Moor Park Primary School

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

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Mrs Joanne Magson Headteacher Moor Park Primary School Moor Park Avenue Bispham Blackpool Lancashire FY2 0LY

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 5 December 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 April 2013.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You became headteacher in September 2015 and appointed a new deputy headteacher a year later. Since then, you have developed other senior leadership roles and, as a strong team, you have worked hard to continue to improve the school and the learning experiences of pupils.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

You and your staff have created a caring, warm and welcoming school. The displays in corridors are bright and colourful and celebrate the high-quality work achieved by pupils. Classroom environments are engaging and stimulating; the wall displays are ‘working walls’ which are used frequently by pupils and teachers to move learning forward. Pupils enjoy coming to school and are enthusiastic about their learning, saying that learning is ‘fun and challenging’. Pupils are polite, respectful and confident. They look forward to their lessons and speak highly of teachers and other staff who help them.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Parents are very supportive of the school. All parents spoken to during the inspection and those who responded to Ofsted’s parent questionnaire say that their children are happy in school, are taught well and make good progress. Leaders respond well to parental comments. As a result, leaders are reviewing the school’s approach to homework. Parents feel that the school is a happy and caring environment, saying that ‘staff always work hard to give the children the best experiences, academically, socially and emotionally’. Staff are proud to work at the school and enjoy doing so. Governors and leaders have taken effective action to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. In continuing to improve teaching, you have totally redesigned teaching and learning across the school. There is now a common language shared by all staff and pupils about ‘agreeing, building on or challenging’ ideas and

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

suggestions. Pupils are confident to offer answers in class and are resilient in receiving constructive feedback from their peers. You have worked tirelessly to ‘reframe failure’ so that pupils see their mistakes as positive evidence of their effort.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Right from the beginning of the early years, children are encouraged to develop their independence and resilience. Children learn how to put on their own wellies and waterproof trousers. They can understand the learning characteristics modelled to them by ‘Penny Perseverance’, ‘Connor Concentration’ and ‘Question with Quentin’ animal toys. As a result of this work, pupils across the school are able to identify successful outcomes and understand what adults expect of them during lessons. Teachers challenge pupils at levels appropriate to their ability and pupils make good progress as a result.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Teaching assistants are effective in delivering targeted support to individual pupils. Support staff are well trained and adept at asking probing questions. These questions help pupils to deepen their understanding. Teachers follow the school’s feedback policy and pupils eagerly complete additional challenges and tasks provided for them by their teachers.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

In response to the need to improve the monitoring of the quality of teaching, leaders undertake rigorous quality assurance activities such as visiting classrooms, looking at books, talking to pupils and matching what they find with the progress information about pupils’ learning. Staff training is ongoing and leaders use time creatively to enable staff to concentrate on improving their practice. Staff are confident in sharing their good practice with others in the school.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Governors are well informed about the standard of education at the school. They are experienced and committed. They bring both challenge and informed support to leaders. Governors play a key role in working strategically with leaders to shape the school’s priorities and ensure that adults deliver high-quality teaching across the school.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

You and your governors have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and what needs to be improved further. The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and leads to improvement plans that are beginning to show impact in all areas. These improvement plans clearly focus on continuing to improve the quality of education for all.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

During the inspection, you acknowledged that strategies for checking and monitoring pupils’ progress across the wider curriculum are in need of further development. You, other leaders and governors will then know how well individual pupils and groups of pupils are progressing in all subjects as clearly as you do in English and mathematics. Your continued focus on the development of subject leadership throughout the school should ensure that governors are able to hold subject leaders to account for the progress of pupils in all year groups and across the wider curriculum. Your plans for continuing professional development for middle leaders should help subject leaders to develop the expertise and skills necessary to drive these changes. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. Leaders ensure that staff receive regular training and that those responsible for safeguarding and recruitment have appropriate and recent qualifications. All safeguarding records, documentation and procedures are compliant and fit for purpose. Leaders work tirelessly to support vulnerable pupils and staff are vigilant in all aspects of safeguarding.

