Eldon Primary School

Inspection of Eldon Primary School Eldon Street, Preston, Lancashire PR1 7YE

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Inspection dates: 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

This school was last inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 seven years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between graded inspections under section 5 of the Act. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last graded inspection. 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The sustained high turnover in staffing and the fractured relationships between the school, some parents and carers and the local authority have overshadowed pupils’ experiences at this school. These issues have made a considerable contribution to the decline in pupils’ education. While pupils are safe, some told inspectors that the many changes to their teachers and staff have made them feel upset.

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What is it like to attend this school?

While the school expects all pupils to do their best, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Many issues, including staff grievances and parental complaints, consume the work of the school. Consequently, the school has been distracted from ensuring that pupils learn all that they should across a broad range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. The school sets high expectations for pupils’ behaviour from the early years. For example, children in the early years line up beautifully at lunchtime. Caring staff and supportive pupil anti-bullying ambassadors resolve rare incidents of bullying quickly and effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy a wide range of clubs. For example, they take part in morris dancing, board games and mindfulness activities. They benefit from well-organised ‘super learning’ days. Visitors, such as police officers and sports coaches, help pupils to become active young citizens. Pupils especially enjoy the opportunity to broadcast information about school life from the school’s own radio station.

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better?

The school has faced considerable staff absence and extensive changes in staffing and leadership over an extended period of time. This continues to have a negative impact on pupils’ experiences at the school. Currently, the school does not have the capacity that it needs to resolve the issues that it faces. It is not able to arrest the decline in pupils’ achievement across the whole curriculum.

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better?

Pupils, parents and staff have experienced considerable unrest. Parents have mixed views about the school. While some reported that the school is welcoming and supportive for pupils, others do not. High staff turnover, combined with parents feeling unheard, has caused some pupils and their parents to lose faith in the school.

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better?

Relationships between the school and the local authority are broken. This further hinders the school’s capacity to improve. The school continues to be subject to a number of allegations which are yet to be resolved. This hinders the school’s focus on pupils’ learning and their achievement.

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better?

The school has designed an interesting and engaging curriculum. This identifies the knowledge that pupils will learn from the early years to Year 6. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), study a broad range of subjects. 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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The considerable changes in staff mean that the delivery of the curriculum is highly variable between and within classes and subjects. Typically, in English and mathematics, pupils build their knowledge well. This is reflected in the end of key stage tests and assessments. Overall, more pupils leave Year 6 attaining the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics than in other schools nationally. However, in many other subjects, pupils do not learn all that they should. At times, the content of the subject curriculums is not taught fully. As a result, some pupils complete isolated tasks that do not enable them to build their knowledge securely over time. In some subjects, pupils find it difficult to recall prior learning. This means that these pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they should be.

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Some staff use assessment strategies well to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. They use this information successfully to help pupils to improve their learning. However, this is not the case across subjects and year groups. At times, pupils’ mistakes are not identified quickly or addressed effectively. This slows their progress through the curriculum.

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In some subjects, subject leadership is underdeveloped. Furthermore, the school does not have a sufficiently detailed understanding of how well the curriculum is working across subjects and classes. As a result, the school has not identified quickly enough the weaknesses that have a negative impact on some pupils’ achievement.

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In the early years, children, including two-year-olds, have been shielded from the impact of the recent events at the school. The provision for these children has been more stable. Consequently, the early years curriculum is delivered as intended. This ensures that children are appropriately prepared for the demands of the key stage 1 curriculum.

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The school has successfully prioritised reading. Pupils learn phonics from the start of the Reception Year. Prior to this, in the Nursery class, staff develop children’s listening and attention skills effectively. The school identifies any pupils who require extra help to improve their reading knowledge. These pupils receive effective support to catch up with their peers. Most pupils become fluent readers.

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The school ensures that pupils with SEND are identified quickly and accurately. When required, pupils receive helpful specialist support. However, these pupils experience the same variability in curriculum delivery as others in the school. This means that they do not achieve as well as they should.

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The school provides pupils with an interesting offer to enhance their personal development. Pupils learn how to stay safe online. They also learn about a range of faiths and cultures. For example, pupils experienced the festival of Diwali in Eldon House. Pupils benefit from exciting leadership roles. These include promoting learning as a subject ambassador. 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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The school is calm and orderly. Pupils behave well in their lessons. They listen attentively to their teachers. The school monitors pupils’ rates of attendance closely. It supports pupils with low rates of attendance, or those who are persistently absent, to attend school more regularly.

