Hayfield Primary School

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

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Claire McKenzie Headteacher Hayfield Primary School Swallow House Lane Hayfield High Peak Derbyshire SK22 2HB

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 15 November 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 February 2012.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have provided consistent leadership for the school and improved the quality of education of pupils in many ways. Pupils enjoy their school life and the opportunities available to them. The school positively encourages a culture of achievement and care – care towards each other and towards the environment. The school strives to ensure that ‘all children can achieve their potential in a safe, happy and healthy environment’. You and the staff enjoy high levels of support from parents and pupils, who cite the school’s strong caring and supportive nature as a significant strength.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

Since the last inspection you have continued to improve the quality of teaching and learning across the school, in particular the quality of English and mathematics teaching, the latter of which was identified as an area for improvement at the previous inspection. Pupils’ attainment in both subjects has steadily improved since 2012 and overall attainment and progress have been above national averages until 2016, when results were slightly below average. Leaders have demonstrated good capacity to improve the school. As a result of focused work to improve pupils’ arithmetic skills, pupils in all years demonstrate a confident understanding of number skills and facts appropriate for their age. The mathematics subject leader’s work to improve the quality of teaching is making a difference. Pupils’ reasoning skills are being developed regularly by teachers, as this area was identified as a weakness in the recent 2016 tests. Pupils are developing their confidence to

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

articulate how they carry out their calculations to answer mathematical problems. However, their written explanations are not always clear. Leaders recognise that unless pupils have more practice on this aspect of their mathematical skills, pupils’ performance in national tests may be compromised.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

English teaching has improved across the school. Teachers develop pupils’ writing skills well. Teachers benefit from good-quality support from a literacy adviser, who is also the acting co-chair of the governing body. The English subject leader has introduced more focused work to develop pupils’ comprehension skills, in particular pupils’ understanding of inference, in key stage 2. In addition, leaders have introduced extra spelling, punctuation and grammar lessons to reinforce the requirements of the national curriculum. Pupils enjoy reading and pupils spoke very positively about their experience of reading with and to adults.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

Subject leaders of English and mathematics are a strength of the school’s leadership. They have a sharp understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their subject in different year groups. These leaders ensure that their own skills are developed well so that they can develop their curriculum areas confidently. Their role in monitoring the quality of teaching, especially in mathematics, has been limited this term. You acknowledge that teachers in all classes would benefit from subject specialist input regularly, to further improve pupils’ outcomes and the quality of teaching.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

New governors have added greater strength to the governing body. There is now a good range of skills and knowledge among the members. Governors are skilled at holding you and other leaders to account. They monitor the school’s actions well and have ensured that the school’s judgements of its own effectiveness are verified through extra independent external scrutiny.

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

You, as the designated safeguarding leader, have ensured that pupils’ safety is a high priority in the school. The governor with safeguarding responsibilities is skilled and knowledgeable about child protection matters; he has excellent oversight of safeguarding arrangements in the school. The training programme for staff is comprehensive. Staff are kept informed about child protection matters regularly and they are encouraged to share their concerns with you and the deputy safeguarding leader. Pupils are confident that the adults in the school will listen to their concerns. Any bullying incidents are dealt with firmly by teachers. The school promotes the anti-bullying week enthusiastically through posters and assemblies. Child protection records are kept meticulously by you and there is evidence of your tenacious approach to seeking external support for pupils in need. The curriculum is always under review. You endeavour to ensure that the latest issues related to

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Short inspection of Hayfield Primary School

safeguarding, such as sexting, child sexual exploitation and eating disorders are covered in personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons. Pupils receive regular online safety lessons. Pupils are taught how to keep safe around water and roads, which represent some of the local risks to pupils. The governor in charge of safeguarding has ensured that the school’s site safety has been improved. Teachers encourage pupils to read the news and discuss topical issues in their newsround sessions. Pupils are encouraged to learn about people and cultures around the world. In so doing, the school is preventing pupils from being drawn to extremist views. You and the school governor have devised a robust safeguarding action plan to support the school’s further development of its safeguarding arrangements.

