Wainwright Primary Academy

Wainwright Primary Academy Harrop White Road, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG19 6TF

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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This is a school that requires improvement

 A history of underachievement by pupils is still apparent. Recent improvements in pupils’ achievement have not been sustained for long enough to overcome past underachievement.  Disadvantaged pupils do not make as much progress as their peers. This is due, in part, to the fact that they still do not attend school as much as their peers.  The children’s achievement in the early years has not kept pace with improvements nationally, so that the children at Wainwright have fallen further below average.  The quality of teaching has not been good enough over the full period of time since the previous inspection of the school.  The most-able pupils are not provided routinely with work that is sufficiently challenging to enable them to make the progress of which they are capable, including in the early years provision.

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The school has the following strengths

 The senior leaders have secured a radical improvement in the culture, ethos and climate at the school in a short space of time.  Their success is most apparent to date in the typically good behaviour of, and positive attitudes shown by, the pupils.  The school’s work to safeguard pupils is managed vigorously, so that it is now thorough and detailed.  The curriculum has been planned carefully and thoughtfully. It is inspiring the pupils and contributing strongly to the much-improved culture and ethos at the school.  Improvements are now happening rapidly at the school. The leadership and management are increasingly effective at all levels and have brought about noticeable improvements since the previous inspection, including in the quality of teaching.

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Full report

In accordance with section 13 (4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that the recent improvements in the achievement of pupils evident at the time of this inspection are sustained and that the differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of their peers are eliminated.  Ensure that disadvantaged pupils attend school as well as do their peers.  Improve the quality of provision in the early years by ensuring that all of the staff are able skilfully to question, to demonstrate for and to rehearse with the children the things that the children have to learn.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, including in the early years provision, by: ensuring that the most-able pupils are challenged consistently, so that they can produce the work and make the progress of which they are capable identifying and correcting pupils’ misconceptions consistently ensuring that pupils receive clear and concise information that is helpful to them in not repeating

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The executive principal has honed a very effective senior leadership team in a very short space of time.  The senior leaders lead by example. They have successfully inculcated among staff and pupils a sense of ambition and a determination to improve. The impact is evident in the improvements that have been brought about in safeguarding and pupils’ behaviour and, increasingly, in the better quality of teaching now apparent and the rising profile of pupils’ achievement.  The effectiveness of leadership and management is evident increasingly at all levels, including in governance. It can be seen in the speed with which changes are now effected and the improvements that those changes bring.  The pace of change is assisted by effective mechanisms for managing the performance of teachers, linked to good opportunities for professional development and training. The quality of teaching is monitored systematically and the outcomes of the monitoring are used to good effect.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The curriculum is broad, balanced and very well conceived. The senior leaders see the curriculum as central to the school’s ambition to inspire pupils, and so it does in numerous ways. As a result, it makes a significant contribution to the improvements in pupils’ achievement, and to pupils’ attitudes and behaviour.  The staff take care to ensure that pupils who have special educational needs or disability can benefit fully from the curriculum and lessons. For example, the school has bought certain resources to assist pupils with particular needs, including to help them to learn when at home.  The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils is catered for very well. This means that the school promotes equalities and British values effectively. Pupils demonstrate and convey well- balanced and thoughtful views on a range of issues, so that they are, in this respect, well prepared for life

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

in modern Britain.  The school takes its duties to promote equalities seriously. For example, during an assembly, many pupils were keen to offer thoughtful views on a controversial question about the education of girls, pointing when they did so to a large photograph on the wall of Malala Yousafzai, with whose work they were clearly familiar; everyone was in favour of educating girls, by the way, and quite evidently strongly so!  Pupils gain an appreciation of, and respect for, the differences between people through the school’s work to develop debating skills. This was apparent through discussions with pupils. They learn also to deal with disagreements in socially acceptable ways.  Particularly noteworthy is the very effective use made by the school of an increasingly close link with another school, serving a community very different from Wainwright’s, and also led by the executive principal. The experiences this partnership is providing for pupils at Wainwright are having a markedly

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

positive impact on pupils’ attitudes, values, beliefs and learning. The pupils described the experiences as ‘just amazing’, stating that, ‘The people blew me away’ and, ‘Even though it’s a long trip, it’s worth it’.  The school uses the physical education (PE) and sports premium appropriately. PE is a popular subject with the pupils. The school does not, however, evaluate its use of the premium effectively.  The school has made careful use of the pupil premium, which is leading to improvements in the achievement of those pupils who are eligible, though not sufficiently to date to have eliminated the differences with the achievement of other pupils. Nevertheless, there is evidently a strong focus at the school on raising the aspirations of disadvantaged pupils and working with their parents in support of that ambition.  The school’s evaluation of its use of the pupil premium is much more effective than for its use of the PE

