St Augustine's CofE Primary School

School report St Augustine’s CofE Primary School 380 Bolton Road, Pendlebury, Swinton, Manchester M27 8UX

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is an inadequate school

 The school has declined since its last inspection. Leaders, including governors, have failed to tackle effectively the weaknesses in teaching, learning and assessment and in outcomes for pupils that were identified at the last inspection.  For a number of years pupils, particularly those in key stage 2, have not made sufficient progress from their starting points. Pupils have left Year 6 poorly prepared for learning at secondary school.  The progress being made by pupils currently in school is inadequate, because weaknesses in the school’s assessment systems mean that teachers are unable to plan accurately to meet pupils’ different learning needs.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. Along with weak assessment, this means that teachers’ views of how well pupils are doing are overly optimistic.  The most able pupils are rarely stretched and so do not achieve as well as they could.

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This is an inadequate school

 There are inconsistencies in the frequency and quality of teachers’ marking. Teachers’ feedback does not consistently help pupils to know how to improve their work, as required by the school’s policy.  Pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics are not developed well enough. Pupils have too few opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge or use their writing skills in other subjects.  Pupils’ behaviour requires improvement because their attitudes to learning are not consistently good. Too many pieces of work are left unfinished, standards of presentation are inconsistent and pupils do not always take note of the feedback they get from teachers.  Early years provision is inadequate because, over time, it has lacked effective leadership. Assessment information for children in the Reception class is unreliable and provision fails to meet their needs.  Middle leaders, some of whom are recently

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This is an inadequate school

appointed, have had insufficient impact in tackling weaknesses in their areas of responsibility and thus driving improvements.  Governors rely too heavily on information given to them and do not ask challenging enough questions. Consequently, they have failed to hold school leaders to account for declining standards in the school.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils are safe and happy at school. Their welfare is promoted well and arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Children get off to a good start in the Nursery, where they make good progress.  There have been improvements in the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make).

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently improve the quality of teaching and learning across the school so as to improve outcomes for all pupils by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– ensuring that teachers’ assessments are accurate and so can be used effectively to make sure that the work teachers plan matches pupils’ different learning needs – ensuring that weak teaching is identified and challenged and that the good practice that does exist in the school is recognised and shared – improving the consistency and quality of teachers’ marking, in line with the school’s policy, so that marking gives pupils clear information about how to improve their work, and ensuring that pupils take note of these prompts as intended – accelerating the rate of progress of the most able pupils by ensuring that work set for them is sufficiently engaging and challenging – giving pupils sufficient opportunities to use and develop their skills in English and mathematics across other subjects – ensuring that pupils take pride in their work, making sure that work is not left unfinished and that presentation is consistently neat.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and leadership in the early years by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– ensuring that leaders responsible for the early years make regular and robust checks on the quality of teaching and assessment in the early years – ensuring that information on children’s performance is accurately collected and used to plan activities that build on children’s knowledge, skills and understanding across all areas of learning – ensuring that the range, quality and impact of activities that are available for Reception children to choose to access themselves matches the quality and effectiveness of such activities seen in Nursery.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership at all levels by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– ensuring that the school’s systems for assessing pupils’ progress and attainment are accurate, reliable and are being consistently implemented in all year groups – improving the monitoring and evaluation skills of all leaders so that the school’s evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning, and pupil outcomes, is accurate and robust – improving the effectiveness of governance so that governors more effectively hold school leaders to account.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

