Church Road Primary School

Church Road Primary School Captains Clough Road, Bolton, Lancashire, BL1 5RU

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 Very effective teaching ensures that pupils achieve well in every key stage and, from their starting points, pupils make good progress across the range of subjects. This ensures that they are well prepared for their next stage of education.  The rich, vibrant curriculum makes a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Educational visits and visitors to school ensure that pupils have memorable learning experiences which they enjoy.  Children in the early years make a very good start to their education. High-quality activities, coupled with good teaching and support, help them to learn and develop well.  Pupils behave well in school and systems to keep them safe are very good. Pupils show great enthusiasm for learning and are rightly proud of their work.  The headteacher, governing body, leaders at all levels and staff are relentless in their pursuit of improvement. Highly effective systems hold all

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This is a good school

staff to account and pupils’ progress has improved considerably since the last inspection.  Alongside the drive to improve pupils’ attainment and progress is a high commitment to ensuring that pupils thoroughly enjoy school and develop their personal skills. They grow in confidence in a happy and supportive environment.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The progress made by pupils is good rather than outstanding and, although narrowing, there is a small gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and others. From their lower starting points, some disadvantaged pupils do not reach the same standards as other pupils.  The percentage of pupils who achieve the required standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check is slightly below average.  Pupils’ attendance is broadly average, rather than better than this.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further raise standards and increase pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics by: embedding current teaching strategies so that they continue to increase pupils’ progress over time continuing to increase the rates of progress of disadvantaged pupils through careful evaluation of which support strategies are the most effective increasing the percentage of pupils who achieve the required standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check.  Increase pupils’ attendance so that it is above average and reduce the percentage of persistent absence by continuing to work closely with families to improve attendance at school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher’s determined and ambitious leadership is a powerful force for school improvement. She is ably supported by a very effective deputy and senior leaders. Their combined effort, alongside that of all staff, has raised standards, particularly in the early years and Key Stage 1, and has increased pupils’ progress across the school.  Pupils have high aspirations and high expectations of themselves. They strive to do their best and achieve well as the result of the ambitious culture developed by all leaders and staff. Staff morale is high and there is a strong ethos of support which benefits pupils and their families. Parents quite rightly speak well of the school with one saying, ‘We can’t thank the school enough.’  Staff regularly take part in training and professional development activities and these ensure that teaching is consistently good across the school and in the range of subjects. Leaders’ regular checks on

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

teaching ensure that school policies are consistently and effectively applied in practice and that outcomes for pupils improve.  Systems to hold staff to account are rigorous and comprehensive and play an important part in raising standards. Regular checks are made on pupils’ attainment and progress and steps are taken to give support to accelerate progress when required.  The curriculum is packed with a good variety of memorable learning experiences both within school and beyond, such as educational visits. For example, pupils in Year 4 enjoyed a day when they dressed in 1940s clothing and took part in activities as a Second World War evacuee as part of their history work. In addition, there are regular opportunities for pupils to develop their musical skills through learning to play the violin or glockenspiel and to develop their sporting skills through physical education (PE) or extra- curricular sports clubs. The rich and vibrant curriculum makes a very good contribution to pupils’ spiritual,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

moral, social and cultural development.  The school’s work to promote British values and to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain is very effective. Pupils know about democracy and participate in elections for members of the school council and for the head boy and girl. Pupils learn about the reasons why there is a police force and the British court system, and they have had a talk from the local police community support officer.  Annual reports to parents and carers are informative and help them to understand how well their child is achieving. Regular newsletters keep parents up to date with school events and important information.  The school spends the PE and sport premium wisely. Pupils have good attitudes to keeping healthy and know what the elements of a healthy lifestyle are. Pupils are active at lunchtime and take part in a range of games and activities. After-school sports clubs are well attended.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Pupil premium funding is carefully targeted to increase the progress of disadvantaged pupils. It is effective in increasing the progress of this group, but there remains a small gap in attainment in some subjects and year groups with some disadvantaged pupils not yet reaching the standards attained by other pupils.  Leaders ensure that teaching is good and that pupils make good progress. The effectiveness of leadership and management is not yet outstanding because outcomes for pupils are good, rather than outstanding.  The governance of the school Governance is of a high quality. The Chair of the Governing Body is knowledgeable, very effective and gives much of her time to the school. Governors have welcomed the effective support given by the local authority and have strengthened governance through training. They give an appropriate balance of challenge and support to the school and careful questioning ensures that leaders are held to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

account well. The governing body is ambitious for all the pupils and works in close partnership with the headteacher, leaders and staff. For example, all governors are linked to staff teams and involve themselves in their activities to check on pupils’ learning such as looking at work in books to ensure that pupils are making good progress. This collaborative approach is extremely effective in improving pupils’ outcomes and ensuring that every pupil in this school has a happy and memorable learning experience.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders and staff are thorough in their work to safeguard pupils. Training is extensive and regular and policies are kept up to date. Very effective systems are in place and pupils are very well supported by all staff including two learning mentors who work extensively with families. The learning mentors also work with other professionals and agencies for

