Keighley St Andrew's CofE Primary School and Nursery

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

p.1

Mrs Alison Bateman Headteacher Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery Lustre Street Keighley West Yorkshire BD21 2ND

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

Following my visit to the school on 14 November 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 March 2013.

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You lead an exceptionally strong and united leadership team that is focused and works hard to ensure that pupils are safe and settled and make good progress. You and your leaders have created a positive learning culture throughout and this is reflected in the views of pupils and parents. The school is an attractive and stimulating environment for learning.

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

You and your senior leaders evaluate precisely what is working well in school and what needs further improvement. As a result, you have accurately identified the priorities for improvement. All your staff strive for continuous improvement but, because of low starting points, attainment is frequently lower than national averages. Around four fifths of the children enter the school with skills, knowledge and understanding significantly below those typical of their age. However, by the end of key stage 2 in 2017, the school was is in the top 10% of schools for progress in writing and the top 20% for mathematics. This reflects the quality of teaching that pupils have received during their time at St Andrew’s. At the end of key stage 1, results are below national averages, but they do show a year-on-year improvement. You have clear strategies in place to help raise standards further. Teachers in Nursery and Reception classes are working hard to

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

involve more parents in their children’s learning to help them achieve more.

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

Pupils are fully involved in the life of the school. The oldest pupils talked with a sense of pride about their roles as ‘workforce leaders’ and about how they carry out jobs to assist the whole school community. All the pupils, with whom I spoke, were incredibly positive about their school. They talked with enthusiasm about being chosen to be a ‘values champion’ and, as one child explained, ‘If you get selected as a values champion, it makes you feel happy and important.’ Pupils value the church school ethos and respect one another. When asked what they most like about St Andrew’s, they described opportunities, trips, the teachers, being ‘writer of the week’ and being able to wear a golden values champion tie in Year 6.

p.1

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

At your last inspection, you were tasked with improving the quality of teaching and progress in mathematics, and considerable work has been carried out in this area. The mathematics coordinator has worked closely with the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics on a two-year project to promote mastery. She has worked tirelessly to train staff on the current curriculum requirements and has developed a whole-school policy for the teaching of fractions. Opportunities for reasoning and problem solving are now embedded in most lessons. Pupils in Year 6 whom I questioned demonstrated very strong mental arithmetic skills. The progress of pupils shown in the 2017 key stage tests places the school in the top 20% for mathematics nationally, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities make particularly strong progress. These results provide strong evidence that

p.2

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

additional funding for these pupils is used effectively. School records and pupils’ work show that pupils are rising to the increased challenge and more pupils are achieving a greater depth of understanding. You recognise that further work needs to be done to raise standards in mathematics at key stage 1, although considerable progress has been made over the past two years, particularly in the case of the most able pupils.

p.2

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

In an area of high social deprivation, senior leaders have established policies and practice that are highly effective and fit for purpose. The safeguarding records are appropriately detailed and of high quality, and all checks for the recruitment of staff suitable to work with children are in place. Regular child protection training is carried out for teachers, teaching assistants and governors. All staff are vigilant and committed to keeping pupils safe and free from harm.

p.2

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

The deputy headteacher, who is designated safeguarding lead, has a comprehensive knowledge of children at risk and has established strong and productive links with outside agencies and families. One parent described to me the excellent care and support that had been provided for her two vulnerable children.

p.2

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

Attendance, which has been a concern in the past, is assiduously monitored by senior leaders and administrative staff. The school works closely with the educational welfare officer and families and, as a result, persistent absence has reduced.

p.2

Short inspection of Keighley St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery

Pupils said that they feel safe at school. They described behaviour as good, and one said ‘Teachers make sure there is no messing about’. Incidents of bullying were described as rare and pupils agreed that if they saw any bullying they would ‘tell a teacher immediately and it would be dealt with’. Pupils talked confidently about staying safe online and in the local area. Those in Years 3 and 4 have received specific pedestrian training to help them to cross a road safely. Governors were knowledgeable about safeguarding and described how they had frequently attended training which had been arranged for staff.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Pupils behave well; they respect one another and work and play well together. The mutual respect between staff and pupils underpins the school’s well-ordered, safe and welcoming environment. The school has a comprehensive behaviour policy linked closely to the school’s core Christian values of compassion, humility, truth and trust. Good behaviour is rewarded in a number of ways and pupils were keen to talk about their ‘values in action’ boards, ‘values champions’ awards and pride in wearing the golden sash. All I listened to confirmed that behaviour is good and, where any behaviour concerns arise, these are quickly resolved. These views were also reflected in the school’s own parent view survey, where 96% agreed or strongly agreed that pupils are well behaved.  Attendance data for 2015 and 2016 shows the percentage of sessions missed for overall and for persistent absentees to be significantly higher than national figures. In