The school should not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 The quality of education has declined since the last inspection. Outcomes for pupils currently in the school are inadequate and inconsistencies in the quality of teaching over time across the school mean that progress is not accelerating at the required rate. Leaders, including governors, have failed to address this decline effectively.  Leaders have failed to ensure that systems for assessing pupils’ achievement and progress across the school are sufficiently accurate and rigorous, or that they are being used consistently in each class. As a result, assessments across the school are too generous and are not supported by the evidence seen in pupils’ work. These inconsistencies have not been picked up by leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment because these have not been sufficiently robust.  The support provided for newly qualified teachers has not been effective, particularly in terms of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

supporting them to accurately assess pupils’ progress and levels of attainment.  Leaders, including governors, do not show that they have the skills to accurately check on and evaluate the quality of education provided by the school. While historic issues with weak teaching have been addressed, the school’s view of the current impact of teaching across the school is too generous. This is because inaccurate assessment data has been accepted at face value and has masked wide inconsistencies in progress that still exist. Although leaders aim to promote equality of opportunity, this is not successful because too many pupils continue to underachieve.  The role played by middle leaders, some of whom have been appointed recently, in checking on the quality of teaching and learning and raising standards in their areas of responsibility, is not sufficiently well developed. Some initiatives to support subject leaders and raise standards, such as working with a

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

neighbouring high school on mathematics, have only begun recently and so their impact is yet to be seen. Consequently, middle leaders are not having a significant enough impact on identifying and addressing areas of underperformance.  The school’s curriculum covers a range of interesting topics overall, and these are enhanced by visitors coming into school and by class trips. The school uses its local heritage well and British values are incorporated effectively into the curriculum. For example, key stage 2 pupils produced some thoughtful poetry inspired by considerations of the perils of war. However, there are inconsistencies between classes in the breadth of curriculum being taught, with a strong focus on some subjects at the expense of others. Similarly, in many classes, opportunities to develop pupils’ English and mathematics skills across the curriculum are missed.  The school has appropriate systems in place to monitor the use of pupil premium funding, and this funding

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

is used both to provide academic support for pupils and to ensure that eligible pupils can access all enrichment experiences, such as trips or arts and musical events.  The school’s work to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. Attractive displays of artwork based on artistic heritage from around the world showcase pupils’ creative development and cultural awareness. They have a good awareness of British values, including democracy and respect and tolerance for others. Displays in the corridors support pupils’ understanding of British values and the school’s effective promotion of tolerance and respect for cultural diversity, other faiths and religions.  The sport funding is used effectively to provide a range of extra-curricular and sporting activities. These include teams taking part in tournaments against other schools, while during the inspection pupils had the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

opportunity to take part in fun aerobics sessions with an external provider. This funding is effective in increasing pupils’ participation in sport and encouraging a healthy lifestyle for its pupils.  The local authority is aware of the decline in standards in the school and concerns about the quality of teaching over time. It has provided support for governors and school leaders in addressing staffing issues and is now providing the school with additional support in areas such as the early years, although this support has not succeeded in bringing about the rapid improvements that are needed.  The governance of the school Governors rely too heavily on information that is presented to them by leaders and have failed to provide sufficient challenge to hold school leaders effectively to account. As a result, weaknesses identified by the previous inspection have not been addressed effectively and the quality of education

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

provided by the school has continued to decline. Arrangements for staff appraisal and the link between classroom performance and pay progression are clear. Governors are supportive of leaders’ efforts to eradicate a legacy of weak teaching across the school. However, governors’ views of the current quality of teaching in the school and its impact on outcomes for pupils are overly generous. Governors are clearly committed to the school, now recognise the seriousness of its current position and are determined to help it to improve quickly.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have put strong procedures in place to make sure suitable people are recruited and that staff and governors have received appropriate training. Recording procedures are robust and staff know what to do if they are worried about a pupil’s well-being. The site and building are secure and well maintained.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

 The quality of teaching over time has not been good enough, and consequently pupils have not been making the necessary progress to reach the standards of which they are capable.  Assessment is ineffective. The systems that the school has put in place are used poorly in some classes, with the result that assessments are inaccurate and do not provide teachers with the information that they need to plan work that meets pupils’ different learning needs. As a result, work is too easy for some pupils but too difficult for others.  Marking in pupils’ books is inconsistent and not all teachers follow the school’s policy effectively. Some teachers are more skilled than others at providing feedback to support pupils’ learning, but in too many classes, marking and other feedback does little to increase pupils’ progress and attainment.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are typically too low. This leads to teachers accepting

