers regularly check pupils’ progress and support is given to individual pupils to ensure all make good progress. The school is actively working to increase the progress of Key Stage 2 girls in mathematics.  The local authority has provided the school with medium level support through a time of significant staff change. It has supported the school to improve early years provision, the role of the middle leaders and the quality of teaching in mathematics.  The governance of the school:  Governors are dedicated and know the school well. They effectively analyse national performance data and they understand the strengths and weaknesses in the performance of the school compared to other schools; they actively support and challenge the school to improve further. Regular visits ensure they are knowledgeable about teaching, pupils’ achievement and behaviour.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors know how the pupil premium funding is spent and the positive academic and social impact of this funding on those eligible pupils. The governors fully support the continued drive to increase pupils’ participation in and enjoyment of physical activity and are proud that the school is local archery tournament champion.  The governing body ensures that all statutory duties are fulfilled, including those for safeguarding. Governors carry out all their duties with regard to performance and financial management in a thorough manner.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are very supportive of each other in the classroom, a typical comment about this being: ‘Sometimes we help others to learn and that helps us to improve too.’  Pupils enjoy the responsibility of being ‘play buddies’, helping in the dining room and being house captains. Pupils of all ages play well together and enjoy imaginary games, such as ‘horses’ and ‘families’ and the wide range of play equipment available at lunch times.  Pupils are polite and helpful. They show respect to each other, staff and visitors.  Pupils say they are very happy at school and are proud to be at Crow Lane. This is reflected in how neat and tidy they are in their uniform and how well they care for the school environment.  Pupils enjoy learning. Since the previous inspection their behaviour in lessons has been supported through ‘Secrets of Success’. Pupils are consistently taught behaviour that helps them become ‘Champion Learners’

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Behaviour

so they are able to show their love and thirst for learning. Some pupils need more support than others to become ‘Champion Learners’ and this is why behaviour is not yet outstanding.  Attendance has improved and is now average. Punctuality is excellent.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Parents, pupils and staff all agree.  Pupils have a clear understanding of different forms of bullying including name-calling, racism and cyber- bullying. Pupils and parents say that bullying does sometimes happen but that the adults in school deal effectively with any problems or concerns.  Pupils enjoy being taught how to stay safe in risky situations, such as when out alone, cycling or when swimming. They are also taught about the dangers of alcohol and drug misuse. The school ensures that all in and out-of-school activities are carefully planned and assessed so pupils are safe.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Over time, teaching is typically good across each key stage. This is a significant improvement since the previous inspection. However, the many changes in staff have led to the very strong teaching skills that lead to some pupils making very rapid progress not being shared widely enough across the school,  Pupils’ work is always marked in detail. Pupils know what they have done well and what they need to do to improve further. They always go back and correct their mistakes and inspection evidence shows that this is helping to accelerate pupils’ progress.  Teachers and teaching assistants carefully plan learning activities so that all pupils make at least the progress expected of them and often better progress. For example, in a Year 5 reading lesson, the varied activities and texts closely matched pupils’ abilities so that all, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, made rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The most able pupils are challenged to extend their learning. In a well-targeted group activity in Year 6, pupils effectively used discussion to analyse the internal dilemmas facing characters in their class reader before writing an emotive and reflective account of each personal situation. This reflects the high expectations that are evident in all learning activities.  Learning activities are often highly engaging and encourage pupils to be fully involved in their learning. For example, in a Year 1 mathematics lesson, carefully planned games ensured pupils quickly learnt how to correctly and confidently use prepositions.  Mathematical, literacy and communication skills are taught well across the curriculum. For example, when Year 2 pupils visited a Mongolian restaurant they asked questions about the food and ingredients and then wrote about the work in the kitchens. In celebration of the ‘Tour de France’ in Yorkshire, Year 6 pupils

