Lawrence Community Primary School

Inspection of Lawrence Community Primary School Lawrence Road, Liverpool, Merseyside L15 0EE

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 5 and 6 July 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are well cared for by the adults in school. Many pupils join the school at different times in the year. They arrive from a wide range of countries. There are currently 32 different languages spoken by these pupils. Pupils embrace the diverse nature of their school community. Pupils said of their music lessons ‘when we sing, we sing in unison’. This sums up the way pupils interact. They respect each other. Pupils’ positive attitudes help to make the school a happy and harmonious place.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children in the early years, and pupils who are new to school, settle quickly into the routines of learning. Pupils behave well in lessons, at playtimes and when they move around school. They said that bullying occasionally happens, but that staff deal well with any incidents. Pupils feel safe and well supported.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations for pupils. Pupils in key stages 1 and 2 achieve better than they did in the past. Leaders have improved the early years curriculum, particularly for children in the nursery. However, children in the Reception Year have not benefited from these improvements. These children are not as well prepared for their next stage of education as they need to be.

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better?

Leaders ensure that all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), access an exciting and ambitious curriculum. The curriculum supports pupils to develop a wide range of knowledge and to explore new talents and interests.

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better?

Subject leaders carefully consider what pupils need to know and the order that knowledge should be taught. This clarity helps teachers to ensure that pupils successfully build on their learning over time in most subjects. However, leaders do not provide sufficient guidance for staff who teach and support learning in the early years. This is particularly the case for staff who work with reception-aged children. These staff miss opportunities to reinforce or extend children’s knowledge across each area of learning. There is an unevenness in children’s development as a result. Children are not fully equipped to embrace the challenges of the Year 1 curriculum.

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better?

In most subjects, teachers have been well trained to deliver leaders’ high-quality curriculums. Teachers make sure that pupils acquire the key knowledge that leaders expect them to. They carefully identify and address pupils’ misconceptions. In these subjects, teachers are also clear about the best way to deliver new learning to pupils. This enables pupils, including pupils with SEND, to learn well.

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better?

In a small number of subjects teachers have not received the training that they need to deliver the curriculum as effectively as they should. As a result, teachers do not consistently choose the most appropriate activities to support pupils’ learning. Pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects. 5 and 6 July 2022

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Staff in the Nursery Year encourage children to listen carefully for sounds. They introduce children to lots of new words through stories and play. Children begin to learn to read as soon as they enter the Reception Year. However, leaders’ expectations of how quickly some children should learn new letters and sounds are too low.

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As pupils move into key stage 1, teachers support pupils to close the gaps in their phonics knowledge. Pupils develop a love of reading. Older pupils are keen readers. They talk knowledgeably about a wide range of texts that they have read. Pupils’ secure reading knowledge supports them well to learn new knowledge in other subjects.

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Teachers help pupils who are behind with their learning to catch-up quickly. This includes providing extra help for pupils who arrive from overseas at the early stage of learning to speak English. These pupils receive well-tailored support to help them build secure spoken language and reading knowledge.

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Leaders identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND effectively, including in the early years. They ensure that children and pupils with SEND have access to the same curriculum as their peers.

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Leaders and staff place a strong focus on pupils’ wider development. Pupils are caring. They want to help others. Pupils learn about diversity among people and families. They demonstrate mature attitudes towards each other. This supports pupils to behave well and focus on their learning in lessons without interruption.

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Governors have benefited from external support to develop their expertise. The governing body has been strengthened by recent appointments. Governors are well- equipped to offer leaders informed support and challenge. Staff feel valued and supported. They appreciate that leaders are considerate of their workload and well- being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that staff know how to keep pupils safe. Staff identify pupils who may be at risk of harm and take appropriate action if they have a concern. Leaders follow up any concerns swiftly. They work closely with a range of partner agencies to support families and protect pupils.

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Safeguarding

Staff also know how to identify pupils who may need help with their mental or emotional health. Leaders put effective pastoral support in place quickly.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe online. They learn about potential risks in the community, including knife crime. 5 and 6 July 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not ensured that some teachers have built up the expertise that they need to deliver all subjects consistently well. At times, in a small number of subjects, these teachers do not select the most appropriate activities to deliver subject content. Pupils do not build up their knowledge as well as leaders expect them to as a result. Leaders should make sure that teachers receive the support that they need to enable pupils to build up a rich body of knowledge across the curriculum.  Leaders are at the early stage of redesigning the early years curriculum. Reception-aged children do not build up their knowledge equally well across each area of learning. A number of these children do not develop their phonics knowledge as well as they could. This means that they are not as well prepared as they need to be for Year 1. Early years leaders should clarify their curriculum thinking to enable children in the Reception Year to build securely on the strong

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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. 5 and 6 July 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10226184 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 17 and 18 July 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The leadership team has been restructured since the school was last inspected. A deputy headteacher and two assistant headteachers have been appointed.  A large proportion of pupils have lived in other countries before they began at this school. Many speak English as an additional language.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision for pupils.

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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

 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, other school leaders and members of staff. Inspectors spoke with a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body. Inspectors also met with a representative of the local authority. 5 and 6 July 2022

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 Inspectors checked the arrangements for keeping pupils safe. They looked at a range of documentation and spoke to leaders and staff. Inspectors also spoke to pupils about whether they feel safe in school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, computing and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, looked at samples of pupils’ work, held discussions with teachers and talked with pupils. Inspectors also spoke with leaders and pupils about the curriculum in other subjects and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at social times. They spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being. Inspectors also considered the views of staff shared through Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Inspectors spoke with parents and carers as they dropped their children off at

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school. They considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text responses.  Inspectors considered a range of documentation shared by school leaders, including records from meetings of the governing body and leaders’ self- evaluation documents.

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Inspection team

Jackie Stillings, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Sandie La Porta Ofsted Inspector Iain Sim Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 July 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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