Bradshaw Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Bradshaw Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 27 February 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings.

The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

Bradshaw Community Primary School is a welcoming and friendly school in which pupils are happy, ready to learn and attend regularly. Pupils behave well and show positive attitudes to learning. Together with governors, you have... established a shared vision that makes pupils' welfare central to everything you do.

You have sustained improvement and set high standards for all. Senior leaders have an accurate view of the school. They know its strengths and areas for development.

They prioritise actions effectively and provide staff with clear and helpful feedback. There have been significant changes to the governing body since the last inspection. The new chair of the governing body has brought a renewed sense of purpose to improving the school.

The wider governing body has a range of skills which they utilise to challenge and support leaders. Leaders and staff give careful thought to the curriculum. Your curriculum reflects the school's priorities of 'aspirations, initiative and environment'.

This is particularly evident in the work in music, modern foreign languages, history and art. However, there is still more work to do to refine and deepen the curriculum, particularly in design and technology and geography. Pupils receive a wealth of opportunities which enhance their learning.

Links with a Spanish school enable them to write in Spanish with a real sense of purpose. They have the opportunity to learn to play the recorder and the guitar and to become disc jockeys in Year 6. Your 'Challenge Awards' reward pupils for undertaking extra tasks both in and out of school.

These challenges include walking, camping and helping in the community. Teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to the activities offered. Staff morale is high.

Staff are happy and enjoy coming to work. They value the support they have received from leaders which enables them to carry out their work effectively. Communication is good within the school and all staff work together for the benefit of the pupils.

Children get off to a very good start in Reception. High-quality phonics teaching helps pupils develop their reading and writing skills well. Adults support children's developing mathematical skills through exciting play opportunities.

Children make excellent progress from their starting points. By the time they move into Year 1, most children have reached a good level of development. Parents and carers describe the school as 'like a family'.

They value the care and support that their children receive and the way in which adults treat pupils as individuals. Pupils behave well around school and in lessons. They are polite and courteous.

Staff manage the rare occurrences of minor disruption well. At the time of the last inspection, leaders were asked to improve the quality of teaching and so raise further pupils' achievement, particularly in writing at key stage 1. The work of leaders and teachers to put in place new approaches to the teaching of writing has been particularly effective.

Staff have welcomed these approaches and pupils are making stronger progress in writing in key stage 1 and key stage 2 as a result. Pupils enjoy writing and are proud of their achievements. Leaders were also asked at the previous inspection to make sure checks on pupils' work are as effective as they can be to maximise the impact on all pupils' learning.

Your monitoring timetable allows leaders to check regularly on the quality of teaching and learning. The checks leaders make on the quality of teaching focus on key areas of improvement. You use this information to support teachers in improving their practice.

Leaders also check regularly on pupils' progress. In lessons, teachers check on pupils' understanding regularly. They use clear and precise explanations to help pupils to make progress.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are clear, effective and fit for purpose. There is a strong safeguarding culture within the school.

Governors ensure that all policies and procedures are in place, including checks on teachers and governors. Training for staff is comprehensive and up to date. Staff report any concerns to leaders in a timely manner and leaders assess and act upon these concerns appropriately.

Parents say that their children are happy, safe and cared for. Adults teach pupils how to keep themselves safe through the well-thought-out curriculum. Links with local community groups, such as the police, help pupils deepen this understanding.

Pupils were unable to recall any racist or homophobic name-calling. However, they are sure that staff would deal with incidents quickly if they occurred. A very small minority of parents and pupils expressed concerns about bullying.

Evidence from the inspection shows that staff deal with these rare incidents effectively. Pupils agreed that this was the case. Inspection findings ? At the start of the inspection, we agreed on some key lines of enquiry.

The first looked at how leaders ensure that pupils make good progress, particularly in reading and mathematics in key stage 2. Leaders were disappointed with the dip in standards in Year 6 in 2018. This followed two years where the attainment and progress of pupils in Year 6 had been above national averages.

As a result of your continued focus to improve teaching, along with some decisive action, all groups of pupils now make improved progress across the curriculum. The work of current pupils is back to previous standards. ? There is evidence of the positive impact of professional development on the teaching of reading.

Leaders have revised the way in which reading is taught. This is enabling more pupils in key stage 2 to work at the expected standards. Pupils have access to a range of exciting books in the well-stocked library as well as online resources.

However, it is too soon to see the full impact of the new way of working. ? In mathematics, pupils have a secure understanding of basic calculations and they enjoy working out more complex ones. By the time they reach Year 6, they have a comprehensive set of strategies to help them.

However, teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to develop their understanding by using their mathematical skills, such as reasoning. This is hampering further progress, particularly for the most able pupils. ? We also looked at how well the most able pupils in key stage 1 achieve.

Current higher-attaining pupils in key stage 1 are making stronger progress than before in writing. Many of these pupils are working at greater depth. This is because : teachers assess what pupils know and can do and then plan carefully for pupils' next steps.

Teachers' subject knowledge of English in key stage 1 is excellent. They use this knowledge to plan challenging writing lessons. Pupils love learning and embrace the greater challenges provided.

During the inspection, when writing about toys from the past, pupils in Year 2 used their knowledge of grammar to produce work of a high standard. ? Recent work to deepen pupils' understanding in reading and mathematics in key stage 1 is beginning to have an impact. You have identified this as a priority for improvement in the current academic year.

Leaders' focus on using high-quality texts is enabling more pupils to expand their understanding of what they are reading. Teachers plan reading lessons that develop pupils' ability to answer questions about a text. Pupils in key stage 1 are beginning to use their mathematical skills to answer problems and justify their answers.

However, there is still more to do to raise standards for higher-attaining pupils in these subjects in key stage 1. ? My final line of enquiry was about provision for boys in key stage 1. Current work shows that they are making good progress across a range of subjects.

This is because teachers plan lessons that engage and enthuse them. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? pupils' outcomes in reading and mathematics, particularly those of the most able, continue to improve, by: – further developing the reasoning skills of pupils in mathematics – embedding the new approaches to reading ? the curriculum is further refined and expanded, particularly in geography and design and technology. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Warrington.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Tanya Hughes Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this short inspection, I met with you, teachers and governors. I spoke with two representatives of the local authority.

You and I visited classes to observe learning and looked at work in pupils' books. I met with pupils throughout the day and spoke with parents informally before and after school. I considered the 85 responses made by parents to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 78 free-text comments.

I also considered the 22 responses to the staff questionnaire and the 70 responses to the pupil questionnaire. I listened to pupils read as part of their lessons and observed pupils in the playground and around the school. I conducted a detailed review of safeguarding, including checking on the school's policies, procedures and record-keeping.

I talked with you, other staff and governors about how the school ensures that children are kept safe. I also considered a range of other documentation, including school-improvement planning and information about pupils' progress and attainment. I undertook a review of the school's website.