Boothferry Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that teachers sustain pupils’ current strong progress and further raise their attainment across the curriculum by:
  • challenging the most able pupils more effectively so that a higher proportion of pupils attain at the highest level in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of each key stage
  • improving the monitoring of subjects other than English and mathematics so that the targets set for pupils enable them to make the progress of which they are capable.
• Monitor more closely the behaviour of key stage 1 pupils at play and lunchtimes by providing more structured, purposeful activities for them.
• Ensure that the assessment and recording of children’s progress in early years is precise enough in order to more quickly identify the areas that children need to improve.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• School leaders are ambitious and highly knowledgeable about teaching and learning. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and the assistant headteacher make an effective team. They sustain a culture of continuous improvement through the school’s vision and specific learning goals, which include resilience, morality and adaptability.
• Senior leaders lead by example, modelling what is expected of all staff. Teachers feel valued and respected. Those who are new to the profession, benefit greatly from the specialist support that they receive from the deputy headteacher, their mentors and from one another. They work hard to embed new approaches to teaching and have made a very strong start to their teaching careers.
• Teaching and learning are improving because leaders have enabled all staff to raise their expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving. Staff value the regular professional development that they receive and benefit from many opportunities to observe the effective practice of others.
• Leaders continuously check on the progress being made against the school development plan, which is accurately focused on the areas for improvement across the school. Consequently, many improvements have been made since the last inspection.
• The leaders of English and mathematics are successfully raising standards in their subjects. Their regular and informative monitoring of the quality of teaching and the progress of pupils enables these leaders to identify actions, for example to improve the progress of girls in mathematics. Recent initiatives have successfully reduced gaps in their achievement when compared to that of boys, particularly in year 6.
• All subject leaders play an important role in school improvement through their monitoring of teaching. Pupils’ progress, however, is not monitored closely enough to ensure that they make consistently strong progress in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• There is a whole-school focus on raising the aspirations of staff and pupils. Many of the high-quality displays around the school are focused on pupils’ successes and demonstrate their progression through the school. For example, a high-quality display of pupils’ work relating to Armistice Day clearly demonstrates the progress that pupils make in their writing, drawing and model-making from the early years to Year 6.
• The school makes effective use of funding for disadvantaged pupils. Specific governors, as well as leaders, check that the funds are spent wisely and that they bring about the desired outcome. For example, opportunities for pupils to make use of school bicycles have led to improvements in the attendance and punctuality of disadvantaged pupils.
• The special educational needs coordinator has a very detailed understanding of the needs of each individual pupil with SEND. She closely monitors the impact of any additional funding. Many of these pupils make strong progress because of the support that they receive.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is an integral part of the curriculum, which leaders have designed as a powerful tool for raising standards. Teachers use the whole-school themes to promote British values and to make pupils more globally aware. Respect, empathy and equality are at the core of the everyday work of the school.
• The physical education (PE) and sport funding received by the school is spent wisely. Pupils compete in the daily mile, and many take part in sporting activities. The funding has raised the profile of PE and is helping pupils to develop healthy lifestyles. The school offers sporting activities such as tennis coaching, supported by the input of a specialist coaches.
• There are many enrichment opportunities for pupils. Visitors, such as a local history group, and visits to nearby attractions provide pupils with valuable experiences to enhance their learning. Pupils enjoy a wide range of after-school clubs, including curling, singing, music and Taekwondo.
• The school is working hard to engage with parents. Those who spoke to the inspectors said that they feel welcome in school. Most of those who responded to the online questionnaire praised leaders and the staff. One parent said, ‘Staff are a real team. Always on hand to offer advice and support and nothing is too much trouble.’ Effective use is made of social media to communicate with parents and encourage them to be even more involved with their children’s education.
• The local authority works effectively alongside the school to provide advice and support, following the previous inspection when the school was judged to require improvement.

