St Paul's CofE Primary School

St Paul’s C of E Primary School St Paul’s Avenue, Buttershaw, Bradford BD6 1ST

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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 Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher have a very clear vision for the school. Since the previous inspection, they have quickly improved the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The governing body has supported school leaders in bringing about recent improvements. Governors’ good knowledge and understanding of school systems has enabled them to challenge and support leaders. Their involvement has contributed well to the school’s continuous improvement.  Teachers and other staff are united in their aim to do the best for all the children in their care. They work hard to ensure that pupils make good progress from their different starting points.  The early years staff are highly skilled in ensuring that they plan learning that matches the needs of the children. This means that children make excellent progress from their various starting points.  The curriculum is enriched with many opportunities to deepen pupils’ learning. Trips to a

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This is a good school

variety of different locations such as London and Alnwick help pupils to gain a broader understanding of life in modern Britain.  Pupils are very clear about how to behave, both in and out of lessons. They are exceptionally polite and respectful to each other, staff and visitors.  Pupils’ attendance is higher than the national average. This shows clearly how much pupils enjoy coming to school. Parents who spoke to the inspection team supported their children’s view that school is a special place, which they are proud to attend.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Work set for the most able pupils is not always sufficiently challenging. This slows their progress.  The system currently in place for monitoring the quality of work in pupils’ books is not rigorous enough. It does not give subject coordinators and other leaders an accurate view of pupils’ progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the level of challenge in the work set for the most able pupils to deepen their levels of knowledge and understanding and accelerate their progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make the systems for checking the work in pupils’ books more rigorous so that subject coordinators and other school leaders have a more accurate view of pupils’ progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher have a very clear vision of how to make the school even better in the future. Staff and governors share this vision. Their work has enabled the school to make rapid progress since the previous inspection in improving the quality of teaching and raising pupils’ achievement.  Leaders and other staff clearly recognise and support pupils’ academic, social and emotional needs. Their continuing high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and academic progress make a strong contribution towards moving the school forward.  The headteacher knows the school well. Her evaluation of where the school currently stands is accurate and her plans for the future are clear.  Leaders have highly effective systems in place for monitoring many aspects of the school’s performance, but the system in place to check progress in pupils’ books is not sufficiently rigorous. It does not give subject

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

coordinators or senior leaders sufficient information on how all pupils are making progress.  A well-organised system of performance management is in place. Teachers’ targets are closely linked to the school’s priorities for improvement. Any increases in staff pay are clearly linked to their success in meeting these targets. Senior leaders carry out regular appraisals and feedback is given to staff. This has directly contributed to recent improvements in the quality of teaching and assessment in the school.  The deputy headteacher carries out her pastoral duties with exceptional diligence. She has a tenacious approach to ensuring that pupils are given every opportunity to succeed by making effective use of relevant external services. For example, speech and language therapists now see children at school with their parents. This has directly increased the number of children attending appointments. Staff are also now able

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

to discuss individual pupils’ programmes with therapists. This increased contact has helped teachers to improve pupils’ speech and language skills.  The curriculum offers pupils a wide range of different opportunities to learn. Staff ensure that work set for pupils captures their interest. They make clear links between subjects, particularly in the ‘creative curriculum’, which covers art, science, history and geography. Recent changes to the mathematics curriculum have led to a whole-school approach that has successfully deepened pupils’ knowledge and improved their levels of understanding.  The school uses the extra funding it receives for disadvantaged pupils to support their academic, social and emotional needs. Individual pupils’ progress is very carefully checked throughout their time in school. Should a pupil be identified as not making the expected progress, staff very quickly put in place support that

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

enables them to catch up as rapidly as possible. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make good progress overall.  The school also makes effective use of the extra money it receives to increase pupils’ participation in sport within school. The use of professional sports coaches has increased the interest pupils have in sport. Attendance at the after-school sports clubs run by school has increased. For example, inspectors observed a large group of girls and boys attending a coach-led football session after school. Pupils described the session as, ‘great fun’ and a pupil said, ‘Coming has improved my football skills. I now score goals sometimes.’  Pupils have a good understanding of the structure of government and the rule of law. They also have direct experience in a democratic process when they vote for student councillors. Pupils add to their skills and understanding when they apply for the wide range of ‘jobs’ available to them in Year 6. This scheme ensures

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

that all pupils in Year 6 undertake some service to the school. Eco-warriors, for example, patrol the school ensuring lights are switched off in empty classrooms and they recycle paper. Reception helpers play with children in the Reception Year at lunchtime. Digital leaders look after the school’s laptops, contribute to the school blog and lead assemblies on a range of topics including internet safety.  Visits to a range of different places include trips to galleries, museums, outdoor pursuits centres and a local university to sample life as a student. These experiences increase pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well.  The governance of the school Governors are clear about the school’s strengths and what they need to do to move the school forward. Minutes of governing body meetings confirm their astute questioning of senior leaders in their quest to develop further understanding. Governors are familiar with school systems and data. They use this

