Moorhouse Primary School

Inspection of Moorhouse Primary School Crossley Street, Milnrow, Rochdale, Lancashire OL16 4DR

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 18–19 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not gain the knowledge and skills that they should during their time at this school. Expectations of what they should achieve have not been high enough. Pupils have underachieved considerably in the last three years. Current pupils have gaps in their learning. Improvements to the curriculum are not helping them to catch up quickly enough.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not enjoy learning in some subjects. For example, some of the pupils that we spoke with said that they did not like mathematics because they felt that they were not good at it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour has improved because leaders have insisted on higher standards for pupils’ conduct. Pupils feel much more settled. They are ready to learn. They feel safe at school and trust adults to look after them. Pupils said that the rare instances of bullying are dealt with effectively by staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at school. They are starting to notice the positive differences that have been brought about by new leaders. Pupils demonstrate respect for each other because of the strong emphasis that leaders have put on developing pupils’ awareness of others’ feelings and opinions. They enjoy the range of activities that are on offer at lunchtimes and after school.

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better?

Since being appointed, senior leaders have started to develop all aspects of the school’s provision. However, the sheer scale of change needed means that the quality of education has not improved quickly enough. Leaders have successfully focused on improving pupils’ behaviour. Disruption to learning is no longer tolerated and exclusions have dropped dramatically. However, despite leaders’ best efforts, the attendance of some disadvantaged pupils remains an issue.

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better?

The deficiencies in the quality of education run deep. Governors have not been effective in holding leaders to account for pupils’ consistently weak achievement. This includes disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Published data shows that, at the end of key stage 2, pupils’ progress has been significantly below other pupils nationally in reading and writing for the last three years. This has also been the case for the last two years in mathematics at the end of Year 6.

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better?

Leaders are demonstrating the capacity to improve the school. They are bringing about some improvements to the curriculum. In reading, they have ensured a more structured approach to the phonics programme. The books that key stage 1 pupils read are matched to their abilities so that they apply their phonics knowledge well. Pupils who have fallen behind in their phonics learning receive effective support to help them catch up. However, pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those 18–19 February 2020

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with SEND, do not recognise common words well enough to read fluently. Older pupils have similar gaps in their reading abilities. They have a limited vocabulary. This affects their ability to read with understanding and to spell accurately. It also means they struggle to find interesting words to make their writing purposeful and interesting.

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In mathematics, pupils’ recall of their prior learning is weak. The curriculum is not matched well to their needs because of these gaps in learning. This hinders pupils’ current learning of key mathematical concepts and skills. There are some improvements at the end of key stage 2 in the structure of the curriculum. This is enabling some pupils to gain the knowledge that they should. However, the delivery of the curriculum for other pupils is too variable to make up for lost learning in the past. Although the support for pupils with SEND has improved, it has not helped them to catch up quickly enough.

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There is wide variability in the effectiveness of the curriculum in other subjects. In science and pupils’ personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, subject leaders have clearly defined what they would like pupils to learn. Pupils know and remember topics well. In subjects such as geography, history, design technology and art, the curriculum is underdeveloped because subject leaders have not ensured that teachers understand the key knowledge that will enable pupils’ future learning. Pupils are unable to recall their prior learning because they learn too many facts without the opportunity to practise key learning often enough.

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In the early years, fewer changes in the design of the curriculum have ensured that appropriate expectations are set for children’s learning. However, activities are sometimes not matched well enough to children’s learning in phonics and numeracy. This is especially the case in the dull and uninspiring outdoor area. Leaders have not provided some new staff with the training that they need. In other areas of learning, such as personal, social and emotional development, expectations are clear, so that children learn to work together well, manage their feelings and develop an awareness of others’ views and opinions.

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Leaders have established a team of staff to support pupils’ personal development and to help pupils through any difficult times in their lives. The establishment of this team is central to leaders’ vision for improvement. Pupils display a good grasp of what it means to be equal and how to respect difference. They understand well the similarities and differences of others’ faiths and can explain why democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law are important values of society.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff and governors have received training to ensure that pupils are kept safe. Staff are vigilant. They are alert to any signs that pupils might be at risk. All staff understand what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil. Staff work effectively with a range of professionals to meet the needs of children, pupils and their families. 18–19 February 2020

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Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The achievement of pupils in reading, writing and mathematics is undermined by the gaps that they have in their learning, due to weaknesses in the design and delivery of the curriculum in the past. This is especially true for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders should adapt the design of the current curriculum to more consistently address the deficits in pupils’ knowledge. They must ensure that the curriculum is structured to build more effectively on pupils’ prior learning so that they are equipped to be successful in the next stage of their education.  The planned curriculum for subjects such as geography, history, design technology and art does not enable all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, to remember their learning. This is because they learn facts that do not support their future learning. Subject leaders should raise expectations by identifying the essential knowledge that they want pupils to know

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

and remember in each topic of study. They should identify how pupils will use this knowledge in their future learning and check to make sure that they have remembered the key points.  For some disadvantaged pupils, attendance remains low. This means that these pupils miss out on too much of their education. Leaders must ensure that they continue to engage parents and carers in the importance of attendance so that this has a positive effect on pupils’ learning.  There is variation in the quality of education in the early years. Leaders should ensure that staff are provided with the training that they need to further children’s progress through the curriculum. They should ensure that areas of learning are more carefully designed to promote children’s learning, especially in the outdoor area.  Pupils’ achievement in key stage 1 and key stage 2 has not been challenged well enough by governors. They have not held leaders to account closely enough for

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

the quality of education in the school. Governors should ensure that they question leaders more precisely to ensure that there is more rapid improvement in the effectiveness of the curriculum.

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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. 18–19 February 2020

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If you are the school and you are 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. 18–19 February 2020

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Miss Samantha Anchor

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School details

Website http://www.moorhouse.rochdale.sch.uk/ Date of previous inspection 25–26 February 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was promoted to this role in January 2019 having been the deputy headteacher at the school. A new deputy headteacher took up her post in September 2019.  Since the previous inspection, there have also been numerous changes to the teaching staff, including the recent appointment of three new teachers to the school, and a new business manager.

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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

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform. 18–19 February 2020

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 During this inspection, we met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator and subject leaders. We also spoke to governors and other school staff.  We met with groups of pupils from across the school to ask them about safeguarding. We reviewed documentation, which included the school’s safeguarding policy, safeguarding records and the register of the checks carried out on new employees.  We also met with pupils to ask them about their learning in a range of subjects and looked at the schemes of work for subjects across the curriculum.  We observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and discussed behaviour and bullying with pupils, teachers and senior leaders.  We took account of 14 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, 26 responses to the staff survey and 28 responses to the pupil survey.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and PSHE. For

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these subjects, we spoke with the headteacher, met with curriculum leaders, teachers and pupils, undertook an analysis of pupils’ work and visited lessons. We heard pupils read. We also looked at pupils’ work in subjects across the curriculum.

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Inspection team

Steve Bentham, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Maria McGarry Ofsted Inspector 18–19 February 2020

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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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