Wakefield Pinders Primary (JIN) School

Inspection of a good school: Wakefield Pinders Primary (JIN) School Eastmoor Road, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF1 3SQ

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 September 2023

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Outcome

Wakefield Pinders Primary (JIN) School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school live and breathe the school’s ‘Pinders’ values. The values are woven through everything they do. Pupils describe how they shape the expectations for everyone in the school community. For example, the ‘e’ in `Pinder’ stands for equal. Pupils have a secure understanding of equality and know that, while they may look different, everyone is treated the same.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils. The school community is diverse, with many different languages, cultures and ethnicities represented. Pupils who speak English as an additional language (EAL) receive effective support to access the school’s curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know and understand the school’s behaviour policy. Consequences for not following the school rules of ‘be safe, be respectful and be ready to learn’ are consistently applied by staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of the school’s outdoor space. They believe it is one of the best things about the school. At playtime, they have access to a stage, a gym, an adventure trail, a den and a variety of sports equipment. The school council was instrumental in changing the playtime activities to have football-free days.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides many leadership opportunities for pupils, such as acting as a playground buddy, an art monitor, or an animal carer (for the guinea pigs, Blueberry and Muffin). Pupils enjoy the responsibility associated with these roles.

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

The school’s wider curriculum starts in the early years and lays the right foundations for pupils’ educational journey. The curriculum focuses on enhancing and enriching pupils’ vocabulary. This helps to meet the needs of the community, as many pupils speak EAL. The wider curriculum makes links, where appropriate, between subjects. For example, the geography unit on rocks and soils links well with the history unit on the stone age. 13 and 14 September 2023

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The school has recently started to refine the knowledge and skills it wants pupils to retain over time, recognising that too much has been planned. As a result, pupils are not remembering the most important knowledge in some units of work. For example, in art, pupils study the local artist Barbara Hepworth, but they struggle to identify the essential facts relating to her life. Further refinement will help to ensure that pupils are remembering the most important knowledge to use in future learning.

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In the early years, children focus well and concentrate in self-chosen play activities. Children can independently select resources, indoors and outdoors. Adults interact positively with children and model good language and communication skills.

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The school introduced a new phonics programme last year. Leaders are embedding this programme as new colleagues join the school. The school has non-negotiables, such as ensuring that pupils complete reading practice three times a week. Teachers check the phonic knowledge pupils remember and use this information to identify the pupils who need extra daily phonic teaching. Pupils use the sounds they know to sound out unfamiliar words. The phonic outcomes achieved by Year 1 pupils in 2022 did not benefit from the improvements the school has made to its phonic teaching.

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Mathematics starts in the early years with number rhymes and songs. In key stages 1 and 2, pupils experience the same lesson structure to ensure that they do not overload their working memory. If their knowledge of mathematics is weak, pupils benefit from the school’s extra support in mathematics lessons. The school encourages pupils to be independent, speedy and accurate in recalling multiplication tables and number facts. However, this skill was not reflected in the multiplication test check in Year 4 or key stage 2 outcomes in Year 6. Pupils struggle to fluently use these facts when solving mathematical problems.

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The school recognises the need to improve the attendance of some pupils. The school has implemented strategies to reduce absence, such as promoting ‘Here every day ready on time’ (HERO) with pupils and working closely with the local authority educational welfare officer. As a result, the percentage of pupils who are persistently absent is reducing.

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The school supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities well to access the curriculum. Pupils with sensory needs can use the garden or sensory room, a low-stimulus environment to enable pupils to work with less distraction. The school uses ‘The Nest’ and ‘The Burrow’ as dedicated spaces for some pupils who find self-regulation challenging.

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The school ensures that pupils have experiences that extend beyond the curriculum, such as residential visits to build confidence and litter picking in the community. The school is passionate that pupils visit the theatre in every key stage. Pupils have opportunities to join a variety of extra-curricular activities, including football, dance, gardening and music. This enables pupils to develop their talents and interests.

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Governors hold the school to account. They ensure that leaders at all levels can explain their actions. Governors ensure that the school follows the processes and procedures 13 and 14 September 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s wider curriculum identifies too much key knowledge for pupils to retain at the end of some units of work. This means that pupils are not remembering what is important. The school recognises the need to refine this to ensure that pupils are securing the essential knowledge to build on over time.  Pupils do not have the skills to recall multiplication and number facts with speed. This means they struggle to answer more complex mathematical problems accurately. The school should ensure that pupils have opportunities to build an automatic recall of multiplication tables and number facts to help them fluently tackle mathematical activities.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2014.

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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. 13 and 14 September 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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 13 and 14 September 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.pindersprimary.co.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18 April 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is an above-average-sized primary school. More than half of all pupils speak EAL.  The school is part of The Wakefield Trust, an informal collaboration of 12 schools.  The school does not use any alterative providers.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education 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 the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, curriculum leaders, staff and pupils.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 13 and 14 September 2023

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The views of parents, staff and pupils were considered during meetings and through their responses to Ofsted’s questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 13 and 14 September 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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