Heald Place Primary School

Inspection of Heald Place Primary School Heald Place, Rusholme, Manchester M14 7PN

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Inspection dates: 26 and 27 November 2024

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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 26 and 27 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this large, inclusive school where they are made to feel valued. Staff build warm, caring relationships with pupils. Pupils receive high-quality pastoral support. Typically, they respond well to the school’s behaviour systems. The school has a calm and purposeful atmosphere. Any disruption to learning is kept to a minimum as many pupils behave well in lessons. They also behave well on the playground or when moving around the school building.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school aspires for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. However, in areas of the school’s work, this ambition is not realised. Sometimes, gaps in pupils’ learning are not addressed swiftly enough. They do not build up a rich body of knowledge. In the early years, some children do not get a secure enough understanding of early reading and mathematics skills. Throughout the school, some pupils do not learn the curriculum well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils get many opportunities to develop their leadership skills in school. They can become active members of the school council, anti-bullying ambassadors or rights- respecting ambassadors. They appreciate the opportunity to support the school to become a better place for their peers.

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

The school has set out an ambitious curriculum for pupils. In many subjects and in the early years, the school has thought clearly about the knowledge that pupils should learn. It has also considered when pupils should encounter this learning. This is designed to help pupils develop their knowledge and understanding of the different topics that they have studied.

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

However, the intended curriculum is not consistently delivered. Despite the school setting out the required knowledge, teachers are sometimes unsure of what this means in practice. They are uncertain about how to design activities that support pupils’ learning in some subjects.

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

Teachers do not systematically check on pupils’ understanding of different topics. In some lessons, this means that pupils sometimes do not understand what they should be learning. From time to time, gaps that pupils have in their understanding remain. This makes it more difficult for pupils to learn new content.

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

Overall, pupils enjoy the books that they study in class. The library gives pupils the opportunity to read books from a variety of different authors. Visiting authors and poets help to broaden pupils’ appreciation of different literature. That said, a group of pupils, including some with SEND, do not develop early reading skills promptly. These pupils find reading challenging when they move into Year 1 and Year 2. In part, this is because the school’s phonics programme is not delivered consistently well. Assessment information is not used well enough. This results in pupils reading books that are not closely connected to their phonics knowledge. In these instances, pupils struggle to read fluently. 26 and 27 November 2024

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The school has systems in place to identify any pupils with SEND swiftly. However, the information about pupils’ additional needs is not precise enough. This makes it difficult for teachers to set appropriate targets for pupils with SEND. As a result, the adaptations that teachers make vary in quality. This sometimes hampers pupils’ ability to access the curriculum.

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Pupils come to school regularly. Typically, pupils’ attitudes in lessons are positive. A minority of pupils, including some children in the early years, find it more difficult to concentrate on their learning. Although many pupils show respect to each other, some pupils use language in school that is not appropriate. Although pupils report this to staff, the school does not investigate the information sufficiently well enough to identify patterns and trends. This hinders its ability to reduce the occasional use of inappropriate language by a minority of pupils.

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The provision for pupils’ personal development helps to build their awareness of some important issues. These include how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and the importance of good mental well-being. For example, the school provides pupils with opportunities such as yoga. Many extra-curricular opportunities are offered to pupils. They get the chance to visit different places in the local area, such as museums and art galleries. In the main, pupils build up an understanding of what life is like in modern-day Britain.

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Governors have a clear vision for the school. In many ways, they keep a check on what is happening in school and the standards that pupils achieve. The school has worked well with staff around their workload and well-being. For example, they have reviewed how they give feedback to pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Many aspects of the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures work well. For example, the school works with a variety of agencies to support pupils and parents to get the correct support. The school has established a wider team to support safeguarding processes in the school. Training for a small number of these staff requires strengthening so that they can support the designated safeguarding leader (DSL) fully.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 A minority of staff have not had the necessary safeguarding training that they need to carry out their role. This means that they cannot support the DSL as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that these final few staff develop the expertise that they require. 26 and 27 November 2024

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 Some staff are not clear about how to support pupils with SEND to access the curriculum. The support that pupils receive in different lessons across the school is inconsistent. As a result, pupils with SEND can struggle to complete tasks that are set out for them. They do not develop the independence and knowledge they need. The school should ensure that targeted professional development supports staff to make suitable adaptations for pupils with SEND.  Checks on pupils’ knowledge and understanding, including in the early years, are not as effective as they could be. Occasionally, gaps in pupils’ understanding are not identified and resolved. This means that pupils find it more difficult to build up a rich body of knowledge. The school should ensure that staff check what pupils already know before new learning is delivered.  Some staff are not sure about how to deliver some aspects of the curriculum, including

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phonics. At times, this means that they do not choose the most appropriate activities to support pupils to learn the intended curriculum. The school should ensure that staff develop subject-specific expertise to deliver the intended curriculum effectively.  The school, including governors, does not have a sufficiently detailed oversight of some aspects of pupils’ behaviour, such as pupils’ use of appropriate language. This means that it is not as targeted in its response as it could be. Occasionally, this allows negative behaviour to persist more than it should. The school, including governors, should ensure that it maintains a clear oversight of this aspect of pupils’ behaviour and takes action to address any patterns.

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 26 and 27 November 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 and 27 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school operates a before-school club.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 26 and 27 November 2024

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 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.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English including early reading, mathematics, history, modern foreign languages, and art and design. 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.  An inspector listened to pupils read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors discussed some other curriculum subjects, spoke to pupils about their learning and reviewed samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. They met with leaders to discuss attendance and behaviour.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the vice-chair of

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the governing body. He also spoke with a representative of the local authority.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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 observed pupils’ behaviour at lunchtimes and as pupils moved around the school building. They scrutinised leaders’ records of pupils’ behaviour.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at the school. They spoke with staff about their workload and well-being.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff and for pupils.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Stuart Perkins, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Gareth Caunce Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 November 2024

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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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