Five Lanes Primary School

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

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Mrs Jo Fiddes and Mrs Linda Way Co-headteachers Five Lanes Primary School Stradbroke Way Wortley Leeds West Yorkshire LS12 4NB

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2018, 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 May 2014.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes 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 Five Lanes Primary School

Despite one of you being absent last year, the school continues to provide strong teaching and has maintained pupils’ positive attitudes to learning. This is due to your strong work in building an effective team which can withstand turbulence and embrace change.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

Governors responded quickly when you both announced your retirement by creating your current co-headteacher roles and extending the senior leadership team. The new assistant headteachers have settled in quickly. Along with middle leaders, they are making a strong contribution to checking on the quality of the school’s work and implementing improvements. The school’s improvement planning, however, does not reflect or evaluate the impact of leaders’ work effectively.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

You and your leaders are effective in spotting where pupils are at risk of underachieving and are swift to remedy it. For example, following the previous inspection, you were asked to improve pupils’ writing skills. Teachers have tackled this with enthusiasm. Pupils have plenty of opportunities to tackle writing for a variety of purposes right from the early years to the end of Year 6. You have made use of every space to promote writing and, consequently, pupils are confident authors. Teachers have worked hard in engaging boys in writing and this is having a marked success. You and your team were disappointed with the progress made by a few, particularly most-able, pupils at the end of key stage 2 last year. You have set about making further improvements to the way teachers develop pupils’ reading skills. Current pupils are making strong gains and they use their phonics skills very well to tackle unfamiliar words. Teachers generally offer most-able pupils a stimulating level of

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

challenge but there is still some variability. Teachers are growing in confidence in ensuring that pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities are also challenged appropriately.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

You have ensured that the pupil premium funding is generally used well to support disadvantaged pupils. Consequently, differences in the progress made by them and their peers are diminishing. You have also made sure that other barriers, such as pupils’ attendance and social engagement, are tackled. However, this work is not as sharply focused on individual needs and this makes it difficult for you to evaluate the extent of any improvement.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

You and your team have made sure that the systems and processes to keep pupils safe are thorough. Adults are vigilant and report any concerns they have about pupils’ welfare quickly. You and your team make referrals quickly and check that other agencies are taking action so that you can assure yourselves of pupils’ safety. The school has employed ‘nurture’ staff and a behaviour support worker who step into the breach when there are delays in sourcing external help for pupils and their families. Consequently, you have ensured that any risk of harm to pupils is minimised.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

Governors and your leaders are acutely aware of the need to make sure that training is up to date and relevant. You recently commissioned an external audit of safeguarding arrangements to confirm the quality of the school’s work and spot where there are things that could be tightened up.

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Short inspection of Five Lanes Primary School

In school, pupils are kind to each other and behave well. They are encouraged to use ‘worry boxes’ to let leaders know of any concerns they have. Leaders also regularly ask for pupils’ views about behaviour and bullying. Most of the parents and carers who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, agreed that their child feels safe in school and that behaviour is good.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils’ writing skills are improving. Boys are responding well to stimulating activities. For example, a visiting freestyle footballer inspired boys to write at length about the visitor’s dedication to his career. Some displays in school are interactive and encourage pupils to write their ideas directly on to the display. Work in pupils’ books demonstrates that pupils are developing the stamina to write at length and use sophisticated vocabulary. Pupils’ presentation and handwriting are neat and tidy. However, teachers’ approaches to helping pupils improve their spelling are not consistent. When we looked at pupils’ books during our visits to lessons, we noticed that several pupils were repeating spelling mistakes.  Pupils are developing a love of reading. They have a sophisticated understanding of the range of skills they need to read effectively. For example, when we visited Year 2, pupils were enthusiastic in talking knowledgeably about exciting

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Inspection findings

vocabulary and how meaning can be inferred from text.  Teaching is effective in meeting the needs of different groups of pupils. Teachers know their pupils well. They use the school’s increasingly effective checks on pupils’ learning to make sure that work is pitched at the right level. Teachers generally ask probing questions and rarely offer pupils answers. Consequently, pupils think things through for themselves. Occasionally, this effective practice is not as strong and the most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged.  The new special educational needs coordinator has made a strong start in helping teachers to make more effective checks on the small steps of progress for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. These pupils are making strong progress because teachers tailor tasks to suit them and they work effectively alongside their peers.  Children in the early years make a strong start in developing their reading and

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Inspection findings

writing skills. When we observed children in the Nursery, we saw children pretending to write and read shopping lists. Outside, a group of children were engrossed in finding numbers and recording them on their clipboards. Adults capture children’s learning in ‘Magic Moments’ books and online. However, it is not clear how these are used together to give a cohesive picture of the skills children are developing.  You have used pupil premium funding effectively to improve the progress made by disadvantaged pupils. For example, Year 6 pupils benefit from smaller groups in the mornings so that teachers can spend more time with pupils who need extra support with their reading and writing skills. However, leaders have been less successful in focusing exactly on the specific needs of disadvantaged pupils and, consequently, their evaluations of the impact of the funding also lack precision. This lack of sharpness is also reflected in the school’s development

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Inspection findings

plan, which does not focus sufficiently well on how you, other leaders and governors will evaluate the success of actions in improving the school.

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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

 leaders’ planning for school improvement and use of the pupil premium is sharpened  the most able pupils are consistently challenged appropriately  pupils’ spelling improves  leaders develop a cohesive approach to recording children’s learning in the early years. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Leeds. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you and other senior and middle leaders and four members of the governing body. I also had a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. I visited lessons with you, looked at pupils’ work and spoke informally with pupils and support staff. I heard two pupils read. I looked at the results from Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and considered 67 responses. I examined a range of documents, including information about safeguarding, the school’s self-evaluation and its improvement plan.

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