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

and sports premium. When the school ascertains that particular approaches are not having the desired effect, it abandons those approaches.  Safeguarding is at the forefront of the school’s work, such that it can be described as a cornerstone of the school’s culture.  The school has established strong systems for supporting pupils who may be in need of extra help. The staff receive regular training, which ensures that they are familiar with areas of concern highlighted in the latest government guidance. The records kept on pupils who may need additional help are maintained very well and organised meticulously.  Support from the multi-academy trust has been effective in securing the senior leadership of the school, enabling the education advisory board (EAB) to take increasing responsibility for the strategic direction of the school and, most obviously, in moving the school out of its previously down-at-heel buildings into

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

bright and modern accommodation, much more fit for purpose, which is already supporting improvements in the education of pupils. As the senior leadership team has become more effective and the EAB has taken greater strategic control, the trust has, appropriately, gradually reduced the extent to which it is ‘hands on’ at the school.  The governance of the school The EAB is increasingly strategic and increasingly influential on the progress made by the school. Members of the board are knowledgeable and skilled, so that they are able to ask pertinent questions of senior leaders. For example, the board ensures that the performance management of staff is carried out effectively. The EAB has an accurate overview of pupils’ achievement, the extent to which it has improved and where it has not done so sufficiently, and of how external funding, such as the pupil premium, has been used. It is still developing a more detailed knowledge of the relative performance of the different

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

groups of pupils represented at the school, but is alert to the differences in broad terms and asking increasingly searching questions of senior leaders. The EAB monitors the school’s arrangements for safeguarding well. It has checked that staff have received up-to-date training, including, for example, in relation to matters such as the Prevent duty.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress is impeded because often, the pupils lack a clear understanding of ways to manage their learning. They do not receive enough clear and concise information about how to improve their work to enable them to do so routinely.  The extent to which staff identify and correct misconceptions in pupils’ understanding of the learning varies too much. Inspectors saw examples in lessons and in pupils’ work that indicated that pupils were not clear about important aspects of the learning, which was not picked up by staff.  The level of challenge provided to the most-able pupils varies too much. The level of challenge is lower more often in literacy than it is in mathematics.  Even on occasions when the staff have identified that a pupil is ready to move on to more complex work, they do not follow up and provide such work. That is as much the case in the early years provision as it is in the main school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teachers form good relationships with pupils, which leads increasingly to good learning in lessons. The pupils respond to the teaching well.  Teachers plan lesson activities carefully, so that the activities provide pupils with opportunities to reinforce or to extend their learning.  Teaching assistants work effectively with pupils, helping them to understand clearly what they are supposed to learn.  Disadvantaged pupils receive much support, which helps them, for example, to improve their grammar and punctuation. Work focusing on the accurate use of commas resulted in clear improvements in the pupils’ work.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language receive good support, for example in learning phonics. They use laptops to assist them with language translation and appreciate the space that they are given for private learning.  Although the most-able pupils do not get enough help to move on to increasingly challenging work, they

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

are able to use resources in lessons that are suitable for their capabilities, which they find stimulating and helpful.  The staff provide effective support for pupils who have special educational needs or disability. For example, pupils whose needs mean that they experience difficulties with behaviour benefit from well- established routines and other strategies chosen well by staff that lead to the pupils feeling well supported. As a result, pupils who have special educational needs or disability are able to work in lessons and with other pupils, and there is little interruption to learning when difficulties are experienced.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. It begins in the early years, where staff successfully encourage good manners.  Pupils are typically polite and respectful. They are chatty, good humoured and quietly confident in their manner. All of those with whom the inspectors spoke expressed positive views about the school, including the most-able pupils, disadvantaged pupils, pupils who have special educational needs or disability, and pupils who speak English as an additional language.  The pupils show enthusiasm for a range of activities in lessons and are now, typically, eager to learn.  The standard of presentation in pupils’ work books is high and shows that they are taking care with and pride in what they produce.  The school’s efforts to develop pupils spiritually, morally, socially and culturally are very effective. For example, key stage 1 pupils take particular pride in acting as class ambassadors.

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Personal development and welfare

 The staff have cleverly enmeshed the development of debating skills throughout the curriculum. Pupils spoke animatedly with inspectors about the impact of this work. They value the opportunities it provides to work in teams; they see it as developing skills and understanding relevant to adult life and explain how it is helping them to appreciate complex moral questions about modern British and world issues. They can explain how it helps them with more prosaic aspects of learning, including the use of grammar, and they also like the element of competition.  The school’s work results in pupils having a good understanding of how to stay safe, including being aware of the variety of forms that bullying can take, and pupils feeling safe at the school.  Diligent attention to safeguarding means that pupils who have particular needs get good support.  Pupils’ attendance has improved and was average at the time of the inspection, as a result of changes in

