Drighlington Primary School

Inspection of Drighlington Primary School Moorland Road, Drighlington, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD11 1JY

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 12 and 13 June 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Drighlington Primary School is an inclusive school where staff care about the pupils. Pupils are confident and happy and attend well. They are polite and courteous to adults and one another. They treat their friends and adults with respect. Pupils walk calmly and sensibly around school. They behave well in lessons. Pupils listen attentively to adults and each other when learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe in school, although some pupils do not always feel safe. The school has raised its expectations of how well pupils should behave and has reduced incidents of misbehaviour. Sometimes pupils are unkind to each other. This is not tolerated. Although some bullying does occur, the school deals with it quickly and effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school expects pupils to work hard, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, due to historic weaknesses in some areas of the curriculum, some pupils have gaps in their learning that have not been fully addressed. This means that these pupils do not achieve as well as they should in some subjects, including mathematics.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils appreciate the wide range of clubs on offer. They enjoy trips, such as the visit to Jorvik Viking Centre and sporting events. They enjoy learning from visitors. A recent author visit and access to interesting books help pupils develop a strong love of reading.

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better?

Since the previous inspection, the school has had several changes to leadership. Governors have acted quickly and worked with the local authority to build a strong school leadership team. The school has made changes to subject leadership. The school is developing a revised curriculum. The school is monitoring the impact of these recent changes robustly.

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better?

The curriculum is ambitious for all learners. Leaders have prioritised the development of reading and mathematics. In these subjects, the curriculum is well planned and sequenced. Pupils can confidently recall what they learn in these subjects. In other subjects, and in the early years, the planning and sequencing are less effective. Where this is the case, pupils do not remember important subject content as well as they need to. The school is aware of this and has clear improvement plans in place.

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better?

Pupils learn to read with confidence and fluency. The school has developed a strong phonics and reading curriculum. Children’s love of reading is well supported from the early years onwards. Children read a wide range of high-quality books. Pupils enjoy reading and listening to adults read every day. Older pupils value choosing from a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books that match their interests. 12 and 13 June 2024

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The school promptly identifies the needs of all children and communicates these to staff and parents and carers. The school recognises the importance of ensuring adults know what strategies work with individual pupils. Staff receive regular training to support pupils with additional needs. Pupils learn how to understand and manage their behaviour. They develop strategies to help them learn alongside their peers. Pupils with SEND are well supported with reading. They take a full and active part in the wider life of the school, such as sporting activities and clubs.

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Children in the early years learn routines and expectations well. Children enjoy their learning in Nursery and Reception. Adults support children to develop skills such as communication and language. Some gaps in the curriculum mean that other areas of development are less secure.

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Behaviour around the school is calm. Pupils listen attentively in class and have positive attitudes to learning. Behaviour during unstructured times can be boisterous. The school has taken prompt action to reduce the number of incidents, which have decreased.

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Pupils benefit from a range of enrichment activities both in and outside of the curriculum. The school ensures all pupils have access to these experiences, including disadvantaged pupils.

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The school has a strong personal, social and health education programme. Pupils learn how to stay healthy and safe. Pupils know how to treat others with respect. They learn about different religions and cultures. Pupils understand what bullying means and say it happens less now. Pupils learn about the world of work and different types of careers.

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Most staff feel well supported. They appreciate leaders’ consideration of their workload and well-being. The school has introduced coffee mornings to improve communication with parents of pupils with SEND. Leaders, including governors, have an accurate understanding of what the school needs to do to improve the quality of education. They have planned appropriate actions to ensure that this happens rapidly.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 On occasion, the behaviour of a small number of pupils with complex needs is challenging and disruptive to the school environment. This leads to some pupils not feeling safe. The school needs to continue to review and revise its strategies 12 and 13 June 2024

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for managing complex behaviours and provide robust support and reassurance for all pupils and parents.  The school has not developed its curriculum, including in the early years, in full. The important knowledge in some subject curriculums is not sequenced or assessed well enough. This means pupils do not remember some essential concepts. The school needs to ensure important content is well sequenced across all subjects and support new leaders to make sure the curriculum is implemented effectively.

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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). 12 and 13 June 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 4 and 5 June 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been changes in leadership since the last inspection. At the time of this inspection, the school had an acting headteacher in post. The acting headteacher was appointed in September 2023. The school is receiving support from a local primary school. This includes an executive headteacher who supports the leadership of both schools. This support began in September 2023.  The school uses one registered alternative provision.  The school operates a before- and after-school 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

 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 12 and 13 June 2024

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school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the acting headteacher and executive headteacher. Inspectors spoke to the school’s improvement adviser from the local authority. Inspectors met with members of the governing body, including the chair and vice- chair.  Inspectors held meetings with other staff, including the leads for reading and phonics, English, mathematics, science, history and religious education  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science, history and religious education. 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.  Pupils’ behaviour and safety were evaluated in lessons and at lunchtime. The inspectors also listened to the views of pupils.

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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 reviewed the responses to the Ofsted Parent View online survey and spoke to several parents at the start and end of the school day. The staff survey and pupil survey were also reviewed by an inspector.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation related to school policies, the curriculum, governance, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

David Bailey, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Katie Hall Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 June 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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