Chapelfield Primary School

Inspection of Chapelfield Primary School Clough Street, Radcliffe, Manchester M26 1LH

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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 Good Previous inspection grade Good 7 and 8 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know the school rules and follow them well. They strive to live out the school’s values. Pupils respect each other and adults. They care about others. Older pupils welcome their roles of responsibility. For example, pupils who are reading buddies enjoy helping younger pupils to practise and improve their reading.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are attentive in lessons. They enjoy active playtimes. Children in early years play together sociably. Older pupils enjoy team games. They cooperate well together in their play.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff take effective care of pupils. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe in school. Pupils are confident in using the systems in place to tell adults if they have any concerns or worries. Leaders deal with any rare incidents of bullying effectively. This means that these are not repeated.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are considerate of others. They take an active part in charitable work. This includes raising funds for a local animal welfare centre. In this way, pupils learn how to be active citizens.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have improved the curriculum to help pupils to know and remember more over time. Pupils achieve well across a range of subjects as a result.

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better?

Leaders have a strong ambition to develop a love of reading in all pupils and to expand their vocabulary. This underpins leaders’ curriculum thinking effectively. Leaders have ensured that subject curriculums are enriched by a range of high- quality texts.

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better?

Leaders carefully consider how to build pupils’ knowledge in and across the mixed- aged classes. Their well-designed curriculum starts in early years. Leaders prioritise the most important knowledge that children should learn. This includes a sharp focus on developing children’s ability to communicate well.

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better?

Curriculums in many subjects are well established. Leaders are clear about the key knowledge that they want pupils to know and remember in these subjects. They provide teachers with appropriate support to deliver these curriculums well, including in early years. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to order curriculum content carefully. They check that pupils remember essential knowledge before introducing new learning. Pupils learn well in these subjects.

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better?

In a small number of foundation subjects, leaders’ curriculum improvements are more recent. Some leaders are relatively new to their leadership roles. They have had insufficient opportunity to develop teachers’ subject knowledge or to check how 7 and 8 March 2023

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well their curriculums are being delivered. Some teachers lack clarity about what should be taught and when. This hinders how well they use assessment strategies to identify and build on what pupils know already. Some pupils’ knowledge is uneven in these subjects as a result.

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Leaders make teaching pupils to read a high priority. Staff in Nursery introduce children to lots of new words through stories and play. Children build on this knowledge as they begin to learn to read in Reception Year. Here, well-trained staff deliver the phonics programme to a high standard. Children quickly gain the knowledge that they need to read words and simple sentences. Pupils in key stage 1 build on this positive start. They develop secure reading knowledge and apply this well to their writing.

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Pupils practise reading, using books that closely match the sounds that they know. Pupils who need extra support have regular opportunities to read to adults. This helps to develop their fluency and accuracy. Older pupils are inspired to read a broad range of books independently. They develop secure reading knowledge as they move through the school. Pupils apply this well to learn new concepts in other subjects. Older pupils are well equipped for the reading challenges of the key stage 3 curriculum.

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Leaders identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND effectively, including for children in early years. Leaders and staff put effective support in place for these pupils. This helps pupils with SEND to access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

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Pupils demonstrate mature attitudes towards each other. They are sensitive to the different needs of others. This supports pupils to behave well and to focus on their learning in lessons without interruption.

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Leaders think carefully about pupils’ wider development. They broaden pupils’ experiences through visits to events such as art exhibitions. Pupils enjoy attending the range of after-school clubs on offer. They learn about the importance of eating healthily and looking after their emotional well-being. However, leaders provide pupils with fewer opportunities to learn about the rich diversity of the world and important values such as democracy. This means that pupils are not as well prepared for growing up in modern Britain as they should be.

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Governors have improved their understanding of the school’s strengths and ongoing improvement priorities. This helps them to offer leaders better informed support and challenge. Staff morale is high. Staff appreciate that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 7 and 8 March 2023

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Leaders train staff well. They make sure that staff know how to keep pupils safe. Staff are vigilant and take appropriate actions to protect pupils from potential harm.

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Leaders make sure that pupils benefit from effective pastoral support. Staff know how to identify pupils who may need help with their mental or emotional well-being. Leaders put this support in place quickly.

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Staff teach pupils how to stay safe and behave responsibly in different situations. Pupils develop a secure understanding of what is right and wrong. This includes when thinking about issues such as appropriate online behaviour.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ curriculum is at an earlier stage of development in some foundation subjects than in others. This means that some teachers are not clear about the important subject knowledge that pupils need to learn and remember. Some pupils’ learning is uneven as a result. Leaders should ensure that, in these remaining subjects, they clearly identify the content that pupils should learn and when this should be taught.  Senior leaders have not provided sufficient opportunities for all subject leaders to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of learning in their subjects. This reduces leaders’ ability to determine what is working well and to identify where further improvements are needed. Leaders should ensure that subject leaders are well equipped to support teachers to deliver the curriculum well.  Leaders do not ensure that some aspects of the personal development programme are taught in sufficient depth. This means that some pupils are

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

not as well prepared as they could be for living in modern Britain. Leaders should ensure that the personal development programme provides sufficient opportunity for pupils to develop their understanding of values such as democracy, and of the many ways in which people may be different.

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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. 7 and 8 March 2023

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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. 7 and 8 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

8 June 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 A new chair of governors has been appointed since the school was last inspected.  Leaders provide a before-school club provision.  Leaders make use of one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection 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 met with the headteacher, other school leaders and staff.  An inspector spoke with representatives of the local authority. She met with a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body. 7 and 8 March 2023

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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 asked pupils about whether they feel safe in school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, science, history and languages. 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 spoke with leaders and pupils about the curriculum in a small number of other subjects.  An inspector listened to pupils reading with a familiar adult.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at lunchtime. They spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online survey for pupils for inspectors to consider.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being. Inspectors also

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considered the views of staff expressed through Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Inspectors spoke with parents and carers as they dropped their children off at school. They considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Jackie Stillings, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David Woodhouse Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 March 2023

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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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