Ley Top Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Ley Top Primary School Avenel Road, Allerton, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD15 7PQ

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Ley Top Primary. They feel safe and happy here. Leaders ensure that the school is calm and welcoming. Staff have high expectations for pupil’s behaviour. Pupils are respectful and well mannered. They say that adults talk and listen to them if they make mistakes. They value being given time to think and reflect on their actions. Bullying does not happen here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff see the school as the hub of the community. The pastoral team works closely with families. They know them well. Leaders have created a school food bank to provide help and they open the school early for a free breakfast club for everyone. Families appreciate this. Some parents and carers told inspectors that the leaders and staff ‘always put the children first’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They ensure that pupils are taught a wide range of subjects. Some areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and reading, have been reviewed very recently. However, there are still inconsistences in how they are currently taught. Leaders have started to implement changes to ensure that pupils can build their knowledge over time but these are in the very early stages of implementation.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders plan experiences to help pupils to grow in confidence. These include trips to the beach, the theatre and residential visits. Pupils learn about helping and caring for others by raising money for local charities or being a playground buddy. Pupils especially enjoy the school dog Betsy’s visits to the classroom. 18 and 19 May 2022

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

Leaders and staff are deeply committed to the school and its community. They are passionate about creating a curriculum which enables pupils to achieve more. Senior leaders are working closely with subject leaders to identify the important knowledge that they want pupils to learn. This work is not complete in some subjects. In subjects, such as history, leaders have not yet defined the knowledge they want pupils to remember. The curriculum has not been ordered well enough to ensure that pupils have sufficient opportunities to revisit learning and build on what they already know and can do, in a logical way from the early years to Year 6. Therefore, pupils are not always remembering their learning.

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

Leaders want pupils to develop a love of reading. They encourage pupils to choose the books that they want to have in their class libraries. Leaders and staff listen to pupils read regularly and celebrate pupils who read at home. High-quality texts have been chosen to develop pupils’ reading skills across the school.

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

Language development is recognised as important in this school. Pupils in Nursery and Reception classes sing songs to help them to develop and understand new vocabulary. They are encouraged to talk about their thoughts and ideas.

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

Leaders have made changes to the way early reading is taught, as they recognised that pupils were not learning to decode words effectively. Leaders have recently introduced a new systematic programme to teach phonics in Reception and Year 1. There are plans to use this programme across the school when all staff have received training. Currently, teachers in other year groups follow different approaches. Some pupils find this confusing and do not learn to read quickly enough with fluency. Additionally, pupils who are finding reading difficult are not given enough opportunities to catch up.

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

Historically, pupils with SEND have not been identified quickly enough and support has not always been precise enough to help pupils achieve well. New leaders are determined to rectify this quickly. They are in the process of creating support plans with the intention of providing staff with more information about pupils’ differing needs. They are working with other professionals to ensure that pupils with SEND can achieve well.

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

Staff are proud to work at this school. They appreciated the support they receive from leaders to help with workload and well-being.

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

Governors are supportive of the school and value the work that the school does in the local community. They appreciate the improvements that senior leaders and staff have made in the school. However, they are too accepting of leaders’ information and do not ask probing questions or seek further assurance that the information is correct. Consequently, governors do not know enough about the quality of education the school provides for the pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 18 and 19 May 2022

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Leaders have implemented robust, rigorous and effective procedures to ensure that all staff are well trained and understand safeguarding risks for pupils. Staff are vigilant to identify any signs of potential abuse or neglect. They ensure that any safeguarding concerns are quickly reported, no matter how small. This enables the experienced and effective pastoral team to ensure that no risk is overlooked. Leaders work well with local Police Community Support Officers to inform pupils and families about safeguarding risks, such as knife crime and gang culture.

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Pupils are confident to talk about keeping themselves safe online. They know about healthy relationships and are confident to share any worries about themselves or others with adults in the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not organised the curriculum to ensure that pupils can build on their prior learning. In some subjects, leaders have not identified the important knowledge that pupils need to learn. Therefore, it is not always clear what pupils should understand. Class teachers are not planning sequences of lessons which build on what has been taught before. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum for all subjects clearly sets out the knowledge that all pupils should know from early years to Year 6, and that learning is revisited and assessed regularly.  Historically, the identification and support for pupils with SEND has not been rigorous and effective. This means that the information on the SEND register is not accurate for all pupils. Consequently, some pupils’ support plans do not have sufficient detail in them to plan for and support pupils’ individual learning needs. Leaders must urgently identify the needs of individual pupils and ensure that these needs are understood, in

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

order to adapt learning effectively to enable all pupils to be successful.  Governors do not robustly monitor the plans that leaders make to improve the school and do not check the quality of education pupils receive. They rely too much on information provided by leaders, without providing challenge to them. Governors need to challenge leaders in more detail so that they understand more clearly the quality of education pupils receive and ensure that any improvements leaders propose to make are scrutinised and understood. 18 and 19 May 2022

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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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 21 and 22 September 2016.

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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.

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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 and 19 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10200084 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 21 and 22 September 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides a breakfast club for all pupils.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This is 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 her evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector completed deep dives in these subjects; early reading, mathematics and history. She reviewed planning, met with subject leaders, visited lessons, reviewed pupils’ work and spoke to teachers and pupils. The inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  The inspector also reviewed a number of other curriculum plans.  The inspector reviewed a range of school documentation and policies. She spoke with the headteacher and senior leaders throughout the inspection. She also met with the newly appointed coordinator for SEND. 18 and 19 May 2022

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 The inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. She also met a representative of the local authority.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector held meetings with designated safeguarding leaders in the school. A meeting was also held with the office manager to scrutinise the single central record held by the school. The inspector considered safeguarding processes and asked staff questions to establish their understanding of these procedures.  The inspector observed pupils during playtime, lunchtime and in the breakfast club. She discussed safeguarding with pupils.  The inspector considered the views of parents by speaking to several of them. Responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, including the free-text comments, were also reviewed. The responses to the staff and pupil surveys were taken into account.

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Inspection team

Andrea Batley, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 18 and 19 May 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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