Broad Oak Primary School

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

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Mr Kevin Corteen Headteacher Broad Oak Primary School Broad Oak Lane East Didsbury Manchester Greater Manchester M20 5QB

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Short inspection of Broad Oak Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 26 April 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 it was judged to be good in October 2014.

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Short inspection of Broad Oak Primary School

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Under your leadership, you have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your open and inclusive approach is appreciated by your staff and fosters a very positive atmosphere around the school. Staff enjoy working in the school. Teachers told me that you monitor the quality of teaching closely. Feedback is helpful, constructive and clearly linked to training needs, especially the coaching and review process which you implemented this year. Teachers are appreciative of your desire to involve them and the governors actively in the decision-making process. This was exemplified through their collaborative input into the school development plan. You have the full backing of your staff and governors.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

We discussed outcomes for pupils and identified that these vary from class to class and from cohort to cohort. This reflects the impact that relatively high pupil mobility has, alongside the varying numbers of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities in different year groups. Your records show that pupils who have attended the school for several years generally make better progress than those who have joined at various times in their school journey.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You recognise that progress and outcomes across some areas of the school need further improvement. You are putting plans in place to close the gender gap, which is evident across the school, as well as improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. You, and your senior leadership team, have identified the need to promote reading more vigorously to support learning. You have produced a detailed plan to embrace this. You agreed that there was a need to develop subject expertise across the school to ensure improved coverage of subjects such as science, history and geography. During my discussions with governors, they were made aware that the school website was not fully compliant.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Relationships with parents and carers are positive. Parents, almost without exception, are full of praise for the school and the care and support their children receive. ‘Respect and manners are as important to the school as academic achievement’ reflects the opinions of many parents. In particular, they praised the quality support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities receive. As one parent summarised: ‘With the help of the school, my children have developed into amazing little people.’

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

During my walks around the school with you and your senior leaders, I noted the inquisitive nature of the children who were keen to know what we were doing. They were polite and respectful and, when outside, they happily played with one another.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils were keen to talk to me. They said that they enjoyed coming to school and felt safe and well looked after. Year 6 pupils noted that behaviour around the school had improved with the introduction of the new rewards and sanctions system. Younger children felt that, although behaviour had improved, it could still be better. Pupils talked enthusiastically about their lessons, but identified that subjects such as science, history and geography were taught intermittently. When questioned about these subjects, their knowledge and understanding was limited and shallow. Scrutiny of their topic books, with the subject leaders, confirmed this.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Overall, areas for improvement identified at your previous inspection have been well addressed. There has been a strong focus on providing greater challenge in English and mathematics lessons. This has been more successfully applied in mathematics, with pupils being provided with a selection of increasingly complex challenge tasks. It has proved more difficult to apply this in English.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils feel safe, and are safe in school. All staff have completed training at the appropriate level, including ‘Prevent’ duty training to counter extremism. There are comprehensive procedures in place to ensure the safe recruitment and selection of staff. No one is allowed to work at the school until all appropriate checks have been completed. The single central record is compliant. Staff talked to me with confidence about all issues relating to safeguarding. Those specifically tasked with caring and looking after vulnerable children are well briefed and follow procedures to the letter.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils told me that bullying is rare and is quickly dealt with. They trust adults in your school and are comfortable in approaching them should they have any concerns or worries. Incidents are dealt with sensitively and promptly and school records confirm this is the case. This was endorsed by parental comments.

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Inspection findings

 You and your leadership team have a clear vision for the school and are proud of the inclusive and caring ethos you have created. You are aware of its strengths and weaknesses and are already beginning to put in place plans to improve the rigour with which reading is promoted. In addition, a range of new strategies are being planned in the lower school to address the gender gap, poor learning behaviours and the gap between the disadvantaged pupils and their peers. The school is strategically planning to provide and facilitate additional targeted interventions for the pupils with most need.  Pupils identified that lessons in subjects such as science, history and geography are intermittent. Scrutiny of books with your subject leaders confirmed that delivery of the broader curriculum is fragmented and frequently superficial. Currently, leaders in these subjects lack the knowledge and skills to develop the

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Inspection findings

curriculum effectively. The monitoring of subjects other than English and mathematics is not strong and you acknowledge the need to develop subject leaders as one of your priorities.  School records show that a significant number of children enter the early years provision with knowledge and skills below those typical for their age. The gender gap, evident throughout the school, begins to develop here, with the girls performing better than the boys, especially in reading, writing and communication skills. Many disadvantaged children also make less progress than their peers. Funding to support these pupils has not always been spent as effectively as it could be.  Progress varies from year to year, but outcomes are stronger in key stage 2. As a result, the proportion of all pupils reaching the expected and higher standards at the end of Year 6 is above the national average. However, these good outcomes

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Inspection findings

mask the relative underachievement of boys and disadvantaged pupils.  Pupils enjoy reading. The pupils who read to me did so with confidence. Although the lower ability pupils were able to sound out unfamiliar and complex words, their comprehension was weak because they had more limited knowledge and vocabulary. In addition, the majority were reading more complex texts independently than their reading records suggested they were capable of. In wider discussions, they informed me that home reading is encouraged, but not checked regularly by adults. You have recognised this and a more rigorous approach to develop reading and encourage reading for pleasure is due to be introduced soon.  The school website is bright and easy to navigate. It provides a wealth of information for parents. However, it is currently not compliant with regards to information about the curriculum and governance.

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The Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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The Next steps for the school

 the school continues to implement strategies which will successfully raise outcomes for boys and disadvantaged pupils to be at least in line with their peers  the role of foundation subject leaders is developed to enable them to support teachers throughout the school to teach a broad range of subjects effectively  reading is promoted with more rigour to enable pupils to enjoy reading for pleasure and to support gains in their learning  the website is compliant with requirements concerning information that must be published and is checked regularly by governors to make sure that it remains so.

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The 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 Manchester. 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, members of the governing body, and staff and pupils from several classes. I held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. Accompanied by you and members of your leadership team, I visited classrooms across the school to see the learning that was taking place. I looked at examples of pupils’ work in their books. In particular, I looked at work in topic books with subject leaders. I also listened to middle- and lower-ability readers from Years 2 and 4. A range of documentation was considered, including the single central record, the school’s self-evaluation, the development plan and the school’s own assessment information relating to both past and current progress. I took account of 43 responses from parents to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. Consideration was also given to the Ofsted online questionnaires completed by 45 staff and one pupil.

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