Lily Lane Primary School

Inspection of Lily Lane Primary School Kenyon Lane, Moston, Manchester M40 9JP

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Good Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Inadequate Previous inspection grade Requires Improvement 24 and 25 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education. Leaders have low expectations of pupils. The curriculum that pupils receive is narrow. Leaders prioritise reading, mathematics and pupils’ personal development at the expense of other subjects in the key stage 1 and 2 curriculums. Pupils’ knowledge in many subjects is not secure. In addition, leaders have not designed the early years curriculum well. Children and pupils across the school are not well prepared for their next stage of education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive an even weaker deal than other pupils in the school. Some of these pupils are not taught by suitably trained teachers. These pupils experience a significantly reduced curriculum. This prevents them from developing the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders do not ensure that children and pupils are kept safe. They do not have high enough expectations of how pupils should behave. Children in the early years are not introduced to clear routines. They struggle to understand what is expected of them as a result. Leaders do not support staff to manage pupils’ behaviour effectively. Some pupils behave in an unsafe manner outside lessons. This inappropriate conduct is not challenged by staff. Leaders’ records of behaviour show that bullying does occasionally happen. However, pupils were confident that leaders deal with incidents well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the experiences that leaders provide to enhance their wider development. Leaders ensure that pupils’ physical health is well supported. Pupils are happy in school. They experience much success in sport.

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better?

Leadership of the school has deteriorated since the previous inspection. There has been considerable turmoil in staffing. Leaders have not managed this situation well. Staff morale is low. The disharmony in the staff team undermines the capacity of leaders to bring about the many improvements needed.

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better?

The curriculum is weak and narrow. Leaders lack the curricular knowledge and expertise that they need to design and put in place a high-quality curriculum. Pupils with SEND do not have their needs appropriately identified or met. They do not receive the support that they need. Teachers are ill-equipped to adapt the delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of these pupils. They do not achieve well.

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better?

In several subjects, leaders are unclear about the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn and the order in which this should be taught. Consequently, teachers do not understand how to shape their teaching so that pupils build their knowledge over time. Pupils receive a disorganised learning experience. They do not gain the 24 and 25 May 2022

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knowledge and skills that they need to be successful. As a result, their achievement across many subjects is poor.

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In contrast to considerable weaknesses in many subject areas, leaders are clear about what they expect most pupils to learn in reading and mathematics in each year group. Teachers understand the importance of finding out what pupils already know in these subjects before moving on to new learning. Teachers use assessment strategies well in reading and mathematics to identify where pupils have misconceptions. They use this information to plan the next steps of learning.

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Leaders ensure that staff are trained well to teach pupils to read and to enjoy literature. This begins in the early years. Children learn to listen out for important sounds. This sets them up well for when they begin their more formal learning about how to use phonics in the Reception Year and in key stage 1.

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Leaders ensure that the reading books that they provide support most pupils to build up confidence in reading. Younger pupils develop a love of reading as they practise the sounds that they know. A poet-in-residence inspires pupils to read and develop their spoken language. This helps pupils who are at the early stages of learning the English language to develop their understanding of vocabulary. Older pupils said that they enjoy reading. They read books for pleasure and to broaden their general knowledge.

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Although leaders make sure that most children’s reading and mathematical knowledge builds well in the early years, they do not ensure that children develop their knowledge equally well in the other areas of learning. Leaders do not give clear enough guidance to staff about how to challenge children to try different activities to extend their knowledge. As a result, children in the early years do not build up their knowledge as well as they should. This is particularly true for children with SEND. These children are not ready for the demands of key stage 1.

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In most lessons, pupils’ behaviour does not disturb learning. However, in the early years and classes where pupils with SEND are taught separately, this is not case. Leaders have not ensured that staff are trained well enough to support the behaviour of children and pupils with SEND so that they can focus on learning.

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Leaders have thought carefully about how to support pupils’ personal development. They ensure that a broad range of trips, visiting speakers and out-of-school activities are available for pupils to enjoy. Leaders also make sure that pupils take part in activities that help to build up their resilience and character.

