Leigh St Peter's CofE Primary School

Leigh St Peter's CofE Primary School Leigh Street, Leigh, Lancashire, WN7 4TP

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Overall effectiveness

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

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

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement. For a number of years, too few pupils have reached the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  In Key Stage 2, the gaps in progress and attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils are too wide and are not closing quickly enough.  The quality of teaching requires improvement because teaching is not consistently good enough across the school to accelerate pupils’ progress.  Teachers do not always have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve in terms of the content and presentation of their work or of their behaviour in lessons. As a result behaviour requires improvement because a few children do not take enough pride in their work and sometimes become distracted in class.  Teachers’ marking does not always help pupils know what they need to do to improve their work.  Leadership and management require improvement.

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

The impact that middle leaders have on improving standards of teaching, learning and achievement is not embedded fully.  Governors’ skills are not well developed, especially in analysing and interpreting information about the school’s performance compared with national benchmarks.  The early years provision requires improvement. Not enough children make better than expected progress from their starting points, particularly in developing their skills in early reading, writing and number.

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The school has the following strengths

 School leaders recognise the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They have identified the correct priorities to secure improvements in teaching and pupils’ achievement. Their actions are now improving the overall performance of the school.  Progress for those pupils currently in the school has started to accelerate so that more are on track to reach higher levels of attainment.  The school’s provision for keeping pupils safe is good. The school provides high levels of care and support for pupils whose circumstances might make them vulnerable. Pupils say they feel safe and happy in school.  The school makes good provision for pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching over time, including observing teaching and learning in lessons and looking at the school’s own progress data and work in pupils’ books.  Inspectors listened to pupils read and talked to them about the books they have enjoyed and those that they are currently reading.  Inspectors met with a group of pupils and talked informally with pupils around school.  Inspectors met with a group of six governors. They spoke to a representative of the local authority and met with members of school staff.  Inspectors spoke to several parents at the start of the school day and took account of records of the school’s own consultations with parents. There were insufficient responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) for the inspectors to look at.  A range of school documents was examined. These included the school’s evaluation of its own

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Information about this inspection

performance, the school’s development plan, records of the school’s checks on the quality of teaching, data on pupils’ progress, records of pupils’ attendance, behaviour records and safeguarding documentation.

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Inspection team

Neil Dixon, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium funding is above the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which is the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  The school offers flexible, part-time nursery provision. Children attend Reception class full-time.  The school has experienced some turbulence in staffing since the previous inspection. A number of teachers, including members of the leadership team, have joined the school within the last two years.  The school operates on two sites that are within walking distance of each other. Pupils in Key Stage 2 are

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Information about this school

housed on one site and pupils in Key Stage 1 and early years are on the other site.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact teaching has on pupils’ learning and so increase pupils’ progress by: - ensuring that all teachers have high expectations of the content, quality and presentation of pupils’ work and of pupils’ behaviour in lessons - ensuring that marking shows pupils how to make their work better and that pupils consistently take note of the advice given - ensuring that the most able pupils are moved on quickly enough to work that challenges them so as to reach higher levels of attainment - ensuring, in the early years, that children have sufficient opportunities to develop their skills in early reading, writing and number.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by: - ensuring governors understand how well the school is performing compared with other schools nationally and use this information to effectively challenge school leaders - developing the knowledge and skills of middle leaders so that they support school improvement more effectively - ensuring that the pupil premium funding has the maximum impact on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in Key Stage 2.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. In addition, 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 leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because school leaders have not ensured that pupils make consistently good progress across the school. As a result, not all groups of pupils achieve as well as they could do.  Changes to the leadership structure within the school and a closer analysis of the school’s performance have ensured leaders have a clear and accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas to improve. Plans for improvement focus on the correct priorities. There is a greater focus on making necessary improvements to teaching and achievement. Rigorous checks on the quality of teaching have led to training being put in place more quickly. This demonstrates the school is now in a stronger place to move forward.  The headteacher and other senior and middle leaders have successfully created a culture within the school in which pupils are polite and feel well cared for. The school provides a high level of support for potentially

