Unsworth Primary School

Inspection Report Unsworth Primary School

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105317 Unique Reference Number Bury Local Authority 287193 Inspection number 21 °22 February 2007 Inspection dates Eithne Proffitt Reporting inspector

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

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Blackley Close School address Primary Type of school Unsworth, Bury Community School category Lancashire BL9 8LY 4 °11 Age range of pupils 0161 7664876 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0161 7664876 Fax number 216 Number on roll (school) Mr S Cohen Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Christine Reynolds Headteacher 5 November 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 287193 21 °22 February 2007 4°11 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

Unsworth Primary School is smaller than average, serving an area of mainly private and some local authority housing in a residential suburb of Bury. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and the number of children whose first language is not English is small. The proportion of pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities is well above average as is the number with statements of special educational need. This is because the school has Resourced Provision for 14 children from across the Borough who have speech and language difficulties. The school has achieved the Healthy Schools award and Basic Skills Quality Mark.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Grade: 2

This is a good school with some outstanding features. Throughout the school, pupils make good progress in response to good teaching and learning opportunities. Those in the resourced provision make outstanding progress because of the high quality support they receive. Pupils get off to a good start in the Reception class, where they build effectively on their skills. This good progress continues through a seamless transition into Year 1 and beyond. Consequently, by the end of Year 6, pupils generally reach standards that are above average. Results in science are particularly impressive. In 2005 and 2006 however, some pupils in both Key Stages 1 and 2 did not reach the levels of which they were capable in writing. The school recognised the need to accelerate pupils' learning in this subject. The strategies implemented by the headteacher and managers at all levels are beginning to have an impact, as are the

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Grade: 2

improvements made in teaching to carefully assess and track pupils' progress. However, teachers need to make better reference to the pupils' learning targets when marking and talking to pupils about their work, especially in writing, so that the pupils know how well they are doing, how to improve their work and what to do next to move their learning forward. Pupils' personal development and well-being is outstanding. Their attendance is good and they are enthusiastic, very well motivated and keen to make the most of everything the school has to offer. From the earliest age, the children grasp important ideas about healthy lifestyles, personal safety, helping others and teamwork, preparing them very well for their future lives. It is the outstanding quality of the school's inclusive ethos and its high quality pastoral care that contribute so much to these very high standards of personal development. Parents express high levels of confidence in the school and

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Grade: 2

its work. One commented, 'Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the staff, my child has developed a true sense of worth and value.' Good quality leadership and management ensure that the school gives good value for money and that there is good capacity for the school to improve further. The headteacher, in particular, has a powerful vision for the future of the school, high expectations of what all pupils should achieve and some outstanding qualities of leadership to bring this about. Whilst the school has identified its strengths and areas for development accurately, a small number of its judgements about its effectiveness were over-optimistic.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the consistency of the quality of marking and feedback so that the children are given consistently good advice about how to improve their writing. 2 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Achievement and standards are good. Pupils achieve well during their time at school. The very few pupils from ethnic minorities make progress in line with others. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make outstanding progress towards the challenging targets set for them as a result of a keen understanding of their needs and high quality support. Pupils start school in Reception with standards broadly in line with those expected nationally, although speaking and listening, writing and aspects of their personal development are weaker areas. They make good progress in the Foundation Stage because of the good teaching, care and support that they receive to develop skills, especially in the targeted areas. This consistently good progress continues through Key Stage 1 to enable pupils to reach at least average standards. By the end of Key Stage 2, standards are usually above average. However, in 2006,

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Grade: 2

standards in the national tests for Year 6 pupils fell due to the underachievement of some girls in the class. The school's tracking systems indicate that the majority of pupils are currently reaching their year-on-year targets, showing that the present Year 6 are on track to achieve above average standards. Standards in science are particularly high and are a strength of the school. This is because of the school's effective approach to teaching science through practical, hands-on activities. Standards in writing could be higher.

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Grade: 1

The personal development and well-being of pupils is outstanding and underpin all the school's work very effectively indeed. Pupils are polite, friendly and eager to take on responsibilities, for example, as members of the 'Playground Squad'. The active school council ensures that pupils have a voice and they express very positive views about their school, such as, 'Our headteacher and teachers are great!' Pupils' behaviour is exemplary and very strong relationships abound. Pupils enjoy lessons and work hard, sharing and cooperating well from a very young age. Pupils have a very clear understanding about how and why to lead a healthy lifestyle. This has been endorsed by the school's achievement of the Healthy Schools award and the Basic Skills Quality Mark. Attendance is above average and pupils contribute strongly to the well-being of their school and the wider community. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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Grade: 1

development is outstanding. They have very well developed social skills and a mature understanding of the cultural diversities of our society. 3 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good and enable pupils to make good progress during their time at the school. Teachers and support staff form very positive relationships with pupils and this results in eager, happy learners. Lessons very largely provide pupils with challenging activities that stretch them because teachers have high expectations of what pupils should achieve. In a Year 6 English lesson, the teacher openly praised a higher attaining pupil for good use of a complex sentence in a plan for writing, effectively setting the example for other pupils to follow. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those in the resourced provision, receive high quality, expert support for their learning which is based on clear, challenging targets in their Individual Education Plans. As a result, these pupils make outstanding progress. Teachers are confident in their knowledge of the subjects they teach and this translates

