Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

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

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Mrs Belinda Kerfoot-Roberts Headteacher Salterhebble Junior and Infant School Stafford Square Halifax West Yorkshire HX3 0AU

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 6 June 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 January 2012.

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You lead with passion and commitment to improve outcomes for pupils. The ‘we care’ ethos is evident throughout the school. Pupils achieve well academically and are also developing as well-rounded individuals who have good attitudes to learning and make a positive contribution to school. The strong leadership provided by you and the deputy headteacher has been critical in your journey of success. However, you acknowledge that developing middle leaders will create even more capacity for further improvement. This will enable middle leaders to take greater responsibility for school improvement and be more accountable for improving pupils’ outcomes.

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

Your rigorous self-evaluation cycle provides honest and critical evaluation of the school’s work. Therefore, the school’s development plan accurately identifies the right priorities for improvement and has been instrumental in bringing about change. The areas for improvement identified at the last inspection have been tackled well. You were tasked with improving mathematics achievement to match that in English. Mathematics is now a strength of the school with pupils achieving consistently in line with or above national figures at key stages 1 and 2. Attainment in 2016 at key stage 2 was above average at the expected standard and was well- above average at the high standard. Pupils made progress that was significantly above the national average. Another area for improvement identified at the last inspection was for pupils to use and apply their writing across the curriculum. Leaders have developed the curriculum to give greater opportunities for pupils to

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

write about memorable experiences and across a range of subjects. For example, pupils used their practical cookery experience to give real purpose and meaning to their instruction writing.

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

Governors demonstrate an understanding of the school’s strengths, weaknesses and main priorities. They have a strong vision for the school and are keen that pupils develop the skills needed to help them to become good citizens, ready for the next stage of their education and life beyond. They get to know the children and staff through links with each class and through their subject-link roles. The newly reconstituted governing body is keen to make use of each individual’s skills when assigning roles and responsibilities so that governors are in a better position to provide effective support and challenge and more robustly hold school leaders to account for improving pupils’ outcomes.

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

You have created a vigilant culture of safeguarding throughout the school. Leaders and governors ensure that robust systems are in place for recruitment and induction of new staff. All files and records relating to safeguarding are stored securely and are well organised and thorough. You make sure that staff receive regular training updates so that they are effective in recognising and responding to signs of concern.

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Short inspection of Salterhebble Junior and Infant School

Pupils behave very well and say there is rarely any bullying. They feel safe and well cared for in school and parents strongly agree. They demonstrate and talk about their understanding of fundamental British values such as tolerance and respect. This helps them to work harmoniously together. They welcome the range of cultures, races and religions represented within the school and value this as an opportunity to learn from each other in order to form a greater understanding about the beliefs of others. The curriculum provides countless opportunities to support children in being safe. Consequently, pupils talk confidently about how to stay safe online and what they would do if someone was being unkind to them at school.

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Inspection findings

 You ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is continually improving. The planned schedule of monitoring activities alongside your regular visits to classrooms mean that leaders have a clear picture of each teacher’s strengths and weaknesses. You use this information to provide precise feedback to teachers, identify whole-school training requirements and to identify good practice to share. Regular pupils’ progress meetings between leaders and teachers identify where pupils need to catch up. Interventions and next steps are discussed and the impact is then evaluated at the next meeting. This practice means that teachers are more effectively responding to pupils’ individual learning needs, which is supporting pupils in making more rapid progress. However, there is some inconsistency in the progress between classes, which is evident in the school’s assessment information and in pupils’ books. You acknowledge that

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Inspection findings

involving a wider range of leaders in the school’s monitoring activities would support the development of middle leaders in improving standards and developing greater consistency throughout school.  Over time, attainment in writing has been above the national average and progress has been broadly in line. However, in 2016 at key stage 2, you were rightly disappointed with pupils’ achievement in writing. Pupils’ progress was significantly below the national average and attainment fell below national figures at the expected standard and at greater depth. You have taken swift action to address this issue and have focused on developing teachers’ subject knowledge and accurate assessment of pupils’ writing. As a result of moderation activities and work scrutiny, teachers have a much firmer understanding of the expectations in their year groups and how to challenge the most able pupils. Coupled with the tailored approach to pupils’ writing development based on

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Inspection findings

identifying their gaps and next steps, pupils’ progress is now showing strong improvement. School assessment information and work in pupils’ books confirm that an increased proportion of current pupils are working at and above the expected standard.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, although small in number, did not make as much progress as other pupils nationally with similar starting points in reading and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 in 2016. You have already begun to take action to enable leaders to identify and assess pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities at an even earlier stage. This is resulting in pupils being able to make progress more quickly. Your thorough tracking system is effectively identifying any pupil who is not on track to make enough progress. Leaders have sought additional advice and external support in these cases in order to provide appropriate support for each individual.

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Inspection findings

However, in most instances, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress.  Following an external review of the impact of funding to support pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium, you have made improvements to the support and provision for this group of pupils. Staff now have a greater awareness of this group of pupils and are effectively held to account for their progress through pupils’ progress meetings and performance management. You have identified barriers to pupils’ learning and researched effective strategies to implement in order to address these. For example, some vulnerable pupils are benefiting from attending breakfast club. This has improved their attendance and punctuality while also developing pupils’ resilience and problem-solving through carefully targeted activities. More rigorous tracking of attendance has resulted in attendance improving from below national figures to now being in line with that

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Inspection findings

of all pupils overall. The school’s assessment information also shows that the difference between disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and that of other pupils nationally is starting to diminish more rapidly.  Children in early years generally make good progress and the proportion reaching a good level of development has been consistently above national figures over time. However, in 2016 this figure was only 1% above the national average and you are keen to make sure that outcomes improve further this year. The early years leader has a good knowledge of each individual child and their next steps for development. Children are quickly developing early reading and writing skills. They enthusiastically produced pieces of writing during our observation of their learning. Assessment information shows that while most pupils are making good progress, those who entered Reception with less than typical stages of

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Inspection findings

development are not making the rapid progress needed in order for them to catch up with their peers. You recognise that in order to continue improving outcomes in early years, there needs to be greater rigour in responding to assessment information and identifying precise actions and measures of success in leaders’ action plans.

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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

 middle leaders are developed further so they are able to take greater responsibility for school improvement and become more accountable for improving pupils’ outcomes  the newly reconstituted governing body continues to develop so that it provides robust challenge and more rigorously holds school leaders to account.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the deputy headteacher, the English leader, the early years leader, the special educational needs coordinator and two members of the governing body. I spoke to a representative from the local authority and a school improvement partner on the telephone. I evaluated documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, information about pupils’ progress, performance management information, governing body minutes, attendance records, and information about safeguarding. I spoke with several parents at the start of the school day and considered 40 responses from Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I met with a group of pupils from a range of year groups and spoke with a group of teaching staff. You and I visited every classroom together to observe teaching and learning, hear pupils read and scrutinise pupils’ work in books.

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