p.3

Inspection findings

the case of persistent absence, St Andrew’s had more than double the national figure in 2016. A large number of learning days are lost to unauthorised absences taken outside of the country. You fully recognise the importance of good attendance and have made every effort to improve it. Rigorous monitoring of absences takes place, particularly those of disadvantaged pupils and those pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Due to your diligence, and that of your senior leaders, pupil absence rates are falling; for the first half of the autumn term the attendance rate was encouraging. The school has introduced incentives for good attendance, which include attendance badges (gold, silver and bronze), prize draws, weekly trophies (best class) and individual awards. The involvement of the school council resulted in the production of attendance postcards, which are sent home to reward good attendance and punctuality; one design reads HERO ‘Here Every Day On time’

p.3

Inspection findings

 You and your senior leaders are aware that reading across the school is an area that needs to be improved and this is reflected in your school improvement plan. Results across the school are lower than national averages and, in some cases, significantly so. However, you have established a number of strategies to improve pupils’ progress in reading. Many parents are developing their basic literacy and numeracy skills and, in connection with Bradford College, the school delivers a parent education programme. With increased reading skills, parents are able to support their children. There has also been a drive to involve parents of younger pupils. For example, parents are encouraged to involve themselves with ‘stay and play’ and ‘half-termly book launches’. Early years teachers have modelled reading techniques for parents. You have also established ‘FRED’ (Family Reading Every Day) and book clubs for ‘dads and

p.3

Inspection findings

lads’ and ‘mums and daughters’. In school, reading is being promoted in a number of ways. Pupils have been set targets such as ‘read 100 books before I leave the school’ and ‘find the golden ticket’, to encourage them to read and use the school library on a regular basis. All pupils now have reading record cards and were keen to explain how these work. An increased focus on comprehension skills should result in improved results in national tests. The English coordinator is determined to ‘develop a reading culture’, and the school is well on the way to achieving this.  Writing is a particular strength because teaching is effective. The writing I looked at in a range of key stage 2 pupils’ workbooks reflected children being given a range of opportunities to write for different purposes. For example, in Year 3 literacy work about ‘The Iron Man’, writing was linked to pupils’ work in Science about ‘mighty

p.3

Inspection findings

metals’. In Year 6, writing about the Victorians was linked to history and drama work. This contributes to pupils’ strong progress in writing, confirmed by the quality of writing in books and written work on display around the school. However, there is the potential for a greater number of pupils to achieve the greater depth standard at the end of Year 6.  Staff are aware that pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics falls below age-related expectations and they are working hard to bridge the gap. In early years and key stage 1, an oracy programme has been established to promote speech, as many children enter the school with limited English vocabulary. At key stage 2, effective training by subject coordinators has been provided for all staff and teaching assistants. Senior leaders for English and mathematics have been able to deliver bespoke teaching, improvement support and coaching to individual staff. This has had

p.4

Inspection findings

a positive effect on the quality of teaching, which is now good and better across the school. Pupils, who have SEN and/or disabilities, are well supported with carefully tailored programmes of study. The majority meet the targets set for them.  Early years provision is excellent and it provides a perfect start for a number of children who arrive at school lacking social and language skills.

p.4

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 attainment in reading is raised at both key stage 1 and key stage 2, so that it rises in line with national averages, and progress in reading at key stage 2 matches the higher levels of writing and mathematics  there is a continued focus on high-quality teaching of phonics, so that pupils in Year 1 reach a level broadly in line with national figures  the excellent levels of progress in writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 are maintained, while raising attainment so it is broadly in line with the national average at the expected standard and greater depth  there is a continued emphasis on improving attendance and, in particular, reducing persistent absence. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Leeds (CE), the regional schools’ commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

During this one-day inspection I looked at behaviour, attendance, attainment and progress in reading and writing and overall attainment at the end of early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2.

p.5

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, senior leaders, your administration leader, the early years leader, the key stage 1 leader, the numeracy coordinator and the chair and vice chair of the governing body. I also had a telephone conversation with your school’s local authority representative. I evaluated documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s development plan, assessment data, governing body minutes and information about safeguarding and children at risk.

p.5

Information about the inspection

I spoke with several parents at the start of the day and considered responses from the school’s own online Parent View questionnaire. There were only two responses to the official Ofsted questionnaire. I met with two groups of pupils from a range of year groups. The first group discussed safeguarding and behaviour with me. The second group talked about reading and I listened to them all read. You and I visited most classrooms together to observe teaching and learning. During the afternoon, I carried out a book scrutiny and looked at written work from most year groups.

p.5