Governance of the school

• Governors are enthusiastic and more knowledgeable about the school’s development since the previous inspection. They bring a range of skills and experiences to their roles. The newly appointed chair of governors has much experience in education and is committed to developing a strong team.
• The governing body has a secure overview of the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement. There is a well-structured approach to enable governors to work alongside senior and middle leaders, focusing its work on the aims of the school improvement committee. Governors use information provided by leaders well in order to check on areas of school priority.
• Governors monitor the impact of additional funding, such as the pupil premium grant and SEND funding, effectively.
• Governors hold leaders to account well. For example, they ask probing questions about the difference to pupils’ outcomes that strategies are making. In addition, they scrutinise the work in pupils’ books to check the progress of disadvantaged pupils and the most able pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and fit for purpose. Any safeguarding concerns raised by staff are reviewed carefully and next steps are diligently followed through and recorded.
• The school has a strong safeguarding culture which places pupils at the heart of its work. Leaders care passionately about every pupil and do everything to ensure that pupils are safe, both in and out of school.
• Robust checks completed on the suitability of staff to work with children are in place. Leaders ensure that all staff receive regular and appropriate training that reflects recent developments in making sure that pupils are kept safe.
• The pastoral leader is meticulous when dealing with incidents, or referrals to the local authority. She and the headteacher maintain detailed safeguarding records that show a clear chronology of actions and outcomes. The pastoral leader does not rest until she is satisfied that any concerns that she has referred to external agencies have been properly dealt with.
• Governors understand and fulfil their statutory duties relating to safeguarding and pupils’ welfare. They carry out regular checks to be absolutely certain that the school’s systems and procedures keep all pupils safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Staff feel motivated to improve their practice, and they appreciate the opportunities that they have to develop their teaching skills. For example, the skilful use of questioning by staff enables pupils to develop their reading and comprehension skills well.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is secure, and they use appropriately challenging language to communicate it. As a result, pupils, particularly those who speak English as an additional language, are becoming more confident in using a wide range of complex vocabulary in their writing.
• Effective joint planning enables teachers to provide a creative and exciting curriculum which is responsive to pupils’ needs and extends their skills and interests. A wide range of stimulating topics, such as ‘the magic toymaker’ and ‘scavengers and settlers’, enable pupils to demonstrate high levels of engagement and independent learning. Pupils take pride in their work.
• The teaching of reading is a strength of the school. Teachers provide high-quality support for pupils to develop their reading comprehension. Pupils confidently talk about their whole-school reading challenge, which motivates them to gain rewards for reading regularly.
• Pupils’ books demonstrate the many opportunities they have to develop their inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary skills before moving on to the higher-aspects of comprehension. In key stage 1, a more consistent approach to the teaching of phonics has ensured that pupils are confident readers who remain enthusiastic when tackling unfamiliar words.
• Teachers provide pupils with ample opportunities to develop their writing skills for a range of different purposes. Effective teaching ensures that pupils’ writing demonstrates increasing accuracy when applying more sophisticated grammar and spelling. Well-designed resources and prompts, such as the ‘Boothferry super sentences’, enable pupils to learn from their mistakes. As a result, pupils make strong progress in writing.
• In mathematics, the work in pupils’ books reflects the professional development that staff have received on creating ‘in focus’ tasks at the start of new topics and enabling pupils to develop a variety of representations when solving problems. Pupils use the calculation skills that they have learned previously to solve increasingly complex mathematical problems. However, teachers are not always confident enough to adapt learning activities, in a timely manner, to better meet the needs of pupils. For example, most-able pupils are not always given more complex tasks and challenges as soon as they are ready to tackle them, which slows their progress.
• Staff have skilfully developed cross-curricular links between subjects. For example, there are links between history and science, where pupils compare current uses of electricity compared to times gone by. Pupils have opportunities to practise their literacy and numeracy skills in many subjects across the curriculum.
• Teaching assistants work effectively alongside the teachers. They are confident and knowledgeable due to the training and guidance they receive. Teaching assistants support pupils with SEND sensitively in lessons, structuring support when necessary, but also encouraging independence.
• Teachers use accurate assessments of pupils’ knowledge and understanding to plan pupils’ next steps in English and mathematics. Over time, pupils make strong progress, particularly the disadvantaged pupils and those who join the school at different times.
