Hollin Primary School

105792 Unique Reference Number Rochdale LEA 277410 Inspection number 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005 Inspection dates Mr Anthony Painter CfBT Lead Inspector Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Waverley Road School address Primary Type of school Middleton Community School category Manchester, Lancashire M24 6JG 4 to 11 Age range of pupils

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0161 643 5148 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0161 643 2968 Fax number 220 Number on roll Mr Peter Dawson Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Margarette Chapman Headteacher 27 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 277410 17 October 2005 - 4 to 11 18 October 2005 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

There is substantial social and economic deprivation in the residential area around this average-sized primary school. The proportion of children eligible for free school meals is well above average and many pupils join the school with very low attainment. Few children come from minority ethnic groups or have English as an additional language. Plans have just been agreed to demolish part of the school and begin substantial new building on the site. This will also house a school for pupils with a wide range of learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005

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Grade: 2

Inspectors agree with the school's evaluation that it is good and gives good value for money. The headteacher has successfully led significant improvements in the last two years to redress lower standards in 2003. Successful action to establish new strategies and challenging targets has improved teaching and learning. As a result, good teaching now helps children achieve well through the school from well below average levels. Foundation Stage children make good progress, particularly in their personal development, although few reach the expected overall standards by the beginning of Year 1. Good progress in Years 1 to 6 brings children to overall average standards with signs of improving standards throughout the school. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are identified and supported well to make good progress. Adults provide a happy, safe and secure environment that ensures all children are well

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Grade: 2

cared for. Children benefit from a wide range of opportunities to learn well, including many successful visits and visitors. Positive atmospheres in lessons and very good relationships ensure children's good personal development. Children develop respect for others and behave well, although attendance is weakened by too many holidays taken in term time. Staff work together well and have taken increasing leadership roles, particularly in English and mathematics. Good tracking of children's progress helps teachers to know how well children are doing in these subjects. However, opportunities are missed to review targets during the year to ensure achievement remains high. The development of leadership roles is more limited in other subjects, particularly science where achievement has varied recently. Although a wide range of appropriate developments is identified in the school's planning, there is too little prioritising to focus on the most

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Grade: 2

important issues. Plans sometimes also lack sufficient clarity when identifying how to judge success.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve standards, curricular provision and leadership and management in science and identify clearly what will make it more successful in future. • Monitor and review pupils' targets more regularly to maintain levels of challenge through the year. • Ensure development planning makes clear what the most important priorities are and how the school will know if is tackling these successfully.

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Grade: 2

Children's overall standards when joining the school are well below average, with many having very limited language skills. However, achievement through the school is good and children reach overall average standards by Year 6. Children with different backgrounds and abilities achieve equally well. Those with learning difficulties and/or 2 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005 disabilities make good progress because needs are accurately identified and they get good support. Improved assessment systems aid teachers in setting challenging targets to promote individual children's progress, particularly in English and mathematics. Children make good progress in Foundation Stage classes, particularly in their personal development, although overall standards are still below those expected by the beginning of Year 1. Good progress in Key Stage 1 means that overall standards are closer to the

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Grade: 2

expected levels by the end of Year 2. The school's rapid and substantial response to weak Year 6 test results in 2003 led to significantly better 2004 results. This trend of improvement has been maintained, overall in the 2005 results. New approaches to teaching literacy throughout the school have had the biggest impact on reading and teachers are now focusing on improving writing. Similar, positive action in 2004 contributed to better results in mathematics. The picture of improvement in science is not quite as strong. Although attainment improved somewhat in 2004, test results remained significantly below average. In 2005, there was some improvement in the number of pupils reaching the higher level (Level 5); however, the number of children reaching the nationally expected level fell.

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Grade: 2

Children have positive attitudes towards their school and work hard in lessons. They enjoy talking about the things they do, sharing and cooperating well. They respect and understand the feelings of others in the school and are polite and courteous at all times. They behave well in lessons, in the playground and around the school. Their overall spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They understand the importance of healthy eating, keeping safe and the benefits of regular exercise. The recently introduced school council is helping the children understand citizenship and their roles in the wider community. They like the way staff listen to their opinions and help to implement them, for example, their ideas to improve the ambience in the school dining room. Pupils develop good basic literacy and numeracy skills, which prepare them well for future life. However, pupils do not develop good habits related to attendance. Although

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Grade: 2

the school has worked hard to improve attendance, including making good use of the support of the education welfare officer, it remains unsatisfactory. In particular, too many parents take children for holidays during school time and this loss of learning time is a cause for concern.

