Atlas Community Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Ms Caroline Carr Headteacher Atlas Community Primary School Lincoln Close Manningham Bradford West Yorkshire BD8 8DL

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 20 April 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in April 2011.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

You, and the leadership team, have moved the school forward since the previous inspection. This is because you have created and maintained a culture of high expectations and equality of opportunity for all. You have made sure that the outcomes of pupils continue to be good through rigorous monitoring of the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning; because of this, pupils are well prepared for secondary school.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

The school is a calm and purposeful place. Pupils, staff and parents show a strong sense of pride in the school. Pupils enjoy school, they settle to their work promptly and are eager to learn. Pupils are keen to take on the responsibilities the school offers them. For example, the school council is strong and reports formally, in person, to the governing body. Pupil ‘digital leaders’ take on a range of roles associated with the school’s work with, and use of, information technology. For example, during the inspection, digital leaders surveyed the views of parents who were attending a home–school consultation session in the main hall using tablet computers.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

The governing body knows the school and the local community very well. Governors make robust and detailed checks on the school’s work through regular and focused visits and follow-up discussion. Governors evaluate the impact of leaders’ actions and provide challenge that contributes to keeping the school on track. Governors take their role in engaging with the community very seriously and they work with you to find innovative and effective ways to do this. As a result, there is widespread support for the school from parents. Parents are increasingly playing an active role in their children’s learning because of the actions of the school under your leadership.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

The previous inspection report identified the need to develop the quality of early years provision at the school. This has been addressed very successfully. Early years is now well and imaginatively led. The environment, both inside and out, is attractive, uncluttered and a real aid to children’s learning. Staff are well trained and play a full part in carefully monitoring and recording children’s progress. Children are proud of their work in early years and were eager to talk about and share their successes with me during my visit.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

Parents with whom I spoke, and the large proportion who respond to the school’s regular questionnaires for parents, are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. They are particularly complimentary about the leadership and the way you engage and seek parents’ views. They reported that communication is a particular strength; they know that they can contact the school with any concerns and that these would be promptly addressed. Parents are confident that their children are happy, safe and well taught.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

You, and governors, attach the highest priority to ensuring that all pupils are safe. You have put robust systems in place that are followed rigorously. Records are detailed and of high quality. Frequent review helps to ensure that safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose and pupils’ safety is assured. Regular training helps staff and governors understand clearly what constitutes risk and keeps them up to date with best practice.

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Short inspection of Atlas Community Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe. Should they feel uncertain, pupils are clear that they could turn, with confidence, to any member of staff and their concern would be dealt with promptly and effectively. Pupils work and play well together; they are confident, tolerant and thoughtful. They are aware of the needs of others in their community and the wider world. This is because the school works hard to ensure that what pupils learn and experience takes account of, and develops, their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. You prepare pupils very well for life in modern Britain.

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Inspection findings

 The school is very well led. You are clear about what needs to be done for the school to improve further. You communicate your high expectations robustly; these are shared by staff, pupils, parents and governors. Governors are both strategic and detailed in their approach. They hold leaders to account through detailed questioning about the impact leaders’ and teachers’ actions are having on pupils’ learning and well-being.

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Inspection findings

 You monitor the work of the school rigorously and have put in place effective systems to check on the quality and impact of teaching. These systems are effective because they help all staff evaluate the impact of their teaching on individual and groups of pupils. The systems help ensure that teaching is carefully focused so that all pupils, including the most-able pupils and those who are disadvantaged, receive the teaching and support they need to make good progress. The systems also help you and, increasingly, middle leaders identify areas where staff would benefit from extra support and training. This means that teachers’ expertise is further strengthened and developed.

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Inspection findings

 The school has an agreed approach to marking and assessment which is followed by staff. It encourages pupils to improve their work by responding to teachers’ comments. In the books and folders seen during the inspection, teachers’ comments did not always make it clear what pupils were meant to do to make these improvements. As a result, pupils did not always respond. Furthermore, although the school continues to develop an increasingly broad and exciting curriculum, approaches to marking do not reflect the particular needs of subjects beyond English, science and mathematics.

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Inspection findings

 The school's work with parents is a strength of the school. Home–school liaison is strong and has been an important factor in improving pupils’ attendance; this is now consistently above national averages. The school runs an increasingly varied range of subject and phase workshops for parents. Using its contact with parents and its analysis of other sources of information, such as parental questionnaires, it has identified topics and times that suit parents and further strengthen home–school links. For example, a Saturday morning breakfast ‘lads and dads’ session was particularly successful and well attended because its timing suited these fathers’ work patterns.

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Inspection findings

 Key stage 2 results and the school’s own monitoring have shown that outcomes for pupils in mathematics across the school have not been as consistently good as they should be. The school, led by the recently appointed mathematics leader, is addressing this with increasing effectiveness. Targeted training for staff has meant that the increased emphasis on problem-solving in mathematics lessons is having a positive impact. Inspection evidence supports this improvement. Pupils also report that they welcome the more ‘hands-on’ approach where they are applying their growing skills in a range of ‘real-life’ situations.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils’ attainment in the end of Year 2 tests has been consistently below the national averages for some years. Leaders’ initial assessments of children, moderated by other schools across the local authority, show that they come to the school with skills and knowledge well below those expected of children of a similar age. Once at school, however, pupils make rapid and sustained progress as a result of the teaching and support they receive. Despite this progress, leaders and governors recognise that more needs to be done to improve further the progress pupils make during their time in key stage 1.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  pupils in key stage 1 continue to make increasingly assured progress as a result of high-quality, carefully targeted teaching rooted in high expectations  the improvements to outcomes in mathematics develop and deepen as a result of the continued focus by all staff on the mathematical needs of all pupils  the marking and assessment of pupils’ work continue to develop and reflect the increasingly broad and challenging curriculum the school offers.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the director of children’s services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this short, one-day inspection, I met with you, phase and subject leaders, a range of staff, including newly qualified teachers, and two members of the governing body, including the vice-chair of the governing body. I also spoke with local authority officers. I visited classrooms with you and members of your leadership team and saw a range of lessons. While in the lessons, where appropriate, I spoke with pupils about their work and experience of the school. I also scrutinised a range of pupils’ books and folders. I spoke more formally with a group of pupils at lunchtime. I spoke informally with individual and groups of parents, reviewed information on Parent View and your own surveys of parents’ opinions of the school’s work. I scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s most recent evaluations of its performance and records and logs of behaviour. I attended a singing assembly at the start of the school day.

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