Woodfield Primary School

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

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Mrs Helen Harrison Headteacher Woodfield Primary School Gurney Road Balby Doncaster South Yorkshire DN4 8LA

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 1 May 2019, 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in October 2014.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection, taking effective action to address the areas for improvement identified in the inspection report. You have a strong vision for learning and high expectations of staff and pupils. As a result, Woodfield Primary School is a rapidly improving school and has the capacity to improve further.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

You have successfully built a team of high-quality teachers, teaching assistants and support staff. Staff are fully supportive of your actions to improve teaching and learning, and share your determination to provide a first-class education for all pupils in the school. Staff morale is high and there is a strong sense of purpose across the school.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

You and your leadership team have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. You have been reflective and forward thinking, and have improved the curriculum for all pupils. As a result, pupils are making good progress and standards have improved noticeably since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

Governors know their school well and provide strong support and challenge. They use a range of data, reports and first-hand information to check the school’s overall effectiveness. Governors are highly ambitious for the school and support you fully in your drive to improve learning experiences for pupils. At the previous inspection, leaders were asked to improve the quality of teaching to improve pupils’ achievement. This you have successfully done. Teachers have had, and continue to have, excellent professional development opportunities; this has significantly improved their practice. Teachers take responsibility for their own personal development and work closely with other teachers in the trust to develop meaningful learning experiences for their pupils. As a result, outcomes for pupils have significantly improved, especially in key stage 2. The standards pupils attain and the progress they make are well above national averages in reading and

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

mathematics. However, improving standards in writing remains a priority for school leaders.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

Recommendations from the previous inspection also urged leaders to develop opportunities for children in the early years to learn as well outdoors as they do indoors. You and your governors have made a significant investment to improve the learning environment in the early years. Children have access to a range of stimulating and exciting learning opportunities, both indoor and outdoor, that address the early years curriculum effectively. The leader for early years is a skilled practitioner and leads this area of the school successfully. Leaders ensure that staff have access to high-quality training to improve provision and ensure that children make good progress from their starting points.

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Short inspection of Woodfield Primary School

There is a strong culture to safeguard pupils at the school. All arrangements for safeguarding are fit for purpose. You and your leaders for safeguarding are scrupulous in your procedures for keeping children safe. Leaders ensure that staff are trained and are alert to signs that suggest pupils might not be safe. Consequently, they know what to do should a safeguarding issue or concern arise. You and your leaders act on and refer any safeguarding concerns to appropriate agencies in a timely manner. This has enabled vulnerable pupils and families to receive appropriate support when they need it. Your procedures for recruiting, vetting and checking staff are thorough.

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Inspection findings

 You and your leaders are developing a broad and balanced curriculum that provides meaningful learning experiences for pupils. You have thought hard about the skills pupils need to learn in a wide range of subjects. Pupils’ workbooks show that they are developing good skills and secure knowledge in subjects such as history, geography and art.  Reading outcomes have rapidly improved in key stage 2 and are currently well above national averages. This is a result of a determined effort by school leaders to improve reading across the school. Staff share a vision for reading based on ‘learn to read and read to learn’ and show an enthusiastic approach when teaching the subject. Teachers plan challenging activities that motivate pupils to improve their reading ability and learn the skills needed to interpret a range of texts successfully.  Pupils who spoke to me said how much they enjoy reading and how they use the

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Inspection findings

well-resourced library which allows them good opportunities to read high-quality books at home. It was pleasing to see this enjoyment during lessons. Pupils show enthusiasm and strong teamwork when completing reading activities.  The teaching of phonics is strong. Activities are well planned and reinforce phonic knowledge effectively. Pupils have a good understanding of the sounds that letters make and blend them successfully to help them read. Pupils who are not making similar progress to their peers receive additional support to help them catch up. This is particularly the case for pupils who are new arrivals to the school. As a result of this support, these pupils are able to make rapid progress and reach the expected standard by the end of Year 2.  For many pupils, writing is their weakest area. We saw some good-quality work in pupils’ books; however, too many pupils are not developing their writing skills

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Inspection findings

quickly enough. Pupils are not consistently using interesting vocabulary or a range of grammar and punctuation techniques to enliven their writing. Furthermore, pupils require further support in order to improve their spelling accuracy when writing independently.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  standards in writing are improved further, so that a greater proportion of pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 attain higher standards  strategies to improve spelling are firmly embedded.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Doncaster. 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, the acting headteacher of the school, subject leaders for English and mathematics and the designated leaders for safeguarding. I also met with the chief executive of the multi-academy trust and had a telephone conversation with the chair of the governing body. I spoke with pupils during lessons and when listening to them read. I visited classes in the early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2, and I looked at pupils’ books. I scrutinised various documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plans and safeguarding documents. I considered the 14 responses to the staff survey, the two responses to the pupils’ survey and the five free-text responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire Parent View.

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