Kimberworth Community Primary School

Kimberworth Community Primary School Kimberworth Road, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S61 1HE

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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

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 Governors and leaders have persevered to find the right approach to ensure a good standard of education for Kimberworth pupils.  Over the last two years, leaders have introduced a series of well-researched approaches to teaching and learning. The result is that pupils now make good progress as they benefit from good teaching.  Effective teaching is based on frequent and accurate assessments. This means teachers know when pupils need more help and when they are ready to move on quickly. As a result, pupils make good progress and a good proportion are on track to reach the standards expected for their age.  Leaders’ commitment to equality, and detailed checks on pupils’ progress, ensure that gaps in the achievements of different groups of pupils continue to close.  Pupils are keen to learn and behave well. They understand the values of respect and tolerance underpinning British society.  Pupils say that they feel safe and learn how to

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This is a good school

keep themselves safe in lots of different ways. Crucially, they are resilient and confident to talk about their worries.  Pupils are proud of their topic work. Their folders show how well they use their literacy and mathematical skills in a full range of subjects.  Teachers and teaching assistants support the developments in school because they can see the improved achievements of pupils.  Parents are positive about the school. Many parents appreciate the support they are given to get involved in their children’s learning.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The early years provision requires improvement because leaders have not made sure that checks on children’s learning are always accurate. As a result, teaching does not focus clearly enough on children’s next steps, so hampers their progress.  Some teaching is not effective in challenging the most able pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding in different subjects.  The attendance of some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability, has not improved fast enough.  Leaders do not always define the impact that activities should have on pupils’ progress. Therefore, they cannot always check what is working and what is not.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the outcomes for children across the early years provision by ensuring that:  leaders undertake regular and robust checks on the accuracy of assessments, when children start at school, throughout their time in early years and when they are ready to move on to Year 1  leaders develop a system that identifies children’s next steps as a result of accurate assessment  staff are consistent in their expectations of good behaviour and vigilant at all times about all aspects of children’s welfare  staff are consistent in the way they work with children, asking questions and modelling language, particularly for the youngest children.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that:  leaders and managers analyse the information they have about the progress pupils make so they can identify which activities are leading to the most progress  leaders produce development plans that have clear, measurable targets for the further improvement of pupils’ progress, including the proportions achieving the expected standards and those working at greater depth  there is a systematic approach to reviewing and updating policies and procedures and publishing the required information on the school’s website.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Extend the range of approaches to support parents who do not fully appreciate the value of regular school attendance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of teaching, learning and assessment by increasing the challenge to the most able pupils in topic work.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Senior leaders have persevered in their quest to get this school to a good standard. Through visits to other schools in similar circumstances, they have successfully hunted down approaches that work well for their pupils. Their ambition to develop the school further is clear in their plans for the future.  Senior leaders recognised the need to develop the whole staff team to get the maximum benefit from everyone’s skills. This has led to the effective development of middle leaders, and supporting staff at all levels to gain qualifications which contribute to the improved achievement of pupils. This approach has secured the strong commitment of staff, who appreciate the support they are given.  Leaders’ checks on the effectiveness of teaching are wide ranging and have a positive impact. Feedback given to teachers is precise and guides their development well. These developments lead to pupils making quicker progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Leaders are swift to respond to external advice and check whether approaches put in place are making a difference. For example, they realised that teachers were providing increasingly time-consuming written feedback to pupils, so they developed a more effective policy that helps teachers mark work more efficiently. Pupils understand and respond to the process now in place, leading to improved progress.  Leaders have enabled teachers to develop the curriculum in response to the new national expectations. The resulting programme of topics supports pupils’ learning in a range of subjects. Equally importantly, topics enrich pupils’ love of learning and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Opportunities to take part in competitive sports and physical education (PE) are well developed through the appropriate use of the PE and sports grant.  Leaders’ commitment and promotion of equality ensure that they keep a sharp eye on the progress of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

different groups of pupils. They use additional money, such as the pupil premium and special educational needs resources, to good effect. Over time, the gaps between pupils who are disadvantaged, and between different groups of pupils, and the majority of pupils are closing. Pupils who have special educational needs or disability make good progress.  The vast majority of parents fully appreciate the school’s work. This year, leaders introduced a system that includes termly meetings with parents and pupils to discuss progress and each pupil’s next steps. This, combined with the ‘morning challenge’ sessions, to which parents are invited, helps parents understand what their children are expected to learn and the progress they make.  Leaders’ judgements about the effectiveness of the school are broadly accurate, except they have not checked the accuracy of assessment well enough in the early years. Consequently, they have been too

