Co-op Academy Woodlands

Inspection of Co-op Academy Woodlands Foundry Place, Harehills, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS9 6DA

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Inspection dates: 26 and 27 September 2023

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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

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Adele Clark. This school is part of Co-op Academies Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Chris Tomlinson, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Russell Gill. 26 and 27 September 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school wants the very best for pupils. There are a significant number of pupils, joining the school throughout the year, who speak English as an additional language (EAL). There is a rigorous process to support these pupils to learn the essential words and phrases that allow them to function independently.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Co-op Academy Woodlands are keen, interested and inquisitive. They enjoy being active learners.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school uses its ‘character’ curriculum to teach pupils what good behaviour looks like. This curriculum enables pupils to practise meeting the school’s expectations, such as walking in a line in the corridor and using a knife and fork correctly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are motivated to earn the school’s RESPECT badges. Leaders award badges for fulfilling specific criteria, such as reading every day or returning their homework weekly. Pupils wear their badges with pride.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are many different ethnicities and cultures at the school. Pupils have a healthy appreciation of diversity and equality. A pupil captured the essence of diversity, saying, ‘The world would be a dull place if everyone was the same.’

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better?

The school’s wider curriculum is ambitious, and designed to support appropriate progression for pupils. During the pandemic, the school developed the curriculum. It is now being refined following a review by leaders. Leaders identified that in some subjects, there is too much knowledge to teach the pupils. As a result, pupils do not remember the most important facts. The school is decreasing the amount of knowledge to ensure that it teaches pupils the right things at the right time. These changes are recent. The school has not had an opportunity to check that the curriculum is being taught in line with the new expectations.

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better?

The school has developed a system for checking what pupils know. Teachers check what pupils know at the start of a unit of work and again at the end. For example, in geography, after the first check, teachers adapt their planning to address the gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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better?

The school has prioritised the teaching of early reading. The school uses the same format and script in all phonics lessons to support staff to teach phonics consistently. Most adults are highly skilled at supporting pupils’ early reading. Pupils use their phonic knowledge to read and blend unfamiliar words. Leaders analyse information from regular phonics checks to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Consequently, pupils receive extra phonics teaching to help them catch up. Teachers read to pupils every day. The school has developed a reading spine of age-appropriate texts linked to topics, diversity and the personal, social and health education (PSHE) 26 and 27 September 2023

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programme. This ensures that pupils have access to key authors and a range of genres.

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The mathematics curriculum is ambitious for pupils. Leaders organise the curriculum so that pupils revisit important content regularly. This means that pupils build on what they can already do. The school checks that pupils are retaining the mathematical knowledge they have been taught. It provides additional practice when gaps emerge. Teachers explain clearly and model well using approaches that help pupils to understand what they are learning. Teachers use the correct mathematical language and expect that pupils do the same. However, pupils’ grasp of key mathematical vocabulary is variable. The school has introduced mathematical vocabulary webs to support pupils to understand the meaning of the terminology.

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Staff understand the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school ensures that these pupils access support from external agencies and professionals. Teachers work closely with speech and language therapists to preteach vocabulary to support pupils with SEND, and those who speak EAL, to access the curriculum.

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The school has prioritised the development of communication and language in the early years. Adults make effective use of questioning, model pronunciation and repeat important phrases. The learning environment is organised, enabling children to concentrate for sustained periods of time. Children thrive in the encouraging, nurturing provision.

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The school has considered the needs of the community in developing its PSHE curriculum. Leaders have added bespoke units to reflect some of the local challenges. For example, the school works closely with a charity to educate pupils about the dangers of joining a gang. Key stage 2 pupils know the risks and repercussions of carrying a knife. The school provides lessons so pupils know how to stay safe online.

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The trust and the academy governing council recognise the school’s commitment to reducing the number of pupils who are persistently absent. Leaders are doing all they can to improve the attendance of some pupils.

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Leaders and the trust are considerate of staff’s well-being. Shared planning and resources help to reduce teachers’ workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 26 and 27 September 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 While the reviewed wider curriculum is in place, opportunities to check its implementation have been limited. This hampers the school’s ability to evaluate its effectiveness. The school should ensure that monitoring systems support subject leaders to check and develop the implementation and impact of their subjects.  In some subjects, the level of key knowledge included in curriculum plans is too extensive. This means that pupils do not remember the important facts consistently. The school should refine the knowledge that pupils must learn in each subject to ensure that pupils know more and remember more and are ready to access future learning confidently.

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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). 26 and 27 September 2023

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 27 and 28 June 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school joined Co-op Academies Trust in December 2012.  This is a larger than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils who speak EAL is well above the average for primary schools nationally.  Mobility is higher than in primary schools nationally. Most of the pupils who join the school are at the very earliest stages of learning English. They join the school throughout the academic year.  A higher-than-average proportion of pupils are disadvantaged and eligible for support through pupil premium funding.  The school uses one alternative provider. 26 and 27 September 2023

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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

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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The headteacher was absent during the inspection. The headteacher joined the inspection activities online.  Inspectors met with the interim deputy headteacher, curriculum leaders, staff and pupils.  Meetings were also held with representatives of the academy governing council, and the chief executive officer and the chair of the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, art, geography and Spanish. For each deep dive, inspectors 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.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

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 staff were considered from meeting with them and from the responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire.  The views of parents, carers and pupils were considered from meeting with them.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Shameem Hussain Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 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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