Setting

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

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Nicola Kilvington Executive headteacher Carrwood Primary School Eversley Drive Holme Wood Bradford West Yorkshire BD4 0EQ

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School

Following my visit to your school on 13 July 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received two successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections. At its section 5 inspection before the one that took place in November 2016, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.

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School

The school should take further action to:  eradicate any remaining inconsistencies in the quality of teaching so that pupils make even brisker and more assured progress and attain well  ensure that attendance, especially that of disadvantaged pupils, across the school, continues to improve. Extend and deepen the school’s relationship with parents so that there is a school and community-wide understanding of, and commitment to, the links between very high attendance and pupils’ success and well-being.  ensure that the school-wide focus on reading continues to develop and expand pupils’ love of, and skills with, reading and that clear and explicit links continue to be made between reading, writing and talking.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you and with other senior leaders, the chair and vice chair of the governing body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I also visited all classes and spoke with pupils about their experience of school. You and the head of school joined me for almost all these visits. I spoke informally with groups of parents at the start and end of the day. I also discussed reading with groups of Year 3 and Year 4 pupils and listened to them read. I evaluated the school plans and monitoring processes.

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Context

Since the previous inspection, there have been substantial changes to staffing at the school. A significant number of staff have left, including members of the senior leadership team. The executive headteacher has been supporting the school since January 2017. She took up her permanent role in September 2017. The head of school took up her post in January 2018.

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Main findings

You have led the school with vision and energy through testing times and addressed a series of challenging staffing issues with resolution. You have planned carefully, and put in place, a set of rigorous systems that are eradicating the historic inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. You are driven by a strong sense of moral purpose and an absolute conviction that your pupils, and the communities from which they come, deserve, and must have, the best. This positive and firmly held view is shared, because of your actions, with staff across the school. It has also been welcomed by pupils and, increasingly, parents.

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Main findings

Governors responded promptly and well to the review of governance undertaken after the last inspection. Governors are skilled and know the school well. They are alert to its strengths and detailed in their awareness of areas that need further improvement. They are well led and continually seek to improve and sharpen their skills. They hold you rigorously to account.

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Main findings

The quality of teaching and the impact it has on pupils’ progress and attainment is now very rigorously and regularly monitored. You have ensured that middle leaders play an increasingly key role in this vital aspect of the school’s work. You have ensured that they have regular opportunities to develop their skills as leaders of their aspects of the school. Governors have oversight of the effect of this set of actions through regular visits to the school and meetings with staff and pupils. Because of this rigorous approach, the quality of teaching has improved markedly. This is because staff are supported, trained and held to account for their work. They now consistently use the information that they gather about pupils’ progress to inform next steps in their teaching. You are clear that there is still more to be done to ensure that all teaching is consistently good. For example, not all staff are consistently applying the school’s ‘non-negotiables’ regarding pupils’ presentation of

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Main findings

their work. However, you have put in place well-trained staff with high expectations, in attractive rooms, supported by effective systems. These aspects, combined with pupils’ increasing delight in learning, are powerful drivers for sustained success.

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Main findings

Overall, progress across the school is improving steadily and, in some cases, markedly. Children enter the Reception class with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age. They make good progress because of good teaching, with a focus on developing their language skills. Provisional 2018 outcomes show a significant closing in the difference between the proportion of boys and girls achieving a good level of development by the end of early years. Boys are now performing better. Because of your actions, the teaching of phonics has improved significantly. There has been a marked improvement in the percentage of pupils, at the end of both Year 1 and Year 2, achieving the expected standard in the 2018 phonics check. Provisional outcomes in key stage 1 reading, particularly for girls, have improved significantly. There has been a very significant improvement in the proportion of pupils in Year 2 achieving at greater depth in reading. Mathematics

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Main findings

standards have improved. Writing outcomes have decreased slightly. Historically, pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 2, including those of disadvantaged and most-able pupils, have been disappointing. Provisional outcomes for 2018 for key stage 2 pupils show some improvement, particularly in the proportion achieving at greater depth. You and governors are very clear that this variable picture is not satisfactory. However, there are clear signs of improvement. More time needs to pass before the clear improvements in the quality of teaching show through in pupils’ outcomes across the school.

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Main findings

Reading is a growing strength of the school. Rooted in good teaching of phonics, reading for pleasure and for understanding is now a school-wide activity. This is having a positive impact on pupils’ progress and pleasure in learning. Pupils and, increasingly, parents are clear about the importance of reading as a vital key to learning. As one pupil in Year 4 told me with great seriousness, ‘Reading is important’. You have introduced daily reading sessions and have raised the profile of reading across the school. You have reordered the library. It is now an attractive and exciting place at the heart of the school. In the curriculum, there are now more explicit links between reading, writing and talking. Staff help pupils develop their skills as readers who can infer meaning and discern tone and writer’s intention through careful and detailed questioning. I saw a number of examples of staff using focused and effective questioning to help pupils tease out meaning. This added to

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Main findings

pupils’ pleasure and understanding of what they were reading. Again, because of your rigorous self-evaluation and monitoring, you are aware that there is more to be done to embed reading across and beyond the school. You correctly recognise the role of reading across the curriculum in subjects other than English and the part that parents and families can play in supporting reading.

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Main findings

Pupils’ absence, although improving, is too high. This is particularly the case with disadvantaged pupils. The minority of pupils who are persistently absent is also high. You have taken strong action to address this but there is still more to be done. You have appointed dedicated staff to promptly follow up pupils who are absent. You have reinforced the importance of regular attendance at school with parents and pupils. The weekly attendance of each class is clearly displayed on each class room door and there are prizes for regular attendance. Pupils I spoke with were clear about the importance of attendance, not only for their learning, but also their safety and well-being. This is because you and your staff talk with pupils regularly about it. More needs to be done, particularly with parents, to improve attendance across the school.

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External support

Bradford local authority has provided effective support to the school. Officers of the authority, working with the governing body, played a key role in brokering and supporting the current leadership arrangements. The school has also received effective support in improving the quality of teaching from local good and outstanding schools. This support has taken a range of forms. These include reciprocal visits by staff, subject-specific training and assuring the accuracy of the school’s judgements about pupils’ progress and attainment through shared assessment sessions with other local schools. In your desire to drive sustained and continuing improvement, you and the governing body have sought support and training from a wide range of sources. You, rightly, see this as a key aspect of the continuing improvement of the school.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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