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The leadership and management requires improvement

vulnerable pupils and their families, and the large majority of parents are very supportive of the school. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements.  Leaders have ensured that good relationships are developed, both within school and between school and home. Any discrimination is tackled very effectively. However, the school’s promotion of equality of opportunity is not fully successful because of inconsistencies in the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils.  The headteacher has established a committed leadership team and all staff and leaders are determined to keep moving the school forward. Many middle leaders are at an early stage of developing their role in ensuring that teaching and achievement are consistently good or better. Currently, their role is not fully effective and the impact of their work is not embedded.  The leadership of teaching is improving. Senior leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching and learning

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The leadership and management requires improvement

ensure that support is provided where areas for improvement have been identified. This is helping to improve the current quality of teaching, although several weaker aspects have not been fully resolved.  The school has secure processes in place for managing teachers’ performance. Teachers’ targets are linked to pupils’ progress and school priorities. Salary increases are awarded on achievement of these targets.  The impact of the pupil premium funding is not consistent across the school. It is used effectively to provide additional support for pupils who might not otherwise come to school ready to learn, for example, through supporting the school’s breakfast arrangements. In Key Stage 1, it is used effectively to support the progress of disadvantaged pupils and, as a result, the gap between their performance and that of other pupils is closing rapidly. However, this is not the case in Key Stage 2, where the gap is wider than

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The leadership and management requires improvement

that found nationally and is not closing.  The school provides well for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils learn to respect and appreciate different religions and cultures and pupils are involved in organising fundraising events and raising awareness of different charities, such as ‘Comic Relief’. This work contributes to pupils’ being well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The additional sport funding is used particularly effectively to give pupils experience of a wide range of different sports and access to external sports coaches, making use of the excellent facilities available in the local area. As a result pupils’ skills are developed well and they view physical education and the need to stay active and healthy very positively.  The curriculum captures the interest of pupils through a topic-based approach that is enhanced by a range of visits, such as trips to Delamere Forest and Manchester Cathedral.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 School leaders have established effective strategies to ensure that the school runs smoothly across its two sites. The impending re-development of the school onto a single site will help to further develop collaboration between different key stages within school.  The school receives good support from the local authority and from its local cluster of schools. This has included support to improve behaviour around the school and to improve the quality of teaching and learning.  The governance of the school: - Governors are supportive of the school and committed to bringing about improvements. They receive regular information from the headteacher about pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. However, governors do not always use data effectively to hold leaders to account for the school’s performance compared with national benchmarks. They are not confident in evaluating the impact of teaching on pupils’ achievement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

- Governors oversee performance management arrangements and they ensure that procedures are in place to link the performance of pupils to any decisions made about teachers’ pay awards. As a result, teachers only receive financial reward if their pupils reach their progress and attainment targets. - Governors ensure that safeguarding requirements are met.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. A small number of pupils do not display consistently good attitudes towards learning and are inattentive when they should be listening to the teacher. Teachers and teaching assistants do not always challenge this kind of low-level disruption and it slows the pace of learning for some pupils.  Pupils do not always demonstrate sufficient pride or care in the presentation of their work. This is because teachers do not consistently communicate high expectations in this regard.  The very large majority of pupils behave sensibly and get on well with each other at break times and lunchtime. However, a few pupils’ play on the playground can be too boisterous.  Around school pupils are polite and friendly. They say that they enjoy coming to school and talk about the lessons that they like most and about different things that they have done in school. A number of the

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Behaviour

older children enjoyed talking about the different sporting activities that they take part in, including swimming and fencing.  The challenging behaviour displayed by a very small number of pupils is very effectively dealt with by teachers and teaching assistants. As a result it does not affect the learning of these pupils or of their classmates.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Pupils say that they are happy in school and have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in different situations, including when using the internet.  Pupils have a clear understanding of different forms of bullying, including name-calling and homophobic bullying. They say that incidents of bullying in their school are uncommon and they are confident that the adults in school would deal effectively with any problems or concerns that they may have.  School leaders are working hard to improve attendance, which has been stubbornly below average. These efforts are beginning to prove successful and attendance is rising steadily. At the time of the inspection, attendance had improved from the same time the previous year. This is helping to improve pupils’ chances in school as they are not missing so much learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching has not been good enough over time to enable all pupils, particularly the most able and disadvantaged pupils in Key Stage 2, to make consistently good progress. However, leaders have taken decisive action, and teaching across the school is now improving, although overall it requires improvement.  Teacher expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough. The work set by staff does not always ensure that enough pupils, especially the most able, achieve as well as they should in reading, writing and mathematics. There are times when the most able pupils are expected to complete tasks that are not challenging enough for them before moving on to work that helps them to develop their skills. As a result they do not always progress at the rate of which they are capable.  The teaching of reading is improving. Teachers are more secure in teaching phonics (letters and their

