Middleton Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Middleton Primary School Middleton Park Avenue, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS10 4HU

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Inspection dates: 16 and 17 November 2022

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Outcome

Middleton Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Middleton Primary is a friendly and welcoming school. Staff have high expectations of pupils’ attitudes and behaviour. Lessons are calm. Pupils focus on their learning. Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils are confident in reporting any concerns they have about behaviour to staff. Pupils rarely behave poorly but when they do, staff manage this effectively. At social times, pupils play well together. Staff interact with pupils as they play. This helps foster positive relationships.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are extremely well supported, including those with a high level of need. In the early years, children are nurtured and learn well. Staff build strong relationships with parents and carers. This helps pupils get off to a good start. For example, staff help parents understand how to support their child with reading.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have lots of opportunities to take on roles of responsibility. Eco-warriors help to look after the school environment. House captains award tickets to pupils who contribute well during lessons. Year 6 pupils support younger children with their reading. Pupils undertaking these responsibilities help to build a supportive atmosphere within this school where pupils are keen to do well.

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

In core subjects such as mathematics, the curriculum is planned carefully. Knowledge is clearly broken down into small steps. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and teachers structure learning well. They assess pupils’ learning carefully to identify gaps in their knowledge. In some subjects, for example, history, the important knowledge that pupils need to learn is not identified by leaders. Some of the deeper knowledge pupils need to acquire is not explicitly addressed in curriculum planning. Leaders have identified the need to make planning more detailed and are beginning to do so. They are training staff in curriculum design to improve the consistency of planning across all subjects. 16 and 17 November 2022

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Leaders have invested in high-quality care and support for children with SEND who struggle to communicate. Across the school, staff support pupils with SEND well. Staff are highly skilled. They know how to adapt the curriculum where necessary. Pupils with SEND follow the same curriculum as their peers. Some pupils with SEND also access effective literacy and reading interventions to help them to catch up.

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Most pupils learn to read quickly. Those pupils who need extra support receive interventions that meet their needs. Leaders recently introduced a new reading scheme. Leaders are aware that, in a small number of classes, reading routines are less established. A small minority of pupils do not join in consistently well during these sessions. Leaders are working to improve this so that all pupils get the most out of every session.

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In the early years, children have good manners and play together well. Curriculum planning is clear and detailed. Children are prepared well for Year 1. Teacher-led sessions are highly effective. Leaders plan other activities carefully to support the teacher-led sessions and help pupils gain independence. For example, following a mathematics lesson on shape during the inspection, children took part in a range of activities to distinguish between different three-dimensional shapes. Staff deliberately work to build children’s vocabulary. Staff encourage children to explain their thinking and use full sentences.

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The curriculum for pupils’ personal social and health education (PSHE) is planned well. Important knowledge, for example, about healthy relationships, is revisited. This helps pupils to remember what they have been taught. Pupils are taught how to stay safe, including online. They learn about being fit and healthy. Pupils have a strong sense of fairness. They know that people should be treated equally regardless of their background. Pupils remember some aspects of the curriculum better than others. Their knowledge of world religions is a less secure aspect. Leaders are developing this by refining the curriculum planning.

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Leaders organise a wide range of educational visits. These visits support pupils’ learning of the planned curriculum. Pupils particularly enjoy the residential visits. There are a range of activities to help pupils begin to develop skills for the world of work, including by giving presentations to different audiences.

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Those with responsibility for governance know the school and the local area well. Leaders draw on the expertise of the trust to develop training and support for staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have built strong relationships with local families. Parents feel comfortable to share any worries or struggles they have. Leaders also work closely with other agencies, including the local authority children’s services and the police. This helps leaders to be aware of any emerging risks in the community that might affect pupils. Staff log any concerns they have about pupils. Leaders follow these up quickly and effectively. They 16 and 17 November 2022

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make referrals, for example, to child and mental health services, where needed. Pupils feel safe. They have a trusted adult in school that they can talk to.

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Recruitment checks are carried out to ensure staff and visitors are appropriately vetted and safe to work with children.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some foundation subjects, the curriculum is not broken down to show the small steps pupils need to take to gain the knowledge leaders intend. The most important knowledge that pupils should secure is not clearly emphasised and assessed. Leaders should continue to develop the curriculum, ensuring it is clear what pupils will learn and how this will be assessed at each stage of the curriculum.

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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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Middleton Primary School, to be good in November 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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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. 16 and 17 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10255776 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 Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The number of pupils with SEND is well above average.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector held several meetings with the headteacher during the inspection.  A meeting was held with three members of the governing body and one trustee.  The inspector met with the chief executive officer of the trust.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 16 and 17 November 2022

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 The inspector observed pupils reading to a familiar adult.  Pupils talked to the inspector, formally and informally, about their learning and experiences at school.  Safeguarding documentation and records for behaviour and attendance were considered.  The inspector reviewed the responses received through the Ofsted’s survey, Parent View, including free-text responses. The inspector considered responses received through Ofsted’s staff survey and pupil survey.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour throughout the school day, including during lesson visits and at breaktimes and lunchtimes. The inspector spoke to groups of pupils about their views on behaviour and the wider experiences they receive at school.

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Inspection team

Zoe Helman, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 16 and 17 November 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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