Park Spring Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Park Spring Primary School Swinnow Lane, Leeds LS13 4QT

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Outcome

Park Spring Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Park Spring Primary School is a caring, friendly and welcoming school. Leaders are ambitious about what pupils can achieve and staff have high expectations. Teachers make lessons interesting and fun. Pupils said that they enjoy coming to school because: ‘I have improved my handwriting and I am very proud of that,’ ‘I love maths and know all my times tables,’ and ‘Everyone is kind and helps you.’ Parents said: ‘This is a caring school that goes the extra mile for every child and family,’ and ‘This is a school that cares about their students.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy, respectful and smiling. The school is calm and orderly and pupils behave well. In lessons, pupils try their hardest. Pupils told the inspector that they feel safe. Bullying is rare, and pupils know there is an adult they can go to if they are worried about something. Pupils know how to stay safe, including when they use the internet or social media.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take on various roles of responsibility, such as school councillors, ‘sport crew’ and ‘food ambassadors’. This helps them to develop their confidence and resilience while helping others. Pupils’ voice is heard in the school and they enjoy sharing their ideas and opinions.

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

The school continues to offer pupils a good quality of education. School leaders, including governors, know the school very well. They are ambitious about the school and want every pupil to achieve their best. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and her senior team know exactly how to improve the school further.

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

Leaders have worked hard and have designed a strong and ambitious curriculum, starting from the early years. Pupils study the full range of subjects of the national curriculum. They build up their knowledge and understanding in each subject as they move through the school. Pupils remember key knowledge because they revisit previous learning 29 and 30 March 2022

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regularly. For example, in art, pupils in Year 5 can explain how learning about shading and blending in previous years has helped them in creating designs influenced by botanical art. In mathematics, pupils in Year 3 can explain how learning about halves at the beginning of the year has helped them to learn about quarters and thirds later on in the year. However, the content in some subjects is not yet carefully linked to knowledge from other subjects. As a result, some pupils do not routinely use wider prior knowledge when learning something new.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need to take a full part in lessons. Teachers identify any learning needs early and adapt the curriculum to meet each pupil’s needs. Teachers use assessment to identify gaps in learning accurately. This means that pupils get the help they need to catch up.

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Leaders have ensured that reading is of high priority in this school. Leaders have introduced a new programme for the teaching of phonics. Adults teach phonics well. Books are carefully matched to the sounds that pupils know. Because of this, pupils quickly learn to read with fluency and accuracy. In key stage 2, pupils develop a deep understanding of a wide range of texts. All pupils spoke enthusiastically about their favourite books and authors of this term. New resources have been added this year. Story time at the end of each day is engaging. Pupils read regularly in school but not routinely for pleasure at home.

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In early years, daily phonics sessions help pupils learn their sounds quickly and combine the teaching of reading with the teaching of spelling. Any pupil who falls behind in their reading gets extra support. Language development and communication constitute a high priority for the school. The early years curriculum is planned coherently in all areas of learning. Nursery and Reception classrooms are vibrant, safe and exciting places to learn. Adults are caring and welcoming. The curriculum allows children to thrive. Adults use the outside space very creatively and children have fun while learning. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1.

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The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities, such as cooking and football. Parents and carers are complimentary about the leaders and staff at this school. Leaders have established a school environment where morale is high and staff feel valued. Leaders organise exciting events linked to pupils’ learning, such as visits from authors and theatre visits linked to reading books. Pupils are excited to see a book brought to life on a theatre stage. The curriculum supports pupils’ social and emotional development well. Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe and how to be healthy. They have a good understanding of other faiths.

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Leaders, including governors, show great consideration for the well-being of everyone working in the school. Staff workload is considered in every decision senior leaders make.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 29 and 30 March 2022

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Leaders make sure that there is a strong culture of safeguarding. Pupils know how to stay safe at school and at home. They also know who to go to if they have any concerns. Staff can easily access the system in place to record any concern. Leaders follow up concerns quickly and work effectively with external agencies. Staff remain vigilant. Staff receive appropriate safeguarding training, including weekly updates. The school carries out all the required recruitment and other checks to ensure that anyone working at the school, or visiting, is safe to work with children.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school curriculum is ambitious and well planned and content is logically sequenced across all subjects. As a result, pupils’ knowledge builds up over time. However, pupils do not routinely use wider knowledge when learning something new. Leaders need to continue to refine the interconnected curriculum so that knowledge in each subject is also linked to other subjects to support pupils to better integrate new learning.  Leaders have ensured that reading has a high priority in the school from the early years through to Year 6. Leaders have put in place a wide range of initiatives to foster a love of reading, in school and at home. However, not all pupils read regularly at home. Leaders need to continue their intensive work with parents to ensure that all pupils read more often at home.

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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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2013.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 29 and 30 March 2022

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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. 29 and 30 March 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211474 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 22 February 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The school runs a before- and after-school club.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  The school accesses support and alternative provision through the North West Area Inclusion Partnership, in Leeds. All available providers through the partnership are registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, curriculum leaders and pupils. 29 and 30 March 2022

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 The inspector met with representatives of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. He also had a phone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, art and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspector met with curriculum leaders, spoke to pupils and teachers, visited lessons and looked at their work. The inspector heard pupils read.  The inspector also looked at curriculum plans and pupils’ work for science and history, with the subject leader for each.  The inspector observed the work of the school and scrutinised a wide range of evidence, including the school’s self-evaluation, action plans, attendance and behaviour records, safeguarding files and recruitment checks. The inspector also talked to staff about their role in keeping pupils safe.  The inspector talked to staff about their workload, and about the amount and quality of

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training and support they receive from leaders.  The inspector spoke with parents during the inspection. He considered responses, including free-text comments, to the Ofsted Parent View online questionnaire. The responses to the staff questionnaire and pupils’ questionnaire were also considered.

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Inspection team

Dimitris Spiliotis, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 March 2022

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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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