a school not in a category of concern of Primrose Lane Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Lara Bailey Headteacher Primrose Lane Primary School Westwood Way Boston Spa Wetherby West Yorkshire LS23 6DX

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Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 20/3/205, on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Primary School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school's progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school's previous graded inspection.

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Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you, the acting deputy headteacher, governors and external school partners the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also met with staff, pupils and local governors. In addition, I carried out lesson visits, discussed curriculum plans with some curriculum leaders, looked at a sample of pupils’ work and scrutinised the school’s plans for improvement. I have considered all of this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the previous inspection in December 2023, leadership has stabilised. You have been appointed as substantive headteacher and the governors have recently appointed a deputy headteacher. This has helped to ensure that the leadership of the school has a clear strategic direction. The school has adapted its curriculum to move from a previous two-year curriculum cycle to a one-year cycle. This is helping pupils to build knowledge in a logical order. You and your team have identified clearer end points for pupils to work towards.

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Main findings

The school is ambitious to improve the quality of education for all pupils. You have carefully considered the pace of change to prioritise the foundations of learning. This has included reviewing the behaviour policy to develop a consistent approach to managing disruption. This is contributing towards a calmer and more orderly environment in the school. There has also been a focus on developing reading skills to ensure that pupils can access the full curriculum.

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Main findings

The school has prioritised the development of staff’s subject knowledge and expertise. For example, staff have had opportunities to work with an external school support partner to develop their subject leadership. Some curriculum areas are further forward than others with regards to clearly setting out the knowledge and skills that pupils need to know. You are in the process of embedding the school’s ‘Primrose Lane pedagogy’. This is to help staff to teach the curriculum consistently well. The impact of this work is reflected in some aspects of the teaching of the wider curriculum. Pupils are receiving increasingly effective teaching in lessons. Teachers are using questions to check pupils’ understanding increasingly well. However, this work is not implemented to consistent effect. There is still variation in how well some of these practices are applied in the classroom.

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Main findings

You have worked with staff to develop recall and retrieval strategies to help pupils to remember more of what they are taught. Pupils told me how some of these approaches are helping them to remember more of the important knowledge that they are taught. Staff are gauging pupils’ understanding more effectively and using this information to better adapt their teaching to fill gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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Main findings

The school has worked on preparing pupils for life beyond the school. It has woven opportunities to improve pupils’ knowledge of the fundamental British values through the curriculum. You have aligned the personal, social and health education curriculum to your assembly programme to support pupils’ knowledge of living in modern Britain. Staff teach pupils to respect views that may be different to their own. This work is helping pupils to become more tolerant and respectful. They discuss their understanding of this with increasing knowledge and maturity.

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Main findings

You set out plans for school improvement that are considered and measurable. You have a process in place to check the success of planned actions. This increasing clarity will assist school staff, along with those responsible for governance, in checking the intended impact of the identified priorities. External partners have provided support for the school to continue moving forward. You value their support with quality assurance and staff professional development. There is a clear collegiate sense of working together in the best interests of pupils.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Leeds local authority. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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