Crossley Hall Primary School

Crossley Hall Primary School Thornton Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD8 0HJ

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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

 The new senior leadership team, ably led by the headteacher, has ensured the school has moved forward since the last inspection. The team demonstrates good capacity to lead further developments.  Leaders have energised staff. Teachers adopt and adapt a wide range of effective ways to teach. As a result, pupils’ progress is good, particularly in phonics (letters and the sounds they make), writing and mathematics.  Pupils are keen to learn. They talk about how they learn to keep themselves safe and feel safe. They are respectful and tolerant. The chance to be in the ‘school workforce’ helps prepare them to be productive future citizens.  Leaders provide a stimulating range of opportunities for pupils to learn in different ways. This means pupils have lots to think, talk and write about, leading to strong progress in writing and personal development.  Children in the early years provision, including the two-year-olds, make good progress as a result of

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This is a good school

good provision. Early years leaders have a clear understanding of what can be done to ensure even better progress.  Pupils who are disadvantaged, including new arrivals to Britain, are well supported and make good progress in a range of subjects.  Leaders, including the chair of governors, are resolute in their work to keep pupils safe. Staff use their training well and are alert to any signs that pupils may be at risk of harm.  Parents and staff agree that the school is well led, teaching is good and pupils make good progress.  Governors know what the school does well. They support and challenge leaders if standards show signs of slipping.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Leaders have not worked out why some pupils’ progress stalls. Therefore, they are unable to ensure teachers consistently use the best approach for pupils with different needs and starting points.  Not all pupils are currently making strong progress in reading.  The outdoor space in the early years is not as well used as other areas to promote children’s progress.  Governors’ and leaders’ plans are not always clear about the intended impact of the new activities they introduce. Governors do not keep up to date with everything they must publish on the website.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leaders’ and governors’ effectiveness by ensuring: – development plans have more clarity about the intended impact new activities will have on pupils’ progress – they keep up to date with the information they must publish on the school’s website.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leaders’ support to teachers, so that teaching, learning and assessment are more effective by giving them feedback which identifies precisely how to improve the effectiveness of their practice.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the progress pupils make so that a higher proportion reach a greater depth of knowledge and understanding than expected for their age, particularly in reading, by ensuring that: – teachers consistently use the most effective approaches for pupils with different needs and starting points – teachers work out precisely why some pupils’ progress slows and use the information to put the most effective plans in place to help pupils catch up quickly.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the way the outdoors is used to promote children’s progress in the early years.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Since the previous inspection, a new team of senior leaders, ably led by the long-standing headteacher, has brought renewed vigour and enthusiasm to the school. This has resulted in previously identified areas for improvement being addressed. Leaders and governors have high expectations for all pupils and have not quibbled about the raised expectations of the new curriculum.  Leaders make sure that teachers meet the standards expected for their different levels of experience. Teachers and teaching assistants appreciate the training opportunities they get to keep them up to date and develop their practice.  Senior leaders are zealous about checking whether what they expect teachers to do is helping pupils make faster progress. A wide range of staff are involved in these checks. This has led to a very open culture where teachers are keen to talk about how to improve their work and share ideas with each other.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Sometimes when leaders feedback to teachers they are not specific enough about what they want teachers to do differently. This reduces the impact of their work in this area.  The wide range of activities provided throughout the school day and afterwards, as well as good teaching of English and mathematics, results in pupils developing their curiosity and confidence. Pupils work hard to earn privileges, such as caring for the school snake, and look forward to applying to join the school workforce to earn extra points. Sporting and arts activities enrich the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Respect and tolerance are threaded through lessons and assemblies, and modelled by all staff. As a result, pupils understand British values.  The overwhelming majority of parents and staff who expressed their views about the school were positive. A very small number expressed concerns, but these were not substantiated by inspection evidence.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Leaders are rightly proud of the inclusive culture they have created. Pupils who need extra support for their emotional and behavioural needs receive it in a sensitive way by skilled staff. Leaders regularly check if their plans to promote equality in the school are working.  Leaders ensure additional funding given for specific purposes is used effectively. The physical education (PE) and sports grant is used to provide a wide range of sporting activities and develop teachers’ skills in leading PE lessons. Pupils are very clear that taking part and trying your best is important. They have a good range of opportunities to do so.  Pupil premium funding is spent equally as effectively. There were some dips in the proportion of disadvantaged pupils making good progress last year. However, current information indicates a good proportion of the disadvantaged pupils will achieve expectations at the end of this school year.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The governance of the school – Since the last inspection, governors have appropriately addressed difficult staffing issues with grit and sensitivity. They have done this without losing sight of the actions they needed to take to improve the school. – Governors know the school well because they check information leaders give them during their regular visits to school. For example, the chair of the governing body uses her knowledge of safeguarding to challenge leaders and staff to keep alert to any form of harm pupils may encounter. She checks the effectiveness of this aspect of the school’s work through frank discussions with pupils. – Governors check the headteacher’s recommendations about teachers’ pay awards. They ask challenging questions to make sure teachers work towards challenging targets linked to the school’s plans. – Governors ensure that additional funding for different purposes is used in the right way and, over