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

poor presentation and unfinished work, and also to the most able pupils not being sufficiently stretched and challenged by much of their work.  The teaching of mathematics over time is weak, and as a result pupils’ progress and attainment in mathematics have been poor. Teachers do not provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to reason mathematically or solve increasingly difficult mathematical problems. In many classes pupils have not developed the confidence and understanding needed to record their own work accurately, and this hinders their ability to grasp concepts such as place value as quickly as they should do.  Writing is not consistently well taught. Pupils do not use punctuation and grammar accurately enough and spelling is often weak. The teaching of handwriting varies from class to class, and this has a negative overall effect on pupils’ presentation. Throughout the school teachers plan too few opportunities for pupils

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

to write at length, to practise their skills and build up their stamina for writing.  The teaching of reading and phonics is stronger in key stage 1 than in the rest of the school. Pupils learn to use phonics to break down unfamiliar words, and they use these skills to help them to become better readers. Additional support has been put in place to help those pupils who are finding reading a challenge, and this helps them to grow in confidence and capability. However, the most able readers in key stage 2 do not make more than the expected amount of progress because they are not consistently stretched and challenged.  While the quality of teaching, learning and assessment over time is inadequate, there are pockets of stronger practice. For example, mathematics books from Year 5 showed work being well matched to pupils’ learning needs and problem-solving activities being used effectively to further develop pupils’ mathematical

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

thinking. In the Nursery, a teaching assistant’s effective questioning helped to consolidate children’s learning and extend their vocabulary as they explored in the water tray, while the teacher’s strong subject knowledge helped other pupils to make good progress in developing their phonics skills.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  The school provides a good level of nurture and care for all pupils, and this is appreciated by the large majority of parents, who describe the school as being ‘like a family’.  Pupils are polite and welcoming to visitors, and older pupils typically show a caring attitude towards younger ones during shared breaktimes.  Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They understand how to keep themselves safe because this is addressed effectively through the curriculum. Pupils have a good understanding of different aspects of internet safety and could describe steps that they would take to stay safe, such as not sharing personal details when using the internet.  Pupils know about different forms of bullying, including bullying using racist or homophobic language, but say that bullying in school is rare and any incidents that occur are always quickly dealt with by members of

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Personal development and welfare

staff.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well. While emphasis is placed on Christian values in this church school, pupils are developing a good understanding of the views and traditions of those from other cultures and faiths.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning require improvement. Pupils do not always take enough pride in their work, and presentation is not consistently good enough. Too many pieces of work are left unfinished, and pupils do not always take note of the comments that teachers put on their work.  Some pupils are over-reliant on adults managing their behaviour, and do not consistently manage their own behaviour to a good standard. For example, during the inspection, pupils who were left to work independently were often easily distracted and slow to settle to work while pupils were noticeably noisier moving around school when not under direct adult supervision.  Most pupils conduct themselves well on the playground, and enjoy playing with their friends using the good range of play equipment available.  Attendance over time is broadly average, and the school has effective systems in place to ensure that any

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 The progress of pupils in key stage 2 is inadequate. Progress is slow because the quality of teaching over time has been weak. At the end of Year 6, in 2015, pupils attained standards in reading, writing and mathematics significantly lower than would be expected based on their Year 2 performance. The proportions of pupils making or exceeding the expected amounts of progress were below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, many pupils leave Year 6 ill-prepared for secondary school.  In reading, the Year 1 phonics check showed that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level was broadly in line with the national average. There was a similar picture at the end of key stage 1, where the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level was also broadly in line with the proportion found nationally. However, by the end of Year 6 attainment in reading was significantly below the national

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

average.  Standards in writing are also stronger in key stage 1 than in key stage 2, where they were below the national average in 2015. Evidence of pupils’ writing seen during the inspection does not indicate any significant improvement in writing standards for pupils currently in the school.  Outcomes for pupils in mathematics have been stubbornly below the expected levels across the school for some time and this is a key area for improvement identified by the school. Where teaching is having the most positive impact there are indications that pupils are beginning to become more confident in using their mathematical knowledge and skills to tackle problems, but inconsistencies in teaching across the school mean that this is not the case in the majority of classes.  The most able pupils do not make the accelerated progress of which they are capable, and few reach the higher levels in either key stage 1 or key stage 2. This is because weak assessment practice fails to identify

