Summerfield Primary School

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

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Mrs Karon Wittmann Headteacher Summerfield Primary School Intake Lane Leeds West Yorkshire LS13 1DQ

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 June 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 October 2014.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have established a strong sense of shared purpose at the school, rooted in openness and an absolute commitment to quality learning for all. You have a clear, realistic view of the school. You lead with quiet determination and skill. Staff morale is high. Parents and pupils are very happy with the service that the school provides.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

You have worked effectively to improve the teaching of reading. You know that there is still more to do. Because of your actions, reading now plays a key role in the life of the school. Pupils reported that they now have daily opportunities both at school and at home to enjoy reading and develop their skills with, and appreciation of, words. The school library is attractive and regularly used. In early years, I saw staff helping children to develop their vocabulary and confidence with words. I saw them reading, talking and writing simple sentences in a cursive script. Further up the school, I saw evidence in pupils’ books and folders of their responding, in writing, to a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and, increasingly, poetry texts. Pupils spoke with me about how much they enjoy developing their comprehension skills, along with other skills, such as inference, in their reading. The school’s leader for

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

English has supported staff at the school in the development of their skills in the teaching of reading in all its guises. I saw examples of the effect of this in the ways that staff, both teachers and support staff, used expert questioning to deepen pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in, the texts that they were reading. I also saw the effective way that staff are linking pupils’ reading of ‘real’ writers to the development of their own skills as writers. This is having a particularly positive effect on the writing of the most able pupils. The school’s own records of the monitoring of pupils’ reading development show significant improvements as a result of the school’s actions.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

You and your team monitor the effect of teaching regularly. You gather information about pupils’ progress and use it when you meet with class teachers to discuss the progress and well-being of individual pupils. You check the accuracy of your staff’s judgements through regular visits by senior and subject leaders to classrooms, through joint project work and through checks of pupils’ written work. You check your own judgements and that of your team through working with the local alliance of schools and officers of the local authority. You use the information that you gather about teaching and pupils’ progress to focus training and improve pupils’ experience of school.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

The previous inspection in October 2014 identified the need to improve the quality of mathematics teaching across the school. You have addressed this effectively. The quality of mathematics teaching has improved significantly and is good. Pupils told me that they enjoy mathematics and the opportunities that they have to explore numbers and unravel ‘knotty’ problems. Evidence gathered during the inspection confirms this. I saw pupils enthusiastically and confidently engaged in solving mathematics problems using a range of approaches. Staff showed high levels of subject knowledge and skill as they supported and challenged pupils in this work. The scrutiny of a range of mathematics books showed pupils engaging with a wide range of mathematical challenges and making good progress.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

You have, rightly, identified pupils’ attendance as an issue for the school. Your actions across the last year have had a significantly positive effect on attendance, which is now very close to the national average. You and governors are aware that there is still more that needs to be done to ensure that all pupils attend school regularly. You and your team, supported by the dedicated attendance governor and the local authority, have put in place effective support structures to help the parents of those pupils who, from time to time, find sustained, regular attendance challenging. For example, you have dedicated members of staff who contact parents promptly by telephone as soon as an absence is apparent. Then, where necessary, school staff visit pupils’ homes and help with transport to school where this is a problem. You invite the parents of pupils whose attendance is below your high expectations to meet with you to explore the ways in which the school can

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

work with parents, and other outside agencies if necessary, to ensure good attendance. You are very clear that pupils must attend school very regularly if they are to make good, sustained progress.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

The governing body has recently undergone some changes to its membership. It is now very well placed to continue to support and challenge leaders at the school in a focused and informed manner. This is because it is very well led, and its members are clear about the skills and knowledge that they need to fulfil their roles effectively. The governing body is very well supported by the local authority in this. Governors are also clear about the school’s vital place at the heart of the community it serves. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. The school’s safeguarding records are of a high quality. These records are regularly updated and checked by senior leaders, governors and officers of Leeds local authority. They are meticulously kept.

