Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Miss K Leyland St Andrew’s C of E Primary School Barton Lane Eccles Manchester Lancashire M30 0FL

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Ofsted subject survey: good practice in promoting equality

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on the 29 January 2009, to look at work in promoting equality.

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Ofsted subject survey: good practice in promoting equality

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions, but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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Ofsted subject survey: good practice in promoting equality

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: observing lessons, scrutinising school documentation, discussions with parents, pupils, teachers, managers, governors and other professionals who provide additional support to the pupils in the school.

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Ofsted subject survey: good practice in promoting equality

The quality of provision to promote equalities is good.

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Features of good practice observed

 Most pupils who attend the school fall into a category of vulnerable, either through experiencing higher than average levels of deprivation, joining the school with very little English, or with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The school identifies their needs well and a good range of support is provided.

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Features of good practice observed

 A positive culture based on respect and understanding for each other permeates the whole school. Children from Yemen, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Poland, Palestine, Africa and Greater Manchester work and play together happily because of the clear codes of behaviour and the high expectations of all the staff. The newly appointed headteacher is keen to maintain this ethos and is working well with the senior staff to ensure that the change in leadership positively reinforces the ethos of the school.  Staff have high expectations of pupils’ achievement. Lessons provide a good level of challenge for pupils, particularly for the more able. During the visit the pupils showed they were keen to learn and say their lessons are interesting. The children enjoy the practical problem solving activities and support each other well when they work in small groups and in whole class discussions.

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Features of good practice observed

 The school employs two support staff to manage the wide range of additional support provided for pupils. They focus on improving pupils’ behaviour and learning, liaise with external agencies who support children’s well-being and provide general family support through parenting courses and one to one meetings. They are highly valued by parents, pupils and other school staff and their contribution to promoting equalities is outstanding.

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Features of good practice observed

 The school has a ‘breakfast club’ which makes an outstanding contribution to promoting community cohesion. The club is run as a café, where children and their parents are welcome to sit and have a healthy breakfast at a reasonable price. School staff join the parents and their children and a family atmosphere pervades. Parents say this facility has given them the confidence to approach staff if they have difficulties and that it has also encouraged their children to be early for school. Parents from different cultures share experiences and lively conversation is a feature of this club. It strives to provide an informal network of support and prevents parents who are new to the area from isolation.

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Features of good practice observed

 The school has an excellent system for managing and monitoring behaviour and as a result pupils are clear about the expectations of staff and the consequences of any poor behaviour. Pupils regard the behaviour code as fair. They are particularly pleased that good behaviour is rewarded with treats. The school introduced ‘golden rules’ as part of their work on emotional literacy and staff report that as a result the number of behaviour incidents has reduced dramatically. Senior staff monitor the behaviour records closely and a good analysis is reported to governors and staff at regular intervals.

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Features of good practice observed

 Good transition arrangements are enhanced by the attendance of staff from the local senior schools attending celebration assemblies followed by the coffee mornings in the school café. Again, this recognises the importance of informal social links and the confidence this gives parents to approach staff. Parents appreciate these opportunities and the fact that the assembly gives them a picture of how their children are doing and what they can do to help the school.

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Features of good practice observed

 The school makes excellent use of its local community. Parent helpers are a feature of the school. This particularly helps children who are at the early stages of learning English, as the parent helpers are often able to communicate with the child in their home language. This builds confidence both for the child and for the community as a whole.

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Features of good practice observed

 The curriculum to promote equalities is outstanding. Lessons often make use of current events that are in the national and international news, which engages pupils’ interest and increases their understanding of the world in which they live. Displays feature different cultures around the world and good use is made of the variety of languages spoken. The SEAL materials are used effectively to promote tolerance and understanding and the school has recently introduced a peer mentoring course, to enable older pupils to train as counsellors.

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Features of good practice observed

 The care and support provided for vulnerable pupils is outstanding. School calls ‘inter-agency liaison meetings’ for pupils causing concern and they ensure that outside agencies work well in partnership with the school to provide for the needs of the child. One parent said that ‘her child would probably have been excluded from school had the school not been effective in identifying the problem and bringing together the right agencies to help deal with it’. Parents are overwhelmingly appreciative of the ability of the school to direct them to the right support, for their children and family.

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Areas for development

 Improve the system for tracking individual pupil’s progress to ensure that the senior leadership can identify and quantify the rate of progress made by individuals and groups of pupils.  Ensure that links are made between the progress pupils make on intervention strategies and additional teaching year on year in order to evaluate its effectiveness.  Ensure that all pupils, particularly the lower achieving boys, are provided with sufficient guidance and challenge to enable them to reach their potential.

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Areas for development

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop promoting equalities at St Andrew’s C of E Primary School.

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Areas for development

As I explained previously, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority and will be published on Ofsted’s website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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Areas for development

Ofsted gathers information on the immediate and longer-term impact of survey inspections, both on the institutions themselves, and with a view to improving its own processes. To this end, I should be grateful if you would complete the attached questionnaire and return it within the next ten days. We have also just sent a copy of the questionnaire by email. Please return your completed questionnaire to either the email or postal address on the form, not to me. We may also contact some schools by telephone after several months in order for us to gain a picture of longer- term impact. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

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