Quarry Mount Primary School

Quarry Mount Primary School Inspection report

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107889 Unique Reference Number Leeds Local Authority 309529 Inspection number 12 °13 March 2008 Inspection dates Anthony Anderson 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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Primary Type of school Community School category 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 171 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr David Fawcett Chair Mrs Jan Warton Headteacher 26 April 2004 Date of previous school inspection Pennington Street School address Leeds West Yorkshire LS6 2JP 0113 2455803 Telephone number 0 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 12 °13 March 2008 Inspection dates 309529 Inspection number .

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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

This inspection was undertaken by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Quarry Mount is a smaller than average primary school situated to the north of Leeds city centre and serving a diverse community from an area of some disadvantage, as evidenced by the very high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals. Many pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds with less than one third being of White British heritage. The number of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below the national average. A relatively large number of pupils leave or join the school at times other than those normally expected. The school houses a separately managed Children's Centre for younger children of nursery age and a Pupil Development Centre which supports both its own, and a range of pupils from the surrounding area through an outreach service.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008

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Grade: 3

Quarry Mount primary is an improving school that provides satisfactory value for money. Pupils' achievement is satisfactory and they reach standards that are below the national average by the end of Year 6. The majority of children have exceptionally low language and communication skills when they enter the Reception class where they make satisfactory progress, although most are still below national expectations by the time they enter Year 1. They continue to make satisfactory progress through Key Stage 1 where standards in reading, writing and mathematics have remained well below average for several years. Following recent initiatives by the school, standards in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6 improved in 2007. A significantly caring family ethos is the clear foundation stone of this school and it has a positive impact on pupils' attitudes, contributing well to their personal development and

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Grade: 3

well-being which is good. Attendance has improved since the last inspection indicating an increase in pupils' enjoyment. The school council work very hard and are busy conducting a pupil/parent survey on travelling to school by bicycle. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory overall. In the best lessons, pace and challenge are evident and pupils are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their own learning. However, some teaching is not sufficiently rigorous or focused on attaining high levels of learning and progress. The curriculum provides a satisfactory input to pupils' learning and is well supported by a number of extra-curricular clubs and activities. The school successfully meets the pastoral and self-esteem needs of vulnerable pupils. They are exceptionally well supported by the teaching and support staff, including the dedicated members of the supportive pupil development centre. Pupils with

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Grade: 3

learning difficulties and/or disabilities make satisfactory progress because there is an accurate match of provision to their individual needs. The academic guidance given to pupils to ensure they are consistently aware of what they need to do to make progress is improving but is not yet fully in place and effective across the whole school. Leadership and management are satisfactory and the interim headteacher has worked hard, with the united support of all staff and governors, to begin to turn the school around after a turbulent period in its history. A permanent headteacher has been appointed and will start after Easter. The school is aware of its strengths and areas for development and a number of new initiatives have recently been introduced to improve the monitoring and tracking of pupils' progress. Although there have been some early signs of improvement in achievement and standards, it is too early to judge the longer term impact of the recent changes made both to

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Grade: 3

management systems and to staffing. Governors are playing a key role in helping to guide the school towards full recovery from its recent difficulties. The recent improvements and clear understanding of how well the school is doing demonstrate satisfactory capacity to improve.

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Grade: 3

The provision for children in the Reception class is satisfactory, and they make satisfactory progress. When children join this class from the adjacent Nursery, their language and social skills are significantly below what would be expected for their age. The school recognises this and has put in place a range of activities which are carefully planned to enable children to make progress in acquiring these skills. The Reception teacher has established systems for regularly measuring the progress of all children, and this information is used to plan activities that best meet the needs of each individual child. The lack of space in the Reception classroom and the 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008 way in which the provision is currently organised with its very close yet separate managerial links to the Nursery unit, does not always enable children to gain maximum benefit from this

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Grade: 3

provision. Despite the difficulty of access to the outdoor area, brought about by the complex layout of the joint Foundation Stage unit, the outdoor facilities are generally used to good effect, particularly when delivering a lesson with a mathematical theme. By the time children leave the Reception class their achievement has been satisfactory in most areas of their learning, but standards are still below what is expected for their age, particularly in language and social development.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve achievement and raise standards in English and particularly science at Key Stage 2, and in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1. ■ Improve the quality of teaching and learning across the whole school so that all lessons are engaging and consistently focused on learning. ■ Improve the consistency and accuracy of academic guidance so that all pupils know how well they are doing and how to improve their work. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will have a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' achievement is satisfactory and the standards they reach by the end of Year 6, except in mathematics, are below the national average. Children enter the Reception class with exceptionally low speaking, listening and communication skills and they make satisfactory progress. By the time they enter Year 1, however, the majority of children have not reached the expected levels for their age in most areas of learning. In recent years, the rate of progress through Key Stage 1 has been satisfactory and the standards attained in reading, writing and mathematics are consistently well below the national average, due to a combination of early language difficulties for a majority of pupils and a mostly satisfactory quality of teaching and learning. Recent changes to the Key Stage 2 curriculum with an extra focus on literacy and numeracy led to improved standards in 2007 but science still lags significantly behind. The

