Scholes (Elmet) Primary School

Scholes (Elmet) Primary School Station Road, Scholes, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS15 4BJ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders have not paid enough attention to the progress pupils are making over time. Consequently, pupils could be making better progress.  Subject leaders have, until recently, lacked a clear understanding of their role and what is expected of them.  Performance management has not been used well enough to hold leaders and teachers accountable due to vague and imprecise targets.  Improvement plans lack clear timescales for when actions will happen and what the impact will be. This makes it difficult for governors to check and challenge leaders.  The curriculum is broad but not taught or assessed well enough. Teachers’ subject knowledge is not always good enough.  Governors have not done enough to check the impact additional funding is having, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Teaching and learning across the school is not consistently good. Pupils are not always

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

challenged enough and do not make good enough progress.  Governors do not consistently review policies in a timely manner. As a result, some policies are out of date both in school and on the school website.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The executive headteacher has provided welcomed additional capacity. In a short space of time, he has tackled staff performance issues, introduced effective behaviour management systems and improved staff morale.  Overall, levels of attendance remain above the national average and persistent absence levels remain low.  Since the previous inspection, standards have improved in the early years and in the Year 1 phonics screening check.  The curriculum provides pupils with good opportunities to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural education, including tolerance and respect.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and feel safe.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality and consistency of teaching so that pupils make consistently good progress by making sure that: – teachers build on pupils’ prior learning to ensure that learning is sufficiently challenging all groups of pupils more effectively, including middle-ability pupils, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and the most able pupils – teachers further develop their questioning skills and subject knowledge in grammar and punctuation to better meet pupils’ needs – all teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils – teachers provide more opportunities for pupils to develop and improve their extended writing across the wider curriculum.  Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, including governance, by making sure that: – through high-quality coaching, mentoring and support, the temporary head of school and subject leaders play a full and active role in improving pupils’ progress

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– improvement plans clearly show the intended impact that actions are to have on improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress – subject leaders improve the ways the curriculum is delivered and assessed – parents receive higher-quality reports on the progress pupils are making, especially in relation to the wider curriculum – the curriculum provides pupils with more opportunities to develop their understanding of democracy in Britain and how decisions are made – self-evaluation gives greater weight to the progress pupils are making – accidents logs are carefully analysed to spot any potential ways of reducing incidents in school – the school’s policies are reviewed in a timely manner by governors and the school website complies fully with the government’s statutory requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium 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?

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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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Since the previous inspection, leaders and managers have not kept their eye on the ball and pupils’ progress requires improvement. Despite improvements in the early years and in the Year 1 phonics screening check, not enough pupils make good progress from their starting points. Up until fairly recently, leaders and managers have been overstretched and have lacked clear direction.  The new executive headteacher has added capacity to the school. He has started to raise levels of expectation of both staff and pupils. In a short space of time, he has tackled staff performance issues, gained an accurate grasp of the school’s strengths and priorities and has had a positive impact in improving pupils’ behaviour. Staff morale is improving and leaders are now clear about their roles and are starting to have a positive impact in improving the school.  The recently appointed temporary head of school is on a steep learning curve and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

benefiting from working alongside an experienced and successful executive headteacher. This mentoring work is at an early stage. Recent support has helped build confidence and helped her gain a wider view of school priorities. However, it is too soon to evaluate the impact this work is having on pupils’ progress.  Since the previous inspection, subject leaders have not had enough impact on improving teaching, learning and assessment. They have lacked clear leadership and sometimes struggled to understand their roles and responsibilities. With the arrival of the executive headteacher, they have a much clearer understanding of their role. They are benefiting from working alongside other subject leaders from across the Sphere Federation and this is helping them to develop and build their skills, confidence and accuracy in assessing pupils’ progress.  The way in which leaders manage staff performance is improving. Up until recently,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

performance management targets were woolly and difficult to measure, especially in relation to pupils’ progress. The executive headteacher has been a breath of fresh air and has made significant changes to the process this year. Teachers are now clear what their targets are and there are much clearer and more precise targets set for making sure pupils make faster progress.  The school’s self-evaluation has accurately identified what is working well and what needs to improve. Leaders recognise that pupils’ progress is not good enough, especially for middle-attaining and most-able pupils. However, school plans are not a good enough tool for more rapid improvement. Leaders are not clear enough as to what actions need to be taken, by when and what the intended impact will be on pupils’ progress. Consequently, governors are not confident enough in knowing their role in evaluating the impact leaders are having.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The curriculum covers a wide range of subjects but is not taught or assessed well enough. Leaders have rightly identified aspects of teachers’ subject knowledge that need improving, especially in relation to the teaching of grammar and punctuation. Recent teacher training has begun to successfully tackle these weaknesses but there is still more to do to ensure that teachers are confident enough in teaching these areas well. Pupils’ progress across the wider curriculum is uneven and not assessed well enough. Not enough time is spent helping pupils to develop and deepen their understanding of other subjects including science, history and geography.  The use of additional funding requires improvement. Pupil premium funding is not used well enough. Plans have not, until recently, clearly identified the key barriers to disadvantaged pupils’ progress and, as a result, the way in which this funding is spent

