Linthwaite Clough J I & Early Years Unit

Inspection of Linthwaite Clough J I & Early Years Unit Chapel Hill, Linthwaite, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD7 5NJ

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Inspection dates: 19 and 20 September 2023

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Inadequate Previous inspection grade Good 19 and 20 September 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not benefit from a curriculum that sufficiently meets their needs. The school’s expectations about what pupils should learn and do are too low. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not get the support they need to become confident learners. By the end of early years, children are not ready for their education in Year 1 and beyond.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have put plans in place to improve the behaviour of pupils in the school. These are beginning to have an impact. Most pupils treat each other with kindness and respect. However, adults’ expectations of how pupils should behave in lessons and around school are not consistent. In some classes, pupils’ behaviour disrupts the learning of others. Bullying is rare. When bullying does happen, adults make sure that it stops. Pupils are happy and safe in this school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with many opportunities to explore their interests. Some pupils take part in a dance with Pride in Linthwaite, a community group. Others take part in the sporting opportunities on offer. Some pupils take a lead as ‘well-being warriors’, while others work as play leaders at breaktimes. These opportunities help to prepare pupils for their future lives.

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better?

The school curriculum is not sufficiently ambitious. The improvements that are taking place in some subjects are not evident elsewhere in the curriculum. In early years, children do not benefit from a curriculum that sets the necessary foundations for future learning. The school has not considered adequately the order in which children should learn new things. This leads to ineffective learning. In many areas of the curriculum, pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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better?

The school’s curriculum for phonics and early reading is not helping pupils to become confident and fluent readers. Despite some staff training, phonics is not taught consistently well. In early years, children do not learn new sounds quickly enough. By the end of Year 1, many pupils have not learned the sounds that they need in order to be able to read confidently. When pupils fall behind, they too often do not receive the help that they need to help them catch up. The school has invested in a range of reading materials for pupils to read for pleasure. However, these books are not consistently matched to pupils’ reading abilities.

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better?

The school has recently adopted a new curriculum for physical education (PE). Learning is broken down into small steps. Adults use these small steps to help pupils to learn new things and practise new skills. This is beginning to strengthen pupils’ knowledge and skills in PE. However, in most subjects, the school’s curriculum does not help pupils to build their knowledge effectively. For example, in geography, pupils do not learn knowledge in an order that helps them to deepen their understanding. This leads to significant gaps in pupils’ knowledge. In many subjects, the tasks that pupils are given to complete contribute weakly to their learning. The 19 and 20 September 2023

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school has started to improve its plans to support pupils with SEND. However, these plans are not implemented or adopted well enough in classrooms. Pupils, including those with SEND, are not achieving well enough in many curriculum subjects.

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The school’s plans to improve the curriculum in mathematics are at an early stage of development. The expectations that the school is developing for what pupils should achieve are not applied in every year group. Gaps in pupils’ knowledge are being identified, but work to address these gaps has not started.

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The curriculum for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education helps pupils to understand how to stay safe when online. They know when personal information should not be shared. However, leaders’ ambition for pupils’ learning in other aspects of PSHE education has not been fully secured. Pupils have very little understanding of different faiths and cultures. The curriculum does not help pupils to develop their knowledge about the diverse society in which they live.

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Staff and governors care deeply about the pupils and community that the school serves. However, the school has not focused sufficiently on the most important aspects that need to be improved. The school does not check the impact of work to improve the quality of education well enough.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Although pupils are safe, the actions that adults take to safeguard pupils are not always recorded. The school does not routinely check the safety and well-being of pupils who receive some or all of their education elsewhere. When such checks are made, these are not recorded.

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Safeguarding

These gaps in record-keeping mean that leaders and governors cannot check the impact of the school’s work to safeguard pupils. It also means that any patterns of concern may not be fully identified.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 From early years to Year 6, the quality of education is not preparing pupils for the next stage of their education. Pupils are not developing the knowledge they need in sufficient depth. The school should ensure that the curriculum from early years to Year 6 is improved so that it prepares all pupils for their future education.  The curriculum in early years does not provide children, including the most vulnerable, with the foundations that they need to be prepared for Year 1. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum equips children with the knowledge, skills and attributes that they need for Year 1 and beyond. 19 and 20 September 2023

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 The tasks that pupils are given too often do not help pupils to secure the knowledge they need. The school should ensure that staff receive the support that they need to select tasks that help pupils to learn intended knowledge.  Teaching is not adapted sufficiently well to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND do not consistently receive the support that they need to develop their knowledge and understanding. The school should make sure that staff have the training that they need to adapt their teaching successfully to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.  The school does not check the impact of work to improve the quality of education well enough. The school should put stronger processes in place to check the quality of education and use these checks to support improvement.  The school does not check the safety and well-being of pupils who are educated off-site carefully enough. The school should make sure that these checks are

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routinely made, so that staff are assured that the pupils are safe.  The school’s recording of its work to safeguard pupils is not sufficient. There are many gaps in these records. The school should make sure that safeguarding procedures are tightened, so that concerns and actions are fully and consistently recorded.

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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’ 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). 19 and 20 September 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.linthwaiteclough-kirklees.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 7 March 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school with Nursery provision.  The school uses one unregistered 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

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 19 and 20 September 2023

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 This was the first routine inspection the school had 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.  The inspectors met with senior leaders, subject leaders and teachers.  The lead inspector met with the special educational needs coordinator, and a team inspector met with the early years leader.  The lead inspector held a meeting with governors, including the chair of governors, and the local authority.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, geography, computing and PE. For each deep dive, inspectors 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 where available. The lead inspector also listened to a sample of pupils reading to a familiar adult.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: 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.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of other documentation, including records of pupils’ behaviour and leaders’ evaluation of the school.  Inspectors spoke informally to pupils to gather their views on school life.  To gather the views of parents and carers, inspectors took account of the responses on Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments. The lead inspector also talked to parents at the start of the school day.  To gather the views of staff, inspectors took account of responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Jen Sloan, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Zoe Lightfoot His Majesty’s Inspector 19 and 20 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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