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Short inspection of Moor Park Primary School

Pupils feel safe in school and parents and staff agree. Pupils report that there are rarely any incidents of bullying and that, if they do occur, these are dealt with swiftly and effectively. Adults teach pupils how to stay safe online and how to make positive and healthy decisions. You work closely with a range of external agencies that contribute effectively to the school’s work in this area. Pupils appreciate the creative strategies leaders use to support pupils’ emotional well-being. They speak highly of the school’s therapy dog, Coco, who helps to refocus pupils and calm them when they are struggling to overcome issues.

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Inspection findings

 The proportion of children achieving a good level of development in all areas of learning by the end of the early years is continuing to rise year-on-year, and it is now in line with the national average. This represents good progress for the majority of children and prepares them well for key stage 1.  The attainment of disadvantaged pupils is lower than that of their non-disadvantaged peers both in school and nationally. The majority of disadvantaged children at Moor Park start school with skills and abilities below those typically seen. Although not all of these children achieved a good level of development in 2017, they made good progress from their starting points. This strong progress is a result of bespoke activities and topics planned for children following an accurate assessment of their skills on entry. Teachers then creatively use a variety of resources and programmes of study, which successfully

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Inspection findings

begin to close any gaps in children’s learning.  When pupils enter key stage 1, teachers design individual raising attainment plans for them. These plans clearly show which areas pupils need to work on in order to improve their skills, knowledge and understanding. Regular pupil progress meetings focus on identifying any pupils who are not making the progress expected of them and you swiftly put individual interventions into place.  As a result of good teaching and effective interventions, the attainment of current disadvantaged pupils is in line with their peers in reading, writing and mathematics. This represents good progress from their individual starting points throughout key stage 1.  By the end of Year 2, pupils’ attainment was broadly average in reading and writing in 2016 and 2017. Attainment in 2017 in mathematics was not as strong. Leaders are aware of this slight dip and the reasons for this are specific to the cohort. Work of current

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Inspection findings

learners in mathematics shows pupils are making good progress. In mathematics, pupils’ explanations and reasoning skills develop well.  Progress at the end of Year 6 is broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. Boys’ progress in 2017 was weaker but rapid improvements are evident in current pupils’ work. Interventions are carefully targeted at those pupils requiring support and the school’s current information shows that both boys and girls are making strong progress.  All across the school, there is evidence of teachers’ work to improve writing, particularly that of boys. Pupils have clear individual targets and are actively involved in improving their own work. Pupils are encouraged to write creatively, for example in Year 5, pupils write about the northern lights and can construct poems independently using descriptive and high-level vocabulary.  The teaching and learning culture across the school has developed significantly since the

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Inspection findings

previous inspection. From the early years to Year 6, teachers encourage pupils to think deeply about their learning, to be able to improve their own work and the work of others and to have the confidence to challenge others sensitively. Pupils develop resilience, independence and a genuine curiosity, which helps them to learn and grow. As pupils said during the inspection, ‘The teachers give us the tools but we use them. We keep trying and we learn from our mistakes.’

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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

 the roles of subject leaders across the school develop so that they lead subject improvements, gain expert professional knowledge and secure the provision of a rich and broad curriculum  assessment systems are developed further so that teachers, senior leaders and governors know how well pupils are progressing in all subjects and all year groups.

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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 Blackpool. 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 leaders. In addition, I met with the chair of governors and a school improvement partner. I met formally with a group of pupils from across the school and talked informally with others around the school and in lessons.

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Information about the inspection

You accompanied me on visits to classes where we observed teaching and learning, spoke with pupils and looked at the work in some pupils’ books. I examined a range of documentation and the school’s assessments of pupils’ progress and attainment. I also scrutinised a range of policies and the school’s improvement plan and self-evaluation report.

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Information about the inspection

As part of the inspection, I considered the views expressed by parents in the 34 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, as well as comments received via the free-text facility. I also spoke with parents informally on the playground. I took into account the 20 responses to a questionnaire for staff.

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