Westleigh St Paul's CofE Primary School

Westleigh St Pauls CofE Primary School School Street, Leigh, Lancashire, WN7 5JN

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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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher, senior leaders and the governing body work well together to improve teaching and raise the standards that pupils reach.  The school is a very welcoming place because of attractive displays of pupils’ work, artistic exhibitions and enthusiastic staff and pupils.  Pupils are very polite and well behaved. They make a point of greeting visitors and engaging in conversation. They feel safe in school.  Provision in the early years is good. Children in the Reception class make good progress and enjoy taking part in the many activities both outdoors and in the classroom.  Most pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 achieve well and standards are rising, particularly in Key Stage 1 where they are above average.  Teaching is at least good. Pupils look forward to learning because they know it will be enjoyable and interesting.  The school provides good support for all pupils, especially those with special educational needs.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Parents are very positive about their child’s education at St. Paul’s. The school works closely with families and so, for example, attendance has improved.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 In 2014, results at the end of Year 6 were below average in mathematics. Too few pupils made more progress than expected in mathematics.  More challenging work for the most able pupils is not set soon enough for some pupils to reach the higher levels.  Some pupils struggle to use their knowledge in mathematics to solve practical problems found in daily life.  Assessments do not provide leaders with an up-to- date picture of pupils’ achievement. This slows down actions to improve achievement.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited lessons across the school, some accompanied by the headteacher. They looked at pupils’ books, talked to pupils about their work and reviewed their progress over time. Inspectors listened to some pupils read from Key Stages 1 and 2, observed lunchtime and break time arrangements and talked with groups of pupils informally.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, early years staff and members of the governing body. Conversations were held with a representative from the local authority and a school improvement adviser.  Inspectors considered the 15 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and took into account the school’s survey of parents’ views. The 11 completed staff questionnaires were also considered.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s work and a range of documentation. This included the school’s view of its effectiveness, improvement plans, and records of pupils’ achievement, behaviour, attendance and systems

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Inspection team

Marie Cordey, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Westleigh St. Paul’s is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children in the Reception class attend school full-time.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage. A very small number are from minority ethnic backgrounds.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is high. This funding is for pupils in the care of the local authority and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards, especially in mathematics and for the most able pupils, and increase the proportion of pupils who make more than the progress expected of them by: - making sure that teachers and teaching assistants move pupils on to more challenging work once they have grasped the work that they are doing - improving pupils’ ability to use their mathematical knowledge to help solve practical problems relating to daily life and to interpret exactly what the question is asking of them - ensuring that assessments are regular enough to provide leaders with an up-to-date picture of pupils’ achievement to plan actions to improve achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and governors are strongly committed to school improvement and have a clear vision for transforming outcomes for pupils. Staff share ambitions for improving the quality of teaching and raising the standards that pupils reach because of leaders’ high expectations and explicit direction. Teachers’ marking has improved since the previous inspection because of leaders’ focus on this identified area for improvement.  The Christian ethos is effectively promoted through core values of tolerance, respect for others no matter what their background, and kindness. As a consequence, pupils are taught about democracy, diversity in Britain and their local communities and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  Leaders and staff record much evidence of pupils’ attainment and their progress. They use it well overall, to identify what needs to be done to ‘stretch’ pupils further. However, it is not regular enough to provide

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The leadership and management are good

leaders with the latest information about pupils’ achievement and this sometimes slows responses in accelerating pupils’ progress.  Effective systems for managing teachers’ performance ensure that the right support and challenge is given to individual teachers. This has been particularly effective in improving the teaching of mathematics, for instance, through high quality external training and support.  The leadership of provision for pupils with special educational needs is consistently good and promotes the good progress of these pupils over time. Leaders of English and mathematics are effective in recognising precisely what is needed to raise standards in their subjects. As a consequence, pupils’ knowledge and use of English, grammar and spelling is improving along with their attainment in mathematics. This is particularly evident in the above average standards reached by pupils by the end of Year 2. Information