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The quality of teaching is good

worked out how far they had to ride and at what speed to replicate a stage of the ‘Grand Depart’, and then did so in a leisure centre ‘Spin studio’.  Pupils are encouraged to read widely and often. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 who were heard reading, did so with interest and good expression. They used a range of skills to work out new words. Pupils in Key Stage 2 spoke enthusiastically of the books they have read and their favourite authors. Pupils expressed how they enjoyed their class reading book and the learning activities based around it, for example, creating charcoal drawings to represent the ‘shady’ atmosphere created by the setting and characters in the Year 4 book ‘Varjak Paw’.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress has improved significantly since the previous inspection and is now good across the school.  Pupils make good progress in Key Stage 1. In the 2014 national phonics screening check, pupils in Year 1 attained more highly than the national average. Attainment is rising and in 2014, Year 2 pupils attained in line with the expected national average Level 2b in reading, writing and mathematics. Inspection evidence shows that the proportion of pupils on track to reach the higher Level 3 is higher than ever before.  Good progress is made in Key Stage 2. Lesson observations, pupils’ work in books and school data, show that more pupils are making good or better progress in reading, writing, mathematics and English punctuation, grammar and spelling. Attainment is rising and in 2014, Year 6 pupils attained in line with the expected national average Level 4 in all subjects. The proportion of pupils now operating at Level 5 in

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The achievement of pupils is good

reading, mathematics and especially in writing, is similar to or better than the current national average.  The most able pupils say that they are ‘really challenged, our teacher never lets us off’. This is seen in pupils’ attaining Level 6 in mathematics and inspection evidence shows there are rapidly increasing proportions of pupils making better than expected progress.  The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils in the school is closing. In 2014, the gap in attainment at the end of Year 6 had narrowed so that disadvantaged pupils were about one term behind non-disadvantaged pupils in the school in reading, half a term in writing and under two terms behind in mathematics. The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils in the school and non-disadvantaged pupils nationally narrowed for mathematics and writing. Disadvantaged pupils are just over two terms behind in mathematics and a year behind in writing. In reading, the gap

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The achievement of pupils is good

widened slightly.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils in Key Stage 1 is similar to and sometimes better than non- disadvantaged pupils in the school. This shows that their progress has accelerated as a result of good teaching and well-targeted support.  The progress of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is good. From their individual starting points, they attain well, especially in mathematics and reading. Pupils from minority ethnic groups make good progress because the support they receive closely matches their needs.

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The early years provision is good

 Over half the children join the early years with skills and knowledge that are generally lower than those typical for their age. They make good progress especially in reading and listening. More than the national average proportion of children reach a good level of development and are well prepared for learning in Year 1. This is a significant improvement since the previous inspection and reflects the outstanding leadership of the new early years leader in rapidly improving all areas of early years provision.  Children in Nursery and Reception are happy, active and increasingly confident learners. They show great joy in indoor and outdoor activities that reflect their interests, such as ‘Space’. For example, in Reception children eagerly and confidently drew a treasure map so they could travel to Pluto and find treasure. Children learn equally well when working with other children. For example, a group of children were

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The early years provision is good

cooperating and concentrating on creating a large space ship and showed resilience when the side kept collapsing!  Learning opportunities are highly engaging and carefully planned to extend children’s skills and knowledge. For example, a group of Nursery children were with an adult describing the size and shape of ‘friendly aliens’ and were encouraged to speak clearly in full sentences.  Parents are encouraged to be actively involved with their children’s learning through the home/school book and by coming to the regular ‘Maths Club’ before school to play mathematics games with their child, or by sending in ‘Wow’ bubbles, sharing achievements at home with school. Parents are highly supportive of the early years provision. For example, one commented that ‘Communication with the staff is fantastic, I can’t fault it.’

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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 failing

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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.

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School details

Unique reference number 107623 Local authority Kirklees Inspection number 442218

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 235 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lisa Rodgers Headteacher Wendy Wallace Date of previous school inspection 6 February 2013 Telephone number 01484 222224 Fax number 01484 222162 Email address office@crowlaneschool.co.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 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

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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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