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Governors are committed to the school. They have a suitable insight into pupils’ welfare. However, governors have not acted swiftly enough to prevent a decline in pupils’ achievement across the curriculum. Furthermore, governors have done too little to rebuild bridges with parents and the local authority. Many parents reported that communication has not been effective enough. This has damaged trust between some parents and the school.

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Most current staff stated that the school considers and supports their workload carefully. However, the school has not successfully protected some staff, including senior leaders, from harassment.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school, including the governing body, lacks the capacity required to resolve the ongoing issues embroiling the school, and to bring about the necessary changes to pupils’ learning at the required pace. This has led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. The school should strengthen leadership capacity at all levels, so that improvements are rapid and sustainable.  The relationship between the school and the local authority is fractured. This hinders resolutions to staff grievances and distracts the school from making sure that pupils benefit from the intended curriculum. The school should repair the relationship with the local authority to bring about swift and appropriate resolutions to staff and parental concerns.  Communication between the school and parents has not been effective. This has led to a breakdown in trust between the school and some parents. The school should review and enhance its avenues of communication so that trust and

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

transparency are improved.  Governors have not ensured sufficient oversight of the education that pupils receive. Furthermore, they have not resolved the ongoing staffing and parental issues sufficiently well. This has a negative impact on pupils’ learning. The school should ensure that governors provide more effective support and challenge to fully resolve matters and reset the school’s focus on pupils’ education.  The curriculum is not delivered equally well across and within subjects and year groups. This prevents pupils from learning all that they should. It hinders their readiness for their next stage of learning. The school should ensure that, despite 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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changes in staffing, the curriculum is implemented consistently well across classes and subjects.  Subject leadership is not as effective as it should be. Consequently, the variability in the curriculum that pupils receive has not been identified quickly enough. The school should ensure that subject leaders receive support and guidance to monitor their areas of responsibility effectively.  The school’s strategies to identify gaps in pupils’ learning are not used consistently well. As a result, pupils’ missed and forgotten knowledge is not addressed quickly enough. This means that some pupils’ learning is not secure, particularly in subjects other than English and mathematics. The school should ensure that staff identify and resolve gaps in pupils’ learning 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). 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 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 September 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been considerable changes to staffing since the previous inspection. This includes the appointment of a new deputy headteacher.  Several governors have changed since the previous inspection. This includes three chairs of the governing body. The current chair of governors took up post in December 2023.  The school has provision for two-year-old children.  The school operates a before- and after-school club.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a graded (section 5) inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 April 2024

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because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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 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.  The inspection was first announced on 5 February 2024 and a deferral was granted at the request of the headteacher. The inspection began on 20 March 2024. It was paused on 21 March 2024 following a request from senior leaders and in consultation with Ofsted’s regional director for the North West. The decision was reached following discussions with the local authority as the leaders’ employer, who attended the school on site to check on the well-being of staff and senior leaders. The inspection was scheduled to resume on 26 March 2024, but it remained paused at the request of senior leaders and in consultation with

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Ofsted’s regional director for the North West. Inspectors returned on 16 April 2024 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. The inspection was extended by a day to ensure that sufficient evidence was collected.  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 conducted deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history, mathematics, and design and technology. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders and teachers, visited some lessons, considered pupils’ work and talked with groups of pupils about their learning. An inspector observed some

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pupils reading to a familiar adult.  Inspectors also reviewed the curriculums and some pupils’ work in some other subjects.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The lead inspector spoke with representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other leaders throughout the inspection. Inspectors spoke with the school improvement partner.  Inspectors considered a range of documents, including the school improvement plan, the records of governing body meetings and reports from the external evaluation of the school. Inspectors scrutinised records regarding pupils’ SEND, their attendance and behaviour.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour around the school, at social times and in lessons. They spoke with pupils to discuss their views of the school, their learning, and their behaviour and safety.

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 Inspectors reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff. Inspectors talked to staff about their workload and well-being.  Inspectors considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text comments. Inspectors spoke to parents at the start and the end of the school day.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Louise McArdle, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Adam Sproston, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jo Olsson His Majesty’s Inspector 20 and 21 March and 16 to 18 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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