Springwell Park Community Primary School

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

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Miss Tracy Webley Headteacher Springwell Park Community Primary School Menai Road Bootle Merseyside L20 6PG

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 11 October 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 2013.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community 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 Springwell Park Community Primary School

You provide exceptional leadership for the school. You lead by example and your calm and resolute approach ensures that the pupils at Springwell Park get the very best opportunities. You are ably supported by your assistant headteachers, who share your vision. Along with the rest of the staff, they are passionate about the school and the community you work in. One pupil described the school as ‘a great place to be’, and a governor said, ‘The staff put their heart and soul into every single day’.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Governors have a wide range of skills and all are extremely committed to the school. They have a clear understanding of the school’s position and receive useful and timely information to allow them to carry out their roles. They regularly hold senior leaders to account for the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make. Governors challenge and support in equal measure.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Children get off to a very successful start in early years. The environment is warm and welcoming and supports the development of early language particularly well. All staff have very high expectations of what the children can achieve, and consequently, children make extremely strong progress.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Pupils are very well behaved. There are a number of pupils who can sometimes present with challenging behaviour. However, staff deal extremely well with these pupils so that learning is not disrupted. Rewards and sanction systems are constantly reviewed to keep them fresh. This means that pupils respond well to them. They particularly like the ‘fab 50’ reward scheme, which means that some of the best-behaved pupils go on a school trip.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

You and your senior team are well aware that attendance has been below the national average and a number of pupils are persistently absent. You work tirelessly to address this issue. You have very robust systems for checking that each pupil attends school as much as possible. A range of rewards for pupils who attend regularly are taking effect. For example, pupils are excited about the prize cabinet and the end-of-year raffle. As a result of the school’s diligent work, attendance is improving for the majority of pupils.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

When inspectors visited the school in 2013, leaders were asked to improve teaching further and adjust learning in lessons. Teaching is effective across the school and therefore pupils make strong progress in most subjects. You were also asked to accelerate pupils’ progress in writing. Pupils are given opportunities to write for a variety of purposes. The drive to improve writing has been successful. The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in writing in 2018 was above the national average.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Procedures to keep pupils safe are highly effective. T he school is meticulous in its duty of care to its pupils. Your robust monitoring and recording systems ensure that the support offered to pupils and their families is exemplary. A range of services are offered to pupils, including support with mental health and well-being. Pupils are particularly appreciative of the work done by your pastoral managers to support them when they have worries or problems. Pupils say that they feel very safe in school.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

Staff have an extremely good understanding of the community the school serves and do enormous amounts to mitigate the risks pupils might face. For example, older pupils attended a workshop about gangs.

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Short inspection of Springwell Park Community Primary School

The safeguarding leaders are very well trained and have a vast amount of knowledge. They ensure that all staff are very aware of how to keep children safe and know what to do if they are worried about a child.

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Inspection findings

 At the beginning of the inspection, we agreed some key lines of enquiry. First, we looked at the progress pupils in key stage 1 make in writing. Work in pupils’ books shows that pupils are writing at greater length and with a variety of vocabulary, punctuation and sentence structure. As a result of effective teaching and high expectations, pupils are making better progress than in previous years. Current assessment information shows that pupils in Years 1 and 2 are achieving well.  We then looked at the teaching of reading, particularly in key stage 2. You were rightly disappointed with reading results at the end of Year 6 in 2018. However, you have wasted no time in taking action to improve progress. Teachers now focus more closely and regularly on a range of reading skills. In addition, class novels are carefully selected to engage and challenge the pupils with their reading. Current pupils are making strong progress in reading.

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Inspection findings

 We looked at the wider curriculum and how well pupils are achieving in a range of subjects. We agreed that there is a varied picture. Music and physical education (PE) are taught very well. All pupils in key stage 2 are given the opportunity to learn an instrument and some perform at a high level. Sports coaches offer pupils the chance to develop a range of skills across the PE curriculum and to take part in inter-school sports on a regular basis. The curriculum is well planned and is designed to draw on pupils’ experiences. Topics extend their knowledge far beyond Bootle and Liverpool.  The enrichment activities that embellish the curriculum are rich and engaging. For example, pupils visit Southport Eco Centre, Coniston and the River Mersey. However, history and geography lessons are less engaging. Work in pupils’ books shows that teachers’ expectations are not always high enough and consequently,

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Inspection findings

they sometimes miss opportunities to catch pupils’ interest and study concepts in depth.

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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

 history and geography are taught in sufficient depth to ignite and sustain pupils’ interest.

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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 Sefton. 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 assistant headteachers. I also met with members of the governing body and I spoke to a representative from the local authority. I talked with pupils in a meeting and in class.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of 26 responses to the online questionnaires for parents and carers, Parent View, and 38 responses to the pupil survey and 22 responses to the staff survey. I visited classrooms to observe pupils learning and looked at their work in books. I reviewed information about pupils’ progress and attainment. I scrutinised the school’s self-evaluation document and looked at safeguarding, including evaluating the impact of the school’s procedures and policies to keep pupils safe.

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