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

optimistic about the impact the provision has on children’s development.  Leaders’ planning, either for whole-school developments or for the use of specific funds, has been effective. However, plans do not include targets for improvement that are tightly linked to pupils’ progress and attainment. This means that governors cannot quickly check what is working well and what needs to change or develop further.  The local authority has provided effective support for the development of key stages 1 and 2. Unfortunately, support for the early years provision has not been as effective as this aspect of the school’s work requires improvement.  The governance of the school  Governance has developed over the last two years and governors are now effective in challenging leaders to improve standards. Governors have a good mix of relevant skills, including those of a national leader of governance. Knowledgeable and sharp-eyed governors spotted looming financial

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

issues and have taken difficult but effective action to prevent a deficit budget slowing the development of the school.  Governors have an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness of teaching as they take the time to unpick and question the detailed information provided by leaders. This informs decisions they make about teachers’ pay awards and the use of specific funds, for example the pupil premium and primary sports grant.  Governors are deeply reflective and continually look for ways to improve their impact on the standards achieved by the school. For example, recent decisions to establish a governor’s attendance panel will help parents, who have resisted other forms of support, understand the benefits of good attendance.  Although most gaps were addressed during the inspection, governors have not kept on top of all the requirements to keep policies up to date or publish key information on the school’s website.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. All staff and governors are well trained in a good range of safeguarding issues. They use this knowledge sensitively to support vulnerable pupils. Leaders are acutely aware of the needs of the local community, particularly those relating to child sexual exploitation. They actively work to support families to resolve negative feelings about some children’s services. This work is helping to secure better and safer futures for pupils.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching has improved and is now good. Teachers regularly check how well pupils are doing, particularly in basic mathematical skills and their use of grammar, spelling and punctuation. They use these accurate assessments to pinpoint what pupils need to learn next and to ensure that they plan to fill any gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding.  Pupils say that they enjoy weekly tests. The approach allows pupils to develop more resilient attitudes to learning as they know they can learn from any mistakes they make.  Teachers’ use of questions skilfully encourages pupils to think deeply about their answers. For example, questioning pupils’ mistakes when calculating the area of compound shapes quickly reinforced the correct use of the formulas. Such questioning supports the good rate of progress that pupils make.  Teachers quickly spot when pupils have understood new concepts and move them on to new challenges,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

even when this means changing their plans mid-lesson. Although not all teachers consistently use the most effective strategies, the open culture of sharing skills supports all teachers’ continued development.  Teaching assistants make a significant contribution to the progress pupils make. Effective training enables them to lead small-group activities planned to fill gaps in pupils’ knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs or disability benefit from effective individual sessions and small-group work. Small groups are also used to support most-able pupils to deepen their understanding.  Starting with skilled teaching of phonics to the youngest children, pupils learn to read well and importantly develop a love of reading. Teachers use a range of strategies to maintain these essential skills and provide a wide range of books and materials to engage the interests of pupils.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching is equally effective over a range of subjects. The topic approach works well as pupils are able to use and further develop their literacy and mathematical skills in a variety of different ways. Teachers are diligent in their use of the school’s marking policy in all subjects, including topic work. Pupils respond to teachers’ guidance, either directly on their work or during the ‘morning challenge’ sessions. This results in pupils making good progress. Sometimes topic work does not stretch the most able pupils and this limits their chance to work at the greater depth they are capable of.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Leaders ensure that pupils understand the values important to Britain. Pupils learn to link democratic processes, for example, the EU referendum, with respecting and tolerating people’s different choices and opinions. This supports the pupils’ development as British citizens.  Pupils learn to keep themselves safe across different areas of their lives. Leaders respond to known concerns outside school by directly tackling issues with pupils. For example, worries about inappropriate ‘selfies’ being shared via social media led to local police presenting an awareness session with pupils. When vigilant staff realised that not all pupils had absorbed the information, they used another approach to hammer home the message, which fully engaged older pupils.  Pupils feel safe in school and learn how to understand different types of bullying. Pupils were universal in