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Leadership is weak. Governors do not have an accurate view of how well the school functions. They accept too much of what leaders tell them without question. Governors have failed to recognise the growing discontent among staff. Leaders, including governors, have not ensured that staff are well supported. They are unaware that some staff feel that their workloads are excessive and unmanageable. 24 and 25 May 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and governors have not ensured that the school’s safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. For example, they have not made sure that the safeguarding policy contains the latest safeguarding guidance.

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Safeguarding

Most staff have had some safeguarding training. However, leaders and governors do not ensure that all staff training is up to date. This includes staff who work with the most vulnerable pupils. Induction procedures for new staff are weak. These staff do not gain a deep enough understanding of how to keep pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

Some staff, including those in the early years, are complacent about pupils’ behaviour. Equally, some staff do not acknowledge the possible dangers that children and pupils may face. This places children and pupils in potentially unsafe situations at unstructured times of the day.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ expectations for pupils with SEND are too low. They are taught by staff who have not been trained to meet their needs sufficiently well. Consequently, these pupils do not achieve well. Leaders must ensure that all pupils with SEND are taught by teachers who are sufficiently trained to meet complex needs and make appropriate adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum.  Leaders and governors have not taken enough action to develop the curriculum beyond reading and mathematics. The curriculum in most subjects does not set out clearly what pupils need to learn. As a result, pupils receive a disconnected series of lessons that do not build their knowledge and understanding. They do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders must rapidly clarify their curriculum thinking so that teachers are clear about the knowledge that they want pupils to learn and the order in which this content should be taught.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Children do not learn all that they should during their time in the early years. This is because the curriculum is poorly designed. Staff do not have the expertise to help pupils gain the knowledge that they need to make a positive start to Year 1. Leaders must ensure that staff in the early years are clear about what they need to do to support all children, including those with SEND, to achieve well across all aspects of the early years curriculum.  Leaders and governors have not ensured that staff receive adequate and regular training in relation to safeguarding. As a result, some staff lack vigilance to potential safeguarding risks. Leaders and governors must ensure that all staff are sufficiently trained to understand their safeguarding responsibilities and to carry out their safeguarding roles effectively. 24 and 25 May 2022

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 Leaders do not support staff adequately in managing pupils’ behaviour. Many staff do not know how to help pupils understand acceptable social behaviour and boundaries. Pupils behave in an unsafe manner at times. Leaders should ensure that staff are trained well enough to deal with challenging behaviour, including behaviour related to pupils’ SEND.  Weaknesses in leadership have led to high staff workloads and low staff morale. This is hindering the capacity to bring about much-needed improvement. Governors must ensure that urgent action is taken to strengthen leadership throughout the school and to ensure that staff are provided with the support that they need to fulfil their roles effectively.

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The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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. 24 and 25 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10226189 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 2 and 3 October 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There has been significant turbulence in staffing since the school was last inspected. Two new deputy headteachers and an early years leader have been appointed.  A new chair of governors and vice-chair of governors have been appointed since the time of the last inspection.  A large proportion of pupils have lived in other countries before they began at this school. Many pupils speak English as an additional language.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors 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(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. 24 and 25 May 2022

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 This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other leaders in the school, including the leader for SEND.  Inspectors spoke with two governors, including the chair of governors. Inspectors also met with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation relating to safeguarding. This included the school’s central record of staff and visitors, staff training records, records of safeguarding, and samples of pupils’ records.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, art and design, history, music and physical education. They talked with the curriculum leaders of these subject areas. Inspectors also visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’

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work, held discussions with teachers and talked with pupils.  Inspectors spoke to some curriculum leaders, looked at samples of pupils’ work and spoke to pupils about their learning in other areas of the curriculum.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes. They observed pupils’ behaviour as they moved around the school.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school.  Inspectors spoke with parents as they dropped their children off at school. They considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey. They also considered the free-text responses from parents.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and for pupils.

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Inspection team

Jackie Stillings, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Louise McArdle Her Majesty’s Inspector 24 and 25 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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