Yeadon Westfield Junior School

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

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Mrs Lisa Piotrowicz Headteacher Yeadon Westfield Junior School New Road Yeadon Leeds West Yorkshire LS19 7HW

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Following my visit to the school on 28 February 2017, 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 Yeadon Westfield Junior School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have worked very effectively to establish and maintain a culture of mutual respect, enquiry and hard work at the school. Pupils and adults enjoy learning and get on very well with each other. You ensure through carefully monitored systems and approaches that all pupils have opportunities to develop as learners who understand their active role in the school community. This prepares them well for their next steps.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Parents are complimentary about the levels of care, challenge and attention that you and your staff show towards the pupils. Pupils enjoy coming to school. They have excellent attitudes to learning because of the learning routines and high expectations of you and your staff. They appreciate the rich and varied curriculum that they follow. They are also appreciative of the wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities that you make available for them. Pupils relish the opportunities you provide for them to take on responsibilities such as membership of the school council and acting as playground ‘buddies’.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Your previous inspection in June 2012 identified the need to increase the proportion of high-quality teaching, especially that of mathematics. The report also suggested that staff should use information about pupils’ progress in a more focused way to improve their outcomes in mathematics. You, your team of staff and governors have taken clear and effective steps to improve the quality of the teaching of mathematics so that it is now at least good and sometimes outstanding. In order to achieve this you have used a range of successful strategies. You forensically examined the root causes of why mathematics teaching and outcomes have not been as they should be and, working with others and under the guidance of the mathematics leaders, used these findings to shape an exciting and varied ‘mastery’ mathematics curriculum. This curriculum focuses on ensuring that all pupils develop facility in the full range of mathematical skills. As a result, pupils reported to me

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

that they really enjoy mathematics and talk about its challenge with enthusiasm. They told me that they particularly enjoyed untying ‘knotty’ mathematical problems through ‘open-ended’ activities. These activities are particularly effective in challenging the most able mathematicians.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Evidence from this inspection shows that mathematics teaching is very effective. Staff expertise and knowledge are strong. Pupils cover a lot of ground in depth and explore mathematics across the spectrum of skills. Assessment is accurate and rigorous. The school validates its judgements on mathematics outcomes across the school through its work with partner schools from the Trust, the local authority and through other external providers.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of very high quality.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

A culture of safeguarding is clearly present across the school. This is because you, all of your staff at the school and the governing body take your safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. You ensure that there is regular and effective training for governors and all staff so that they are up to date in their knowledge and understanding.

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Short inspection of Yeadon Westfield Junior School

You are the designated safeguarding lead. As such, you have strong and effective links with the relevant outside agencies. Your records of engagement with these agencies are detailed and show your very thorough and meticulous approach to this aspect of the school’s work.

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Inspection findings

 I looked at the steps the school is taking to diminish the differences between the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils and their peers at the school.  You and your staff know the pupils well, including those who are disadvantaged, and are alert to their individual strengths and needs. Staff use a range of strategies to help overcome the barriers to learning of disadvantaged pupils. This absolute and increasingly detailed focus on what each pupil needs from the school to succeed is having a clear impact. You also use a range of effective strategies to ensure that disadvantaged pupils attend school regularly; their attendance is very similar to their peers and is above the national average. As a result of this and of carefully focused teaching, the provision for disadvantaged pupils is improving rapidly. The differences between the performance of disadvantaged pupils and their peers at the school are diminishing. You also

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Inspection findings

ensure that disadvantaged pupils have access to the full range of extra-curricular activities, such as extra after-school mathematics sessions. This is having a positive impact on outcomes for this group of pupils.  You and the governors are aware that there is still more to be done to support and ensure success for disadvantaged pupils. You are particularly aware that you do not have enough detailed information about disadvantaged pupils’ and their families’ attitudes to school to help inform your planning. This information would help you to target more precisely the support for this group of pupils.  I also looked at the strength of the provision of reading across the school.  Reading is a strength of the school. Pupils reported to me that they enjoy reading and the many opportunities that the school gives them to extend and deepen their love of reading. The library is attractive, generally well-stocked and readily

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Inspection findings

available; it is regularly visited by pupils. There are also class-based libraries that are run by class librarians. The class librarian I spoke with said she was proud to take on this responsibility and keenly understood its importance.  You have a well-established school-wide approach to reading which gives pupils opportunities across the week to work in groups with staff to explore text in detail. Inspection evidence shows that this approach is effective in improving pupils’ resilience and skills in reading texts. The school also runs regular reading- based events such as the celebration of Roald Dahl’s work and national book week. These raise the profile of reading not only in the school, but across the wider community. You also run sessions for those who need support with their reading. You ensure that less-able readers in Year 3, for example, who need additional input to boost their reading, are effectively supported through ‘catch-

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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

 there continues to be a focus on pupils’ success in mathematics so that outcomes for all pupils, including the most able and those who are disadvantaged, continue to show sustained improvement  they focus even more carefully on the action they are taking to ensure that the differences in opportunities and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils continue to diminish.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

I visited all classes, most of them accompanied by you, to observe teaching, learning and assessment. During these visits, where appropriate, I spoke with teachers and teaching assistants about their work. I also checked pupils’ progress in their books, talked formally with a group of pupils from Year 4 and talked informally with pupils in lessons and around the school at lunch and breaktimes.

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Information about the inspection

I met with groups of parents at the beginning and end of the day. I met with you to discuss the school’s effectiveness and what you have done to ensure that the school continues to improve. I also met with the mathematics and assessment leaders, three governors, including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body, and with the coordinator of the school’s work to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the inspection

I spoke with an officer from Leeds local authority on the telephone about the authority’s view of the school.

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Information about the inspection

I read a range of documents, including your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. I also scrutinised the school’s safeguarding systems, records and associated documents. I checked information about pupils’ achievement along with external evaluations of aspects of the school’s work. I also read minutes of meetings of the governing body.

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Information about the inspection

I considered 55 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View), 39 ‘free text’ comments and a letter from a parent, 22 responses from staff and 35 responses from pupils to the online questionnaires.

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Information about the inspection

Yeadon Westfield Junior School is a member of the Aireborough Learning Partnership Trust.

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