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

is not evaluated well enough. In recent months, some governors have worked hard to tackle this and have modelled effective ways of holding senior leaders accountable for the way this funding is used. It is too soon to evaluate the impact of this approach in school.  The use of the primary physical education (PE) and sports funding requires improvement. School plans aim to improve pupils’ participation rates in a range of sports including games, dance, gymnastics and swimming. However, over time, plans are imprecise and lack clear and measurable targets to help leaders and governors know whether this money is having the desired impact.  Newly and recently qualified teachers have benefited from in-school mentoring. This has helped them build their skills and confidence in teaching. Leaders have made organisational changes to allow groups of teachers to plan together. This has been of particular benefit to less experienced teachers and is helping them think more carefully

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

about the way they go about meeting their pupils’ needs.  External support provided by the local authority has had mixed success. The most effective support has included a review, requested by the executive headteacher, of safeguarding procedures within the school. This highlighted some omissions in the single central record. These were addressed quickly and procedures have now been tightened up. Elsewhere, local authority support has been more ‘light touch’ and less effective. Local authority officers have been slow to identify that the progress of pupils over time is not good enough. This is because local authority notes of visit have over- focused on the attainment levels pupils were reaching and less about whether they were making good progress.

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Governance of the school

 Over time, governors have not done enough to challenge senior leaders on the impact they were having. Governors are not involved enough in discussing and questioning leaders about the school’s self-evaluation, particularly in relation to pupils’ achievement.  Governors do not always ensure that key policies and procedures are reviewed, amended and ratified in a timely manner. Although the majority of policies are up to date, some are not. As a result, some key policies both in school and on the school website are out of date.  Following a recent re-organisation, governance has started to improve. Governors have a clear sense of what the school priorities are and why. An effective start has been made by some governors in evaluating the impact that leaders are having, particularly in relation to the use of some additional funding.  However, governors are not clear enough as to how funding for disadvantaged children

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Governance of the school

in the early years or for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is being used or the impact it is having.  Governors recognise that they need to improve their levels of understanding in relation to pupil progress and assessment measures, as well as how financial resources are spent. They are keen to receive training that will help them improve these areas of their work.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The designated safeguarding lead has taken effective steps to make sure that all staff are vigilant when it comes to matters of safety. As a result, staff have read and understood key messages in the Department for Education’s ‘Keeping children safe in education’ guidance and the role they play within school to achieve this.  Following the local authority safeguarding audit, the single central record has been improved and all key information is now stored centrally. Effective checks are made on newly appointed staff members, including supply staff and volunteers, before they can start working in the school.  Staff have valued and benefited from a range of safeguarding training and updates. Staff have improved their levels of understanding around extremism and female genital mutilation. Leaders have been effective in creating a culture in which safeguarding is

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Safeguarding

seen as everyone’s responsibility and not just that of the designated safeguarding leader.  Staff are clear who to report their concerns to. As a result, pupils feel and are safe in school. Parents have confidence that staff will keep their children safe. Leaders ensure that bullying and incident logs are kept up to date and deal effectively with rare instances of bullying, including homophobic and racial bullying. Accidents are accurately recorded. However, leaders do not analyse this information and so are not able to spot any potential issues that they could tackle to reduce the number of accidents.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Over time, the quality of teaching requires improvement because not enough pupils, including the most able, make good enough progress from their starting points. The quality and consistency of teaching both within classes and across the school is mixed. The most able pupils are not challenged well enough to ensure they make good progress.  Teachers do not always do enough to check whether pupils are being sufficiently challenged. As a result, in some lessons, pupils rarely get anything wrong and so miss the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. One pupil summed it up well when he said ‘I get all the work done but it’s not particularly challenging.’  Teachers’ questioning is not consistently good enough to help pupils deepen and develop their thinking. Questioning is not used well enough to help some pupils develop their mathematical reasoning skills. This means that teachers sometimes miss opportunities to see whether pupils have really grasped what they are being taught.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers’ subject knowledge has not been good enough to ensure that pupils make good progress, especially in reading and writing. The executive headteacher quickly identified this. He has introduced a programme of professional development to help teachers get up to speed with the demands of the new national curriculum, particularly in relation to grammar and punctuation. Teachers are currently benefiting from working with other teachers from across the federation in moderating and checking that teacher assessments are accurate.  Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can do. In some pupils’ books, work is not neat enough and there is sometimes a lack of care and pride in exercise books. Some teachers have not tackled this well enough. Topic books show an inconsistent approach to how well writing and the wider curriculum is being taught and assessed.  Parents, rightly, comment that the communication between home and school could be