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Grade: 2

itself to pupils. Marking of pupils' written work sometimes provides sharp and helpful feedback on how they are doing and on how to improve. However, this is not always the case and sometimes marking fails to provide the advice that will help pupils to progress, especially in writing.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. It is very largely successful in meeting pupils' academic needs and very successful in promoting pupils' personal development, through a strong programme for personal, social, health and citizenship awareness. Provision for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those in the resourced provision, is outstanding, enabling these pupils to gain confidence and make excellent progress. The good provision in the Foundation Stage, both indoor and outdoor, has formed a successful model for curriculum development throughout the school. This is particularly evident in Year 1, where pupils have access to a continuous range of activities designed to develop skills in all areas. The school is making good progress in widening this approach to the rest of the pupils' learning opportunities. The curriculum is enriched very well through extra-curricular clubs and by educational visits and visitors,

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Grade: 2

contributing strongly to pupils' health, fitness and personal development. The fitness sessions that took place during the inspection proved very popular indeed!

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Grade: 2

The quality of the care, guidance and support for pupils is good, with some outstanding elements of pastoral care. Pupils say they feel very safe and happy and express high levels of trust in the adults who care for them. They know there is always someone to whom they can take their worries and, importantly, they are confident that the support systems provided really work. These features make a crucial contribution to the 4 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007 outstanding attitudes to work and play that the pupils demonstrate. All procedures for safeguarding and protecting pupils and for checking potential risks are firmly embedded and regularly updated. Induction procedures for pupils starting this school for the first time, at whatever age, are strong and supportive of both pupils and parents. The older pupils look forward with confidence to their transfer to secondary school.

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Grade: 2

Teachers know their pupils well and there are clear systems for learning and tracking pupil progress. However, as yet, not all pupils are aware of how well they are doing or where to focus their efforts in order to improve in writing.

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Grade: 2

The leadership and management of the school are good with some outstanding features. The headteacher and deputy headteacher, with the support of staff, have been successful in creating an ethos where pupils' personal development flourishes. There is an outstanding commitment to the inclusion of all pupils and this full acceptance and valuing of all learners is central to the vision and success of the school. Parents overwhelmingly support the school. The headteacher is seen as extremely approachable and parents report that any concerns are swiftly dealt with. This contributes effectively to the positive ethos of the school. Governors have the best interests of the school at heart and are fully supportive of all its work. They could, however, be more involved in the level of challenge they present to the school in evaluating the impact of its actions on pupils' achievement and standards. The exceptional provision for pupils'

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Grade: 2

personal development ensures that they enjoy school, behave well, and mature into confident, responsible individuals. This has a strong impact on their learning. The school is highly committed to improving pupils' academic achievement and is working with vigour towards this end. It has not quite yet realised the same success in this aspect as it has in their personal development. The headteacher and strong management teams are the driving force behind the school's thorough self-evaluation. They have identified key areas for development and accurate, workable improvement plans have been put in place to enable the school to move forward. This, together with the initial success of recent actions taken to improve standards and achievement, a clearer understanding of where the school is at and the rigour of it's monitoring procedures, shows that the school has a good capacity to improve. 5 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you all for the warm welcome you gave Mr Ravey and me when we visited your school. We really enjoyed meeting you and are very grateful to all of you who chatted to us. Unsworth is a good school and I know you are very proud to be part of it. Here are some of the really good things about your school: • your behaviour is outstanding and you get on really well with your teachers and your friends • you feel safe in school and your teachers, teaching assistants and all your other helpers look after you very well • your teachers teach you well and you work hard in lessons • your school gives you lots of activities, visits and visitors that help you learn in a really fun way • your headteacher and all the other teachers know how to make your school even better. Congratulations, you have a lot to be proud of! To help you to do even better in your work, especially in your writing, I have asked all your teachers to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• improve the way your work is marked and to talk to you about it. This way, you should be really sure you know how well you are doing, how you can improve your learning and what the next steps are for you to move on in your learning. Thank you once again for being so kind and friendly, I really enjoyed watching you at work and play! 9 Inspection Report: Unsworth Primary School, 21 °22 February 2007

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