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

time, brings positive benefit to the pupils concerned. – Governors do not make sure the school’s development plans clearly link new activities with their impact on pupils’ progress, so they cannot easily check the effectiveness of these activities. – Governors have not kept fully up to date with what they are required to publish on the school’s website.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They learn how to keep themselves safe in a variety of different ways. Leaders ensure staff are trained in a wide range of safeguarding matters and staff use their knowledge effectively. They have a clear commitment to pupils’ welfare, and raise concerns about pupils when necessary. Staff alertness to the ‘Prevent’ strategy has led to appropriate actions being taken in a timely way. Leaders do not shy away from difficult conversations with parents or other agencies because pupils’ safety is their priority.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Effective teaching leads to pupils learning well and making good progress. Leaders skilfully support teachers to develop accurate assessments of what pupils know and understand in comparison with what is expected for their age.  Work in pupils’ books confirms the progress inspectors saw being made in lessons. Most teachers skilfully question pupils to check if they have understood the concepts being taught. As a result, these teachers can quickly provide more support for pupils who need it and more challenge for the most-able pupils who are ready to move on.  Teachers’ verbal and written feedback to pupils about their work ensures pupils know what to correct or think about more deeply. This is most effective when pupils are given time to respond to the teachers’ advice. Some teachers are not as adept as others in this skill. As a result, a few pupils make slower progress in some classes.  Considerable progress has been made in teaching pupils how to use their mathematical knowledge to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

work out problems. Some of the most-able pupils are challenged to solve multistep problems using different calculations.  Pupils develop effective writing skills, because they are given experiences to talk and write about. More accurate use of grammatical structures is emerging, helped by the ‘grammar police’ who encourage good speaking skills.  Teaching assistants provide a range of effective support to individual pupils and to groups. This was particularly evident in the range of phonics groups observed, during which a high proportion of pupils made good progress.  The effectiveness of teaching reading varies and this is reflected in pupils’ current progress in different classes. Some teachers do not give enough guidance to pupils about the books they choose or check how much pupils understand when reading to themselves.  All teachers work with leaders to identify any pupils making slower than expected progress. However,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

they do not consistently work out why some pupils are falling behind so the plans put in place to support these pupils do not always bring about the rapid progress needed to get them back on track.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils know they are valued by staff and their views are listened to. Members of the ‘Junior Leadership Team’ are proud of the fact leaders respect their opinions and make some of the changes they want.  Pupils who need additional support get the benefit of time with skilled staff in ‘The Jigsaw’. The nurture and care provided here has a measurable, positive impact on the pupils who need this extra help.  Leaders take a very sound approach to assessing risks involved in the different activities they provide. Keeping animals in school and climbing trees enriches the pupils’ lives as they learn to take risks safely.  Pupils learn to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils accurately describe how careful they are not to give any identifying information about themselves when playing games online.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons, pupils show good attitudes to learning, especially when teachers plan work that provides the right level of challenge. Staff consistently use the school’s approach to help pupils learn to manage their own behaviour, so pupils learn to work hard.  Playtimes are lively as pupils enjoy the chance to let off steam. Pupils on ‘Anti-Bullying Patrol’ help others who may feel unhappy and an appropriate level of staff supervision means pupils are safe and feel included. Pupils are honest and say some bullying happens but staff help them to sort it out quickly.  Attendance has improved over the last three years and is currently the same as most schools. The attendance of a very small number of pupils with special educational needs has been slower to improve. However, leaders know that for some of these pupils the absence is due to unavoidable medical reasons.

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Behaviour

The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is rising, although not quite as much as other pupils in school.  Leaders work successfully with families who do not value education. The support leaders give ranges from penalty fines to picking pupils up if family circumstances mean that parents genuinely cannot get their child to school.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Teachers’ current assessments show that most pupils, in most classes, are on track to reach the standards expected for their age, in writing and mathematics. In addition, a good proportion are on track to achieve knowledge and understanding at greater depth than is expected. Slightly fewer pupils are on track to achieve the standard in reading.  Inspectors share leaders’ confidence in the progress of current pupils because of the convincing evidence seen in pupils’ books and progress seen during visits to lessons. In classes where progress is not as strong, leaders are providing effective support to help pupils catch up.  The current progress of disadvantaged pupils is strong in Year 5, and in Year 6 these pupils’ progress is faster than other pupils, so they are catching up. The most-able pupils are making stronger progress this year and the work in their books includes more challenging tasks.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils who have special educational needs or disability make good progress. A few pupils in this group experience dips in their progress. As with other pupils whose progress stalls, teachers do not always work out exactly what it is that is stopping them from making faster progress.  Outcomes for pupils in 2015 were varied. The proportion of children in the early years reaching a good level of development improved from 2014; a high proportion of Year 1 pupils met the required standard in phonics, and a good proportion of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. However, not enough pupils made more than expected progress in mathematics and reading. Leaders have taken the necessary steps to secure the current good progress for more pupils.  In a few classes, progress in reading is hampered for some pupils because they do not receive enough guidance about choosing books that will develop their skills and interest in reading.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Children in early years and older pupils are well supported and prepared for their moves on to the next stage of their education. Year 6 pupils move to a large number of different secondary schools, but this does not stop leaders providing a good range of moving-on activities.

