Urmston Primary School

Inspection of Urmston Primary School Wycliffe Road, Urmston, Manchester M41 5AH

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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

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 4–5 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe. They are happy, respectful and kind. Pupils are keen to help others. They learn about the importance of citizenship. They support each other well when they are working together. They have fun learning. Pupils attain well in reading, writing and mathematics. They embrace challenges with positive attitudes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well and enjoy learning. They rarely misbehave. When they do, they put things right by saying sorry and listening to each other’s point of view. Pupils show tolerance and understanding, even when they fall out. The pupils that we spoke to said that staff deal with instances of bullying effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are supported well to develop character. They enjoy the wide range of activities on offer. They take part in many competitive sports. They have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders do not have high enough expectations of pupils’ learning in a number of subjects. The quality of education is not consistent across subjects and in different classes. This is particularly true in the early years. Leaders have begun to develop the curriculum. However, further work is needed to ensure that pupils’ learning is secure in all subjects.

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better?

The school’s published data shows that pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in reading and writing has remained above national averages over time. Until recently, teachers have focused on these subjects and mathematics at the expense of other curriculum subjects. This has limited pupils’ opportunity to achieve well in all of the subjects included in the national curriculum.

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better?

Leaders have taken decisive action to address the limited breadth and balance in the previous curriculum. They have developed clear curriculum plans for all subjects. Some of these plans are already beginning to have an impact on pupils’ learning in subjects such as history, science and geography.

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better?

In other subjects, the plans have not been fully implemented. Leaders do not ensure that pupils develop a broad range of skills and knowledge across all aspects of the curriculum. Subjects such as art, music, design and technology and religious education are not well developed. Leaders have not provided enough guidance and support for teachers in these subjects. Teachers try to fit together short unconnected pieces of learning. This is not effective and leaves gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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better?

The curriculum plans for many subject areas do not include the Nursery Year. The quality of education in the Reception classes is stronger than in the Nursery class. This is especially true in reading and physical development. The curriculum in the 4–5 February 2020

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Nursery class does not make children ready for the curriculum in the Reception Year.

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The leadership of some areas of the curriculum is at the very early stages. Some leaders do not have sufficient understanding of the early years curriculum.

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The achievement of Year 6 pupils in mathematics rose sharply in 2019 following a dip the previous year. This was as a result of improvements made by senior leaders. The positive effects of the new mathematics curriculum are also evident in pupils’ current work. Pupils are able to build on their previous learning in an organised way.

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The reading curriculum is well planned and effective. Leaders have developed a love of reading throughout the school. They make sure that pupils practise their reading regularly. Pupils are well supported in this. The books that they read are at the right level for them. Nursery children listen carefully for sounds and rhythms in words. Children develop a secure knowledge of phonics by the end of the Reception Year. Staff support pupils to become fluent and accurate readers. Pupils who are falling behind in their reading are supported well to catch up.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities build up their knowledge well in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders make sure that these pupils get the support that they need to access the curriculum as well as their peers. However, like other pupils, they do not achieve well enough in those subjects where the curriculum is underdeveloped. Leaders do not have the same understanding of the difficulties that disadvantaged pupils face in order to achieve well. The support that disadvantaged pupils receive is not as effective as it could be because it lacks focus.

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Pupils are resilient learners. They respond well to being challenged by their teachers. Leaders focus on the well-being of pupils and staff. As a result, staff and pupils feel valued and well supported.

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Leaders support pupils well to make a positive contribution to their local and global communities. For example, pupils learn about and support the work of different charities. They maintain friendships on the playground as ‘restorative champions’.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that pupils are safe. They keep staff up to date with the latest local and national guidance about safeguarding. Staff members pass any concerns that they have to the relevant personnel. Leaders make sure that vulnerable pupils get the support that they need. Leaders are proactive in liaising with relevant agencies.

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Safeguarding

Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They know how to protect themselves when they are online. 4–5 February 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The learning that takes place in the Nursery class does not prepare children well enough for the Reception Year. This is particularly true in reading and in physical development. Children do not build up their knowledge as well as they could in the Nursery class. Some curriculum plans do not identify what children are expected to learn in the Nursery Year. Leaders need to ensure that children in both the Reception and the Nursey Year access an ambitious curriculum that prepares them well for future learning.  Some subject leaders have insufficient knowledge of learning in the early years. They are not able to ensure that pupils and younger children across the school access a high-quality and ambitious curriculum. Senior leaders need to support these leaders to develop their knowledge of the early years curriculum.  Leaders have recognised that a previously stronger focus on reading, writing and mathematics has led to weaknesses in how other subjects are planned and

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

delivered. It has also limited opportunities to promote pupils’ personal development. Leaders have taken action to address this issue but they have not provided enough guidance to teachers on how to plan in a coherent way. This leads to gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Leaders must ensure that all of the new curriculum plans are implemented. They should also provide training to staff so that teachers order pupils’ learning in a logical way in order to help pupils know and remember more.  Disadvantaged pupils do receive additional support. However, not all leaders are clear about what challenges disadvantaged pupils need to overcome to enable them to achieve as well as their peers. They are also unclear about what adaptations to the curriculum are likely to provide effective support. Governors need to ensure that leaders are clear about what barriers disadvantaged pupils face. They also need to ensure that the support that leaders put in place for these

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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 are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 4–5 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122144 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 Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school was formed from an amalgamation of the previous infant and junior schools in 2017.  The current headteacher took up post in September 2019. He had previously been acting headteacher for a short period of time.  There have been considerable changes to leadership roles within the school, including governance, following the amalgamation.

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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

 We spoke with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body, and a representative from the local authority.  We looked at a range of documentation for safeguarding, including the record of required checks carried out on school staff. We spoke with pupils about safeguarding. We also reviewed staff training logs and case files. We met with the 4–5 February 2020

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person responsible for safeguarding to discuss how the school works to keep pupils safe.  We observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes. We also observed them as they moved around the school.  We spoke with pupils about their experiences at school.  We looked at the 145 responses to Ofsted’s parental questionnaire, Parent View, and the 119 free-text responses from parents and carers to find out their views of the school. We spoke with parents as they dropped their children off at school.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and music. We talked with the leaders of these subjects. We looked at curriculum plans. We visited lessons. We looked at examples of pupils’ work. We talked with teachers and pupils about what pupils were learning.

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Inspection team

Claire Cropper, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Michelle Beard Ofsted Inspector 4–5 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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