Broadstone Hall Primary School

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

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Mr Simon Langley Headteacher Broadstone Hall Primary School Broadstone Hall Road South Heaton Chapel Stockport Cheshire SK4 5JD

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 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 June 2012.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

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

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

You and your leadership team have a very good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Your evaluation is accurate and the school’s development plan focuses on raising attainment, particularly of middle-attaining pupils, which your robust analysis has identified as a priority. Middle leaders, in addition to being highly effective teachers themselves, are driving the school’s improvements with tenacity.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Governors are very supportive and knowledgeable. They are a reflective group and have improved their procedures for holding leaders to account for the achievement of pupils. They make effective use of the information they receive and this enhances their strategic role.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Children enter school in the Nursery and Reception classes with skills that are below those typically expected. Teaching is well focused on sensory activities and personal, social and emotional development to prepare children well for the next stage of their learning. The work in pupils’ books indicates that they are making good progress as a result of good teaching throughout key stages 1 and 2. You and your leaders are very aware of the dip in standards in the national assessments at key stage 1 last year following some instability in staffing. You have worked hard to ensure that standards in key stage 1 rise. Attainment at the end of key stage 2 was in line with national averages in 2016.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Leaders have tackled the areas identified for improvement at the last inspection with drive and purpose. An area for improvement was to encourage pupils to become more confident learners. Teachers now make it clearer to pupils what they need to do to be successful in their work. Pupils gain in confidence as they check for themselves whether or not their work meets the agreed acceptable standard. Pupils value the support of teachers to achieve their goals. As one Year 5 pupil put it, ‘Teachers make sure you get it by the end of the lesson.’

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

In the early years, leaders ensure that children have opportunities to select their activities independently. Children enjoy exploring language, as shown by a small group who were playing in the ‘Gruffalo’s den’. They could confidently retell the story and were enthusiastically acting it out.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Pupils enjoy school. They value the support teachers give them when they are stuck with their work and comment that teachers ‘make every lesson fun’. Pupils participate in a wide variety of extra-curricular opportunities, including clubs, visits and tournaments.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Safeguarding procedures are robust. Records are maintained meticulously. A thorough record is kept of checks made on the suitability of adults to work with children. Staff training is up to date, including basic awareness and how to identify and prevent radicalisation. Governors’ training is also appropriate for their role. Partnerships with agencies to support vulnerable families are strong. Pupils feel safe in this school. Parents are also of the view that their children are kept safe.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Pupils are appropriately protected when accessing the internet. Any breaches are dealt with swiftly and sensitively. Pupils are very aware about their own personal safety through age-appropriate lessons. Where learning takes place outdoors, attention is paid to safety when, for example, pupils light fires and cook on them.

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Short inspection of Broadstone Hall Primary School

Attendance rates of all pupils and groups of pupils are currently better than national averages. Leaders have implemented very good procedures to tackle absenteeism. Leaders are aware that the significant absence of a small number of pupils last year was due to very specific individual circumstances.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils at Broadstone Hall Primary School make good progress from their starting points. Your analysis of pupils’ performance and progress in 2016 was robust and identified the successes and weaknesses in the progress made by significant groups of pupils, including middle-ability pupils and those born in the summer months. It also identified a number of pupils who, while making good progress from their starting points, failed to meet the national expectations for key stage 1 by a few marks.  During this inspection I considered the progress made by pupils at key stage 2. In 2016, the progress made by boys was weaker than that of girls in reading and writing. However, in mathematics, boys’ progress was stronger than that of girls. You have ensured that subject leaders have an excellent working knowledge of the school’s relatively new assessment system. They monitor the progress and attainment of all pupils (including boys and girls) and take swift

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Inspection findings

action in response to any differences in progress that they spot. As a result of better focused teaching, pupils are making good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics because teachers know what each pupil needs to do to improve their work.  Year 6 pupils read with confidence and intonation. They select books from an increasing range of favourite authors. Pupils’ comprehension skills are good and they infer meanings well to predict elements of stories. In key stage 2, pupils experiment with sentence structures and more exciting vocabulary to create interesting pieces of writing. Year 3 pupils use the available writing prompts and resources to improve their work by including adverbs and adjectives to create more descriptive settings.  Leaders are using a more creative approach with the most able pupils, allowing them to select the type of writing which they feel best fits the task. For example,

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Inspection findings

while the majority of the class chose to write a short story, one Year 6 pupil wrote a narrative poem. This strategy is enabling the most able pupils to demonstrate the greater depth requirements of key stage 2 writing. Another most able pupil could describe how he had used certain phrases to demonstrate shifts in formality in his report.  A ‘girls-only’ mathematics day, in response to leaders’ analysis of the 2016 data, was well received by the girls who participated. They recognised that it gave them greater opportunities to offer suggestions and improve their confidence when tackling mathematics problems. Pupils’ books show that their understanding of mathematical concepts is improving and that the majority of pupils are working at the standards expected of them. Teachers are ensuring that pupils have opportunities to consolidate their improving knowledge and skills by encouraging them to apply these to problems written in words.

