Kaye’s Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Kaye's First and Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 1 February 2018, 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 March 2013. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are a strong leader with a clear vision. You are very well respected by staff, parents, carers and pupils.

Your understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement, and your judgements of the quality of teaching an...d learning, are spot on. You have a positive, but honest and realistic view of the school: your evaluations are accurate because you make timely checks on all aspects of the school's work. You and the deputy headteacher, who leads by example in the classroom, respond well to the changing needs of the school and your pupils.

A very high proportion of parents would recommend this school to other parents. One parent's comment, 'Every single member of staff makes an effort with every child and the atmosphere within the school is one of nurture, love and kindness,' reflects the views of many. You make sure that you know your pupils and their families well.

Many parents say that you go 'above and beyond' to make sure that families have the support they need. At the last inspection, you were asked to raise the quality of teaching by planning activities matched to pupils' abilities, particularly those who are most able. There have been changes in teaching staff since the last inspection, so you and the deputy headteacher make sure that you keep a close eye on the quality of teaching and learning, giving support and direction where it is needed.

As a result, outcomes in attainment at the end of early years, in the Year 1 phonics check and in key stage 1 are above the national averages. Your school assessment information and pupils' work show that similarly high standards are reached by Year 5, which is the final year in your school. However, you accurately identify that the progress pupils make is not consistently strong throughout school.

Over their time in school, the most able pupils generally make good progress across the curriculum due to leaders' and teachers' focus on giving these pupils opportunities to deepen their understanding, right from the early years. Progress is not as swift where teachers' expectations in the quality of work and their direction to help pupils improve are not as precise. You accurately identify that there is more work to be done to ensure that the quality of teaching in school becomes even better.

You were also tasked with raising pupils' standards in writing at the last inspection, with a particular focus on boys. The lead teacher for English has a good understanding of the quality of teaching and learning in reading and writing, through her observations of pupils' learning and their work in books. The school has worked on using the consistent strengths in reading to support a more direct transition for pupils into their writing.

Recognising the need to get handwriting right earlier on, a greater emphasis is now given to helping children in Nursery and Reception to develop an accurate pencil grip and form letters correctly. As soon as children learn the sounds letters make, they have a go at applying them in their writing, which is well modelled by the adults. One child working with a group to develop these skills on my visit said, 'We are doing this to make our fingers strong.'

Topics and activities are planned to inspire both boys and girls to write. Adults' focus on supporting boys in developing their skills in key areas of learning is resulting in the gap in attainment between boys and girls reducing as they move through early years and key stage 1. Pupils throughout school have regular opportunities to write, in short tasks and more extended pieces.

Currently, the effective work that middle leaders are undertaking to develop the curriculum includes some opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills in other subjects. Leaders explain that this is not yet consistent across classes, but they have clear plans already under way to develop this further. Safeguarding is effective.

Leaders have made sure that a culture of safeguarding is threaded through all aspects of school life and that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. This is a strength of the school's work. Policies, procedures and staff training are kept up to date and shared well, so that everyone is very clear about how to recognise and report concerns.

Staff recruitment procedures are thorough and effective. All staff complete safeguarding training before they start their role. All volunteers or visiting adults who will be working with the pupils are checked for their suitability to work with children: even Santa appears on the central record of checks.

Pupils are taught a range of ways to keep themselves and others safe. Information about this learning is often shared with parents. As a result, 100% of parents spoken to and completing Ofsted's questionnaire, Parent View, said that their children felt safe at school.

All pupils spoken to feel safe in school and described ways they are taught to keep safe. They said that the golden rules help them to keep safe, for example 'we are kind' and 'we look after each other'. They know that they must tell an adult if they are worried.

Work to keep pupils safe when they are online is high profile and effectively carried out by the computing and e-safety lead teacher. She delivers regular online safety lessons with appropriate age-related content for all pupils in the school. These include how to use the internet safely and work about cyber bullying.

Pupils are very clear about the strong messages they are given, for example how to report concerns. Due to an effective school firewall, the leader is able to swiftly follow up alerts she receives when anything inappropriate occurs. Parents too have opportunities to learn more about internet safety; a recent information evening was very well attended and appreciated by parents.

Inspection findings ? During my visit, I wanted to find out how well pupils who are working below national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics are supported. You have identified these pupils as a priority on your school improvement plan so that everyone knows they need extra support in making stronger progress. You have made strategic decisions to ensure that this group of pupils, which includes pupils who are disadvantaged and pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, are given every support to be well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Pupils have frequent, well-planned small group and individual teaching sessions to support and consolidate their learning. The sessions we observed together on my visit showed pupils actively engaged, developing confidence to 'have a go' in a safe and nurturing environment, and, consequently, making good progress. School assessment information and pupils' work demonstrate clear improvement in outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

• For pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, effective support is in place from teachers and teaching assistants. Thought and care are given to ensuring that pupils are supported emotionally and in their behavioural needs, as well as academically. The school seeks external guidance and training when they are needed, to fully support these pupils.

Although the leader for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has established an assessment system that will track the progress pupils are making, this is relatively new, and leaders have not had time to use it to check the impact of the revised support they have put in place. ? The celebratory and informative school website and blog give positive snapshots of the curriculum opportunities that pupils have at Kaye's First and Nursery School. I was keen to find out what this looked like in practice.

Children get off to a positive start in all aspects of the curriculum in early years. Adults' modelling of activities is of high quality and focused on developing life skills. Opportunities for pupils to explore, share and develop their learning indoors and outdoors, independently and with their peers are rich.

They result in children developing confidence to have a go at new things, making suggestions, and selecting materials and resources to test out their ideas: they make strong progress across the curriculum. Pupils I spoke to in other year groups were eager to tell me about their topics and related visits they make to deepen their learning. They say how they enjoy class celebration assemblies because they get to find out information about topics that other pupils have been learning about too.

For example, they told me about the 'amazing work' that Year 1 had shared in their assembly about castles. A wide range of extra-curricular activities take place, such as fencing, football and choir, to give pupils further opportunities to develop specific skills. Middle leaders have recently looked carefully at the curriculum on offer to make sure that there is a clear progression of skills as pupils move through school.

• Governors are clear about the strengths of the school, in particular the nurture and support it offers to families and the community. They know the standards pupils reach at the end of early years, in phonics and at the end of key stage 1, but are not as clear about the progress made across other year groups. They say that good-quality training for governors from the local authority has been useful in developing their skills.

They use information provided by school leaders to steer their questions and make visits to school to look at aspects of work. However, they do not have robust ways to be sure of where aspects are not strong enough, or how quickly these are improving. They are looking at ways to widen their evidence and the challenge they give, such as the opportunity to become part of a local hub where good practice and ideas can be shared.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the quality of teaching is consistently strong, with all teachers and teaching assistants having consistently high expectations in the quality and presentation of pupils' work and in the improvements pupils can make to their work ? progress information for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is refined, so that the actions being taken to support their needs can be checked for their effectiveness in supporting pupils to move on more quickly ? governors use varied information effectively to check the impact of school leaders' work, so that they are clear about the progress that all pupils and groups of pupils are making. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Kirklees. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Kate Rowley Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I looked at specific aspects of the school's work, including leadership, the quality of teaching and learning and safeguarding arrangements. You and I worked closely together observing teaching and learning, looking at pupils' work and discussing the school's strengths and priorities for improvement. I met with senior and middle leaders, staff and pupils, as well as representatives from the governing body.

I scrutinised a range of documentation, including that relating to safeguarding, the quality of teaching and learning, minutes of meetings of the governing body and external reviews of the school. I spoke to parents before school. I considered their comments and the 64 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View.