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

knowledge to challenge leaders effectively to continue to improve standards. Governors are frequent visitors to school, undertaking a range of different activities including listening to pupils read. They attend training regularly and ensure that safeguarding, health and safety standards are maintained.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Safeguarding of children is clearly central to the school’s ethos. Staff understand safeguarding procedures well and undertake rigorous training.  The school’s family support officer and the deputy headteacher work closely with a wide range of outside agencies. They regularly attend meetings in relation to pupils’ safeguarding. They also often take the lead in responding to issues relating to pupils and families and ensure that safeguarding processes and procedures are of the highest quality.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 School leaders and other staff have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve. Their current focus on deepening pupils’ knowledge has accelerated the progress of all groups.  Staff carefully plan pupils’ future learning using information gained from previous lessons. Teachers and teaching assistants are skilled at using questions to find out how much pupils have understood and using this information to tailor further learning.  Reading is promoted throughout the school. Younger pupils have reading books, which they take home to read with parents each day. Older pupils enjoy visits to the school library. ‘It’s the best bit of Wednesday’ and ‘I just love reading, it’s like visiting a different world’ are just two of the comments made by pupils that show their love of reading.  Teachers have a very clear focus on developing pupils’ phonics skills (matching sounds to letters). Daily phonics sessions are taught in the early years and key stage 1. The school is justifiably proud of its above-

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

average results in the national phonics screening check.  Relationships between staff and pupils are very strong and contribute directly to the excellent behaviour seen in lessons. Staff know each pupil well and have very high expectations of their behaviour. Pupils understand this well and disruption to learning is rare.  The school’s focus on developing mathematics has seen a marked increase in the number of pupils making the expected progress and more than the expected progress. Staff say that recent training has improved their confidence and they are now teaching mathematics more effectively than previously. They feel the close emphasis on mastery and deepening pupils’ thinking has helped their levels of understanding.  Teaching assistants and cover supervisors work closely with teachers in planning pupils’ work. They are skilled at asking questions and support the learning of the least able pupils well. Consequently, this group

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

make good and better progress.  The work in pupils’ current books shows that the most able pupils make less rapid progress than other groups. Teachers give extra challenges to pupils who complete their work but the level of challenge within this work is not sufficiently high. For example, a further challenge in mathematics may include a similar problem with larger numbers, rather than asking pupils to extend their thinking skills by using their knowledge to solve a different problem.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Pupils say how much they enjoy coming to school. Parents agree with this and one commented, ‘My child loves coming to school so much she would come here on a Saturday and Sunday if they were open’.  The morning breakfast club is well attended and is much appreciated by parents and pupils alike. ‘We don’t get bored because teachers make learning fun’, said another group of pupils attending breakfast club. The same pupils also said, ‘Bullying doesn’t happen here. If it was to occur, pupils are clear about what action to take’.  Pupils are very proud of their school. A comment made by pupils summed up their feelings well, ‘We are all part of a family’. This is clearly evident in the excellent levels of care and concern shown for the welfare of all pupils and their families. Several parents sought out the inspectors to tell them how well they had been

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Personal development and welfare

supported by school staff who, they felt, ‘were there to offer help to anyone who needs it’.  The school is an exceptionally nurturing environment. Developing pupils’ self-esteem and self-worth is a very high priority. The deputy headteacher works tirelessly to support pupils and their families. A wide range of support is offered to pupils themselves. This includes individual counselling sessions for bereavement and family crises, ensuring each pupil feels cared for at all times.  Pupils take part in a range of sporting and musical activities both in school and through after-school clubs, which successfully promote their physical and emotional well-being.  The school’s close links to the church, which is located next to the school, promote pupils’ spiritual understanding. Fundraising for a variety of different causes enables pupils to develop an understanding of the needs of others.  Pupils are aware that discrimination and bullying can take many different forms, including online bullying.

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Personal development and welfare

They feel exceptionally safe in school and the work they do in school through, for example, ‘e-safety training’, helps them to stay safe outside school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Learning in most classrooms is very rarely disrupted by pupils’ difficult behaviour. This is because staff have exceptionally high expectations and consistently use the school’s simple rules for behaviour.  Pupils’ excellent behaviour contributes directly to their good levels of progress across the curriculum.  Their behaviour outside the classroom is often exemplary. They show kind and considerate attitudes to each other, staff and visitors. The corridors are calm and orderly and pupils open doors for others. In the playground, ‘buddies’ and ‘play leaders’ ensure that no one is left out of games.  Pupils clearly enjoy coming to school. This can be seen on their smiling faces and in their usually very punctual arrival, sometimes well before breakfast club starts.  School leaders work exceptionally hard to form strong relationships with parents, including those who are