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

improved, particularly in relation to how well pupils are achieving. Reports home do not tell parents enough about the progress pupils are making. It is not always clear what the targets and next steps should be in relation to improving pupils’ progress. Reports home do not pay enough attention to how well pupils are achieving across the wider curriculum.  Elsewhere, the quality of teaching and learning over time is stronger. For example in the early years and in key stage 1, the quality of teaching is stronger. The teaching of phonics is particularly strong. This is because teachers and other adults use their detailed subject knowledge to meet the needs of pupils and check carefully whether pupils understand and are making progress. As a result, outcomes at the end of the early years and in the Year 1 phonics screening checks remain above national averages.  Younger pupils usually read with good levels of fluency and expression and show an

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

interest in a range of different authors and genres. Pupils use their phonic skills to sound out unfamiliar words and have generally good levels of understanding. Even those pupils who have yet to pass the Year 1 phonics screening check are making good progress as they continue to develop their fluency and aspects of punctuation.  Other teachers are more skilled in questioning pupils and checking their levels of understanding. These teachers use questioning to engage pupils in discussions as to whether answers are correct, and provide pupils with numerous opportunities to reason and discuss their thinking. This provides teachers with valuable insights into the progress pupils are making and helps inform teachers on a pupil’s next steps.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils are respectful of both their teachers and other pupils. Pupils are well presented and consistently follow school uniform expectations.  Pupils usually work well with each other in lessons. They are friendly and curious. They can sometimes be found holding the door open to visitors and greeting them with a smile.  The curriculum is more successful in developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding than in other aspects, including the basics of English and mathematics. A range of trips, visits and school clubs are used well to complement and enhance the school curriculum. For example, pupils visited a local chocolate factory to develop their enjoyment and understanding of Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, which they were reading back in school. Pupils are also developing their

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Personal development and welfare

understanding of how to be a modern citizen through a range of topics, including the European Union and mock courtroom trials looking at ethical issues. They are developing a good understanding of the range of different faiths and beliefs in modern Britain.  Pupils recognise the importance of democracy and the need to vote through electing their school council representatives. They get the chance to regularly watch the news in school. However, pupils have a less secure grasp of how decisions are made in Britain and get confused as to what liberty means and whether it is the Queen or the Prime Minister that takes the key decisions for the country.  Pupils have a good awareness of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Pupils enjoy their ‘wake up, shake up’ active sessions each day which promote the benefits of exercise. ‘Wise up Wednesdays’ provide an effective way of teaching pupils about how to keep themselves safe online.

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Personal development and welfare

 Parents’ views are mixed as to how well the school is doing. A growing number of parents recognise the improvements that have been made since the appointment of the new executive headteacher. He, along with the newly appointed temporary head of school, is regularly out on the playground at the beginning and end of the school day. This provides parents with greater opportunities to share their views about how well the school is doing.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils’ attitudes to learning have significantly improved over the last year. Pupils are able to focus and pay attention to what the teacher is saying. Low-level disruptions have significantly reduced and they rarely get in the way of pupils’ learning.  The executive headteacher has introduced an effective relationships management policy, which sets clear boundaries and expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils and teachers report that the ‘321 Stop’ approach has had a significantly positive impact on improving pupils’ behaviour. ‘Choice chips’ are proving to be a very effective way of rewarding pupils for good behaviour.  Leaders have ensured that attendance levels remain above national averages and persistent absence rates are low. This is because leaders work well with other professionals and outside agencies to make sure that pupils and parents recognise the

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Behaviour

importance of regular attendance. A range of rewards, including ‘Golden Assemblies’, and first-day phone calls home, help ensure that pupils attend.  Leaders have been particularly successful in managing and improving the behaviour of pupils with significant anger issues. Pupils told inspectors that teachers had taught them helpful coping strategies to deal with their feelings and, as a result, they felt much happier and calmer in school.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Outcomes require improvement because despite standards comparing well with national averages over time, not enough pupils are making consistently good progress, especially in reading, writing and mathematics.  The progress of the most able pupils and middle-ability pupils is not good enough. At both key stages, these groups of pupils do not achieve highly enough in writing or mathematics. This is because leaders and teachers have not focused enough on making sure these pupils are making fast enough progress in relation to their starting points. Teachers have not used pupils’ assessment information well enough to provide pupils with high enough levels of challenge to ensure that they make good progress.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make broadly average progress over time. Despite the strong work of the special educational needs coordinator in supporting this group of pupils, this has not had enough of a positive

