Disley Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Disley Primary School Disley Primary School, Dane Bank Drive, Disley, Stockport, Cheshire SK12 2BD

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Outcome

Disley Primary School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Jake Nicklin. This school is part of The True Learning Partnership, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Peter Cox, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Grenville Page.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish in the nurturing and supportive environment that permeates the school. They bask in the care that they receive from staff in the close-knit school community. Pupils’ happiness is displayed in their positivity and enthusiasm towards their life at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils speak kindly to others. They are welcoming and friendly towards visitors and pupils who are new to the school. Pupils are polite and cheerful. They go out of their way to help others, for example by helping to keep the school grounds tidy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high aspirations for pupils both socially and academically. It ensures that pupils achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are extremely proud of their school. They spoke enthusiastically about how the school helps them to learn beyond the academic curriculum. For example, pupils study important global issues, such as plastic pollution. They learn about their locality and, contrastingly, about people whose lives are different to their own.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils prosper from the wide range of opportunities on offer to develop their talents and interests, such as fencing, dancing and French clubs. Pupils enjoy representing their school at various sporting tournaments. Equally, they value opportunities to enhance their teamwork skills and resilience during the residential visits that the school offers. 10 and 11 July 2024

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

The school has created a well-thought-out curriculum which starts in the early years and finishes at the end of Year 6. It has carefully ordered the curriculum content to ensure that pupils learn progressively.

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

Subject leadership is well developed. The school has made sure that staff have the expertise to deliver learning effectively. Staff routinely check that pupils are learning the important knowledge set out in the curriculum. They swiftly address any subject-specific misconceptions that pupils may have. This ensures that pupils do not develop gaps in their learning. Consequently, pupils build a rich, deep body of knowledge over time.

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

In the main, the school has high expectations for pupils’ academic achievement. However, from time to time, staff do not have high enough expectations of pupils’ attitudes towards their written work. This results in occasional inconsistencies in pupils applying the correct spelling of learned words and appropriate letter formation.

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

The school has effective strategies in place to identify and support pupils with SEND. It has ensured that staff are sufficiently skilled in adapting the delivery of the curriculum when necessary. As a result, many pupils with SEND progress well through the curriculum.

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

The school has cultivated a love of reading among its pupils. In the Reception Year, children are helped to become successful and confident readers from the start. Any children who struggle to learn to read are quickly noticed and supported by well-trained staff. Pupils throughout the school benefit from a broad and varied reading diet. Reading ambassadors help to promote pupils’ enjoyment of reading and the school’s book swap café event enables pupils to share their favourite texts with others.

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

Pupils relish attending school and they do so regularly. The school is quick to action support for any families who struggle to ensure that their children attend school consistently well. As a result, most pupils have high levels of attendance.

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

Pupils play and work cooperatively. The school places high priority on developing children’s independence in the early years. It establishes this successfully, for example by helping children to follow clear routines. During lessons, pupils throughout the school are keen to learn. They are articulate and extremely polite.

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

The school places high emphasis on pupils’ personal development. The school aims to prepare pupils for life beyond their education. For example, older pupils host an enterprise week where they design and make products and learn about costs and profits. Pupils can hold leadership positions, such as being a member of the school parliament. Pupils learn deeply about issues such as tolerance and discrimination.

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

Trustees and members of the local governing body are knowledgeable and effective in their roles. They are mindful of staff’s workload and take due care to ensure that staff’s well-being is not impacted when any changes to policy and practice are introduced. 10 and 11 July 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes, staff’s expectations of pupils’ written work are too low, notably in the application of known spellings and in their handwriting. This hinders pupils from applying their foundational knowledge in writing to the full breadth of curriculum subjects. The school should ensure that staff raise, and consistently apply, their expectations of the standard and accuracy of the written work that pupils produce.

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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 Disley Primary School to be good in March 2017.

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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 July 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 July 2024

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School details

CEO of the trust Peter Cox (CEO) Gary Bevin (acting CEO) Headteacher Jake Nicklin

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Disley Primary School converted to become an academy school in April 2020. When its predecessor school, Disley Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school runs an on-site breakfast and after school club.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other leaders in school. 10 and 11 July 2024

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 The inspector also met with the CEO, a member of the board of trustees and members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, she held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with a range of pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also discussed the curriculum in other subjects and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read to a familiar adult.  The inspector spoke with pupils during meetings, lessons and at lunchtime. She also spoke with pupils and staff during a visit to the school’s breakfast club.  The inspector took account of the responses from the Ofsted survey for staff and

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parents. She also spoke to parents at the start of the school day. The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.  No pupils completed Ofsted’s online survey.  The inspector reviewed a range of school documents, including policies, improvement documents, attendance records, behaviour logs and a sample of documents for pupils with SEND. She also looked at minutes from governing body meetings and information about pupils leaving and starting at school.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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’ interest first.

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Inspection team

Sheena Clark, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 10 and 11 July 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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