Sandbrook Community Primary School

Inspection of Sandbrook Community Primary School Hartley Lane, Rochdale, Lancashire OL11 2LR

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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What is it like to attend this school?

Caring for pupils and their families is at the heart of everything that the staff do. Pupils feel secure. Pupils who spoke with us said that they feel safe. They have a strong understanding of how to keep safe online. They play and socialise well at breaktimes. Pupils said that bullying is rare. If there is any, they said that staff take it seriously and sort it out. Most pupils behave well in class for most of the time. They are eager to give their answers to teachers’ questions. They follow adults’ instructions well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and they enjoy school. They like the different subjects, particularly history, geography and science. Pupils also said that they enjoy the wide range of clubs, trips and experiences.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers’ expectations for pupils’ attainment are not high enough. Close to a half of Year 6 pupils in 2019 did not have the reading attainment that they needed in order to be ready for secondary school. These pupils’ skills in mathematics were also not strong enough. Leaders have reshaped the curriculum to help pupils to learn more and address the low standards achieved by pupils in the past.

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better?

The children in the Nursery and Reception classes get off to a good start. The curriculum is well planned in early years. Adults choose appropriate activities. These give the children the experience and the knowledge that they need. The curriculum builds on children’s prior learning. Staff check on children’s learning well. They give children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) the teaching that they need to become successful learners. The staff develop in children a love of books and reading. Each week, a secret reader comes into the Nursery and Reception classes to share a book and to inspire children. Over recent years, an increasing number of children have been ready for Year 1 by the end of Reception Year.

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better?

Standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6 have been low in the past. The curriculum has not helped the disadvantaged pupils to catch up with other pupils nationally. There is still some way to go to raise the attainment of all pupils so that it is comparable with the national averages. Leaders have acted. They have started to refine the curriculum further, particularly in mathematics. Teachers do not teach the skills and knowledge that pupils need in small enough chunks. However, in writing the curriculum helps pupils with SEND to catch up to their peers.

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better?

Reading is the school’s main priority. Leaders have invested in new books. They make sure that the youngest children have the books that match their reading skills. Teachers help most, but not all, pupils to catch up to where they should be in the reading programme. There is a well-planned system in place to help pupils new to the country to be able to read. Some adults are not accurate in the pronunciation of 18–19 February 2020

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the sounds that letters represent. Some adults make errors in their standard spoken English. Across the curriculum, pupils struggle to spell words well in their work. They sometimes make repeated errors, spelling the same word incorrectly over a period of time.

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The curriculum builds pupils’ personal development well. For instance, in physical education (PE), leaders help pupils to have the skills they need to lead a healthy lifestyle. They show pupils that they should keep trying if they cannot do a skill the first time. This is particularly effective for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils with SEND. Pupils have many chances to take on responsibilities in school, for example as French, geography or history ambassadors. Through the curriculum, teachers also develop pupils’ wider cultural understanding. They make sure that all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, have the chance to visit places such as The Lowry and the ‘Theatre of Dreams’. The curriculum supports pupils’ good behaviour. They learn how to respect and care for others.

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The governing body and leaders take steps to make sure that the workload on staff is well managed. They have reduced the amount of marking and assessment. They look after the teachers’ well-being. They provide the time that subject leaders need to do their jobs. They provide the training that staff need.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have a passion for making sure that all pupils are safe. Staff and governors are well trained and knowledgeable about safeguarding. Leaders provide frequent updates to make sure that staff and governors have the latest information.

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Safeguarding

Induction for new staff is highly effective. Staff know how to make referrals should they be concerned about pupils’ welfare. The school’s records following any incidents are comprehensive. Leaders work well with many different professionals to get help to families and to individual pupils.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum in reading does not allow pupils to attain as well as possible. Pupils do not develop their reading as well as they could. The standards that pupils achieve have been below the national average by the end of Year 6. Disadvantaged pupils do not catch up with other pupils nationally. Pupils find it harder to use reading in other subjects and are less well prepared for secondary school. Leaders should continue their development of the curriculum in reading to make sure that the quality of education in this area continues to improve.  Some adults do not use correct English or accurately pronounce the sounds that letters represent when they speak to children and pupils. This makes it harder for 18–19 February 2020

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pupils to develop their speaking and reading skills, including their knowledge of these sounds. Leaders should ensure that all staff are confident and accurate in the way they provide pupils with a model for standard spoken English.  Pupils’ work shows repeated spelling errors. This makes their writing less effective. Leaders should ensure that staff use effective strategies to help pupils know the importance of accurate spelling and become better spellers.  Leaders have started to refine the subjects taught into smaller pieces of knowledge and skills that build up to ambitious end points. This work is not yet finished. The school should complete this process so that pupils are helped to raise their attainment across 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.

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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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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

Inspection number 10121986 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 14–15 September 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is located on the same site as a children’s centre. This is inspected separately.  The governing body manages a breakfast club on the school’s site.

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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 met with a representative of the local authority and three representatives of the governing body. We also met with senior leaders.  We did deep dives in these subjects: history, geography, PE, reading, writing and mathematics. For each, we met the teacher who leads the subject, talked with some pupils, looked at their work and/or performance, spoke with teachers, and visited some lessons. We also looked briefly at some other subjects: French, computing, religious education (RE), and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. 18–19 February 2020

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 We visited an assembly and visited break- and lunchtimes. We also visited the breakfast club.  We conducted activities to see how well the school safeguards and protects its pupils. We looked at case studies of some pupils with SEND and those with part- time timetables. We considered how well the site is secured and how well the leaders train the staff in safeguarding procedures. We checked some documentation and policies and looked at how well the school checks that adults have the right clearances to work with pupils. We also discussed safeguarding with the governing body.  Too few parents and carers completed Ofsted’s online survey for us to use their views to give an overall picture of the school. We met two groups of parents and looked at the school’s own survey of parents.  There were 38 responses from members of staff to Ofsted’s online survey. In addition, we met a group of newly qualified teachers and met with some teachers

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who lead subjects.  There were 11 responses from pupils to Ofsted’s online survey. We met many groups of pupils over the two days, as well as those we met at breaktimes.

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Inspection team

Allan Torr, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Young 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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