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The leadership and management are good

and communication technology (ICT) is also well led to help pupils’ learning in subjects across school, particularly in terms of presentation and research.  Pupil premium funding is used well to support disadvantaged pupils. This money is used to increase the number of teaching assistants and to increase specialist training to better support pupils’ learning. It is also specifically used to raise aspirations in a wide range of extra-curricular clubs, such as in drama and sport and to promote higher education through visits to universities.  The school makes good use of its primary physical education and sport funding to improve pupils’ physical education skills and their knowledge of healthy lifestyles. Girls and boys relish taking part in dance lessons and competitions. In partnership with the local high school, pupils experience specialist sports teaching from an experienced physical education specialist.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school fosters good relationships in school and the community. Pupils do not discriminate between different groups of people and they celebrate the diversity in our country.  The curriculum promotes pupils’ personal and academic development well. Trips, musical tuition, sport, art and drama activities enrich their education and encourage their eagerness for learning. Pupils have equal opportunity to achieve well and standards for the most able pupils and in mathematics are now rising.  Pupils’ moral, social and cultural development is promoted well and their spiritual development is exceptionally well promoted. For example, inspectors witnessed a reflective and inspiring collective act of worship which was motivational and celebratory. The school council and prefect system encourages social responsibility and leadership skills. Pupils’ knowledge of their own religion and that of others encourages

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The leadership and management are good

their respect and value for different groups of people.  The local authority supports the school well. Part of the funding from the local authority supports the local consortia of schools who work together to share best practice and improvement planning. It is also used effectively to employ external support to challenge and support the school.  Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. The school has thorough systems for keeping pupils safe.  The governance of the school: Governors have a detailed knowledge of the school’s effectiveness. They hold senior leaders to account for the school’s performance. Governors take part in regular training to improve their contribution to leadership. Their use of the pupil premium funding is closely linked to its impact on pupils’ standards. They have been very involved with the headteacher in improving the quality of teaching and know how to tackle weaknesses in teaching. Teacher’s progression in pay levels is based on how well teaching has had

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The leadership and management are good

an impact in accelerating pupils’ progress.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They grow in confidence and self-esteem because they are valued as individuals. The headteacher, for example, greets every pupil in the school by name.  Pupils like the school systems to reward good work especially those that appreciate their effort. They enjoy their lessons and are mostly attentive and hard-working. The good quality of teaching and effective management of behaviour means that disruptions to their learning are unusual.  Pupils enjoy play times because they can take part in many organised games and sports. They play together happily and older pupils look after the younger ones.  Pupils enjoy taking on responsibility. Prefects are conscientious and helpful and members of the school council carefully seek out pupils’ views to present to the headteacher. Their views are listened to and often acted upon, such as in increasing the number of extra-curricular clubs in dance and sport.

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Behaviour

 Parents say that behaviour is good. They work with the school to improve their child’s attendance which is a little above average. Their children are well turned out in their school uniforms.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say that they feel safe and that they know who to turn to if they are troubled. They are particularly knowledgeable about how to keep themselves safe on the internet. This is because of planned and regular teaching about internet safety.  Pupils are knowledgeable about different types of bullying. During the inspection, pupils were keen to emphasise that bullying does not happen at their school. They said that there were occasional ‘fallings out’ but these were soon sorted out by their teachers.  Pupils know how to keep safe through ‘anti-bullying’ lessons and assemblies. Visitors from the local police and fire service talk to pupils about safety issues.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Positive relationships between staff and pupils and good planning to meet pupils’ abilities and interests characterise good teaching here. Classrooms are welcoming and attractive because of the good quality display of pupils’ work and clear tips to help their learning.  Some aspects of teaching are outstanding such as in Key Stage 1 where pupils make exceptional progress. The highest expectations of pupils’ abilities are reflected in very challenging and inspiring work to motivate pupils’ interests and encourage them to think and persevere.  There is a wide variety of books in each class and in the two school libraries to encourage pupils to read. Teachers are skilled in training pupils to link the sounds in words to different letters (phonics). Pupils take great pleasure in practising their skills when reading out loud and silently. This is being embedded throughout the school and is particularly evident in Key Stage 1 and lower Key Stage 2 where standards in

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The quality of teaching is good

reading are above average.  The teaching of mathematics is a school priority. There has been much support and training to improve the quality of teaching in mathematics. Teachers and teaching assistants now have greater knowledge of how pupils learn best in mathematics. Pupils in Year 6, for instance, were carefully and sensitively challenged in four different ability groups to use their mental mathematics skills to solve problems in working out equations. Similarly, pupils in Years 1 and 2 used their knowledge of mathematical vocabulary to work out fractions.  Nevertheless, pupils’ ability to solve problems in mathematics is weaker than it should be. This is because pupils, especially the older ones, have the mathematical knowledge but sometimes struggle to understand exactly what is required from them because of the way that questions are worded. Much planning in literacy and numeracy is now focused on teaching that prepares pupils for examination type questions.