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Personal development and welfare

the ways in which the school deals with absence. For example, the school employs an attendance officer to work with the families of pupils who speak English as an additional language, who speaks one of the main languages represented in the school’s community.  Despite improvements, pupils from disadvantaged families still do not attend as well as other groups of pupils. This factor is partly responsible for the fact that disadvantaged pupils do less well at the school than others.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  The school is still settling into its smart new building, but the move has already lifted pupils’ spirits and contributed to the good behaviour and positive attitudes to learning that are now apparent.  The school’s behaviour management and rewards systems, notably the Wainwright Shop, are now well established and effective. As a result, the school is orderly and well run. Instances of bullying and of racist behaviour are rare, due to effective work by the school, and levels of exclusions are low.  Pupils’ behaviour is not perfect; for example, pupils told inspectors that they hear swearing used sometimes, including in languages other than English, and that they do not always tell the teachers when they have heard it. It is obvious when talking to them, however, that they know that swearing is unacceptable and that the teachers deal with it accordingly, when they are informed.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 In the two years since the previous inspection, pupils made less progress than might be expected of them, given their starting points.  The most-able pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.  Disadvantaged pupils did less well than their peers in 2015, as they have done in previous years.  The exceptions were pupils who speak English as an additional language. These pupils made good progress.  Currently, pupils are making better progress than was the case previously. This includes disadvantaged pupils and the most able.  Pupils are now making progress in mathematics that is similar to their progress in other subjects. That was not the case previously. The information provided by the school and examples of pupils’ work indicate that previous differences between mathematics and other subjects have been dealt with effectively.  The information held by the school, the work in pupils’ books and work they produce in lessons indicate

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

that disadvantaged pupils are now catching up with other groups of pupils at the school. A difference is still apparent, however, such that this group continues to make less progress than other pupils overall.  The pattern of outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs or disability is similar to that for disadvantaged pupils. These pupils are also demonstrating much improved rates of progress currently. The improvements, though important, have been apparent this year only.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 The proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of the early years has improved in the last few years, but not by as much as is the case nationally.  Similarly, a greater proportion of children have increasingly reached the expected standard in phonics, but again, the improvement has not been as great as nationally. This means that children are not as ready to benefit from the move to key stage 1 as they need to be, and further effort has to be made subsequently to get the children to that standard by the end of key stage 1 successfully, with a much higher proportion doing so by that point.  The staff working with the children do not question them in ways that draw out, reinforce and extend the learning systematically. They do not prompt children often enough to try to answer questions for themselves, which restricts children’s opportunities to learn.  Staff do not show children well enough how to do the things that they need to learn. This means that

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Early years provision requires improvement

children do not learn as quickly as they could.  Staff do not provide the most-able children with sufficiently challenging work often enough. Children are not routinely given opportunities in formal and structured ways to work on tasks involving high levels of challenge.  The recently appointed early years leader has taken action quickly to improve the quality of provision. She has astutely identified appropriate priorities for improvement and provided clear direction to staff.  There are now clear systems in place that support the transition to the early years effectively.  The provision is now planned well. The curriculum in the early years gives appropriate emphasis to meeting children’s learning needs in terms of their personal, social and emotional development, their physical development, and their communication and language skills.  Children learn effectively to support each other and to manage conflicts between each other.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Staff provide good experiences for children who speak English as an additional language to learn English. These children’s needs, and indeed those of other children needing support with language development, are identified quickly.  That quick identification of children’s needs is the result of accurate and effective assessment by staff. Staff have a good understanding of what children need to learn and how those needs can be met.  Staff have access to appropriate resources and generally make good use of them, although they do not exploit fully opportunities for children to learn outdoors. They give high priority to involving parents in their child’s learning.

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School details

Unique reference number 138676 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 10012804

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 409 Appropriate authority The education advisory board Chair Andy Robinson Executive principal Patricia Gavins Telephone number 01623 662110 Website www.wainwrightpa.org.uk Email address office@wainwrightpa.org.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 June 2014

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Schools Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA), a multi-academy trust.  The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average.  An above-average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs is well below average.  There have been major changes in senior leadership and other leadership roles and in staffing since the previous inspection.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards.  The school meets the government’s requirements for the publication of information on the school’s website.  The school moved to new premises, at the same location as the old ones, three weeks prior to this inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons in all phases of the school and in all classes, accompanied sometimes by senior leaders. They scrutinised examples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors held meetings with leaders and managers, representatives of the education advisory board (EAB), which is the governing body for the school, and with other members of staff. They spoke with pupils in groups, in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors checked the responses on Parent View, of which there was an insufficient number for an analysis, spoke with parents at the beginning of the school day, and took account of the responses of 100 parents to a recent survey carried out by the school.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s development plan and self- evaluation, policies and records relating to safeguarding, records relating to the pupils’ behaviour, the school’s information about pupils’ achievement and attendance, and records of meetings of the EAB.

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Inspection team

Clive Moss, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Simon Hollingsworth Her Majesty’s Inspector Shaheen Hussain Ofsted Inspector Jeannie Haigh 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

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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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