Oldfield Brow Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Oldfield Brow Primary School Taylor Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4LE

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Outcome

Oldfield Brow Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and proud to attend this diverse school. They said that everybody is welcome here. Pupils know that staff care for them and are there to help, should they have any worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has a culture of high aspirations for pupils’ achievement. It wants to inspire pupils to be exceptional in all that they do. Pupils typically rise to these expectations. They were excited to share their learning with the inspector and with their parents and carers during an assembly. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language, achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well during lessons and around school. They confidently explained the school’s values of ‘respect, reflection, innovation, collaboration and aspiration’. Pupils are committed to following these values and they relish earning recognition for doing so. They know the importance of respecting the differences between themselves and others.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from many rich extra-curricular activities. For example, they enjoy attending art and yoga clubs, as well as martial arts and other sports activities. Pupils have experiences further afield, such as singing in concerts and competing in sports tournaments. They talked excitedly with the inspector about their upcoming school trips.

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

Following the previous inspection, the school and the governing body have worked effectively together to ensure that pupils receive an ambitious education and that they achieve well. There has been a strong focus on improving the curriculum across the school, particularly in the early years. This work has been highly successful. In the early years, children get off to a strong start. They are well prepared for their future learning.

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

In many subjects, the school has identified the small steps of knowledge that pupils should learn and when this should happen. However, in some subjects, curriculum content 10 and 11 April 2024

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is not as well determined. This means that some pupils do not acquire some of the knowledge that they should, which hinders the depth of their understanding over time.

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Staff have a secure knowledge of the subjects that they teach. They select suitable activities to deliver curriculum content well. Staff have benefited from ongoing support and training. In the main, they use assessment strategies effectively to check how well pupils are learning. This helps staff to adapt future lessons. Nonetheless, from time to time, some staff do not identify pupils’ misunderstandings and errors quickly enough. This limits some pupils from learning all that they could, as some mistakes go unchecked.

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There is high ambition for pupils with SEND. The school identifies their additional needs quickly, from the start of the early years. Staff liaise well with parents and with external professionals, to enable pupils with SEND to learn alongside their peers. This helps these pupils to benefit from what the school has to offer.

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Reading is a high priority for the school. Staff foster pupils’ love of reading in a variety of ways. For instance, they have chosen books carefully and display these in well-stocked reading areas. Pupils write recommendations of their favourite books. The school has established reading challenges that encourage pupils to read often and widely.

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The school has adopted an effective phonics programme. It has trained staff in how to implement this successfully. In the Nursery class, children are exposed to plentiful songs, rhymes and stories, which helps to develop their communication and language skills. This prepares them well for learning phonics from the beginning of the Reception Year. Pupils read from books that contain the sounds that they already know. Staff support pupils who find reading more of a challenge, so that they catch up with their peers. This means that most pupils become fluent and accurate readers by the time that they leave school.

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The school has positive strategies to support pupils’ attendance. Staff work successfully with families to improve the attendance of a small number of pupils. Social times and lessons are calm and purposeful. Pupils are positive about their learning. They know the importance of attending school regularly, so that they benefit from the many learning opportunities on offer. Pupils are polite to each other and towards adults.

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Pupils experience a well-considered programme that enriches their wider development. They learn that their actions can have a positive impact on the school and the wider community. For example, some pupils contributed to a petition to the local council to improve road safety around the school. Pupils develop their leadership skills through roles, such as being reading buddies, sports leaders, house captains and members of a pupil parliament. They develop their social enterprise skills and raise money for charities.

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Staff were highly positive about the school’s support for their workload and well-being. They value the time that is given to them to fulfil their roles well. Staff fully buy-in to the school’s vision for continual improvement. They are proud to contribute towards this.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 10 and 11 April 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the school is still refining the essential knowledge that pupils should learn and when this should happen. This hinders some pupils in deepening their understanding over time. The school should determine the precise knowledge that pupils should learn in these subjects and the order that this should happen.  Occasionally, staff do not identify and address pupils’ errors and misunderstandings quickly enough. As a result, some pupils make mistakes that go unchecked. The school should ensure that staff identify and address these inaccuracies and misconceptions quickly, to help pupils to learn as well as they should.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2019.

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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.

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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, 10 and 11 April 2024

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 10 and 11 April 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 12 and 13 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, a new headteacher has been appointed.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for pupils.  The school provides a before- and after-school club for pupils.

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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 that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken this into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons and spoke with teachers. He spoke with some pupils about their learning and reviewed samples of their work. The inspector also spoke with some pupils about their learning in some other subjects. 10 and 11 April 2024

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 The inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read with a familiar adult. He discussed reading with a group of older pupils.  The inspector spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. There were too few responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey to consider.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school, including at breakfast club and during playtime and lunchtime.  The inspector met with the headteacher and other leaders of the school. He held a meeting with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke via telephone with a representative of the local authority and with the school’s improvement advisor.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central record and took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils. He considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around

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safeguarding that puts pupils' interests first.  The inspector reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation document, improvement plans, minutes of governing body meetings and documents pertaining to pupils’ behaviour and levels of attendance.  The inspector spoke with staff about their workload and their well-being. He also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 April 2024

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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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