Woodley Primary School

Inspection Report Woodley Primary School

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134779 Unique Reference Number Stockport LEA 282687 Inspection number 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006 Inspection dates Mr John Atkinson 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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Sherwood Road School address Primary Type of school Woodley Community School category 0, Stockport SK6 1LH 3 to 11 Age range of pupils 0161 4306609 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0161 4941304 Fax number 409 Number on roll Mr Allen Whittaker Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Jan McKenna Headteacher Not applicable Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282687 28 June 2006 - 3 to 11 29 June 2006 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Woodley Primary is a large new school as a result of the amalgamation of an infant and junior school. It is currently undergoing an additional building programme to enhance its facilities. Most of the pupils, the majority of whom are of White British heritage, come from the surrounding area. Most pupils join the school in the Nursery and remain at the school. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average at about 1 in 10. An average proportion of pupils has learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD).

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006

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Grade: 2

The inspection team agrees with the school's evaluation that this is a good school. As a new school, it has quickly established a purposeful ethos, a clear sense of unity and direction and a staff team with high morale. The headteacher quickly identified and tackled the underachievement of pupils in Key Stage 2. The impact of the strategies introduced over the past two years is that pupils now make good progress, achieve well and attain above average standards. The school is highly respected by almost all parents; as one parent said, 'my children go into school skipping and smiling each day'. Pupils achieve well because teaching is good and the climate for learning is very positive. Although teachers set targets for pupils in core subjects and personal development, teachers do not always use assessment information to ensure that learning activities are challenging enough so that pupils can make even better progress.

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Grade: 2

The school is well led by the headteacher and senior managers in ensuring that the provision is good, equality of entitlement is in place and there is a consistency in planning and classroom routines. However, the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is not rigorous enough. The good curriculum is enriched with extensive opportunities and results in pupils' personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development being good. Pupils therefore enjoy coming to school, are confident and very well behaved, with a keen desire to learn. The school is very inclusive and provides well for pupils with LDD. Children in the Foundation Stage make good progress and get a good start to their education. The school has a good capacity to improve and gives good value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

Focus on: • using assessment information to set challenging targets • monitoring the quality of teaching and learning rigorously to sustain the recent improvements.

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Grade: 2

Pupils reach standards that are above average and achieve well. Children enter the Reception class with standards, in most aspects, in line with those expected for their age, but below those expected in linking sounds and letters. They make good progress because of high expectations, a rich and exciting curriculum and the outstanding level of care. Adult-led activities are taught well and pupils' communication and mathematical skills are quickly developed because their progress is tracked and monitored carefully. As a result, most pupils achieve slightly above the expectations for their age before joining Year 1. By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils make good progress in mathematics, reading and writing, with an above average percentage of pupils reaching the higher levels. At the end of Key Stage 2, pupils now reach standards in English, mathematics and science that are above average and this is a significant improvement on the 2005

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Grade: 2

2 Inspection Report: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006 national test results. This demonstrates good progress for all pupils, including those pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The school has successfully tackled previous underachievement by setting challenging targets for its pupils and raising teachers' expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupils' standards and achievement in writing are improving at a good pace because of the introduction of specific strategies to support pupils' writing techniques. Pupils in Years 3 to 5 make good progress because of the good teaching and the very positive learning climate.

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Grade: 2

The provision for personal development and well-being is good with outstanding features. Pupils' attendance is average and their punctuality good. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school and their attitudes and behaviour in and around the school are good. Pupils feel safe and are confident that adults deal effectively with any problems raised. Relationships in the school are excellent. Pupils' self-confidence grows as they move through the school. They take additional responsibilities such as being school councillors seriously. Extensive residential visits provide excellent opportunities for personal development. As a result, their independence, self-esteem and appreciation of the needs of others are increasingly evident in their work and play. Pupils make very good healthy lifestyle choices due to the excellent health education they receive. The very caring ethos of the school and high expectations are well supported by the

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Grade: 2

school's good provision of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This is demonstrated in practice by the way in which pupils show care and consideration for one another. A prime example of this is the use of junior pupils as play leaders for infant pupils at lunchtime.