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

sounds). They ensure that phonic activities are matched more closely to pupils’ needs, based on assessments of their skills, and this is beginning to improve pupils’ confidence in tackling new words.  The teaching of writing requires improvement because teachers’ expectations of the quality and presentation of work are not high enough.  The teaching of mathematics requires improvement because teachers do not move the most able pupils on to more challenging work quickly enough. As a result, over time, too few pupils have made more than the expected amount of progress.  Work in pupils’ books show that the quality of marking across the school is inconsistent. Where it is most effective, comments ensure that pupils know how to improve their work. However, pupils do not always respond to their teachers’ advice and this means that even the better quality marking has less impact on pupils’ achievement than it should do.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching assistants make a positive contribution to pupils’ learning by providing focused support for small groups or individual pupils. Pupils with specific needs, including those who need support to help them to behave well, are well supported and this ensures that they progress well in reading, writing and mathematics.  Across the school there are warm relationships between pupils and adults. This helps to foster an environment in which learning is promoted and where pupils are happy.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement. Over time, too few pupils reach the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The proportion of pupils making more than the expected amount of progress from their individual starting points in reading, writing and mathematics is too low.  Attainment in test results has been slightly higher in mathematics than other subjects. In 2014, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in mathematics was in line with the national average in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The proportion reaching that level in reading and writing was below the national average in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Currently, attainment is rising and is closer to average in reading, writing and mathematics.  The achievement of the most able pupils requires improvement because too few make the accelerated progress required to reach the higher levels in reading, writing or mathematics in either Key Stage 1 or

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

Key Stage 2.  Evidence from the school’s tracking data, scrutiny of pupils’ work and observations of learning show that progress for pupils currently at the school is improving. However, it requires improvement overall because there are still inconsistencies across subjects and year groups. Improvements to the way in which the school tracks pupils’ progress and identifies those pupils who would benefit from additional support are contributing to this improving picture.  In 2014 the attainment gap in Year 6 for disadvantaged pupils compared to their classmates was two terms behind in mathematics, three terms behind in writing and almost four terms behind in reading. Compared with other pupils nationally the gap in mathematics and writing was three terms behind, while in reading it was four terms. While gaps in the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils are closing in Key Stage 1, in Key Stage 2 these gaps are wide and are not showing signs of closing rapidly

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

enough.  Caring and largely effective support is provided for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. As a result, across the school many achieve well, given their different starting points and abilities. However, the achievement of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs requires improvement overall because there are still inconsistencies in the effectiveness of intervention work between different classes and year groups.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Most children start in Nursery with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age, particularly in communication and language and early number. In recent years, by the time children leave the Reception class, too few have made the progress that is expected of them and, as a result, only a small minority achieve a good level of development. However, the progress of children currently in the early years is improving and indications are that a larger proportion will be ready to start in Year 1.  Teaching requires improvement. Staff make good use of the areas both inside and outside of the classrooms and provide children with a wide range of activities that capture their interest and imagination. However, the impact on children’s achievement is not consistent across all areas of learning and, as a result, children’s progress in developing their skills in early reading, writing and number is not as strong as

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The early years provision requires improvement

in areas such as personal and social development.  The early years leader provides good leadership. She has an accurate picture of strengths and weaknesses within the early years phase and has a clear plan for the improvements that need to be made. This is leading to improvements in the effectiveness of teaching and children’s achievement in the early years.  The staff are very caring and establish warm and friendly relationships with the children. This ensures that the children play well together, feel safe and gain confidence and, as a result, behaviour in the early years is good. Effective systems are in place to look after children and keep them safe and secure. Parents are well informed about the progress that their children make.

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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 135841 Local authority Wigan Inspection number 456186

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 421 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Greensmith Headteacher Wendy Cathie Date of previous school inspection 1 May 2012 Telephone number 01942 671442 Fax number 01942 677141 Email address enquiries@admin.leighsaintpeters.wigan.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 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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