Lyndhurst Community Primary School

Inspection of Lyndhurst Community Primary School Lyndhurst Community Primary School, Hill Street, Dukinfield, Cheshire SK16 4JS

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 25 and 26 April 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend this school. They told inspectors that staff will help them if they have any worries or concerns. Leaders place a high priority on pupils’ mental health and well-being. Staff forge strong relationships with pupils and their families. Leaders deal with any incidents of bullying effectively. This helps pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are happy in the school. They make friends easily and get on well together. Pupils respond well to staff’s high expectations of their behaviour. They are polite and courteous. Pupils can explain the importance of their school rules: ‘ready, safe, respect’. They make every effort to fulfil them. They strive to be awarded a ‘challenge star’ each half term.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high aspirations for pupils. However, they do not fulfil them for all pupils in all subjects. This is because, over time, pupils have not benefited from an ambitious curriculum that helps them to build a deep body of knowledge. They are beginning to benefit from an improved curriculum, but there are some aspects of it that teachers do not teach well enough. This means that, in some subjects, pupils, including children in the early years, do not achieve as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy many opportunities to develop as confident, young citizens. They eagerly carry out the responsibilities of being, for example, reading champions, play leaders and members of the school council. They value the range of visits that staff organise for them. These include trips to the beach and different activities such as rock climbing, which enable them to challenge themselves. They were keen to talk about the sports, choir, mindfulness and book clubs that they attend.

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better?

Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum for pupils in Years 1 to 6. For each subject, they have identified the important content that pupils need to know and remember and have ordered this carefully. This provides clarity for teachers about what they should teach and when.

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better?

In some subjects, subject leaders provide support and guidance for teachers so that they can teach the content of the curriculum effectively. This helps these teachers to develop their subject knowledge. As a result, they present information clearly and use assessment well when designing learning in these subjects. However, in some subjects, although the recently revised curriculums set out ambitious aims, they are not realising these aims. This is because leaders have not ensured that teachers receive the guidance and support that they require to develop their subject knowledge. Consequently, some teachers are not equipped to teach these curriculums confidently and some pupils do not learn as well as they should. 25 and 26 April 2023

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In addition, in some subjects, including mathematics, leaders have not made sure that teachers teach the curriculum as intended. The checks that leaders make on how well teachers do this are not precise enough. As a result, there is variability in how well they teach pupils. For example, some teachers do not teach all of the intended curriculum. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should because there are gaps in their knowledge.

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Leaders place a strong emphasis on teaching pupils to read. Pupils develop a love of reading through exposure to high-quality texts. Older pupils spoke enthusiastically about their favourite authors.

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Leaders have ensured that they have structured the early reading curriculum clearly. Staff have been trained to teach the programme using consistent routines and strategies. Pupils read books which match the sounds that they have learned. Most pupils build up their phonic knowledge securely. Staff provide additional and effective support for pupils who fall behind.

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The school is a calm and purposeful place to learn. Learning is rarely disrupted. If pupils’ behaviour falls short of leaders’ expectations, staff help them to understand how to make better choices in the future.

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Children in the Nursery and Reception classes learn to take turns and socialise well with their friends. However, the early years curriculum lacks clarity. Leaders have not decided on the important knowledge and vocabulary that children need to learn. They have not given staff enough guidance on how to extend children’s knowledge across the curriculum. This means that the activities that staff design for children sometimes lack purpose. Children in the early years do not learn all that they should to prepare them for the demands of the Year 1 curriculum.

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Leaders have strengthened systems to ensure that they identify pupils’ needs early. Pupils with SEND follow the same curriculum as their peers. Leaders use a range of external agencies to help pupils with SEND to get the help that they need.

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Leaders provide a range of opportunities to help pupils to develop their character. Pupils develop an understanding of their own locality and the wider world. They develop respect for differences between people.

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Staff are proud to work at the school and feel that leaders prioritise their well-being. Governors understand the aspects of the school that require further development. They challenge leaders appropriately.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that staff undertake regular training so that they can stay alert to the signs which could indicate that pupils are at risk of harm. Staff have a clear understanding of how to report any concerns. The safeguarding team uses its 25 and 26 April 2023

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expertise and local knowledge to arrange suitable support for vulnerable pupils and their families. They are tenacious when following up and escalating their concerns if required.

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Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They understand how to protect themselves online. Older pupils also learn about issues in the local area and how to keep themselves safe outside school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, including mathematics, leaders’ checks are not as effective as they should be. They have not identified or addressed inconsistent implementation of the curriculum. This hampers pupils from achieving as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum is taught consistently well across all subjects.  In some subjects beyond English and mathematics, staff are at an early stage of teaching the school’s recently developed curriculums. They have not received the guidance and support that they require to develop the subject knowledge which these curriculums require. This means that some teachers are not equipped to teach these curriculums confidently. Leaders should help staff to teach all aspects of the recently developed subject curriculums well.  The curriculum in the early years is not coherently structured or well designed. This means that staff do not effectively develop children’s knowledge across all

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

areas of learning. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum in the early years sets out the important knowledge and vocabulary that children need to learn and remember as the foundation for their future learning.

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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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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. 25 and 26 April 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255971 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 3 and 4 March 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has recently returned from a 12-month maternity leave.  The governing body operates a breakfast club and after-school club.  Leaders do not make use of alternative provision.

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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 that the school has 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 conducted deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, they met with subject leaders and teachers. They visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ and children’s work and talked with groups of pupils about their learning. 25 and 26 April 2023

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 The lead inspector observed pupils from key stage 1 and key stage 2 reading to a familiar adult. Inspectors also spoke with pupils about their learning and evaluated their work in some other subjects.  Inspectors spoke with members of the governing body, the headteacher and other school leaders. The lead inspector also spoke with a representative of the local authority and the school-improvement partner for the school.  Inspectors talked with staff about their workload and well-being.  Inspectors met with the leaders who are responsible for attendance, behaviour, early years, SEND and pupils’ personal development.  Inspectors reviewed leaders’ policies and procedures to keep pupils safe. They discussed safeguarding arrangements with leaders and staff. They also checked the single central record.  Inspectors spoke with pupils about safeguarding and their wider experience of school. They looked at a range of policies and documents related to pupils’

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welfare and education. They observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and pupils.  Inspectors met with parents at the start of the school day and took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Rebecca Jewitt, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Samantha Birchall Ofsted Inspector 25 and 26 April 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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