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Inspection findings

 You have devised a clear and appropriate action plan which addresses the key priorities for the school correctly. You have committed to amending some of the activities to address the issues identified at this inspection.  One of the greatest strengths of the school is the staff’s commitment to each individual pupil’s needs. As such, clear plans are devised to ensure that pupils in need of extra help are supported. Teaching assistants are effective in the classroom and in providing one-to-one support.  The proportion of boys is much higher than girls. Currently, in many year groups, more boys than girls have additional needs. You have been keen to ensure that the curriculum is interesting to boys and helps them to make progress. The reading books in the library, the choice of topic work and the range of resources have all helped to engage boys more in their learning. This strategy is becoming more successful and effective each year. Observations of learning during the

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Inspection findings

inspection showed little difference between boys’ and girls’ engagement and progress.  Pupils’ attainment since the last inspection has improved steadily in both English and mathematics. Expected and more than expected progress in reading and mathematics also improved from 2013 to 2015 and remained consistently above national averages. Pupils’ outcomes in 2016 were below national averages. Leaders expected poorer results in mathematics and English, as the level of social, behavioural and emotional concerns among the pupils of that year group was considerably higher than previous years. While many of these pupils, predominantly boys, settled well, they did not all reach expected standards.  The provision in the early years is improving. I noted high levels of engagement among the children, both indoors and outdoors. The school’s priority to accelerate children’s progress in mathematics is supported well by a wide range

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Inspection findings

of interesting resources to stimulate children’s learning in number skills and to promote their understanding. Both boys and girls enjoyed matching pebble numbers to the correct place on the number ladder. A pair of girls discussed the placement of the number zero and correctly placed it before the first rung on the ladder. The early years leader and teaching assistants understand the needs of all pupils well. Parents rightly praise the staff for their caring and supportive approach to children. The early years outcomes have improved year on year.  The small but growing number of disadvantaged pupils are supported well. Your evaluation of the way the pupil premium funding was spent last year is incisive. You correctly identify the specific needs of the disadvantaged pupils in the school. The plans to support these pupils are specific and appropriate. You have identified the small number of most-able disadvantaged pupils, who require

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Inspection findings

additional support to enable them to reach the high levels they should. These pupils are making good progress.  The most able pupils achieve well. Most of these pupils consistently achieve the higher standards, in both English and mathematics, in most year groups. This is because you have made sure that teachers focus on their needs specifically in lessons.  Pupils’ phonic skills are taught well in the school. In 2016, the proportion achieving the standard in the phonics screening check, in both Years 1 and 2, was above the national average. Younger pupils demonstrate good skills at decoding unfamiliar words using their phonic knowledge.  Pupils’ behaviour in class and around the school is friendly and polite. Pupils work well with each other in group work activities. Pupils’ attendance is above the current national average this year, especially for girls. The proportion of pupils persistently absent has reduced this year.

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Inspection findings

 The local authority has rightly appointed you as an associate school improvement adviser. You have used the opportunities offered by being part of a cluster of schools (Peak Edge Group of Schools – PEGS) to share good practice and moderate pupils’ assessments. Other school leaders visit the schools within PEGS and share curriculum initiatives. The local authority has contributed to the improvements in governance and developed useful self-assessment tools to develop governors’ skills further.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 pupils are given sufficient opportunities to practise expressing their reasoning skills to solve mathematical problems both orally and in writing  subject leaders contribute more regularly to improving the quality of teaching of their subject.

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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 Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I held interviews with you and other leaders, governors and a local authority representative. I spoke with pupils, observed them learning, heard them read and examined their workbooks. I spoke with five parents. I heard pupils read from most year groups. I evaluated a range of school documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s action plans, pupils’ performance information, other school policies and safeguarding records. I took account of 68 responses from parents to the Ofsted’s online free-text facility, 91 responses from pupils and 13 from members of staff to the online survey. The school’s website does comply with current government statutory guidance.

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Information about the inspection

Inspection activities aimed to investigate the leaders’ progress and effectiveness in relation to improving pupils’ outcomes in mathematics and reading. Inspection trails also related to the progress of boys and disadvantaged pupils, including the effectiveness of the spending of the pupil premium funding.

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