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Personal development and welfare

their praise and confident about the support offered by the inclusion officer. They described being listened to and understood so that any incidents could be properly resolved.  Leaders take appropriate steps to ensure that the risks involved in different activities are considered so that pupils can enjoy a wide range of trips and events safely. They make sure that any concerns about equipment and the building are dealt with quickly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are keen to learn. They listen attentively to teachers and quickly get on with tasks set. This positive attitude contributes to the strong progress they make. In some lessons, particularly topic work, pupils are enthusiastic learners. In these lessons, work captures their interest and imagination and pupils are proud of the work they produce. Very occasionally, when work set is not well matched to their needs, some pupils, usually boys, become less engaged.  The vast majority of pupils are confident that teachers will quickly sort out any difficulties arising from pupils ‘falling out’ or teasing each other. Leaders’ records show that incidents of poor behaviour have fallen over the last two years. Pupils benefit from the new points system, as well as the established system for rewarding good behaviour and reinforcing that there are consequences to poor behaviour.

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Behaviour

 Leaders very occasionally arrange partial timetables for pupils who experience difficulties with their emotional well-being. The plans are short term and lead to pupils returning to full timetables and improving their overall progress. Leaders work well with the local authority to ensure that pupils who leave school unexpectedly are tracked until admitted to another school.  Despite leaders’ considerable efforts, attendance remains stubbornly below the national average for primary schools. This is due to an unhealthy proportion of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils and some who have special educational needs or disability, who are frequently absent. Leaders recognise that more needs to be done to ensure that more parents value the difference regular attendance will make to their children’s life chances.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Over the last three years, pupils’ progress has improved. In 2015, Year 6 pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability, all made the progress expected over key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics. Significantly, a larger proportion of disadvantaged pupils and others made good progress compared with other pupils in other schools in reading. The improving rates of progress mean that an increasing proportion of pupils get to the expected standards by the end of Year 6 from below-average starting points.  The standards that pupils reached by the end of key stage 1 have improved but were still below the standards reached by most other schools in 2015.  The proportion of children reaching the expected level of development in the early years and the Year 1 phonics checks has also improved since the last inspection. The proportion of pupils achieving the

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Outcomes for pupils are good

expected standard in phonics has dipped slightly this year. This is due to the particular circumstances of this group of pupils.  Over this school year, new approaches have had a positive impact on the progress pupils make in every year group. Work in pupils’ books and folders confirm leaders’ information about teachers’ assessments. The assessments show that a significant proportion of pupils are on track to meet the new age-related expectations, particularly in reading, mathematics, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. A healthy proportion are on track to work at a greater depth of understanding than expected.  Pupils who are disadvantaged continue to make good progress and more are catching up with other pupils in school. The progress of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is varied and is heavily influenced by their attendance. The most-able pupils are making good progress; however, a lack

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Outcomes for pupils are good

of challenge in some subjects means that the opportunity they get to progress to working at a greater depth is limited.  Pupils are prepared for the next steps in their educational journeys. The move from the day-care provision for two- and three-year-olds to Nursery is carefully planned, giving children steadily increasing opportunities to visit the Nursery and play alongside older children. A good level of information is shared between staff, which smooths the pupils’ moves between classes and key stages.  Year 6 pupils are well prepared and looking forward to the challenges of their move to secondary school. Pupils talk confidently about the benefit of changing schools at the end of this term rather than waiting until September. They are well prepared for a greater level of independence because staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe when out and about in the community.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Early years is not good because leaders have not ensured a consistent approach to teaching or assessment across the early years provision. The checks they make are not thorough enough and the feedback given to staff is overly positive.  Children enter the early years provision at any point from the age of two. A significant proportion start with a level of development lower than is expected for children of the same age. However, it is not possible to have a clear view of the children’s starting points because there are some inaccuracies in the initial assessments of what children know, understand and can do.  Staff collect evidence of the children’s responses to activities, but this is not done systematically and assessments are not made with sufficient accuracy. It is clear that children make progress and some make rapid progress. However, inspectors could not agree with leaders’ judgements that overall progress