• Across the school, a menu of imaginative homework projects is used well to excite pupils and strengthen their key core skills in literacy, mathematics and aspects of the wider curriculum. Homework consolidates learning well and motivates pupils to learn new topics with enthusiasm.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• By employing a full-time pastoral leader, the headteacher and his governors have shown their absolute commitment to improving the lives of children and their families. Leaders work in partnership with other agencies and are strong advocates for pupils. They are relentless in their commitment to every pupil and are not afraid to challenge families and other professionals if they need to. They are highly effective in developing strong relationships between school and home so that children are safe and thriving. Parents develop confident relationships with, and a high level of trust in, the school’s staff.
• Leaders and staff take pupils’ emotional well-being very seriously. Pupils feel safe and secure in the calm environment of this large and inclusive school. It is a sanctuary for many pupils. Teachers ensure that pupils develop a strong awareness of their own identity and an understanding of how to keep safe beyond the school environment, including when using the internet.
• The school’s promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is highly successful and is impacting positively on pupils’ attitudes to, and respect for, one another’s differences. There are plentiful opportunities for pupils to have a say and make decisions. They say that they are very proud of their school. Those who are nominated as the ‘Very Important Person’ each week, thoroughly enjoy wearing their special crowns in lessons.
• Pupils are keen and confident learners. They enjoy the range of experiences and challenges that the school provides for them. For example, pupils who are chosen to become ‘digital leaders’ benefit greatly from working alongside specialist computing staff. Year 6 pupils loved their visit to a local theme park and making automated fairground models on their return to school.
• Pupils and parents speak highly of the pastoral care and welfare support offered by the school, particularly that provided for the most vulnerable children and families.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Leaders’ concerted efforts have resulted in many improvements in pupils’ behaviour. Staff across the school promote positive behaviour skilfully and calmly. The ‘good to be green’ policy sets out high expectations, and pupils are clear about what is expected of them. From an early age, children are taught how to carefully consider the feelings of others and that their actions have consequences.
• Pupils say they know that the staff are here to help them. They say that instances of bullying are very few and far between. Pupils can talk confidently about the different forms of bullying. They have faith that adults in the school will address those rare occasions that arise.
• Pupils show respect for each other and listen well to each other’s ideas in lessons. Pupils demonstrate good behaviour and positive manners in the dining hall and as they move around the school. The majority of pupils are polite and sensible on the playground, showing self-discipline in a range of situations. The behaviour of some of the boys in key stage 1 is sometimes overly boisterous at playtimes, particularly when there are few activities for them to be involved in.
• Attendance is close to that seen nationally and it continues to improve. This is because most pupils enjoy school and particularly enjoy learning. The school’s pastoral leader works hard with families to raise awareness of how poor attendance links to poor progress and hampers pupils’ life chances.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Throughout their time in school, pupils make strong progress, often from low starting points. The school’s most recent published performance information for 2018 shows that pupils’ progress in reading and writing is above average.
• By the end of key stages 1 and 2, pupils attain above-average standards in reading, writing and science. Pupils also reach higher-than-average standards in mathematics by the end of Year 2. The work pupils are currently doing in school shows that this performance is being maintained.
• Compared with the national average, fewer than expected pupils reach the highest standards in key stages 1 and 2. Leaders have recognised the need for more effective challenge for the most able pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, a higher proportion of the most able pupils are currently reaching higher standards, particularly in Year 6.
• Pupils make strong progress in phonics, particularly girls and pupils who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils who pass the Year 1 national phonics screening check has improved over the last three years and is close to the national average. As a result, pupils have a strong foundation for reading and writing.
• There is a high turnover of pupils at the school. An above-average number arrive speaking English as an additional language. Provision for these pupils is very effective. Consequently, they make strong progress. This is because they receive specialist support from leaders, teachers and teaching assistants.
• A higher-than-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils attend this school. They receive well-planned additional support to ensure that they make sustained progress. Work in the books of disadvantaged pupils is equal to, and sometimes stronger than, that of non-disadvantaged pupils. This picture is also reflected in published performance information.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress from their starting points. This is due to strong leadership, an understanding of these pupils’ barriers to learning and careful use of funding.
• Pupils have many opportunities to develop strong knowledge, understanding and skills across a wide range of subjects other than English and mathematics. A range of stimulating resources are used skilfully to develop pupils’ complex skills in computing, for example to extend their programming skills. However, pupils’ progress in these subjects is not monitored closely enough to ensure that they always make the progress of which they are capable.

