Adel St John the Baptist Church of England Primary School

Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School Inspection report

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108041 Unique Reference Number Leeds Local Authority 309580 Inspection number 31 October 2007 Inspection date Joan McKenna 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 Voluntary aided School category 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 190 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Allan Dawson Chair Mrs J Turner Headteacher 8 December 2003 Date of previous school inspection Long Causeway School address Adel Leeds West Yorkshire LS16 8EX 0113 2141040 Telephone number 0113 2141040 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 31 October 2007 Inspection date 309580 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

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues: teaching and learning; arrangements for tracking pupils' progress and using assessment information to promote progress; pupils' personal development; and leadership and management. Evidence was gathered from the school's self-evaluation, national published assessment data, documentation provided by the school, discussions with the headteacher, governors and pupils, observations of the school at work and questionnaires returned by parents. Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

This smaller than average size school serves an area that is more advantaged than typical. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below that usually found. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic heritages is broadly typical and most speak English fluently. The school has Advanced Healthy Schools and Active Mark Gold awards. The school has experienced considerable turbulence over the past few years because of staff changes, absence due to illness and redundancy. The headteacher took up post in September 2007.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 2007

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Grade: 3

The school is providing a satisfactory education for its pupils. The staffing difficulties have had a negative impact on its effectiveness, especially on the quality of teaching and learning, leadership and management and aspects of provision such as systems for checking pupils' progress and training for staff. This has resulted in the school not achieving its full potential. However, the new headteacher has very quickly and accurately identified what needs to happen to arrest this decline and to improve the school and she has clear and appropriate plans for taking the necessary action to bring this about. The pupils themselves are a strength of the school. They are friendly, articulate, confident and reflective. They behave well and are very keen to learn. They feel safe and well cared for and know that there are adults they can turn to with any worries. They respond well to the school's strong promotion of healthy lifestyles, very much enjoying the daily 'Wake-up and Shake-up',

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Grade: 3

for example. When given opportunities to take responsibility they do so maturely, whether as school council members, undertaking jobs around the school or leading the daily whole school exercise sessions. Their potential to take responsibility, especially for their own learning in lessons, is not fully exploited. Attendance is above average. Pupils enjoy school and work hard, even in lessons they do not find particularly interesting. Pupils enter school with standards that are above national expectations. Satisfactory progress during the Foundation Stage results in them continuing to be above national expectations by the time they enter Year 1. Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 have declined over the past few years and they have been broadly in line with the national average. They rose in 2007 to above average, mainly due to an improvement in reading. Standards at the end of Key Stage 2 have been above the national average for several years. They dropped slightly in 2007, but

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Grade: 3

are still above average. Pupils' achievement across the school is satisfactory overall. Most individuals perform in line with expectations, but very few do better than that. This is for several reasons. Pupils' progress has been tracked for some time, but this has not been done comprehensively and the resulting information has not been analysed in depth. As a consequence, there has not been a detailed understanding of how pupils are performing during the course of a year in order that appropriate action can be taken to accelerate progress. Teaching is satisfactory, but the fact that assessment information about pupils has not been used to ensure tasks are precisely enough matched to their individual needs means it is not good. Teachers build positive relationships with pupils which help to create a supportive climate for learning. Teachers plan tasks to which pupils give their full commitment and this enables them to gain sound knowledge and understanding of

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Grade: 3

the topics covered. Occasionally lessons are dynamic and fun, as seen with the oldest pupils. In general, however, pupils are not given enough opportunities to develop their thinking skills in an active and independent way and so their learning tends to be passive. The marking of pupils' work is regular and supportive but does not give pupils enough specific information on how they can improve it. Leadership and management is satisfactory overall. In the short time she has been at the school the headteacher's leadership has been good. She provides very clear direction and has brought a sense of drive and determination to the school, underpinned by her well-informed understanding of its current effectiveness and potential to improve. She is promoting staff unity and teamwork and is helping others develop their leadership skills. Middle leadership is 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 2007

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Grade: 3

under-developed. Staff have played a part in the day-to-day organisation of their subjects, but have not taken responsibility for standards or effectiveness of provision. The chair and vice-chair of governors are knowledgeable about the school and are working closely with the headteacher to oversee its improvement. The school has a deficit budget due to the impact of staff absence, but there is a plan to eliminate it. Governance is satisfactory overall. Parents are supportive of the school, although some express concerns about the areas the school is now working to tackle. Although the school has faced difficulties since its last inspection, the impact of the new headteacher has put it in a more positive position and effective steps are now being taken to improve it. It has satisfactory capacity to improve further.

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Grade: 3

There is a calm and supportive atmosphere in the Foundation Stage. Children have good relationships with each other and with adults and they feel secure and happy. They have very good social skills for their age and behave extremely well. Teaching is satisfactory. Planning ensures that all of the areas of learning are covered and so pupils acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills required for children of that age. In whole class teaching sessions they give the teacher their full attention and are keen to contribute verbally and practically, even when the pace of the lesson is slow. Although assessments of what pupils know and can do are made, this does not happen systemically and information is not used to inform lesson planning. As a result, work is sometimes pitched at too low a level. Pupils have access to the school's spacious grounds, but there is not a designated outdoor play area for Foundation Stage children.

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Grade: 3

This is in the process of being developed.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve the arrangements for tracking pupils' progress and ensure that the information gained is used to accelerate their progress across the school. ■ Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that pupils are more actively involved in their learning and that tasks are more closely matched to the full range of pupils' abilities. ■ Improve the knowledge and skills of middle leaders so that they can play a more effective part in improving the school and monitoring its effectiveness. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 2007 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 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? 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? 2 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 2 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 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 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 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 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? 8 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you all so much for your very friendly welcome when I visited your school yesterday. I would like to let you know what I thought of your school. Your school is giving you a satisfactory quality of education. The fact that there have been several changes of staff for many of you over the past few years have caused some problems for the school and this has affected your learning. However, your new headteacher knows what needs to be done to make the school better for you and she has already started taking action to improve it. One of the areas I looked at closely was how well the school is helping you develop your personal qualities. I am pleased to say that these are good. In fact you are one of the strengths of the school. You are very well behaved and are keen to learn. You develop into confident and mature young people and those of you with special responsibilities carry them out well. You feel safe

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and know how to keep healthy. I also looked at the quality of teaching and how the school checks on your progress so staff can help you improve. Teaching is satisfactory. Teachers plan lessons that enable you to gain knowledge and understanding of the topics covered. They support you well and you work hard, even when you do not find the work very interesting. How well you are doing is checked, but this is not done as thoroughly as it should be. This means that work in lessons is sometimes too easy or too difficult and you are not always given enough information about how to improve your work. Sometimes, you are not given enough opportunities to be actively involved in your lessons. I have asked the school to improve these areas for you. Your new headteacher is leading the school well. Your teachers have carried out a series of activities in order to improve the effectiveness of the school. However, I have asked the school

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

to improve the way it checks that these improvements have been made, so that the teachers know exactly how effective they have been. I hope you continue to enjoy school and to attend regularly. I wish you and your teachers all the best for the future. 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Adel St John The Baptist Church of England Primary School, 31 October 2007

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