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

the benefit of the pupils and their families. School records show that this work has a positive impact on improving pupils’ outcomes both academically and in terms of their personal development, behaviour and welfare.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Good teaching across the school ensures that pupils make good progress across the curriculum.  Pupils’ work shows that they often learn rapidly from a wide variety of interesting activities. The topics that pupils study link different subjects together and pupils say that they enjoy learning in this way. For example, work seen in books from pupils in Year 1, centred on a ‘superheroes’ topic. As well as composing invitations to a superheroes party in writing sessions, pupils explored different materials which they thought would be suitable to use to make a superheroes cape in science. At the end of the science investigation, one pupil wrote, ‘I conclude that cellophane is the best material for my cape because it is waterproof and can fly.’ In Year 5, pupils were observed writing a newspaper-style report on the practical work they had undertaken the previous week in learning about the heart and lungs with a biological

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

scientist who had visited the school.  A particular strength of the school is the good quality of marking and guidance to pupils from all staff. The school’s policy is rigorously and consistently applied, and the guidance given by staff to pupils is extremely effective in helping them to make progress. Pupils agree with this and say that they learn from trying to improve their work themselves following the guidance given by their teachers.  The teaching of phonics is good and improving and, as a result, the percentage of pupils who achieve the required standard in the Year 1 phonics check has improved since the last inspection. Pupils in Key Stage 1 who read to an inspector used their knowledge of phonics to help them to work out unfamiliar words. Pupils of all ages speak positively of the support from the school in helping them to read and they have a love of books. Books are evident in classrooms and are linked to the topics that the pupils are working on.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

A book club for pupils in Year 6, run by the Chair of the Governing Body, further extends pupils’ reading skills and helps them to read and understand more challenging vocabulary.  Pupils have lots of opportunities to write for different purposes. Teachers make their expectations very clear as to the quality of writing they expect and the features that pupils should include. Pupils check their own work to see if they have met their teachers’ expectations and try hard to improve. This strategy helps pupils to make good progress.  Effective teaching in mathematics also ensures that pupils make good progress. Lessons cover a variety of topics and pupils’ work shows a good range of written and practical work. Pupils are given frequent opportunities to talk to each other to work out which strategies to use to solve problems and challenges.  The quality of teaching is good and continues to improve. Teaching strategies used by the school are

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

effective and are increasing the progress made by disadvantaged pupils, but a gap between their attainment and that of other pupils persists, although it is getting smaller.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils have very good attitudes to learning and take a great pride in their work and rightfully so. Pupils take care to present their work well and strive to do their best. Pupils appreciate the amount of support and guidance given to them by adults and one Year 3 pupil summed this up by saying, ‘It’s a wonderful school. We get lots of support and help.’  Opportunities for pupils to reflect on their work and how they can improve it further help them to understand how to be successful learners.  Pupils show tolerance and respect, and through work in the curriculum they learn about different cultures and religions. They also learn about different types of families and the values that are fundamental to life in modern Britain.  Pupils say that they feel safe and happy in school. Cooperative activities are in abundance and these help

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Personal development and welfare

pupils to work as a team and learn from each other.  Pupils know about different types of bullying and say that they have great confidence in staff to resolve issues when they occur, which is very occasionally. They can talk confidently about ways to keep themselves safe when using the internet.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils say that disruption in lessons is very rare and that the behaviour system and rewards are effective. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and school records show that these expectations are generally met.  Pupils are conscientious in their care for the school environment which is tidy.  Close monitoring of pupils’ behaviour results in swift action from school leaders. The school takes a very firm stance on the use of derogatory language and pupils report that this is very effective, particularly in eliminating any racist name-calling.  The school has worked extensively with a small number of pupils who are persistently absent and there has been a marked improvement in their attendance this year. Although improving, pupils’ attendance is broadly average rather than better than that in most primary schools.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education by the end of Year 6. In 2015, the percentage of pupils who achieved the expected level (Level 4) in the reading and mathematics tests and in teachers’ assessment of writing was broadly average. From starting points at the end of Key Stage 1 that were significantly below average, this represents very good progress.  In last year’s national test in reading, all pupils made the progress expected of them and almost half made more than this. All pupils made expected progress in their writing with just under half achieving better than this. These percentages were all better than the national figures. In the mathematics test, almost all pupils made the progress expected of them and the percentage who did better than this was broadly average.  Standards in reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stage 1 are broadly average. Pupils have made good progress from below average starting points at the end of the early years.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 The percentages of pupils who achieved the higher levels in the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 assessments and tests in 2015 were all broadly in line with the national figures. This indicates that these most-able pupils were well supported and challenged.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability and those who need to catch up make similar good progress to their peers. Specific support and intervention are effective in helping them to make good progress.  Pupils with English as an additional language have extra support to help them learn to speak, read and write in English, and this is effective in helping them to make good progress. In 2015, this group of pupils in Year 6 attained higher standards than pupils in schools nationally.  Pupils make good progress across a range of subjects. They develop their musical and artistic skills very well. The standard of pupils’ art work, as seen in displays, is good.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 The percentage of pupils who achieve the required standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check is rising, but is a little below the national figure.  Standards for all pupils by the end of each key stage are broadly average, rather than above those achieved nationally. Disadvantaged pupils are given carefully targeted support and from their lower starting points they make good progress. However, in some year groups, their attainment is a little lower than that of other pupils.