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Grade: 2

Good teaching enables children to learn well and reflects the school's own evaluation. Teachers organise their classrooms well and have clearly established routines. Effective discipline and reward systems successfully encourage children's very good behaviour 3 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005 and contribute to the pace of learning. Very good relationships ensure all children gain confidence to answer questions and give opinions. Opportunities to discuss with partners and use specialist vocabulary help children in their speaking and listening skills. New teaching developments, such as the new approaches to literacy, are thoughtfully and consistently introduced and are having a positive impact on standards and progress. Effective teaching assistants make a positive contribution by supporting individuals and groups and ensuring their progress. Good systems enable teachers to identify and

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Grade: 2

support children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Good moves have been taken to establish a strong process for tracking children's progress in mathematics and English. This gives targets to steer teachers' planning and helps teachers to match tasks to children's needs. As a result, children are keen to work and their lessons often stretch their learning well. By not reviewing targets regularly through the year, opportunities are missed to promote even higher standards and pupils' progress.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum effectively meets the needs of all the children, building skills and knowledge step by step throughout the school. It includes many opportunities that stimulate children's enjoyment of learning, including some specialist teaching and opportunities to learn Spanish in Years 5 and 6. The strong focus on literacy and numeracy and improvement in these areas has had a positive effect in driving up standards. The school has rightly identified the need to develop science provision and writing opportunities in other subjects. Work in the classroom is complemented by children's many opportunities to take part in a rich variety of additional activities. Many visits, including residential trips for all children in Key Stage 2, are organised in addition to the various sporting activities that extend and develop their skills.

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Grade: 2

This is a caring school, which provides a happy and secure environment in which all children can grow and develop. There are good induction arrangements in place when children begin the nursery and the main school. Children enjoy coming to the school and feel safe. All adults know the children well and are aware of their personal and family circumstances. Child protection arrangements are very clear. Those children who are at risk for whatever reason are quickly identified and supported, making good use of outside agencies where appropriate. Children who have extra learning needs and/or disabilities receive good support to enable them to play a full part in school activities. Health and safety routines and all risk assessments are fully in place. As one Year 6 child said, 'you get treated very well here and you can trust all of the teachers'. 4 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005

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Grade: 2

Good leadership and management, reflecting the school's evaluation, have maintained a positive atmosphere and ensure equal opportunities for all pupils. Action has been taken on all issues identified in the last report. Governors are increasingly involved in evaluating and challenging the school and ensuring statutory requirements are met. There are good opportunities for parents and children to contribute their own ideas for consideration. The headteacher's energetic leadership is clearly seen in the rapid response to weak Year 6 test results in 2003. Subsequent curriculum and teaching changes were well managed and the progress monitored carefully. Her accurate monitoring of teaching and children's achievements contributes well to performance management and school developments. Good data on children's standards and progress are aiding target setting and helping to improve teaching. Good teamwork through the school contributes to the good capacity to improve.

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Grade: 2

English and mathematics coordinators, for example, have good understanding of their roles. They use knowledge gained from monitoring planning, teaching and children's work to identify ways for the school to improve. In other subjects such as science, co-ordinators have had less opportunity to make an impact, as the school has focused most attention on the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. A wide range of developments, correctly aimed at improving standards and achievement, is planned to further improve the school. However, they are not always sufficiently sharply planned. For example, it is not always clear exactly how teachers will know they are successful. In addition, there is not enough attention to prioritising, so teachers can focus on the few most important developments. 5 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005 .

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Hollin Primary School, 17 October 2005 to 18 October 2005

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 4 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 2 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 2 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 3 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

N/A Thank you for your warm welcome when we recently visited your school. We were impressed by your good behaviour and how you were all so polite and friendly. It's clear that all the adults and children get on very well together and this helps you to learn well in your lessons. We were very pleased with the ways your teachers and other staff have worked together to improve your work over the last few years. This is giving you a big help, especially with your reading and mathematics. They plan a lot of interesting things for you to do and make sure that you are safe and well cared for. You certainly showed lots of enjoyment of your lessons and the other activities you took part in. To help you do even better, we have asked teachers to look carefully at how well they help you to learn about science. We would also like them to make even more use of what they know about you when planning lessons. That way, they can make sure that all the work each of you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

is given is not too hard or too easy. Teachers are already planning lots of new ways to help you learn better. We have asked them to take care about how quickly they introduce them and to check carefully how successful they are. We are sure that they will make a good job of it. You and your parents will need to make sure that you all attend well to make the best use of the opportunities. We very much enjoyed talking with you and your teachers and we wish you and the school the very best for the future.

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