Green Lane Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Green Lane Primary School Green Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD8 8HT

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Outcome

Green Lane Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy school because they feel valued and well cared for. Pupils told us school is fun and lessons are interesting. Leaders have high expectations and high ambitions for all pupils. Pupils respond by attending well, behaving very well and working hard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. Pupils have a trusted adult who they can speak to if they have any worries or concerns. Pupils play happily with each other. They get along well together. Bullying is not tolerated. It is dealt with swiftly when it occurs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are passionate about making sure that all pupils take part in a wide range of activities outside of lessons. All pupils take part in visits to historical sites, camping and outward-bound activities, and other events. Field trips in geography and visits to a farm for the younger children contribute well to pupils’ learning. Pupils develop their leadership skills through ‘take over days’ where pupils work with the headteacher and take on extra responsibilities. They enjoy using the school’s state-of-the-art climbing wall.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a strong partnership between the school and parents. The community benefits considerably from the work of the school.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders ensure that the curriculum is ambitious for all pupils. Pupils study a broad range of subjects. They achieve well. Leaders identify the crucial knowledge in each subject that pupils must learn. Leaders make sure that pupils learn in a logical way so that they know more and remember more over time. For example, in science, pupils gave detailed explanations of how climate change is affecting the world and how to slow it down.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Teachers plan sequences of lessons to meet the needs of all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers’ skilful questioning deepens pupils’ knowledge and understanding. It helps pupils to develop pupils’ subject-specific 22–23 October 2019

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Teachers’ assessment of pupils’ knowledge and understanding in mathematics, English, science, history and geography is precise. In these subjects, teachers check pupils’ understanding so that any gaps or misconceptions can be swiftly addressed. Assessment of how well pupils are building their knowledge is more variable in some other subjects.

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Children work well together in early years. They are confident when working with adults and welcome visitors. The new building and new outdoor area for two-year-olds offer high-quality facilities. The curriculum in Nursery and Reception helps to develop children’s language skills well.

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Reading is given a high priority. Leaders ensure that all staff are trained well to deliver the school’s phonics programme. Teachers ensure that the books that pupils read at home and school are well matched to their phonics knowledge. Staff ensure that weaker readers catch up quickly.

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Teachers promote a love of reading across the school. From two years of age, children take books home and listen to adults reading to them in school. Parents are given advice to support their children to read at home. Leaders arrange for older pupils to visit book stores. Pupils recommend books to be bought for the school and class libraries. Pupils are enthusiastic readers and enjoy discussing their class texts and the books they are reading at home. Occasionally, older pupils are not challenged enough by the books they choose to read at home.

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Pupils understand how to make a positive contribution to society. They have a good understanding of equality, democracy and their own cultural heritage. In history and English, pupils study the effects of the partition of India, equality for women in Britain, and issues faced by refugees across the world.

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Leaders provide detailed guidance about how the needs of pupils with SEND should be met. Staff use this advice skilfully to help pupils with SEND, including those accessing the specialist provision, to learn well in mainstream classes. All pupils participate fully in the life of the school.

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The school is well led and managed. Staff are passionate about their work. They feel well supported by senior leaders. Staff value the high-quality professional development they receive in school and from the trust. Leaders and governors are considerate of staff well- being. They have taken action to reduce staff workload. This is appreciated by staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders provide support for pupils and their families when needed. The school works closely with parents and external agencies to keep children safe. Staff know the risks pupils might face in the local community. They know what to do should they have concerns about children’s well-being. Any worries that 22–23 October 2019

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staff have about pupils are dealt with quickly. Record-keeping is detailed, including any follow-up actions. Leaders make sure that all adults are suitable to work with children. Pupils understand how to keep safe online. They know how to report any issues to adults.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers use assessment well in English, mathematics, science, history and geography to identify how well pupils are learning. However, assessment is not used with enough precision in some foundation subjects. Leaders need to refine assessment further so that teachers and leaders are clear about how learning is being developed over time in all subjects.  Younger pupils have books that are closely matched to their reading skills both in school and to take home. At times, the books chosen by some pupils in key stage 2 are not sufficiently challenging. Leaders need to make sure that books chosen for home reading in key stage 2 match pupils’ reading ability.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Green Lane Primary School, to be good on 7–8 March 2013.

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How can I feed back my views?

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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 22–23 October 2019

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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. 22–23 October 2019

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils who receive support for their special educational needs is well above average.  The school has designated specialist provision for children with developmental language disorders and specialist provision for autism. There are 16 pupils attending the school who access this provision.  Children start school with part-time provision from two years of age. In Reception, children attend full time.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  Green Lane Primary School converted to become an academy school in December 2016. It is part of The Priestley Academy Trust.  The school is governed by a board of directors, the trust board. Some management responsibilities are delegated to the local governing body.  The headteacher was appointed in March 2018. Before her substantive appointment as headteacher, she was the deputy headteacher and acting headteacher.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we spoke to pupils, both formally and informally, about their work and school life.  We met with the headteacher, assistant headteachers and a wide range of staff about their work. We spoke to the school improvement partner, the interim chair of the local governing body and the chief executive officer of the trust. We also spoke to some parents.  We scrutinised a wide range of documentation relating to the school’s work to safeguard pupils. We checked the school’s central record, which includes the checks made on staff to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. An inspector met with the designated safeguarding leader. We spoke to staff about safeguarding and child protection.  The inspection focused particularly on reading, mathematics and science. Other subjects were also considered as part of the inspection. We spoke to curriculum leaders, visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work. We held discussions with teachers

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Information about this inspection

and pupils. We also listened to some pupils read.  We took account of the views of staff and parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Jim McGrath, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Melissa Milner Ofsted Inspector 22–23 October 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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