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Early years provision is good

 Leaders have a clear understanding of the strengths of the early years provision and can pinpoint areas that need further work. For example, they have improved assessment practice and inspectors agreed the accuracy of assessments of children from when they started to the current time.  A significant proportion of children join the Nursery with a level of development that is generally below that typical for their age. As a result of good-quality provision, including good teaching, children make good progress. An increasing number of children are on track to reach a good level of development so they are ready to join Year 1 classes. Disadvantaged children get the extra support they need so they start catching up with others.  Leaders know that it will be difficult for some children, from significantly below-typical starting points, to reach a good level of development by the end of this year. However, due to increasingly accurate

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Early years provision is good

assessments and their knowledge of the complex challenges many of these children face, leaders and staff ensure they make good progress, particularly in each child’s area of greatest need.  Effective teaching achieves a good balance between activities chosen by children and activities chosen by staff. A strong focus on developing children’s speaking and listening skills contributes to the good development of phonics skills.  Children learn to play well together and develop an interest in learning about new things as well as being reassured by familiar activities. Leaders ensure all the necessary welfare requirements are met and the staff in the early years are alert to their safeguarding responsibilities  The provision for two-year-olds is developing rapidly. Staff know the different needs of those children who are just only two and those that are almost three. A kindly, nurturing approach is allowing children

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Early years provision is good

to develop their curiosity and confidence.  Parents are confident about the early years provision. They contribute to their child’s learning journal and benefit from a range of activities such as ‘stay and play’ and ‘take home and talk’ sheets.  The outdoor provision needs further development. The absence of labels and signs means that children are not exposed to words and numbers to support their development as much as they could be.

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School details

Unique reference number 107203 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 10011954 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 Maintained Age range of pupils 2–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 711 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Deirdre Bailey Headteacher Michael Thorp Telephone number 01274 488703 Website www.crossleyhall.com Email address office@crossleyhall.com Date of previous inspection 19–20 March 2014

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Information about this school

 Crossley Hall Primary School is much larger than most primary schools. The number of pupils at the school has increased significantly since the last inspection and there are now three classes in each year group.  Since the previous inspection, all senior leaders, with the exception of the headteacher, are new to the school or new to their role. A significant number of teachers have also joined the school.  The governing body has reconstituted since the previous inspection and there are several new members. Following a positive response to a consultation about the school becoming an academy, the governors are currently considering which multi-academy trust to join.  The majority of pupils are of Pakistani heritage. There is a small proportion of pupils from a range of different backgrounds, including White British. There is an increasing proportion of pupils joining the school who have newly arrived from Eastern Europe and other countries.

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Information about this school

 A high proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language and an increasing number of pupils are new to the English language. There is an above-average proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and for whom the school receives the pupil premium. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils who need support for special educational needs or disability is lower than average, as is the number of pupils who have education, health and care plans.  Since the previous inspection, the early years provision has moved into a new building on the school site. This building was extended and provision for two-year-olds was opened in May 2015. The children attend for 15 hours a week, spread over three or five days.  Nursery classes provide part-time education and children move to full time in the Reception class.

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Information about this school

 The school runs a daily breakfast club and a range of after-school clubs.  The school is an active member of a local area partnership of schools called ‘Exceed’. The partnership provides professional development opportunities and research opportunities for staff.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all classes at least once, for varying lengths of times. During these visits, they talked with pupils and reviewed the work in their books. Six of the visits were made jointly with members of the senior leadership team.  Inspectors and senior leaders jointly reviewed the school’s assessment information and compared it with the work in pupils’ books.  Inspectors considered a range of school documents and records, including those relating to safeguarding and leaders’ records of their checks on the effectiveness of teaching.  Meetings were held with senior leaders, middle leaders, newly qualified teachers, teaching assistants and the chair and vice-chair of the governing body. A discussion was held with a representative of the local authority.  Pupils’ views were taken into account, through informal discussions with pupils at lunch, playtime and during lessons, and in three separate meetings with pupils from all year groups. No pupils completed

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Information about this inspection

Ofsted’s online survey.  Inspectors considered the views of staff during meetings and also took into account the 21 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Parents’ views were considered through face-to-face discussions with a number of parents as they dropped their children at school, one telephone call and seven free text responses to Parent View (Ofsted’s online survey for parents), as well as the school’s own surveys of parents’ views.

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Inspection team

Susan Hayter, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Lorna Rushton Ofsted Inspector Mark Randall Ofsted Inspector Jaimie Holbrook 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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