Early years provision Good

• The assistant headteacher effectively leads early years and has a firm focus on improvement. The early years leader successfully models what she wants to see staff do, and this has led to continuous improvement as good practice is firmly embedded. Inspectors saw enthusiastic teaching as children enjoyed imaginative activities, such as creating menus to celebrate the Chinese New Year and designing their attractive cards for Valentine’s Day.
• Children join the Nursery Year or Reception Year with skills that are below those typical for their age, and there are some children who are well below, particularly in language. Careful nurturing combined with effective teaching ensures that children’s progress from these low starting points is strong.
• The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has increased each year for the past three years. In 2018, the proportion almost matched the national figure. Any differences between groups of children, such as girls and boys, disadvantaged children and those with SEND, diminish rapidly. The most able children are identified and targeted from the start.
• Adults interact well with children, providing good models of speaking and listening, and this enables children, particularly those with speech and language difficulties, to progress quickly. Children are very happy and they behave well. Boys and girls work very well together, and they are respectful of, and kind to, one another.
• Skilful teaching, including in phonics, enables children to improve their ability to read and write words and sentences with confidence. Children also learn well by choosing their own activities, and they have quickly learned how to adhere to the well-established routines and protocols.
• The curriculum is well-designed and children benefit from a high-quality learning environment. The extensive outdoor area is particularly popular with all the children and, inevitably, extends opportunities for children to develop their dexterity and motor skills regularly. Children’s resilience and self-confidence develops well from the start.
• Assessments of children are accurate. However, the observations which are recorded in the online assessment system lack depth, and they are not always precise enough to identify specific areas that children need to improve more quickly.
• Parents are kept informed regularly about their children’s progress. The engagement of parents is having a positive impact on improving outcomes for children. Parents are regularly invited into school for activities such as making musical instruments, craft workshops and family learning opportunities.

School details

Unique reference number 117941 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 10059048 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 385 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Patricia Dyson Headteacher Mike Sibley Telephone number 01405 762 151 Website www.boothferryprimary.co.uk Email address boothferry.head.primary@eastriding.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 20 to 21 April 2016

Information about this school

• Boothferry primary school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The large majority of pupils are of White British or Other White background.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is much higher than average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is higher than that seen nationally. A small number of these pupils have an education, health and care plan.
• An increasing number of pupils join classes during the school year.
• The school provides part-time places for children in the Nursery and full-time places for children in the Reception class.
• There are five newly qualified teachers who have recently joined the school.

Information about this inspection

• Meetings were held with the headteacher, governors, senior and middle leaders and staff from the school.
• The lead inspector met with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors visited lessons across year groups to observe pupils during learning. A number of visits were undertaken jointly with school leaders.
• Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils formally and informally.
• Observations of pupils’ behaviour took place during lessons, in an assembly, at playtime and lunchtime and when pupils were moving around the school.
• Inspectors jointly reviewed a range of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and other subjects with subject leaders. They discussed pupils’ work and monitored their progress. One inspector heard pupils from Year 1 and Year 2 read.
• A range of documentation provided by the school was examined. This included leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance, their development plan, attendance and behaviour information, assessment information and documentation relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors considered 28 responses to the staff survey and 66 responses to the pupils’ survey.
• The inspection took account of the views of 32 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, which included 20 free-text responses. Inspectors also spoke with parents as they brought their children to school.

Inspection team

Cathy Morgan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Mujahid Ali Ofsted Inspector Helen Hussey Ofsted Inspector