Primrose Lane Primary School

Inspection of Primrose Lane Primary School Westwood Way, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6DX

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding 10–11 December 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say they are happy and that staff care about them. Pupils are respectful of one another and they enjoy school. They attend regularly, are punctual and ready to learn. Leaders place high priority on promoting pupils’ personal development.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the sporting activities on offer. These include tag rugby, tennis, football and cycling. A high proportion of pupils learn the flute, clarinet and djembe. Choir members love to perform. They are proud of the musical accreditation received by the school. Pupils enjoy going on educational visits, including residential trips.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well at breaktimes. They have good conduct and manners around school. Staff have high expectations for behaviour. The atmosphere in school is calm and purposeful. Some pupils say that bullying can occur at times. They say if it does, staff will deal with it straight away. Teachers promote aspects of different world faiths and cultures. This helps pupils to understand diversity in the wider world.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The vast majority of parents and carers are positive about the school. This is particularly the case for parents whose children attend the early years. They appreciate the strong relationships the leader has established. They also like the sessions where parents can work with their children in school.

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better?

There have been several staffing changes over the past year. Some leaders are new to their roles. Improvements they have made are in the early stages of implementation. Leaders have not yet developed robust ways of monitoring the impact of their actions. Over time, pupils with low starting points have not achieved well. Leaders’ use of assessments to plan work for these pupils is not ambitious enough. These pupils do not catch up quickly when they fall behind in their learning.

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better?

Senior leaders ensure that the curriculum is purposeful. However, there are inconsistencies across subjects. Some subjects are well planned, for example mathematics, writing and music. Teachers know what they are teaching and in which order. Other subjects, such as computing and design and technology, are not as well sequenced. Leaders have training planned to develop teachers’ subject knowledge. This will support staff in their planning so that pupils will know more and remember more across all subjects.

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better?

The new leader of phonics accesses an English ‘hub’ of local schools. She has started to revitalise the existing phonics programme. This is ensuring consistency in the teaching of phonics, from early years onwards. Pupils read books which match the sounds and letters that they know. Staff instil a love of reading in pupils. Some activities that seek to help pupils apply their phonic knowledge do not enable them to build on what they know. There is still more to do to raise attainment in phonics. This is especially the case for the pupils whose starting points are low. They struggle to 10–11 December 2019

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The leader of early years is new and has started to improve the curriculum both indoors and outside. However, there is still much to do to ensure that the learning environment is challenging for all pupils. Children settle into school, have positive relationships and behave well. The proportion of children ready for key stage 1 has declined over three years. Pupils with the lowest starting points do not catch up quickly enough. The leader is tackling these weaknesses, but it is too soon to measure any impact.

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The special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) coordinator is new to the role. She has a clear vision for the leadership systems required. However, learning plans are not in place for all pupils with SEND. In some cases, leaders have been slow to provide targeted support. Teaching assistants support pupils in class and have good relationships with them. They are not as clear about how to use pupils’ support plans to provide focused intervention. Leaders have not identified specific curriculum end points for pupils with SEND. For some pupils, this means that the expectations of staff are not matched to pupils’ ability or need.

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Pupils generally behave well in lessons. This allows teachers to teach without interruption. On occasion, pupils lose concentration where the expectations for learning are too low. Expectations of the standard and quality of work in books are also variable. Some pupils do not take enough care with their handwriting or when presenting their work.

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Governors are passionate about the school. They know the school’s strengths but do not have a secure understanding of its weaknesses. This prevents them from providing adequate challenge to leaders. Governors carry out a regular audit of their skills. They access governor training with other schools. They attend fewer training courses to develop their monitoring role in the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe. They learn how to keep themselves safe, including when they are online.

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Safeguarding

Staff and governors have accessed the necessary training relating to safeguarding. Leaders check that staff and volunteers are safe to be in contact with children before they start to work at the school. All the records related to safe recruitment are thorough and well managed.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. Despite this, some leadership systems relating to checking on record-keeping are not tight enough. On occasion, systems for accessing information have been inconsistent. This is of particular importance for some vulnerable pupils, including those with SEND . 10–11 December 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff professional development is planned for some areas of the curriculum, but this has not yet been implemented across the full range of subjects. As a result, there is too much variability in teachers’ subject knowledge. Also, teachers’ planning to assure pupils retain subject-specific knowledge and skills is still developing. Senior leaders need to embed their rolling programme of training for staff as quickly as possible.  The new leader of phonics has made many improvements since September. However, the early reading programme is not effective for all pupils. Some pupils who have very low starting points are not supported well enough to acquire essential phonic skills and knowledge. This means they fall further behind their peers who can read with fluency. Leaders need to ensure that pupils who are struggling catch up quickly.  Learning plans for pupils with SEND are not specific enough. They do not identify

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

end points and are not sufficiently ambitious. As a result, pupils do not have access to an appropriately challenging curriculum to achieve well. Leaders should ensure that learning plans are ambitious for all pupils with SEND. These plans should have clear end points that pupils are expected to achieve.  Governors do not have an accurate view of the school’s weaknesses. Their governor training programme does not support them to specifically monitor the strengths and weaknesses in this school. As a result, leaders are not challenged sufficiently by governors. Governors should attend relevant training which prioritises development of their monitoring skills so that they can hold leaders to account.  The quality of pupils’ handwriting and presentation skills across the school is variable. In some classes, staff accept pupils’ lack of care and poor presentation when recording their work. Leaders should ensure that high expectations for pupils’

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

presentation of work are consistent across the school and that handwriting is systematically developed.  Although the early years leader has made a prompt start at improving the learning environment both indoors and outdoors, there is still more to do. The recent improvements to challenge children, including those with low starting points, need to be embedded.  Leaders have established a strong culture of safeguarding in the school and pupils feel safe. However, on occasions, there has been insufficient rigour in leaders’ checking of vulnerable pupils’ records. Leaders should ensure that they sharpen up their checking of record-keeping, so they are sure that systems are consistent and effective. 10–11 December 2019

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 10–11 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10115206 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12–13 March 2013

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Information about this school

 The early years leader, who is also the phonics leader, joined the school in September 2019.  The leader of SEND is relatively new to the role. The proportion of pupils with SEND, including pupils with an education, health and care plan, is above the national average.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  Three members of staff are currently on maternity leave. This includes the substantive deputy headteacher. There is currently an acting deputy headteacher in place.  Primrose Lane is a member of the Wharfe Valley Learning Partnership (WVLP), a partnership of nine local schools.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, the acting deputy headteacher, the SEND 10–11 December 2019

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coordinator, and curriculum leaders and a representative from the local authority.  During breaktime and lunchtime, we observed pupils’ behaviour. We also spoke to pupils about what it is like to be a pupil at this school.  We met with the school’s improvement adviser from the local authority, the chair, vice-chair and several members of the governing body.  We checked how staff keep pupils safe. We checked the school’s documentation relating to safeguarding. This included policies and procedures, the single central record and pupils’ records. We asked staff across the school how they keep pupils safe. We asked pupils if they felt safe and what they would do if they had a worry or concern. We asked pupils about bullying.  Early reading, mathematics and personal, social, health and citizenship education were a focus of this inspection. We met with the leaders of these subjects, visited lessons, talked to pupils and staff and looked at pupils’ work. We also listened to

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pupils read.  We considered 90 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, and six emails from parents. Several parents gave their views in person at the end of the school day.

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Inspection team

Alison Aitchison, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lynne Selkirk Ofsted Inspector 10–11 December 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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