Primrose Lane Primary School

Inspection of Primrose Lane Primary School Westwood Way, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6DX

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 5 and 6 December 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Primrose Lane show respect to their friends, their teachers and to visitors to their school. Staff encourage pupils to ‘be ready, be respectful and be safe’. The school carefully supports pupils who need extra help to behave well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Although pupils’ learning is improving in reading, writing and mathematics, it is less secure in the wider curriculum. The pandemic has slowed down the pace of school improvement.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school ensures that pupils have a secure understanding of equality and diversity. Pupils know that valuing difference is important. They talk confidently about justice and equality.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school develops pupils’ character and nurtures their independence and resilience. The youngest children persevere in their learning and in their self-care. Year 6 pupils demonstrate their self-confidence and determination on residential experiences, where they complete challenging outdoor activities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school teaches pupils about online safety. This helps pupils to stay safe online and how to respond to cyber bullying.

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better?

After the last inspection, the school rightly prioritised the teaching of mathematics, writing and reading. Pupils benefit from a strong curriculum in mathematics and from a well-considered curriculum in reading. Staff receive effective training in core subjects such as mathematics. This training equips staff with the knowledge and skills to teach these subjects well.

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better?

However, weaknesses remain in the wider curriculum, where learning is not consistently organised in ways that help pupils to remember important knowledge over time. The work that pupils are set in the wider curriculum does not consistently enable them to demonstrate and deepen their understanding. Staff training in the wider curriculum has been less effective than in core subjects.

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better?

The school has mapped a curriculum over a two-year cycle. On occasions, this has not been adapted sufficiently to meet the needs of pupils in different year groups.

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better?

The school prioritises the teaching of phonics. Teaching builds pupils’ phonics knowledge. Pupils’ reading books match the sounds that they know. They practise their reading books in school before taking them home to read. Teachers check the sounds that pupils know and remember with regularity. Adults provide pupils who need additional support with extra phonics input to help them to keep up with their peers. 5 and 6 December 2023

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The mathematics curriculum is a strength of the school. It is organised into a logical sequence of learning that begins in the early years. There is a consistent approach to teaching mathematics. The school has high expectations for pupils’ mathematical achievement. The school supports pupils well to access an increasing level of ambitious problem-solving and reasoning challenges.

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The curriculum structure in early years takes account of children’s interests. As a result, stimulating activities support children’s learning and development. The school establishes positive routines for the children in the early years. This helps the youngest children to quickly settle in an environment where they feel both safe and secure. Adults interact positively with children, modelling useful vocabulary and turn- taking. This builds children’s communication skills and their confidence with language.

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The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has improved since the last inspection. The school has a clear approach to the early identification and subsequent support for these pupils. The school ensures that pupils with SEND know how to progress through the curriculum. The school makes sure that adults understand how to support pupils with SEND. This effectively secures effective engagement in learning.

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The school provides a range of personal, social and health education opportunities for pupils, including through lessons and assemblies. Some aspects of this curriculum are well embedded, such as pupils’ knowledge of how to stay physically and mentally healthy. However, the curriculum does not develop pupils’ understanding of some British values and world faiths in enough depth.

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Governors understand their roles and responsibilities. They recognise the school’s improvement in the development of early reading, the early years and SEND. Governors have developed effective ways to hold leaders to account.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some aspects of the wider curriculum are not fully developed. Learning is not consistently sequenced in a way that securely builds pupils’ knowledge over time. The curriculum does not consistently meet the needs of pupils in different year groups. The school should further develop the wider curriculum so that pupils build more secure knowledge over time.  In some areas of the wider curriculum, the work that pupils are set does not consistently enable them to deepen their learning. The school should ensure that 5 and 6 December 2023

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the tasks that pupils are set in the wider curriculum enable them to apply and deepen their learning.  Staff training has not enabled them to teach the wider curriculum as effectively as core subjects. The school should work with staff to develop their subject expertise so that pupils learn well across all subjects.  Some aspects of pupils’ personal development curriculum are not as well developed as others. This means that some pupils’ knowledge is less secure, for instance around aspects such as British values and different faiths. Leaders should ensure that they offer further opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding in these areas.

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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). 5 and 6 December 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Lara Bailey (Acting headteacher)

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10 and 11 December 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The substantive headteacher was not present when inspectors visited the school. The deputy headteacher was the acting headteacher from February 2023 and was in post at the time of the inspection.  The school is a member of the Wharfe Valley Learning Partnership.  The school does not use any alterative providers.  The school has nursery provision for three-year-old children.

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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.  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. 5 and 6 December 2023

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 Inspectors met with the acting headteacher, curriculum leaders, staff and pupils.  Meetings were also held with representatives of the governing body and the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science, art and design and history. 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 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 from meeting with them and from the responses to Ofsted’s questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Alison Black Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 December 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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