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Behaviour

the most difficult to reach. Their success in this area is reflected in pupils’ high level of attendance which, at the time of the inspection, was above the national average for primary schools.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 School data clearly shows that pupils make good or better progress from a range of starting points in both English and mathematics. Work in pupils’ book supports this view, too.  Children often start in the Reception class with knowledge and skills below those typical for their age. By the end of the Reception Year, most reach or exceed the early learning goals. Children’s progress last year was a little higher than that achieved nationally. Children are on course to make similar gains this year also. This represents outstanding progress overall.  Pupils in key stage 1 clearly build on the good start they had in the Reception Year. Last year, standards were in line with or above national averages for most groups. This represents good progress overall in English and mathematics.  By the end of key stage 2, the standards reached by most pupils are at or above those expected nationally. Last year 100% of pupils reached the expected standards in mathematics, reading and writing and many

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Outcomes for pupils are good

exceeded this standard. This represents good and better progress overall.  The most able pupils make good progress overall. They do not always make the progress of which they are capable, however, because the extra work set for them is not always as challenging as it could be.  School data shows that pupils who have attended the school continuously from the Reception Year to Year 6 have made good progress in mathematics and English. This is further evidenced by the good levels of progress seen in pupils’ books.  Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds supported through extra funding make similar progress to others nationally and very similar progress to their peers in the school.  School data shows that pupils also make good progress in subjects other than mathematics and English. For example, pupils make good progress in art, science and physical education because teaching is good and staff have high expectations of pupils’ progress and behaviour.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 School data also shows that pupils who have special educational needs make good progress from a range of starting points. The school’s special educational needs coordinator makes regular checks to identify their needs at an early stage and puts extra support in place.  At the end of Year 6, pupils make a successful transition to a range of different high schools.

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Early years provision is outstanding

 Leadership in the early years is excellent. The early years teacher works closely with the school’s senior leaders. Staff clearly recognise the varying needs of the children in their care and have put in place activities that ensure they make rapid progress overall.  Children who join the early years often join with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age. Some are behind by one stage in their development, particularly in speaking, listening and early reading and writing skills. Last year, by the end of their time in the Reception Year, a higher percentage met the age- expected levels than children nationally. This was due to the excellent quality of provision in place, both in the classroom and the outdoor area.  Children quickly settle when they arrive in the Reception class, as evidenced by the calm and happy way they skip down the path and separate from their parents each morning. Opportunities such as working

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Early years provision is outstanding

together to build a model out of bricks or working out which container holds the most water enable them to learn how to take turns and improve their social skills and behaviour.  The outdoor area offers a wealth of opportunities for children to develop and play. Resources such as the ‘mud kitchen’ and the sparkling sand enable them to develop their imagination and their writing skills.  The welfare of each child is a very clear focus for all staff. Safeguarding procedures and policies are of the same high standard as others within the school. As a result, pupils are safe, happy and well cared for.  Early years staff work in the same cohesive manner as other staff in the school. Each child has a key worker who assesses his or her progress regularly. The quality of the observations made by staff in the different areas of learning is excellent. These are stored on the school’s computer system and parents all have

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Early years provision is outstanding

individual online access through a secure system. This enables them to check on their children’s progress at any time.  Parents spoken with during the inspection felt that the early years provision gave their children an excellent start at school. They commented that staff were ‘very approachable’ and ‘were never too busy to talk to them’. Their overwhelming support is clear evidence of the strong relationships that have been built between staff and parents.  Overall, children make excellent progress from their starting points because activities set inspire and engage them to learn. Most meet the early learning goals at the end of the Reception class and are very well prepared for their transition to Year 1.  The current Reception Year contains slightly more disadvantaged children than average. The school uses its extra funding for this group of children to ensure that they make similar progress to their peers.

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School details

Unique reference number 107319 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 10002169

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul Bland Headteacher Helen Malt Telephone number 01274 679183 Website www.stpaulsceprimary.com Email address office@stpauls.bradford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19–20 November 2013

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. Pupils come predominantly from the Wibsey and Buttershaw areas of Bradford. It has an average proportion of disadvantaged pupils.  The school has a higher than average proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability.  The school is adjacent to St Paul’s Church. Pupils attend services at the church regularly.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards for primary schools, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of key stage 2.

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Information about this inspection

 Members of the inspection team observed learning in all areas of the school and carried out joint observations with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher.  Meetings were held with staff, pupils, the leadership team, four members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Safeguarding documents, the school’s development plan and documents relating to pupils’ progress were among those scrutinised as part of the inspection process.  The views of 27 parents who responded to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account. The views of a further 12 parents who spoke to the inspector informally at the start and finish of school day were also taken into account.

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Inspection team

Marian Thomas, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Dr Mujahid Ali 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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