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

impact on the progress they make.  Disadvantaged pupils also make broadly average progress across the school. Teachers do not always ensure that this group of pupils make enough progress over time and additional funding plans do not clearly show the barriers that these pupils need to overcome. However, due to the low numbers of pupils involved it is not statistically possible to say whether differences are diminishing from year to year.  In 2016, pupils’ progress by the end of Year 6 was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion of pupils who reached standards of greater depth was also broadly average in reading and writing but below average in mathematics. At both key stages 1 and 2, the progress of disadvantaged pupils is broadly average. Teachers do not consistently use pupil information well enough to plan for pupils to make good progress.  In 2016, pupils’ progress by the end of Year 2 was also a mixed bag. Pupils did better

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

in reading and mathematics than they did in writing. The proportion of pupils who reached a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics was broadly average.  Outcomes in other parts of the school are stronger. For example, the numbers of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception remains above the national average. In the Year 1 phonics screening check, pupils consistently achieve above national averages. This is because of strong, systematic and secure teaching.  Current in-school assessment information suggests that progress is improving. However, it is too soon to say whether this will have sufficient impact on outcomes for pupils by the end of the year.

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Early years provision Good

 Children start in the early years with skills that are broadly typical for their age. Leaders use assessment information well and have a clear understanding of the curriculum to make sure children make good progress. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development remains above the national average and the majority of children are ready for the demands of Year 1.  The teaching of early reading and phonics is consistently strong and teachers and other adults regularly reinforce this. Personal and social development is well supported through a real emphasis on establishing quality relationships in which children are taught how to develop good social skills. Staff know the children very well and meet their needs effectively.  Teachers and other adults have established a purposeful and well-organised learning environment. There is a good range of learning areas both in classrooms and outside

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Early years provision Good

that help to support learning across the curriculum. Staff work well together to support children in making good progress. Staff are keen to tap into the interests of children and, as a result, the curriculum is flexible and adapts well to meet children’s interests.  Leaders have made good use of additional funding. This has enabled them to target specific interventions for disadvantaged children. This is having a positive impact on addressing gaps in children’s learning.  Parents are, rightly, very positive about the provision in early years. Leaders have established good links with parents and other professionals. This helps children make a smooth transition into school life. Some children enjoy coming to school so much that they cry when they are ill and cannot attend. The ‘stay and play’ sessions are a helpful way of letting parents see the kinds of skills being developed in school and help children start their school day smoothly.

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Early years provision Good

 Leaders have rightly identified where further improvements are needed. They are not complacent and recognise that more children could be exceeding the good level of development. They have also identified the need to improve the progress boys make in writing.  Safeguarding checks are effective and detailed and ensure that children not only feel safe but also are safe.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher David Roundtree (executive headteacher)

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School details

Email address suecraggs@spherefederation.org

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Information about this school

 The new executive headteacher was appointed in spring 2016. The temporary head of school was appointed at the beginning of January 2017.  The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum, pupil premium and PE and sport premium funding for primary schools. A number of key policies are out of date including the charging and remissions policy.  Scholes (Elmet) Primary School is larger than the average primary school. It is one of three schools in the Sphere Federation along with Moortown Primary School and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups or who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is well below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities,

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Information about this school

including pupils with an education, health and care plan, is below the national average.  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.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during the inspection, including through observations of teaching, many of which were undertaken jointly with senior leaders.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work during lessons, listened to pupils read and sampled a wide range of pupils’ written work.  Inspectors held meetings with school staff, including the executive headteacher, the temporary head of school and other senior leaders and staff in charge of aspects of the school’s work. Inspectors met with a group of newly and recently qualified teachers. They also met with members of the governing body and held a telephone conversation with a local authority officer.  Inspectors spoke with pupils in formal interviews, during lessons and informally at lunch and breaktimes.  Inspectors considered a large range of documentation related to the school’s work, gaining the school’s views of its performance and information concerning pupils’

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Information about this inspection

attainment, progress and attendance.  Inspectors scrutinised records concerning safeguarding, pupils’ behaviour and the quality of teaching.  Inspectors analysed 66 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also took into account 25 written responses from staff and eight written responses from pupils.

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Inspection team

Phil Smith, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Melissa Milner 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

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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Inspection team

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, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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