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Grade: 3

school's projections for 2008 indicate that mathematics is likely to remain broadly in line with the national average but English and particularly science are predicted to be below average. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are well supported and make similar progress to other pupils in response to the additional help they receive.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. Pupils are confident and enjoy coming to school as reflected in their recently improved levels of attendance. There are very strong relationships between adults and pupils and each pupil's contribution is highly valued. As one pupil commented, 'teachers really do help you learn and they explain things well'. Pupils' behaviour is generally good, though in less challenging lessons some begin to show a loss of interest. Pupils say they feel safe and well looked after by adults. They know whom to turn to if they have a problem, and they say that bullying is extremely rare and quickly dealt with. Pupils know about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and they participate in, and 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008 enjoy a good variety of sporting activities such as the daily 'wake and shake' sessions in the

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Grade: 2

school playground. The school council enjoy their proactive role and are proud of their recent work towards the provision of new water bottles and additional playground equipment. Pupils' understanding of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good and is fostered through assemblies, circle time, religious education and personal, health, social and citizenship education (PSCHE) lessons. Pupils develop an improved understanding of their own and other cultures through celebrating a variety of religious festivals throughout the year.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory overall. In the best lessons there is a good match of work to pupils' needs and abilities. In these lessons teachers ensure that learning is stimulating and interesting. This is not consistent across the school. Some teachers use questioning skills well to challenge pupils' thinking and probe their understanding but this is not consistent across the school. Consequently, in some lessons there is insufficient challenge for the more able pupils. In too many lessons pupils are not given enough opportunities to assess their own or their partner's learning. Writing targets enable pupils to know what they need to do next to improve their work, but, as yet, the guidance offered to pupils in mathematics and science is not sufficiently developed. Support staff work effectively alongside teachers to provide support for those pupils who need additional help.

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Grade: 3

Curriculum planning ensures that the needs and interests of all pupils are addressed through the recently improved teaching of basic literacy and numeracy skills. The provision for science is not as developed. Some classroom activities are linked to meaningful cross-curricular themes such as a recent whole-school project based around the slave trade, and this has provided good opportunities for links with history, literacy, religious education, drama, art and music. However, this cross- curricular approach to effective learning is still at an early stage of development. Pupils make regular visits to places of interest in the local community and a range of visitors, including textile artists, Indian drummers, and other artists help to enrich the curriculum. A wide range of sporting and arts based extra-curricular activities for pupils of all ages are popular and well attended, and pupils enjoy taking part in regular end of term productions which support

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Grade: 3

The quality of care, guidance and support for pupils is satisfactory with some good features. Child protection procedures and arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust, and vulnerable pupils are very well supported because of the dedication of staff and of the high quality links with external agencies. The pupil development centre is utilised well to provide additional support to specific pupils and their parents. The school cares greatly for its pupils and this has a strong impact on pupils' personal development. There are good procedures in place for inducting new pupils into the school, and the learning mentor provides effective additional support for any pupils and their parents who arrive with little knowledge of English. A weakness 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008 is the consistency and quality of academic guidance for pupils to enable them to fully understand

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Grade: 3

how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve their work.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management of the school are satisfactory. The interim headteacher provides strong leadership and is well supported by governors, staff and the local authority as they work effectively together to turn the school around after its recent period of difficulty. There is clarity of vision and a united determination to secure a firm foundation for the arrival of the new headteacher. The leadership team are well aware that much work is still needed to improve pupils' achievement and raise standards but over the past year, clear signs of recovery are emerging, particularly in mathematics, and to a lesser extent English. They are already tackling the weaknesses in science at Key Stage 2. Although there have been recent improvements made to the assessment and tracking systems relating to pupils' performance against annual targets, these are not yet consistently used by all staff. Governors fulfil their statutory obligations and display a developing level of commitment to

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Grade: 3

the school's work through visits and attendance at regular meetings. In their capacity as critical partners, they have been fully involved in tackling the recent difficulties. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008

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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? Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 3 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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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 extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 3 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008

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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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for your very warm welcome when we recently inspected your school. We really enjoyed our visit and it was most enjoyable to see you working hard in your lessons and enjoying a variety of games and activities in the school playground such as the daily 'wake and shake' session before school. We also appreciated talking to many of you in classrooms and around the school. It was particularly kind of you to invite us to watch a school council meeting in which you discussed a range of items, including the possibility of riding to school on a bicycle. A number of really good ideas were discussed and we were very impressed. Like you, we think that you are well cared for and that you behave well in school. We were particularly impressed with the way that you get on with each other and understand the importance of keeping healthy and safe. We feel that your learning at school is satisfactory and we have suggested a few things which

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ We want your teachers to help you to do even better in English, mathematics and especially in science. ■ We think that all your teachers should give you more interesting and enjoyable things to do in your lessons to help you with your learning. ■ We want your teachers to help you to understanding how well you are doing and what you need to do to make your work even better. Thank you again for making us so welcome and we wish you all every success in the future. 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Quarry Mount Primary School, 12 °13 March 2008

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