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Early years provision requires improvement

is good in early years because some of the assessments, particularly of children’s writing, are too generous.  Assessments of children’s developments do not lead to clear next steps, so it is difficult for staff to pitch their interactions with the children at the right level. When work is not well matched to the children’s next steps, some lose interest and this slows their own and other children’s progress.  For the most part, leaders and staff are vigilant about the welfare needs of the children. However, inspectors noted a few instances when staff did not follow leaders’ clear guidance. Leaders’ determined action to bring about swift changes to address the issues was reassuringly convincing.  Many aspects of the provision, both for the two- and three-year-olds attending day care and in the Nursery and Reception class are effective. Children engage in a range of interesting activities, both inside

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Early years provision requires improvement

and outdoors, which promote the development of all their early skills, including reading, writing and number. Most staff interact well with the children so they develop their thinking and language skills.  The provision for two-year-olds meets children’s needs well. Most staff demonstrate good use of language through questioning and modelling. Staff support for the emotional well-being of the two-year-olds provides an effective balance between nurturing cuddles, redirection and early negotiation. Some staff are not consistent in their expectations of appropriate play in the different spaces, for example, not kicking balls in spaces that are too small. Over time, this will slow the personal development of the children because they will not understand how their actions affect others.  Parents say that their children are happy to come to day care and Nursery/Reception. They can see the progress their children make over time. Parents value the opportunity they get to support their child’s

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Early years provision requires improvement

learning by carrying out morning activities together. More could be done to ensure that parents are kept up to date with the assessment of their children’s progress and the next steps.

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School details

Unique reference number 106845 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 10011948

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 2–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 316 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Simon Currie Headteacher Marion Tapp Telephone number 01709 740879 Website www.kimberworthprimary.org.uk Email address kcpmtapp@rgfl.org Date of previous inspection 27–28 March 2014

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Information about this school

 The school is an average-sized primary school, with a higher proportion of boys than is typical for most schools.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged (those who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority) is greater than that found in most primary schools.  The proportion of pupils from different ethnic backgrounds is above average, with pupils from a Pakistani background representing nearly a quarter of the pupils. Similarly, around a quarter of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  There is a significantly high proportion of pupils who need support for their special educational needs or disability. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is in line with that of other schools.  The school runs an early years provision which consists of day care, which is provision for two- to three-

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Information about this school

year-olds on a part-time basis, flexible around the needs of parents (the majority of children attending have funded places); a Nursery group, which children attend part time, and a Reception group, which the children attend full time.  The school runs a daily breakfast club and after-school club.  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.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited lessons in early years and every year group, at least once and for varying amounts of time. Three of the visits were joint visits with senior leaders.  Inspectors talked with pupils informally at break time on both days of the inspection and in formal meetings with pupils from all year groups. Inspectors also met with pupils from Years 1–5 to discuss the work in their topic folders. In addition, inspectors reviewed the English and mathematics books and the mentoring files of three pupils from every year group.  The early years children’s learning journals and work books were reviewed. Inspectors talked with the children during visits to the early years provision.  Meetings were held with the following people: the headteacher; senior leaders; middle leaders; teaching assistants; the special educational needs coordinator; the inclusion officer and attendance officer; a representative from the local authority; the chair of the governing body; and two other governors. In

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Information about this inspection

addition, a telephone conversation took place with a representative of the local authority who has responsibility for early years provision.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documents relating to all aspects of the school’s work, including records relating to safer recruitment practices and safeguarding work, assessment information, records of leaders’ checks on the effectiveness of teaching and those relating to the performance management of teachers.

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Inspection team

Susan Hayter, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Janet Lunn Her Majesty’s Inspector Andrew Soutar 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

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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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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