Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mark Duce Headteacher Queensway Primary School Coppice Wood Avenue Yeadon Leeds West Yorkshire LS19 7LF

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Queensway Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 30 November 2023, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in June 2022.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Queensway Primary School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s overall effectiveness, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Queensway Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other staff, governors and the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons with you, met with a group of pupils, observed behaviour at lunchtime and reviewed documents, including those relating to the development of the school and minutes from governing board meetings. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the school to be no longer judged as having serious weaknesses.

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designation

The school has seen fewer pupils start in September than in previous years. You had anticipated this change and have taken this into account when organising classes this year. Some year groups are now taught in mixed-age classes. Some new staff joined the school in September. The school now has two early career teachers.

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You have continued to prioritise the development of the school’s curriculum. While the curriculum for reading, writing and mathematics has been established for some time, you recognise that, until this year, the curriculum for the foundation subjects had been less well implemented.

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At the beginning of the academic year, the school introduced a commercial scheme to support the teaching of foundation subjects. Given the relatively recent implementation of the new curriculum, it has been difficult for you to fully evaluate the impact of it on pupils’ learning. You intend to review this at the end of the term. The school has, however, checked during the term that the curriculum is being implemented in the way that is intended. You recognise that it will be important to identify specific actions from your evaluation of the curriculum so that everyone involved with improving the school has a clear understanding of what is expected of them moving forward.

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Having established a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics, you have worked with staff to further develop pupils’ love of reading across the school. You are clear in your ambition to enable pupils to appreciate the value of reading. Recent staff training has focused on supporting teachers in their role to develop pupils’ reading. The school has identified core texts to be studied as part of the curriculum. We visited some lessons and saw how pupils were using skills in retrieval and inference to analyse part of the class text. Pupils later spoke to me positively about their work in English. They enjoy reading new books and feel that doing so helps them to improve their writing.

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The school recognises that there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has put in place processes to identify pupils’ needs at an early stage. The opening of the Rainbow Room has further enhanced the school’s provision for pupils with SEND. This room opened at the beginning of the academic year. When we visited the Rainbow Room, pupils were calm and settled. You know that it is necessary to review the effectiveness of this provision to ensure that pupils’ individual needs are appropriately met.

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Leaders, including those with responsibility for governance, have an accurate view of the school. They have taken pragmatic decisions to ensure that improvements are made in a logical and sustainable way. Governors provide effective support and challenge to leaders. They regularly visit the school. Governors check that what they see during their visits correlates with what leaders tell them. They regularly check that staff workload is manageable. The school has benefited from the additional support provided by the local authority and English Hub. You, along with other leaders, use the feedback from their visits to plan next steps in the school’s development. Staff benefit from participating in local partnership meetings. They use these opportunities to learn from practitioners in other settings. It enables them to develop their areas of responsibility with increasing confidence.

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I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Leeds. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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