Lidget Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Lidget Green Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 February 2019 with Peter Marsh, Ofsted Inspector, 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 February 2015. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have strengthened leadership and improved teaching further. You have created a culture where pupils are happy, their talents are celebrated and parents are included as partners in their children's educa...tion.

The parents I spoke with were full of praise for the school. 'I could not wish for more from the school,' was a typical comment from parents. The previous inspection asked you to improve pupils' writing and ensure that the most able are fully challenged.

Your improvements in how writing is taught have had a profound impact across the curriculum. On most of the walls, in corridors and in classrooms, there are plentiful examples of pupils' writing. The stimuli that teachers use to encourage pupils to write at length are interesting and motivating for pupils.

For example, pupils had written at length about inspirational people, including Malala Yousafzai. This type of work also develops pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. In pupils' books, inspectors noted that work in history and in science also gave pupils good opportunities for them to write at length.

Most-able pupils are challenged well in writing. This is clear in the good vocabulary that they use, their wide range of punctuation and improvements in sentence structures as they progress from one year to the next. Phonics is taught well in the early years and in Year 1, with most-able pupils writing full sentences by the time they leave Reception.

In mathematics, most-able pupils use and apply their skills well to solve problems. Assessment information indicates that most-able pupils in key stage 2 made slower progress in reading compared to mathematics or writing. I could see, by looking at the books of Year 6 pupils, that there was some lack of challenge up to December 2018.

This was specifically in relation to more advanced aspects of reading comprehension. However, high-quality training in December improved teachers' skills and has led to more challenge for these pupils from January 2019 onwards. Arrangements for governance have been strengthened considerably.

Governors have an impressive understanding of the strengths and further areas for improvement. The information they receive is of high quality and enables them to challenge and support school leaders. The support from the local authority has been invaluable in helping governors improve their skills through training.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed. You have a strong culture of safeguarding, whereby all staff are well aware of what they should do if they have any concerns.

Your procedures for vetting and checking new members of staff are robust. At the time of the inspection, the safeguarding policy on the school's website did not reflect current government guidelines. However, this error was corrected immediately.

All staff had been appropriately trained on current government requirements for safeguarding. The records we saw show that you have a proactive approach to safeguarding. In this inspection, we looked carefully at attendance of pupils.

We found that you have thorough systems for following up any absence, most of which is caused by parents taking extended holidays abroad to visit relatives. The pupils we spoke to have a good understanding of how to stay safe. They say bullying is rare and your records support this view.

Many pupils choose to become anti-bullying ambassadors, giving positive messages to others about how to deal with any bullying. Others are trained mediators, so that they are able to resolve minor disagreements that might occur. Assemblies reinforce positive messages about how to stay safe when using the internet and about road, fire and water safety.

Inspection findings ? First, I was curious to find out why attainment in the early years was below average. Attainment is rising quickly year on year. The quality of phonics teaching in the early years has improved enormously as a result of staff training.

Adults support pupils' learning well by encouraging children to talk in full sentences and planning engaging activities for them. For example, the 'investigation area' allows children to learn about magnets and the properties of natural materials. The provision for two-year-olds is particularly impressive and prepares children well for Nursery.

Throughout the early years, children behave well, relate well to each other and to adults and are well prepared for the demands of Year 1. It is clear that learning in the outdoor area is not as strong as that indoors. Children outdoors occasionally engage in repetitive play that is not as challenging as it might be.

• Second, I wanted to find out if standards are high enough in key stage 1, given that they were below average in the 2018 tests. We found that teachers have good subject knowledge and, on the whole, challenge pupils well. However, there are inconsistencies between classes.

In some classes, pupils immediately try more demanding work if they are capable, but in other classes they are not given this more difficult work. The improvements in how phonics is taught are increasing pupils' reading skills well. This is reflected in the rising proportion of pupils in Year 1 meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check.

The pupils we heard reading did so fluently, using their phonic skills well to read unfamiliar words. ? Third, I looked at the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The improvements you have made to the tracking of pupils' progress mean that any pupils who fall behind are identified quickly and appropriate interventions are put in place.

This is leading to pupils with SEND making good progress. However, there is a need to improve assessment for pupils with SEND so that next steps for progress can be identified more accurately. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? in the early years, work outdoors develops children's skills as well as in the indoor areas ? in key stage 1, there is sufficient challenge where it is apparent that pupils are finding the work too easy ? the assessment of pupils with SEND identifies next learning steps more precisely.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Robert Jones Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection we met with you, various staff, four members of the governing body, including the chair, and a representative from the local authority.

We spoke to six pupils from Year 6 and listened to Year 2 pupils reading. While in classrooms we observed teaching, spoke to pupils and looked through the work in their books. I considered a range of documentation, including the 16 responses to Parent View, the school development plan, governance documents, the summary of self-evaluation, records relating to pupils with SEND, and safeguarding documents.