Angram Bank Primary School

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

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Mrs Andrea Carr Headteacher Angram Bank Primary School Kinsey Road High Green Sheffield South Yorkshire S35 4HN

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 October 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in June 2012.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have worked successfully to develop the quality of teaching, identified as an area to improve at the previous inspection. Together with your senior leaders and governors, you accurately identified the areas that needed to improve, planning for and implementing swift modifications.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

You have recruited and developed dynamic teaching staff who are willing to reflect on their practice and welcome change. They demonstrate well-developed subject knowledge, supporting the majority of pupils to achieve well. Teachers have embraced whole-school teaching strategies designed to promote pupils’ thinking and to give them strategies to express their thoughts. This has been very effective in raising the level of pupils’ involvement in their learning so that, in all classes, pupils of all abilities and both boys and girls are joining in and learning well.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

Middle leaders and teachers have introduced new ways of teaching reading to help pupils improve their higher-order reading skills. Consequently, the most able pupils are reading widely and with fluency and expression.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

Improvements have been made to the teaching of grammar, spelling and punctuation. These changes have proved powerful in engaging all pupils, including boys and disadvantaged pupils, to write to a good standard. In addition, you have introduced new approaches to teaching mathematics throughout the school with a focus on developing problem-solving skills. Pupils have been given many more opportunities to explore and develop their understanding, applying new knowledge through learning challenges. As a result, the attainment of pupils at every key stage has risen steadily over a three-year period.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

In order to secure outstanding learning, leaders and teachers must ensure that teaching over time is of a consistently high quality. This includes maintaining a focus on improving the quality of provision in the early years and in key stages 1 and 2, planning sequences of lessons that deepen pupils’ understanding, particularly for those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Short inspection of Angram Bank Primary School

All staff are appropriately trained to safeguard pupils. School policies reflect the latest guidance and the school business manager is careful to check that records are up to date. Staff are considered in managing dangers to pupils, making use of a raft of risk assessments that underpin every aspect of school life. The learning and engagement team play an important role in ensuring that pupils and their families are supported well through difficult circumstances. This team is very tuned to the needs of the community and responsive to pupils’ needs.

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Inspection findings

 You and your governors lead with commitment, working systematically to improve aspects of the school’s work. Your analogy of ‘getting everyone on the Angram bus’ is well understood by staff and pupils alike and underpins high expectations of learning throughout the school. Through this philosophy, you have nurtured a very willing team, ready to work with you to implement change. You are supported in this task by capable middle leaders who are growing in their ability to lead their subjects. This team approach has engendered in staff a high degree of satisfaction with your leadership and pride in working at the school.  In 2015, from below-average starting points, pupils attained levels broadly in line with national averages at both key stage 1 and key stage 2. In 2016, pupils at the end of key stage 1 made good progress, with more pupils than seen nationally working at greater depth. At key stage 2, pupils attained levels above

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Inspection findings

other pupils nationally in writing and mathematics and many made better progress than others nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.  Leaders ensure that the progress of all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, is carefully tracked and accounted for. If pupils are found to be falling behind, staff select from a large menu of interventions that might help pupils to make better progress. Some of this support is for social and emotional needs, to ensure that pupils are ready to learn.  Many interventions boost the academic potential of pupils and help them to reach expected levels. Consequently, the differences between disadvantaged pupils and others are rapidly diminishing. Despite this, slightly fewer disadvantaged pupils attained expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics combined than seen nationally for all pupils, and not enough of the most able disadvantaged pupils made the higher levels at the end of key stage

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Inspection findings

2. School assessment information shows that this pattern is improving and current disadvantaged pupils are making better progress than in the past.  Standards in the early years have been steadily rising so they are now just below national averages. Leaders have developed a vibrant and lively learning environment where children are happy and settled. Teachers provide many appealing activities that children want to engage in. For example, children were experimenting to solve the problem of how to get ‘ducks’ down a channel using a jug, a drainpipe and water.  Children are encouraged to try hard and develop resilience in learning, as evidenced by one child who said, ‘I’ve worked my socks off!’ after sounding out and writing three-letter words.  Teachers in the early years plan to meet the needs of the whole class through responsive planning, changing the provision on a daily basis. Teaching assistants

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Inspection findings

ably support children, asking timely questions to encourage children to think harder or to express themselves even better.  Teachers have strategically planned for children to develop fine-motor and writing skills through play-based activities, and boys in particular are benefiting from this. Even so, fewer boys are well prepared to start Year 1 than girls.  Staff regularly discuss the progress of individual children with senior leaders, making adjustments if children do not appear to be making expected progress. However, teachers are not currently planning next steps for individual children, missing opportunities to accelerate children’s progress rapidly.  Teachers display good subject knowledge in phonics and look for innovative ways to deliver phonics teaching. There has been an increase in the proportion of pupils achieving expected levels in the Year 1 phonics check so that school results are higher than national averages. Although there was a dip in 2015 for

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Inspection findings

disadvantaged pupils, this was corrected in 2016 so they have achieved in line with other pupils nationally. However, some pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are still struggling to keep up with their peers during lessons.  Pupils make good progress in a wide range of subjects, citing mathematics, physical education and French among their favourite lessons. They were able to talk in detail about their learning of other faiths, explaining what they know about Sikhism for example. Pupils value regular opportunities to experience activities related to other cultures. They had taken part in carousels of activities related to Chinese and African culture, learning through a range of media including art, music and dance.  Teaching assistants play an effective role throughout school. Well-planned lessons allow them to question successfully to determine what pupils understand, contributing considerably to pupils’ learning.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils’ behaviour in school is very good. This was evident in all lessons observed and during playtime and lunchtime. Pupils are rewarded for displaying desirable learning behaviours such as resilience, respect or reflection. They relish taking a colour-coded key fob to put on display in acknowledgement of successful learning.  Leaders have ensured that pupils have regular access to the school field and to a variety of zones where they can play ball games or just chat together. Pupils were clear that there is no bullying in school and that pupils who misbehave are dealt with by the headteacher. Governors also spoke highly about learning behaviours they had observed when monitoring the work of the school.  Leaders have effectively promoted regular attendance, and the vast majority of pupils attend regularly and on time. Although still below the national average, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is much improved due to the attention and

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Inspection findings

care given by the learning and engagement team. A small group of pupils are still absent too regularly so that persistent absence exceeds national averages.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:  secure the rapid progress of all groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, by:  further improving planning and provision in the early years, so that a greater proportion of boys and disadvantaged pupils start Year 1 ready to learn  ensuring that assessment is carefully used to plan lessons that meet the needs of all pupils  planning sequences of lessons that deepen learning, particularly for those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities  work with greater urgency with families and children to reduce persistent absenteeism, so that pupils do not miss out on valuable schooling.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During this one-day inspection I was able to discuss the work of the school with you and your staff. We visited classrooms together to observe teaching and learning. I was able to look at pupils’ work in books and to speak with pupils throughout the day. Discussions with a representative of Learn Sheffield and three members of the governing body helped to provide additional information. School documentation, assessment information, policies and information posted on the school website were also taken into account. I looked at the online questionnaire (Parent View) to gather 20 parents’ views about the school and examined results from the school’s own questionnaire to parents. I also took into account the views of 14 staff through an online questionnaire.

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