Broomwood Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Broomwood Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 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 June 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 know your school well and are accurate in your judgement of Broomwood Primary School's strengths and improvement priorities. The school has many strengths, including the curriculum; leaders' and staff's commitment to the welfare and care o...f pupils and their families; and the many opportunities available to pupils which they may not otherwise experience. Pupils enter the Nursery and Reception classes with knowledge and skills below the standards typically expected for their age.

From the early years and throughout the school, leaders have prioritised speech and language development as this is a key barrier to learning. As a result of high-quality teaching and learning, pupils develop good language skills across key stage 1, giving them a strong foundation for future learning. This, typically, enables them to make good progress across key stage 2.

Together with other leaders, staff and governors, you have developed a warm and welcoming environment, with strong relationships between staff, pupils and their families. There is a real and tangible community feel. You are determined to raise aspirations for all pupils and the attainment of current pupils is continuing to improve.

Pupils are polite, respectful of each other's opinions and viewpoints, and are well mannered. They state that they enjoy lessons and appreciate the element of fun that teachers provide. They value the variety of extra-curricular activities, including residential trips, day visits and various sports clubs.

The vast majority of parents feel that the school is very good at supporting their children and developing them academically. During discussions with me, parents typically commented that they are very pleased with their children's progress. Some stated, 'The school is brilliant.'

Parents spoke positively about the smooth transition into the Nursery class and on to high school. Leaders and staff have taken effective action to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. You were asked to improve teaching so that pupils reach higher standards and make even better progress.

You have implemented additional interventions for the most able children and have ensured that their achievements are included in discussions about pupils' attainment and progress. Through a more robust monitoring programme, middle leaders and teachers are held much more accountable for the progress and attainment of pupils in their classes. Published data for 2018 shows that increasing numbers of pupils at key stage 1 are attaining the high standards.

This is particularly the case in reading and mathematics, but less so in writing. Proportions of Year 6 pupils reaching the high standard in reading, mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling in the national tests have increased. Proportions of pupils attaining greater depth in writing have also increased.

You were also asked to provide greater opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills to solve problems. Effective training of staff has improved the quality of teaching. Leaders have ensured that a whole-school, consistent approach to teaching problem-solving is in place, and this has raised expectations.

The impact of leaders' work in this area can be seen in the work of middle- and high-prior-attaining pupils, but too few opportunities are provided for lower-attaining pupils to develop and deepen their skills. Inspectors also asked leaders to strengthen the impact of leadership on teaching and learning by ensuring that actions planned make more effective use of the information on pupils' achievement. Leaders are now much more involved in the procedures to check the achievement of pupils and the quality of teaching.

Systems have also been tightened to hold staff accountable for their actions. The documents to record performance management and pupil-progress meetings are much more detailed, with support and challenge for pupils rooted in their achievements. Safeguarding is effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose and are sensitively deployed. Leaders and governors fulfil statutory requirements when appointing new members of staff.

The school's safeguarding team meet regularly to monitor vulnerable pupils. Effective liaison with social care helps support and protect pupils from harm. Parents and pupils feel that the school is a safe place to be.

Leaders, including governors, ensure that staff receive high-quality training. As a result, staff know how to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse. They are very clear about the school's procedures for reporting and recording any concerns they have regarding the safeguarding of pupils.

Leaders are tenacious, but sympathetic, in their work to protect vulnerable pupils. Pupils spoken to during the inspection state that bullying and poor behaviour are rare in the school and have confidence in the staff to deal with problems when they arise. Pupils have a clear understanding of the school's behaviour policy and value the rewards available for positive behaviour.

When incidents of poor behaviour occur, leaders work with parents and pupils to address them to the satisfaction of the majority of parents. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. Leaders have implemented clear programmes to teach pupils about personal safety.

