Lane End Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Lane End Primary School Ramillies Avenue, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Cheshire SK8 7AL

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Outcome

Lane End Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning at this warm and welcoming school. The school is ambitious for pupils, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to develop deep knowledge across the curriculum. Pupils are keen to live up to the high expectations of their teachers. They typically achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils play their part in contributing to the school’s caring community. Staff know pupils and their families well and foster trusting relationships. Pupils behave well. They learn about the importance of respect and kindness. The school makes sure that everyone feels welcome, regardless of their background. Pupils are also determined that differences found within the school’s community are valued and celebrated.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has a strong sport ethos, for which it has achieved recognition in the local area. Pupils benefit from an array of sports clubs, including in lacrosse, dodgeball and gymnastics. They enjoy representing the school locally, such as in tennis and cross- country competitions. The school is determined for pupils to have opportunities to benefit from the wider sporting offer. For example, it has arranged for some pupils with SEND to participate in an adapted golf event with pupils from other schools.

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

The school has recently strengthened the curriculum in many subjects. This has allowed pupils to develop a broad understanding of these subjects. In the early years, children make a positive start. The school has designed a rich curriculum in the early years that inspires children to learn and prepares them well for key stage 1. Governors have supported the school in making these changes to increase the ambition of the curriculum. They know the school well and share the school’s vision for continual improvement. 23 and 24 July 2024

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The school has developed an effective approach that informs how teachers design learning. Teachers benefit from a comprehensive programme of training. This helps them to further develop their subject knowledge. Teachers deliver the curriculum well in most subjects. Nonetheless, in a minority of subjects, work to determine what pupils should learn is still underway. This means that, in these subjects, the teachers occasionally do not have sufficient information to design learning activities. At times, this limits the breadth and depth of knowledge that pupils develop.

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In the main, teachers make careful checks on pupils’ learning. This helps them to identify and quickly address any gaps or misconceptions that arise. However, in a few subjects, the lack of curriculum definition hampers teachers’ efforts in checking whether pupils have learned all that they should. In these subjects, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge which, from time to time, go unchecked and unaddressed.

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Staff feel well supported by the school and value the collegiate atmosphere. For example, the school has considered the impact on staff’s workload during recent changes to the early reading programme. Staff have embraced this new approach and they have undertaken the necessary training to deliver it well. The school recognises that there is still some work to do to fully embed the programme, for example by introducing new reading books that more closely match the sounds that pupils already know. Nevertheless, pupils are already benefiting from a more coherent approach. This helps them to swiftly develop their phonics knowledge.

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Across the school, staff encourage pupils to read a wide range of texts. This starts in the Reception class, where stories and rhymes form the heart of the curriculum. Staff quickly identify pupils who struggle with their reading. These pupils receive the help that they need to develop their reading fluency and comprehension.

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Pupils know and follow classroom routines. They are committed to their learning. This starts at the beginning of the early years, where staff support children to develop useful learning behaviours, such as tenacity and resilience. The school has trained staff in recognising and supporting pupils with SEND. Staff ensure that classrooms are welcoming environments for these pupils. Pupils with SEND receive the additional help that they need to progress well through the curriculum.

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The school prepares pupils well for their future lives. Its programme to support pupils’ wider development is threaded through subject curriculums. For example, in mathematics, pupils discussed the benefits of responsibly sourced ingredients while calculating costings for a batch of cupcakes. Pupils value many trips and visitors to school, which enhance the academic curriculum. Many pupils spoke enthusiastically about learning outdoors in the school’s garden and woodland areas. In addition, pupils go on visits to places of historical importance, such as to a Roman settlement to bring their learning to life.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 23 and 24 July 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the school has not determined the important knowledge that pupils should remember over time. This makes it difficult for teachers to design learning activities that build on what pupils have already learned. The school should ensure that staff are clear about the knowledge that pupils should acquire and the order in which they should learn it.  In subjects where the curriculum is less developed, staff do not check on pupils’ learning thoroughly enough. Consequently, at times, pupils retain gaps in their knowledge that staff do not quickly identify or address. The school should develop suitable approaches that allow staff to make accurate assessments of pupils’ knowledge so that pupils 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 November 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 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 23 and 24 July 2024

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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). 23 and 24 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Jonathan Downing

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 5 and 6 November 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides a breakfast and after-school club.  The school does not use any alternative provision 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.

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Information about this inspection

 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.  The inspector met with school leaders, including the headteacher, and a range of staff.  The inspector spoke with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. She also met with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector reviewed a wide range of evidence, including the school’s self-evaluation documents, improvement plans and minutes of governing body meetings. She reviewed records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. 23 and 24 July 2024

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 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’ interests first.  The inspector spoke with pupils about their experiences of school and their views on behaviour and bullying. She observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at social times.  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, she discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some staff and with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector met with curriculum leaders and reviewed pupils’ work in some other subjects.  The inspector observed pupils from Years 1 to 3 read to a familiar adult.

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 The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. She also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and for pupils.

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Inspection team

Charlotte Oles, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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