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Short inspection of Summerfield Primary School

There is a very strong culture of safeguarding across the school. This is because all adults at the school, including governors, take their responsibilities for keeping pupils safe very seriously. Your designated safeguarding leaders ensure that regular, up-to-date and effective training is provided for all staff and governors. As a result, all adults are very aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. Governors ensure that safeguarding procedures and protocols are effective and in place through regular monitoring visits. They are well supported in this by officers of Leeds local authority. You and your team have strong and effective links with outside agencies. The records of the school’s dealing with these agencies are detailed. They show the school’s determined and careful approach to this aspect of its work with the community. The school follows up safeguarding issues tenaciously.

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Inspection findings

 Your own assessment shows that a significant proportion of children join the school with experiences and language skills that are less developed than those typically found in children of their age. Because of the language-rich environment in the early years classes, all children settle well and quickly grow in confidence and social awareness. They enjoy a varied and interesting range of activities that encourage them to work together and talk about what they are doing. Staff are skilled in supporting children to explore new activities through talking. Children are safe and increasingly aware of the needs of others. Links with parents and families are strong. Many parents told me how much they welcomed the easy contact and availability of staff. They also said that their children settle well and enjoy school.  As they move up the school, pupils make generally good progress. Books are very well presented. Pupils take pride in their work. They want to do well. My

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Inspection findings

scrutiny of pupils’ books and folders also showed that expectations, particularly of the most able pupils, are mostly high across the school. This was particularly evident in the variety and length of written tasks. For example, in the science books I scrutinised, the opportunities for pupils to write at length and develop their scientific knowledge and thinking were many, particularly in upper key stage 2. However, in key stage 1 and lower key stage 2, often only short, underdeveloped answers are expected from teachers. As a result, opportunities were lost for pupils, particularly the most able, to develop and deepen their scientific understanding.  Staff demonstrate good subject knowledge. They know their pupils well and they use the information that they gather about pupils’ progress to plan work that stimulates and engages them. Classrooms are attractive, interesting places where pupils feel relaxed and ‘at home’. Relationships between adults and pupils and

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Inspection findings

between pupils and pupils are marked by kindness and respect. As a result, there is no interruption to learning. This helps pupils to make good progress. Teachers and teaching assistants use a range of effective strategies in their questioning of pupils to stimulate and deepen their understanding and confidence.  Pupils behave well and are very keen to learn. They are very appreciative and aware of the effort and care that you and your staff put into keeping them safe. Pupils told me that they feel safe and know how to stay safe. They told me that there are regular activities and events at the school that help them understand how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, including when online. They said that bullying is very rare. They also said that they were aware of the range of forms that bullying can take and what to do if it happened to them or to a friend. They said that they were very confident that adults at the school would

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Inspection findings

deal with it promptly and well.  Parents are very supportive of the school. They are particularly pleased with the way that staff make themselves available. All the parents who I spoke with, and who responded to the online questionnaire, were satisfied with the service the school offers. They were particularly complimentary about the understanding nature of the staff.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:

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Next steps for the school

 further encourage pupils’ love of, and expertise in, reading by further strengthening the links between speaking, reading and writing  continue to improve the overall attendance of pupils by further refining and targeting the school’s actions so that pupils and their families understand very clearly the links between very regular attendance and pupils’ academic progress.

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

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Information about the inspection

I visited all classes during this short inspection. You accompanied me in all of these visits. During the visits, I observed learning and, where appropriate, I spoke with pupils about their work and attitudes to school. I looked at a wide range of their books and folders to judge their progress and the quality of their presentation. I also attended a key stage 2 assembly.

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Information about the inspection

During the day, which was the school’s annual sports event, I spoke with you, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, the learning mentor, the special educational needs coordinator, the teachers who lead on English and mathematics and three governors, one of whom is the chair. I also spoke with an officer from Leeds local authority on the telephone. I observed and spoke informally with pupils during their sports activities and at lunchtime. I also spoke with parents at the sports day, as well as when they brought their children to school and when they arrived in the afternoon to take them home. I met more formally with a group of Year 5 pupils to discuss their attitudes to learning and their views of the school. I also listened to, and discussed, reading with four Year 3 pupils and their class teacher, who is also the school’s English leader.

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Information about the inspection

I considered seven text messages from parents. I also considered the six responses by staff to an Ofsted questionnaire. I read a wide range of documents about the school’s safeguarding systems, the quality and effect of staff training, governors’ work and the minutes of their actions, the tracking of pupils’ progress and the quality and effect of teaching.

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