West Street Community Primary School

Inspection of West Street Community Primary School West Street, Colne, Lancashire BB8 0HW

p.1

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 1 and 2 April 2025

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a calm and welcoming place. Staff know pupils well. Pupils are confident that staff will help them with any worries that they may have. The school provides effective support for pupils to become independent and resilient. This begins in the early years, where children settle quickly and learn to follow the school’s well-established routines.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils enjoy school. They behave well. Pupils particularly value the firm friendships that they develop with each other. They look forward to social times together. Pupils are considerate of others when learning, playing, and moving around the school.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils respond well to opportunities for developing leadership skills. They help others willingly. For example, the school council is active within the Colne junior council, taking part in projects such as reducing child food poverty in the local community.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high ambitions for pupils’ achievement. However, its aspirations are only partially met. Pupils’ achievement is variable across the school, including in reading and mathematics. As a result, some pupils are not as well prepared for their next stages of education as they should be. This includes those pupils who will be moving on to secondary education at the end of the academic year.

p.2

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

The school has designed an ambitious and well-organised curriculum. It ensures that teachers deliver the curriculum as intended. Teachers focus on the identified key knowledge for their class. However, at times, learning does not build on what pupils can and cannot do.

p.2

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

The 2024 published data shows that, by the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was significantly below the national average. Improvements to the curriculum mean that current pupils are performing better than this data suggests. However, many pupils still have gaps in their knowledge, or their learning is insecure. This is particularly true in the early years, where children embed their learning more successfully in some areas of the learning than in others.

p.2

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

The school does not ensure that teachers consistently check how secure pupils’ prior knowledge is before they introduce new information. As a result, there is variability in how successfully teachers identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge or misconceptions that they have developed. Teachers do not ensure that pupils’ learning is fully embedded before moving on to something new. In the early years, this includes how accurately children form letters and numbers, which has an impact on the achievement of some pupils in later years. At times, pupils are not able to recall the key learning that they need to achieve well.

p.2

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

Reading sits at the heart of the school’s curriculum. The school provides a wealth of high- quality literature to broaden pupils’ experiences and support their learning. For example, 1 and 2 April 2025

p.2

3

children in the early years benefit from learning songs, rhymes, and traditional tales. This helps them to develop their understanding of language and different types of sound patterns ready for learning about phonics.

p.3

3

The support that the school provides to pupils at the early stages of reading is developing. Staff have recently been retrained to deliver the school’s phonics programme more effectively than it has been in the past. However, because of weaknesses in the reading curriculum in previous years, some older pupils do not have the fluency and accuracy that they need to access the curriculum. Children in the early years and pupils in Years 1 and 2 are beginning to learn how to use phonics to read words more successfully than they did. However, the support for older pupils who find reading more difficult is inconsistent.

p.3

3

The achievement of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is variable. At times, the school’s identification of the needs of pupils with SEND is not accurate. It sometimes takes too long. The school’s work to support teachers to understand the particular needs of pupils with SEND in their class and how best to support them is evolving.

p.3

3

The school provides a wide range of high-quality activities that broaden pupils’ knowledge of the wider world, as well as developing their physical and mental well-being. These activities include visiting places of worship from different faiths and taking part in sports, dance, or craft clubs.

p.3

3

Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes towards school and their learning. However, rates of absence have been high at the school for some time. The school provides effective support for some pupils whose attendance is a cause for concern. For other pupils, absence from school remains a considerable barrier to their learning.

p.3

3

The school has introduced several initiatives recently to improve rates of attendance and pupils’ achievement. Its success in these endeavours is variable. The school does not analyse information available sufficiently well to identify trends or the root causes of problems accurately. This slows down the rate of improvement in these areas. It also means that staff’s workload is increased. It is sometimes difficult for the governing body to offer pertinent support and challenge due to a lack of clarity about the agreed focus for school improvement.

p.3

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

p.3

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, the school does not make the most effective use of the information it has about pupils to identify what it most needs to focus on. This means that, sometimes, 1 and 2 April 2025

p.3

4

the most pressing issues, including rates of absence, pupils’ achievement and how well the needs of pupils with SEND are understood and met, are not addressed as efficiently or as effectively as they could be. This impacts on pupils’ achievement as well as staff’s workload. It hinders governors from ensuring that their support and challenge are targeted accurately. The school should sharpen its focus on accurately identifying and addressing key school improvement priorities.  Some pupils have misconceptions or gaps in their knowledge, including in reading and mathematics. This means that these pupils are not as well prepared for their next stages of education as they should be. The school should make sure that pupils have secured the necessary prior knowledge to be fully prepared for their next stages of education.  The school does not make sure that children in the early years receive the support that

p.4

4

they need to practise and embed their learning across the curriculum consistently well. Consequently, they do not build up their knowledge as successfully as they could. This is particularly true for children’s understanding of how to produce correctly formed letters and numbers. The school should ensure that children in the early years are fully prepared for their learning in Year 1 and beyond.  The identification of the needs of pupils with SEND is not consistently accurate or timely. This makes it more difficult for teachers to provide the most appropriate support for these pupils. The school should ensure that its systems and processes for identifying pupils’ needs and overseeing the support for these pupils are working effectively.

p.4

How can I feedback 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.

p.4

How can I feedback my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

p.4

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

p.4

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). 1 and 2 April 2025

p.4

School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

p.5

School details

Dates of previous inspection 4 and 5 February 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

p.5

Information about this school

 There is a new headteacher in post since the time of the last inspection.  A new chair of governors has recently been appointed.  The school does not currently make use of alternative provision for pupils.

p.5

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.

p.5

Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 1 and 2 April 2025

p.5

6

 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 spoke with the headteacher and other leaders in the school.  An inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and geography. They spoke with the leaders of these areas of the curriculum. Inspectors also visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work, held discussions with teachers and talked with pupils.  Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work in other areas of the curriculum. They also spoke with pupils about their learning.  An inspector listened to some pupils from Years 1 to 3 reading to a familiar adult.  An inspector also listened to other pupils reading from Years 5 and 6.

p.6

6

 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.  An inspector spoke with parents at the start of the school day.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View survey, including the free- text responses.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and for pupils. However, inspectors spoke with groups of pupils and with staff about their experiences at the school.

p.6

Inspection team

Claire Cropper, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

p.6

Inspection team

Gaynor Rennie Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 April 2025

p.6

7

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.

p.7

7

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.7

7

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

7

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

7

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7