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Early years provision is good

 Children make a very good start to their education when they join the school either in the Nursery or Reception class. From starting points that are usually below those typical for their age, particularly in communication and language, children make good progress. In 2015, the proportion of children with the skills to ensure that they were ready for Key Stage 1 was average, and was a great improvement on the attainment of previous cohorts of children.  All adults support children’s learning well through setting challenging activities and through questioning which extends children’s vocabulary and develops their understanding. For example, one adult was heard to say, ‘Can you show your friend how to half fill the bottle?’  Interesting and appropriate activities ensure that children’s engagement is high and that they concentrate well for sustained periods. They show good attitudes to learning and high levels of confidence and

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Early years provision is good

independence as a result.  Children have a good understanding of how to play safely, as shown by their play on the climbing equipment outside and their use of wheeled toys and tricycles. Relationships are strong and they share and play together well, taking turns in simple games.  The teaching of phonics is effective and improving. The youngest children in the Nursery recognise the sounds at the beginning of words, such as the ‘s’ sound in starfish and snail.  Appropriate policies and procedures are in place to ensure that children are safe and happy. Staff work closely with parents to share information and support the children’s learning and personal development. Where appropriate, staff work effectively with other professionals, such as with the speech therapist to help children to make progress.  Good leadership ensures that children achieve well. Regular checks are made on children’s progress and

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Early years provision is good

teaching is modified accordingly to ensure that activities focus on the skills and knowledge that children need to develop. For example, in previous years, children did not achieve as well in numbers as in reading and writing. Changes to teaching improved children’s outcomes in this subject and in 2015 the percentage of children with the skills ready to start Key Stage 1 considerably increased.  Progress is checked for the different groups, such as disadvantaged children, those who have special educational needs or disability and children with English as an additional language. These are effective in ensuring that these groups make good progress. Additional funding is used well to ensure that disadvantaged children are supported and make good progress, but their attainment is generally a little lower than that of other pupils. Leaders recognise this and are striving to further accelerate the progress

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School details

Unique reference number 105152 Local authority Bolton Inspection number 10012093

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School details

This inspection 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 389 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Janet Whitehouse Headteacher Mrs Catherine Fenton Telephone number 01204 332777 Website www.church-road.bolton.sch.uk Email address office@church-road.bolton.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 29–30 January 2014

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Information about this school

 This is a larger than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs or disability is below average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium (additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and for looked after children) is above average.  A large majority of pupils are of White British heritage and a very small minority speak English as an additional language.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors gathered a range of evidence from the school’s documentation, assessment information relating to pupils’ progress and attainment, work in pupils’ books and observing lessons. Documents examined included safeguarding records, the improvement plan, school policies and external reports from the local authority.  Inspectors observed teaching and learning across a range of lessons and subjects and three of these were made jointly with the headteacher and deputy. In addition, the lead inspector observed the headteacher giving feedback to staff.  Two groups of pupils met with inspectors who also talked to pupils informally at break and lunchtime while observing their activities.  The teaching of phonics and reading was observed and one inspector heard some Key Stage 1 pupils read.  A meeting was held with the governing body, including the Chair of the Governing Body. Meetings were also held with a local authority officer, the headteacher, senior leaders, teachers and subject leaders.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors took account of 77 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and one inspector talked to a group of parents at the start of the school day.  Inspectors also took account of 10 responses to the online pupil questionnaire and to the 20 responses to the staff online questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Andrée Coleman, Lead inspector Ofsted Inspector David Deane Ofsted Inspector Michael Gaskill Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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