Westmoor Primary School

Inspection Report Westmoor Junior School

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107613 Unique Reference Number Kirklees Local Authority 287869 Inspection number 14 °15 February 2007 Inspection dates Jane Hughes 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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Church Lane School address Primary Type of school Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury Community School category West Yorkshire WF13 4EW 7 °11 Age range of pupils 01924 325350 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01924 325353 Fax number 295 Number on roll (school) Ms Janet Armitage Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs K Piatkowski Headteacher 5 February 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 287869 14 °15 February 2007 7°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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Westmoor Junior is larger than average school which draws from an area of social disadvantage. More pupils than average join or leave the school throughout the academic year. A larger than average proportion of pupils are eligible for free school meals, speak a language other than English as a mother tongue, have a statement of special educational need or have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. More pupils than average have cultural backgrounds other than White British. The school is part of the Excellence in Clusters project. Big Lottery funding financed the new sports hall recently built in the school grounds. The school was awarded Healthy Schools status (2006) and Investors in People status (2003, 2006).

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory school which values and includes all pupils equally. The school enjoys a good reputation in the community in terms of its support for the increasing number of pupils who speak languages at home other than English and those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. It shows strength in its promotion of pupils' personal development with specific regard to promoting safe and healthy lifestyles. Pupils currently join the school with very low level skills in English, mathematics and science, although pupils who left school in 2006 arrived with skills closer to the national average. Currently standards are low in English, mathematics and science by Year 6 although this represents satisfactory progress since these pupils started at the school. The headteacher, senior leaders and governors provide satisfactory leadership and management, although they do not give sufficiently high priority in their planning to

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Grade: 3

raising pupils' achievement and standards. Systems to evaluate aspects of the school's work lack rigour. Pupils' achievement is not built securely on staff having an accurate view of pupils' skills when they arrive in school. As a result, the leadership is over-generous in its views of the school's effectiveness. Pupils' personal development and well-being are good because the school places a strong focus on these aspects. Pupils enjoy school and behave well. This is because all adults set high expectations in terms of pupils' behaviour and effort in lessons. Adults encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own and others' welfare. Pupils do this with diligence and maturity. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory overall, although some lessons are better than satisfactory. Pupils do not always receive enough challenge to reach higher standards in their work. Teachers take an increasingly

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Grade: 3

practical approach to learning, and pupils appreciate this. Teachers ensure that the satisfactory curriculum is enriched through a range of extra-curricular sporting activities, along with additional drama, music and French teaching. Pupils, staff and the local community benefit from the many opportunities offered by the new sports hall and these promote teamwork and pupils' physical fitness. Care for pupils and their personal well-being have a high priority. The school prides itself on its warm welcome. Staff pay close attention to developing pupils' self-esteem and this helps them to become increasingly effective learners and purposeful citizens. New systems to track pupils' academic progress are in place but need time to produce the intended effect. Parents feel their opinions are sought and valued. There has been satisfactory improvement since the last inspection, particularly in terms of pupils'

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Grade: 3

attendance and behaviour. In view of the recent improvements in tracking pupils' progress and new local authority systems to ensure more reliable data on entry, the school shows a sound capacity to improve and provides satisfactory value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards and pupils' achievement in English, mathematics and science. • Focus the school's key priorities on improving pupils' achievement. • Improve the accuracy and rigour of the school's monitoring and tracking systems at all levels of leadership. 2 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007 • Increase the proportion of good and better teaching.

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Grade: 3

Pupils now in Year 3 joined the school with very low standards in English, mathematics and science. Standards by Year 6 are low and have been for several years. However, this represents satisfactory progress from pupils' starting points, although progress does not build uniformly through the school. Pupils whose first language is other than English make satisfactory progress. The school has better systems now to support these pupils, although their independent learning skills remain weak. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those with statements of special educational need benefit appropriately from a range of support, primarily from skilled teaching assistants. These pupils make similar progress to others.

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Grade: 2

Pupils are proud of their school. Older pupils cite 'very helpful and understanding teachers and friendships with peers' as the major reasons for this sense of pride. In lessons, pupils' attitudes to work are satisfactory overall, ranging from good to somewhat lukewarm. Behaviour and attendance have improved significantly since the previous inspection. Behaviour is good in every area of the school. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils grow in confidence and work well in pairs and small groups. They are polite and courteous to adults. Pupils confirm that bullying and racism are rare and that staff deal with these effectively. Parents greatly value the school's work in creating 'well rounded young people'. Work focused on being a Healthy School benefits pupils. The active school council gives pupils experience of working together for the good of the school community and pupils

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Grade: 2

understand well the importance of fitness and how to keep safe and healthy.