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Grade: 2

The pupils learn well. There is a delightful sense of everyone working together in lessons. The pupils value the fact that their teachers want them to do their very best. Undoubtedly, the focus on high expectations has led to significant improvements in standards. Lessons are lively and interesting with lots of extremely well planned and motivating things to do. Therefore, the pupils work hard and concentrate well. Consistently good use of lesson objectives improves the rate of learning because the pupils are clear about what they are doing and why. The teachers' good use of questions encourages good levels of thinking and draws out thoughtful answers. In some lessons, the teachers draw out very good responses by allowing the pupils to gather their thoughts with a partner before answering, but this is not consistent. The pace of lessons and learning is usually good, but in the outstanding lessons it is blistering and

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Grade: 2

so the pupils make excellent progress. Good support helps pupils with learning 3 Inspection Report: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006 difficulties and/or disabilities do well. Teachers are conscious of the need to challenge higher attainers consistently, but sometimes this challenge is not as great as it could be. Marking is at least good and often better. The marking in the pupils' writing journals gives excellent guidance and is helping to raise standards.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is well planned and gives all children a good start to their education. It has a suitable balance between direct teaching and learning through play. Good course planning helps older pupils of all attainments to make good progress. As well as studying the National Curriculum and religious education, pupils learn French from Year 5. Improvements in the planning of English, mathematics and science are leading to better standards as evident, for example, in the pupils' improved writing. The school has identified the need to improve its provision for information and communication technology, music and art and is making appropriate plans. There is a well planned programme for personal, social and health education. There is an excellent range of enrichment activities. The pupils' eyes light up when they talk about the rich array of sporting, cultural and residential opportunities and

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Grade: 2

other educational visits. During the inspection, they were still bursting with enthusiasm about the exciting things they had done during their recent 'Altogether Active Week'.

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Grade: 2

Provision is good with some outstanding features. The quality of care is excellent which supports pupils' good personal development and well-being. Procedures for child protection and risk assessment ensure pupils are safeguarded. Pupils are well prepared for starting school and make a smooth transfer to secondary school. Children's progress is assessed particularly well in the Foundation Stage and this helps them achieve well. In the rest of the school, targets are set in literacy, numeracy and personal development to help pupils know what to do to improve. However, more needs to be done with assessment information so that challenging activities are more closely matched to learning needs, enabling more able pupils in particular to make even better progress. Praise and recognition are used well to reward learning. Good quality support from staff and external agencies enables vulnerable pupils and those with additional needs to make good progress.

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Grade: 2

The leadership and management of the school, including governance, are good. The headteacher provides good leadership in setting out a clear vision for the school and 4 Inspection Report: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006 has a relentless focus on raising standards. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and senior leaders have been very effective in amalgamating two schools and establishing a sense of purpose amongst all staff. They are good in identifying priorities, taking actions and developing high morale amongst staff and pupils. The monitoring of the school's work by the headteacher and deputy is thorough in ensuring that the provision is good, equality of entitlement is in place and there is a consistency in planning and classroom routines. The monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is not rigorous enough and does not involve subject leaders and other senior leaders. The

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Grade: 2

headteacher, staff and governors share a very strong commitment to doing the best for all pupils and the inclusiveness of the school is a significant strength. The headteacher provides very strong leadership in promoting a school culture where the well-being of pupils is a top priority and where pupils are expected to make good progress, academically and personally. The governing body is actively involved in the work of the school and has a good understanding of its strengths and areas for development. It gives good strategic support to the leadership in school, ensuring that its development is well planned and financially secure. The outcome is a new school with a common sense of direction and a good capacity to improve. The school gives good value for money. 5 Inspection Report: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006 .

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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: Woodley Primary School, 28 June 2006 to 29 June 2006

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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 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA NA 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 2 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 2 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 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 2 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

We really enjoyed the two days that we recently spent in your school. Thank you for making us welcome and sharing your opinions about the school. We hope the changes that are happening to your school building will soon be finished and you have new areas for learning. We were very impressed with how you behave, how polite you are and how you take such a healthy approach to life. We agree with your views that you go to a good school because of the many strengths it has. - The staff and the children get on really well and you respond enthusiastically to the challenges that you are set. - We were very impressed with the ways in which you help each other and get involved in the many activities that are on offer. - You seem to enjoy coming to school because of the fun things that you do as well as working hard to do well in tests. - The teachers and teaching assistants work hard to help you to do better in your work.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

The headteacher works very hard to make this a school where you are looked after well and listened to. We had a long chat with your headteacher and other staff and we agreed that you could do even better if: - teachers frequently checked how much progress you were making so that they could set you even harder targets. We appreciate how hard you work at Woodley School. We hope that you continue to give your very best in every lesson so that you make really good progress and the school and your parents can be proud of your many achievements.

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