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Inspection findings

However, there is still some variability in teachers’ expectations of the most able pupils across classes with similar year groups.  I considered the attainment of all pupils, but particularly boys, in key stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics. You explained that you have moved some staff into different classes to ensure that the most effective teaching approaches can be shared. This has raised the quality of teaching and learning across ‘parallel’ classes. In reading and writing, some topics and extracts from books have been selected to appeal more to boys, and this has improved their engagement and approach to their work. Pupils’ writing is supported by first- hand experiences  for example, Year 1 pupils visited models of the surface of planets in the school grounds to help them write descriptive phrases. Pupils in Year 2 include a developing range of pronouns, noun phrases and speech in their writing.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils’ interest in reading has been improved by the focus on literature during writing lessons. Year 2 pupils enjoy using information books about London to inspire reading and writing. Pupils read confidently at key stage 1 and use intonation increasingly well. They enjoy reading stories from well-known authors, and use their understanding of the sounds that letters make to read unknown words. Their comprehension and understanding of what they have read are good.  Mathematics books in key stage 1 show pupils’ increasing understanding and application of number and shape. Teachers use a variety of resources to support and challenge pupils’ thinking. Teachers encourage pupils to talk to each other to share ideas and clarify thinking. This has helped pupils consolidate their understanding of, for example, shape properties. Girls particularly value this approach. Pupils’ books show that most of the pupils are working at the

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Inspection findings

standards expected by leaders at this stage of the school year.  As a result of increased expectations from teachers, the quality and quantity of writing and mathematics are improving. However, while the content of pupils’ reading, writing and mathematics is improving, pupils’ handwriting and presentation are not as consistently well developed. Assessment information and the work in pupils’ books show that more pupils are attaining the expected levels than previously, and the number of pupils working at the higher level is also rising.  The inspection had a focus on the behaviour of pupils. The results of Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, showed that the large majority of parents believe that school leaders deal with behaviour incidents and any bullying well. Parents recognise the importance of the opportunities pupils are given to discuss sensitive issues in a supportive situation. Pupils are encouraged to discuss

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Inspection findings

relationships and to understand the importance of accepting responsibility and apologising in improving behaviour.  Behaviour in lessons and around school is good. Pupils support each other well informally and through a range of structured systems. Year 6 pupils are trained to be ‘restorative resolvers’ who sort out minor disagreements. Pupils play together well. Older pupils explained how they had supported each other following a test by holding a ‘surgery’ to think about how they had explained answers.  Pupils value the various rewards available for good behaviour, including the yellow jumpers for two members of each class who have ‘tried really hard’ and the ‘golden tickets’ which are linked to different prizes.  The family support worker and behaviour leader ensure that those pupils whose behaviour is more challenging are supported well through a variety of interventions. This helps ensure that the school has a calm and purposeful feel.

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Inspection findings

Meticulous records are maintained for more serious behavioural incidents, with outside agencies involved where necessary.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that high-quality teaching and learning are consistent across all year groups by:

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Next steps for the school

 further sharing the approaches to teaching that have proved most effective with all staff in the school  challenging the most able pupils to attain even higher standards by monitoring the variability in teaching and learning of the most able pupils in the school’s ‘parallel’ classes for pupils of similar ages  raising teachers’ expectations of pupils’ handwriting and presentation.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you and your senior leadership team, nine parents, six members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.

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Information about the inspection

I spoke with the family support worker, the behaviour leader and the school’s special educational needs coordinator. I also met with the school’s middle leadership team. In addition, I talked with small groups of pupils around the school and in lessons.

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Information about the inspection

I observed teaching and learning in various classes, and scrutinised writing and mathematics books from pupils across the school. I examined a range of documents, including those relating to attendance, behaviour and safeguarding. I also looked at the school’s self-evaluation of how well it is doing, the school’s improvement priorities and the school’s assessment information. I also reviewed the school’s website. I considered 153 responses from parents to Parent View, along with other correspondence from parents. I read the 36 responses to the staff questionnaire and 23 responses to the pupil questionnaire.

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