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

what they can already do, and teachers’ expectations are too low and so work set for the most able pupils is not challenging enough.  In 2015, by the time they left Year 6, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment was typically a year behind that of other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. However, their rates of progress were at least in line with their classmates. Inspection evidence shows that this is typically also the case for disadvantaged pupils currently in the school.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are achieving well overall. This is because they typically receive caring and effective individual support, and the school has ensured that a range of intervention strategies is available for them.

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Early years provision is inadequate

 The large majority of children start in the Nursery with knowledge and skills that are typical for their age in almost all areas of learning, but which are lower in terms of their literacy and numeracy skills.  Children settle quickly and are keen to learn. Their progress in Nursery is good because teaching is good. Staff observe and assess children’s learning and development carefully and plan activities that build on children’s skills and interests. Staff show good subject knowledge, and use their questioning skills well to encourage children to think and to talk about their learning. The Nursery environment, both indoors and outdoors, is attractive and encourages children to learn and explore new things.  This good progress is not maintained in Reception, and over time outcomes for pupils at the end of the early years have been weak. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has declined

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Early years provision is inadequate

since the previous inspection and is below the national figure. Given children’s starting points on entry to Nursery, this represents inadequate progress.  Assessment in Reception is poor. While there is clear evidence of how children’s writing skills have developed over the course of the year, there is little evidence of children’s mathematical development, either in terms of children’s work or observations or assessments recorded on the school’s electronic log. As a result, planning to develop children’s skills in mathematics has lacked accuracy and children’s progress has been slow.  Teaching and learning in Reception are inadequate because activities do not cater well for children’s different ability levels. Children are generally more focused when working with an adult, but activities that children access independently fail to catch their imagination and have limited impact on learning. At times,

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Early years provision is inadequate

the lack of focus or structure in their play has a negative impact on children’s behaviour; a group of boys was observed acting in a silly manner in the outdoor area and it took adults too long to notice what they were doing.  The early years leader has only recently taken up her post and is currently teaching in another key stage. This has limited her opportunities to observe and evaluate the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the early years and their impact on children’s progress. However, she has already recognised that there have been inaccuracies for some time in Reception assessments. As a result, the leadership of the early years is not currently securing the necessary improvements in provision.  Parents with children in Nursery and Reception who were spoken to during the inspection said that they were happy with the provision in the early years.

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School details

Unique reference number 105947 Local authority Salford Inspection number 10012170 This inspection of the school 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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 235 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Canon Ian Anthony Headteacher Mrs Christine Hutson Telephone number 0161 794 4083 Website www.staugustinesprimaryschool.co.uk Email address staugustines.ceprimaryschool@salford.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 12 June 2014

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by pupil premium funding is above average. (The pupil premium is additional government funding to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.)  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is above average.  Children in the early years provision attend Nursery and Reception class on a full-time basis.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  There have been a number of staffing changes since the previous inspection, including within the school leadership.  The school holds a number of awards, including the Artsmark Gold award.  The school’s website meets requirements for the publication of information.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed a range of lessons across different year groups, listened to pupils read and held discussions with pupils from across the school.  Pupils’ work in books, and information about their progress and attainment was scrutinised with senior leaders.  Informal meetings were held with parents at the beginning of the school day. Inspectors also took account of a small number of responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as the school’s own parent questionnaire. Responses to the inspection questionnaire completed by five members of staff were considered.  Meetings were held with six governors, including the chair of the governing body. Meetings were also held with school leaders responsible for English and mathematics, provision for pupils who have special educational needs or disability and children in the early years.  A meeting took place with a representative from the local authority.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors examined a range of documents. These included information about outcomes for pupils, the school’s reviews of its own performance and checks on the quality of teaching, development plans, safeguarding documentation and various records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour.

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Inspection team

Neil Dixon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Maureen Hints 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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