Pupils understand the issues linked to emotional health and well-being and are well supported by staff. Inspection findings ? Attainment and progress at the end of key stage 2 have improved over the last few years because of the actions you have taken to develop the quality of teaching and learning. However, in 2018 while writing progress was in line with national averages, progress in reading and mathematics was below.

My first line of enquiry, therefore, was to find out what you have done to improve progress in these areas. We discussed the high proportion of pupils with special educational needs in the Year 6 cohort last year and the impact they had on the 2018 results. ? Pupils have a clear knowledge of effective reading strategies.

They have a well-developed understanding of inference and recognise why authors use particular words and phrases for effect. They talk about a wide range of favourite authors. Pupils read confidently with fluency and intonation.

The most able pupils add different voices for their characters. School achievement information shows that most current pupils are attaining well and making good and improving progress. ? Mathematics books across key stage 2 for current pupils show that the middle- and high-prior-attaining pupils are making strong progress from their starting points.

The progress of low-prior-attaining pupils is not as strong. Most pupils in key stage 2 handle larger numbers with confidence and are able to calculate effectively. Their books show that they can calculate with increasingly complex numbers and middle-and high-prior-attaining pupils are able to apply their understanding to more challenging problem-solving questions.

There are too few opportunities for low-prior-attaining pupils to reason and problem solve. Consequently, they lack confidence when applying their mathematical knowledge and have limited opportunities to deepen their understanding. ? My second line of enquiry was to find out what leaders have done to improve the teaching of writing in key stage 1, especially for disadvantaged pupils.

Attainment at the end of key stage 1 in 2018 was below national averages, and disadvantaged pupils' achievement was below national averages at both the expected standard and greater depth. ? The teaching of writing in the Nursery and Reception classes has improved and is more focused. Leaders have prioritised the development of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation.

Disadvantaged pupils' writing is of a similar standard to other pupils in school. Pupils' writing shows progress over time with the majority of middle-and high-prior-attaining pupils writing at age-related expectations. Low-prior-attaining pupils write using simplistic sentences with some punctuation missing.

Their knowledge of phonics is not strong enough to allow them to spell regular words, including those met frequently. These pupils' books show that too few are writing at the typical standard expected of them. ? Middle- and high-prior-attaining key stage 1 pupils write a range of pieces, including letters and recounts.

Their sentence structure is beginning to be varied and they use vocabulary and descriptive phrases for effect. However, paragraphing is limited. Their stamina for writing is improving and they are beginning to write at greater length.

However, not enough pupils write with sufficient accuracy to meet greater depth requirements. ? Finally, I considered the progress that pupils make across the curriculum in subjects other than English and mathematics. They have used training and the advice from consultants to enhance teaching and their own leadership skills.

Subject leaders have a clear understanding of the purpose and intent of the curriculum. They have ensured that subject-specific skills are encouraged and developed through training and sharing good teaching practice. Inspection evidence shows that where this approach is consistently applied, pupils are making good progress.

In some subjects, such as art, specific clubs for the most able raise expectations of the school's curriculum and achievement, especially at the higher standard. This results in some wonderfully detailed pieces of artwork. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? they continue to improve the teaching of writing to enable more pupils to attain the expected and higher standards at key stage 1 ? they raise achievement in mathematics by providing lower-attaining pupils in key stage 2 greater opportunities to deepen their mathematical understanding in problem-solving and reasoning activities.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Trafford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Ian Shackleton Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection I met with you, your staff and members of the governing body.

I also met with pupils to seek their views about the school. I spoke with a representative of the local authority. I also spoke with pupils informally in the classroom and at lunchtime.

We observed teaching and learning together and I scrutinised pupils' writing across key stage 1 and mathematics across key stage 2. I looked at work in subjects other than English and mathematics. I also spoke with pupils in Years 1, 2, 5 and 6 about their reading and listened to them read.

I examined and discussed a range of documents, including those relating to safeguarding and improvement priorities. I looked at the school's self-evaluation and assessment information. I considered the views expressed by parents gathered in the playground before the start of the school day and 28 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View.