West Bretton Junior and Infant School

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

p.1

Mrs J Womersley Headteacher West Bretton Junior and Infant School Bretton Lane West Bretton Wakefield West Yorkshire WF4 4LB

p.1

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 21 March 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 November 2011.

p.1

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

p.1

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

Under your leadership the school has continued to flourish. You lead the school with passion, drive and commitment to improve outcomes for all pupils. You work seamlessly with your small team of staff and governors. Together you have maintained the exemplary strengths of behaviour, care and personal development found in the last inspection and have done so against a background of increasing numbers of pupils joining the school. Your staff are very positive about your leadership and are proud to work at the school.

p.1

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

You have maintained a welcoming and family atmosphere which is characterised by a high level of care and underpinned by shared principles which are valued by pupils and parents alike. All staff work hard to ensure that every child knows what is expected of them and meet the school’s expectations of behaviour. Incidents of misbehaviour and bullying are rare. High expectations are reinforced in very clear terms for each year group. For example, in the Nursery and Reception class children’s golden rules include ‘always share’ and ‘always tell the truth’. Pupils arrive on time to school, follow the instructions of their teachers and return promptly to classrooms after breaktimes and are ready to learn. They are focused in lessons, are keen to have a go at new work and they are developing into confident learners. Pupils move around the school in a calm and relaxed manner. They are courteous and polite. Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and respectful. Most

p.1

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

parents are very happy with the school, and the progress their children are making. Pupils say they enjoy and are proud of their school. Almost all pupils represent their school through opportunities to sing in the choir, participate in competitive sports or speaking at a conference.

p.2

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

Leaders know the school well and your evaluation and analysis of what it needs to do to improve further is accurate and realistic. Almost all pupils, including those who have special educational needs and those who are disadvantaged, make progress in reading, writing and mathematics that is above average by the end of key stage 2. Governors know the strengths of the school and know what needs to be developed. They keep a close check on the quality of teaching and are well informed about all aspects of school life.

p.2

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

The teaching of reading remains a strength of the school and has improved further since the previous inspection. Most pupils reach above national standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Priorities in school improvement plans are tightly focused on improving learning and achievement for all pupils, including those who have special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils. You recognise there is work to do to strengthen even further the assessment of writing and mathematics and to challenge pupils to undertake more demanding work at greater depth and this is clear within the school’s plans.

p.2

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

The areas for improvement from the previous inspection report relate to improving the quality of teaching. You have made changes to the way in which reading, writing and mathematics are taught and assessed since the previous inspection. Planning in these subjects provides progression to learning and makes increasing demands of pupils. However, the increasing challenge in pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills does not extend to all subjects and was noticeably absent in a selection of pupils’ topic books that I examined. We discussed your current plans to strengthen learning and pupils’ understanding of geography and history.

p.2

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

Our tour of the school, and work in pupils’ writing and mathematics books, confirmed that the quality of teaching is generally effective and leads to pupils making good progress and this is evident at all key stages. Teachers are confident in planning and setting work to meet the needs of all pupils, and the introduction of ‘intervention groups’ is helping to challenge the most able pupils in reading and writing.

p.2

Short inspection of West Bretton Junior and Infant School

A strong culture of safeguarding is evident across all aspects of the school’s work. All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. You have taken on the role of designated safeguarding lead and carry it out effectively. You and your deputy attend regular training. You ensure that staff know their responsibilities to keep children safe. School policies, briefings throughout the year, and formal training sessions ensure that they are alert to risks and know that any concerns, however minor, regarding pupils’ welfare should be reported. My examination of a sample of records showed that you are meticulous in recording the actions in response to concerns and in ensuring that pupils receive the help they need. Pupils feel safe in school. Pupils told me that if they had a problem in school, they would tell any adult in school and know they would be listened to.

p.2

Inspection findings

 A key line of enquiry for this inspection was about the progress that boys make in the early years, and especially Nursery. You are successfully tackling last year’s weaker performance by a small cohort of boys to develop early reading and writing skills. As a result of training, staff are more aware of the needs of these children and the barriers to their development. Currently, children are responding to better preparation to help them learn and to practise the movements needed to begin writing. Children are keen to participate: they listen, sit up straight and concentrate well. Children’s books show they are making swifter progress this term in recognising the sounds they hear and in forming letters.  I investigated actions taken to improve the presentation of pupils’ work, a recommendation from the previous inspection. Clear standards for the presentation of work, together with training staff to teach handwriting and pupils’

p.3

Inspection findings

regular handwriting practice are leading to improvement. The skills of good handwriting are taught well. Pupils’ writing is legible and easy to read as a result of the efforts pupils make to learn how to form their letters and to write accurately and quickly. Pupils are developing a cursive style to their writing, especially throughout key stage 2. The weekly ‘handwriting hero’ award is eagerly anticipated and pupils are rightly proud of their achievement and the skills they are developing.  The focus of the school’s work has moved onto the quality of written work. The work done to improve spelling, punctuation and grammar resulted in almost all Year 6 pupils achieving the expected standards in national tests in 2016. Strategies to develop spelling, homework practice and regular tests are continuing in an effort to enable all current pupils, particularly weaker writers, to achieve a better standard in end of key stage tests. Pupils are making efforts to

p.3

Inspection findings

learn spellings for tests but it is clear from talking to pupils and scrutiny of their books that they sometimes do not apply them well enough or check their written work carefully, especially in Years 5 and 6.  Systems for checking pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics sharply identify those who are not achieving as well as they should. Focused support helps them to move on. Although pupils have opportunities to study a broad curriculum, assessment and tracking of pupils’ progress is limited. Information about pupils’ wider achievement in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics is incomplete and leaders and governors are constrained in properly evaluating the impact the curriculum has.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  the school curriculum is planned to progressively challenge and deepen pupils learning in subject knowledge, skills and concepts  assessment and tracking of pupils’ progress in subjects beyond reading, writing and mathematics is more meticulous.

p.3

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

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection I met with you, key stage leaders and staff. Together, you and I observed teaching and learning in a number of classrooms. I also met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and a representative from the local authority. I spoke to pupils about their work and views of the school both informally in lessons and around school. I also took account of the responses of pupils who gave their views of the school through the inspection survey. I considered the views of parents, who had responded to Parent View. The views of staff were gathered from the inspection survey and discussions. Pupils’ work in books was checked while in lessons and from a sample selected. A range of documents were examined, including those relating to safeguarding, pupils’ achievement, meetings of the governing body and the school’s self-evaluation and development plans.

p.4