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The quality of teaching is good

 An emphasis on teaching speaking and listening skills has helped to improve pupils’ writing. Pupils take great delight in writing descriptively and creatively. Their skills in English grammar, punctuation and spelling lag behind their expressive skills because this has not been a key focus of teaching over time.  The marking of pupils’ work is much improved. Clear guidance is given for improvement which is usually followed by pupils. Mostly, teachers and teaching assistants use marking to help them clear up any misunderstandings and ‘stretch’ the most able pupils.  Teaching assistants are effective and skilled. Their blend of support and challenge enables pupils to understand more clearly and to think for themselves. Teaching assistants are used productively to guide the work of the most able pupils as well as those who have special educational needs. Sometimes, however, the most able pupils are not encouraged to move on to more difficult work soon enough.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Since the dip in standards in mathematics leaders have taken action to raise pupils’ attainment and hasten their progress. Work in pupils’ books and accurate school tracking data of pupils’ achievement demonstrates that standards are rising.  Overall, pupils join Year 1 with skills that are below those typical for their age. In 2014, results in the Year 1 screening of phonics (the sounds that letters make) were above average. Standards in reading, writing and mathematics were significantly above average at the end of Year 2 representing exceptional progress over the key stage. At the end of Year 6 in 2014, attainment in reading was above average but standards in writing and in mathematics were below average. Pupils made more progress than expected in reading and writing but the proportion of pupils in mathematics who made the progress expected of them was below expectations.  Work in pupils’ books and the school’s own data demonstrates improved progress in mathematics for

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The achievement of pupils is good

Years 5 and 6 currently and shows standards are in line with national averages. Standards in reading for Year 6 are above average and average in writing. Pupils’ skills in English grammar, punctuation and spelling are improving and are just below average.  Pupils do well in art, music, information communication technology (ICT) and drama because they enjoy learning in these subjects. They use the knowledge they gain to sing, act, play musical instruments and present accomplished pieces of work using computers.  Disadvantaged pupils out-performed other pupils at the end of Year 2 in 2014. At the end of Year 6 they were two terms ahead of other pupils in their reading, similar to other pupils in their writing and two terms behind in mathematics. They made better progress than their classmates in reading and similar progress in writing and mathematics. Compared with pupils nationally, disadvantaged pupils were a term

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The achievement of pupils is good

ahead in reading, in line with national in writing and a term behind in mathematics.  Currently, pupils’ work and the school’s data shows disadvantaged pupils are making better progress than other pupils in reading and similar progress in writing and mathematics. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The most able pupils are making good progress in Key Stage 1 and at least expected progress in Key Stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics. Although progress is improving for older pupils, some work is still too easy for them.

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The early years provision is good

 Good quality teaching results in children making good progress. From starting points that are mostly below those typically found in children of this age, children improve their early skills and understanding, especially in their personal and social development and in using numbers.  Children make good progress in early mathematics because it is part of so many things that they do. They were observed counting out steps from 1 to 20 outdoors and then reversing the numbers from 20 to 1. Good teaching in phonics entices children to delve into the many books in the Reception class to practise sounding out words and describe pictures in books. Children go on to write for different purposes such as in recipes, shopping lists and simple sentences.  The creativity evident across the school is well represented in the Reception class. Children make clay objects and figures, colourful and imaginative art work and convincingly represent different characters in

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The early years provision is good

role play. ICT is used well to help children to start to write stories and complete sums. Occasionally, children are unsure about what activity to get involved in because they have not been sufficiently guided.  The Reception class is well-led and managed. Knowledgeable staff work together to plan activities suited to the children’s interests and abilities and assess children’s skills well. Learning journals provide a good record of children’s learning and progress. Children and their parents are proud of these.  Children feel safe and their behaviour is good. They become more and more confident because they are clearly valued as unique individuals. Children are taught to be well mannered and to share and take turns. They enjoy learning inside and out because there are so many opportunities to encourage their curiosity for learning.

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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 106481 Local authority Wigan Inspection number 456162

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 201 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Peter Taylor Headteacher Jill Hankinson Date of previous school inspection 19 June 2012 Telephone number 01942 672611 Fax number 01942 608481 Email address enquiries@admin.westleighsaintpauls.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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