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Grade: 3

Within a satisfactory picture, there are significant pockets of good practice. However, inconsistencies mean that pupils do not make uniform progress year on year. In most lessons, teachers share learning intentions, use questioning well to extend pupils' thinking and provide clear explanations. Adults give thoughtful consideration to pupils' different learning styles. Teaching assistants support pupils well with learning difficulties and/or disabilities well. There are high expectations of learners' behaviour and close attention to developing pupils' social skills. Nevertheless, where pupils' progress is less consistent, they do not receive enough challenging work to enable them to achieve as well as they are capable. In a small number of lessons, the pace is 3 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007 too slow to maintain some pupils' interest and ensure that they make good progress.

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Grade: 3

Although satisfactory overall, the use of assessment information varies significantly. This is partly because a coherent system to track pupils' progress is in its infancy. The quality of marking of pupils' work is good in English but is at best satisfactory in other subjects.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is broad and the school seeks practical ways of engaging all pupils' interest. For instance, a drama project led by local high school staff enabled pupils to produce a mini-musical production of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Such opportunities help pupils to improve their speaking, listening and performing skills as well as their self-esteem. The teaching of French provides additional enrichment. The personal, social and health education programme provides a firm foundation for pupils' personal development. A range of extra-curricular activities centre around sport. The school gains huge benefit from the new sports hall. The school is just developing a topic-based curriculum to enable links between subjects to bring additional relevance and enjoyment to pupils' learning.

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Grade: 3

There is good quality pastoral care for pupils. Parents and pupils find staff approachable and understanding. The views of parents and pupils are sought and taken into account. Pupils experiencing personal difficulties are very well supported by adults and other pupils. Child protection requirements and health and safety procedures are secure. Pupils feel safe and well cared for. There is good support for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The school increasingly provides important additional support for the growing proportion of pupils for whom English is an additional language, but this is not yet fully effective. Staff routinely set and review English targets for all pupils, although not in mathematics or science. The new tracking system is an increasingly effective tool to monitor pupils' progress but its impact is still to be felt in setting challenging targets for pupils and evaluating strengths and weaknesses.

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Grade: 3

The headteacher promotes a caring and inclusive ethos so pupils feel safe and valued. Parents and local community members are pleased with what the school provides. There is significant and ongoing turbulence in staffing. For example, at the time of the inspection, four out of eleven class teachers were newly qualified. Currently, subject leaders do not have enough time to be effective in their role. They cannot monitor what is happening across the school in their subject or support improvement effectively. Evolving systems to gather and analyse data about pupils' progress are in place. For example, systems are now beginning to provide a more accurate understanding of 4 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007 pupils' individual skills as they start in school. The headteacher and local authority recognise that there remains work to be done in improving the accuracy of these systems. Currently, the leadership's view of the school is overly positive. The school

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Grade: 3

improvement plan does not focus closely on raising pupils' achievement and standards. School priorities are too broad and provide a distraction from this key objective. Governors are clearly supportive but do not yet offer robust challenge to the school. 5 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007 .

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Grade: 3

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 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? 4 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 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

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 3 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 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?

3 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: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 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: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for the friendly welcome you gave Ms McIntosh, Mr Griffin and me when we visited your school. Well done for being so polite and helpful. We enjoyed chatting with you, listening to you and looking at your work. You told us that your school is a friendly and cheerful place and we agree. We judge it to be a satisfactory school that is particularly good at helping you all to become caring citizens. This is an important quality for you as you grow older. You enjoy school and learn how to live safe and healthy lives. Many of you take on responsibility around school and make sure those among you with particular needs receive a lot of support. We were very impressed with this. Your school has made some good links with other schools so you learn to speak French and have interesting drama and music opportunities. We were pleased to see that many of your parents now make sure you come to school regularly and on time. They are

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

playing an important part in your success by helping you to develop good habits for when you go to secondary school and eventually to work because people will see that you are keen and reliable. One of the reasons for our visit was to see how your school could improve. We have asked the adults in your school to help you do even better in your English, mathematics and science work and so reach higher standards. To make it easier for you, we have asked your headteacher and all the leaders in school to concentrate really hard on this. We have also asked them to check more thoroughly what is happening throughout school and how well you are all doing. The last thing we have asked them to do is to increase the amount of good and better lessons you enjoy at school. We are sure you will play your part in helping all of this to happen as we were impressed with the mature way you get on with the adults and how well you behave.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

9 Inspection Report: Westmoor Junior School, 14 °15 February 2007

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