Woodside Academy

Inspection of Woodside Academy Fenwick Drive, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD6 2PG

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected 25–26 September 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils speak warmly about their teachers and friends. Leaders have created a welcoming environment where pupils feel safe. Woodside Academy is a big school, but leaders and staff know the pupils well. Pupils respect the staff and try hard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders provide a broad and interesting curriculum. When asked what their favourite subject is, pupils find it hard to choose. It is clear pupils enjoy lessons. They like practical activities in geography, art and science. Pupils enjoy reading books together and talking to each other in Spanish. Many pupils take advantage of the wide range of after-school clubs on offer. These include cooking, sewing, photography and kick-boxing.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils describe behaviour in the school as good. They know what bullying is and why it might happen. They say that teachers always help if it does.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers provide just the right amount of support to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers help pupils to catch up quickly in the calm ‘Butterfly Room’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff do not give enough attention to improving children’s basic skills in the early years. Children do not learn to read or recognise and use numbers as quickly as they should.

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better?

Leaders show determination to improve pupils’ achievement. They know that what pupils learn now will widen their opportunities in later life. They have redesigned the curriculum in key stages 1 and 2 to improve pupils’ knowledge of all subjects. Support through the trust has helped school leaders in this work. Leaders have looked closely at why not enough pupils have reached expected standards at the end of key stage 2 over time. They have used this information to make changes to what pupils learn. The curriculum is now better organised.

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better?

Pupils can talk confidently about what they have learned. In most subjects and key stages, teachers plan sequences of lessons that build on what pupils already know. Leaders have carefully chosen the vocabulary that pupils must learn in each year and in each subject. Pupils are starting to use these words, particularly in geography and science. For example, in geography, pupils use what they already know about maps to help them think about climate. They use terms such as equator and hemisphere accurately to find similarities between different places in the world. Pupils with SEND have effective support to be successful.

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better?

The curriculum in early years is not as well planned. Teachers give attention to children’s personal and behavioural development. This helps children to settle quickly. Positive relationships between adults and children mean that children are 25–26 September 2019

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safe and happy. However, children are not supported well in their reading in Reception. They do not improve their knowledge of mathematics as quickly.

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Leaders are working hard to improve reading in the school. Developing pupils’ love of reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Corridors, classrooms and the library have had, in one child’s words, ‘a make-over’. Pupils show excitement in books and stories. Even those who say they find reading tricky say that they enjoy it. Every teacher across the school reads to their pupils every day in ‘just listen time’. Pupils read in school each day.

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Children enter school with little or no knowledge of sounds and letters. They do not achieve as well as they should in the Reception Year. The phonics curriculum is not well organised in the early years. However, effective teaching in key stage 1 helps pupils to catch up quickly. Leaders have bought new reading books to make sure that children can practise the sounds they have learned. Most pupils are confident readers by the end of Year 2.

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The mathematics curriculum is well organised in key stages 1 and 2. Staff check carefully on what pupils have learned. Any gaps in pupils’ knowledge are quickly spotted. Staff support pupils to catch up quickly. Key stage 2 pupils are now making the progress they should. In the early years, the mathematics curriculum is not demanding enough. Not enough children can count and solve simple number problems by the end of Reception.

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Leaders know their pupils and community well. Pupils are supported to become happy, healthy citizens. Personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE) is strong. Pupils develop a sense of moral purpose. They will readily ‘put themselves in someone else’s shoes’.

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Pupils want to learn. Staff give good support to pupils who find it harder to control their behaviour and emotions. Pupils’ attendance has improved over the last three years. Most pupils attend every day.

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Effective governance results in school leaders making the improvements needed in the curriculum, safeguarding and pupils’ attendance.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

A team of leaders make sure that all staff know how to keep pupils safe. Safeguarding leaders, learning mentors, support staff and the attendance officer keep a close eye on vulnerable pupils. Staff give support to families when it is needed. Leaders work closely with external agencies when necessary. All staff know that it is their responsibility to keep pupils safe. Staff recognise and report concerns appropriately because they have regular training. Leaders make weekly checks on staff members’ understanding of what to do in different situations when pupils might be at risk. 25–26 September 2019

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The PSHCE curriculum gives pupils a wide range of knowledge about how to stay safe. This includes how to stay safe online and in the local community.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Children do not get off to a strong start in reading and mathematics. Many leave Reception unable to access the Year 1 curriculum. The curriculum for reading and mathematics in the early years should be reviewed so that teachers build quickly on children’s starting points.  Phonics teaching in the Reception Year does not help children to achieve well. Staff are unclear about what they should teach and when. Leaders should ensure that staff have clear and high expectations of what pupils will achieve and when during their time in the early years.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 25–26 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110531 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is the school’s first inspection. The school, previously a stand-alone academy, joined the Leading Learners Academy Trust (the Trust) on 1 October 2016. When the predecessor school was last inspected in June 2016 it was judged to require improvement.  The majority of teachers have joined the school since the school became part of the Leading Learners Academy Trust.  Many curriculum leaders, including the English and science leaders, are new to their roles.  The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The school has a high proportion of pupils who are children looked after. The school receives some support from the local authority for these pupils.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team met with the principal and assistant principals throughout the inspection. The lead inspector met with the Trust’s consultant for the school 25–26 September 2019

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and the chair of the local governing board. The lead inspector spoke to the Trust’s chief executive officer on the telephone.  Inspectors explored the curriculum through a close focus on reading, mathematics, science and geography. This work involved discussions with pupils, curriculum leaders, teachers and teaching assistants, scrutiny of pupils’ work, visits to lessons and hearing pupils read.  Inspectors reviewed the curriculum for pupils with SEND. They met with the leader for SEND and reviewed SEN support plans. They visited pupils working in the ‘Butterfly Room’ and saw and spoke to pupils working in classrooms.  A wide range of activites were carried out by inspectors to check how well school staff keep pupils safe. Inspectors looked at how staff training, application of school policies and the curriculum for pupils creates a culture of safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Kate Rowley, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Gill Wild Ofsted Inspector 25–26 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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