Wesley Methodist Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Wesley Methodist Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 27 June 2017, 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 October 2012. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your school's mission statement, 'Shine like Stars!' is evident throughout the school in the way that pupils try their best and treat each other with respect. Pupils flourish in the warm, welcoming environment that you and your staff have cre...ated.

Since taking up your appointment as headteacher in September 2014, you have expanded and strengthened the leadership team and improved teaching. Leaders and governors are ambitious for pupils and there is a determined focus on further raising attainment and increasing pupils' progress. The success of your work to improve the quality of teaching is evident in better outcomes for pupils.

Staff understand your vision for the school and share your ambitions. They work hard and staff questionnaires show their overwhelming support for your leadership. All respondents to the staff questionnaire agreed with the statement, 'This school is well led and managed.'

Staff also commented that they feel 'proud' to work at Wesley Methodist Primary. Their positive attitudes and the way they encourage pupils to try hard ensures that pupils are happy and confident learners. Pupils attend school regularly and attendance figures are above average.

Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. All the parents who spoke to me were complimentary about the school's work and said that they would not hesitate to recommend this school to others. These views were also reflected in the 67 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire Parent View.

Parents' positive views about pupils' behaviour demonstrate the effectiveness of the school's system to encourage pupils to behave well. Pupils are happy and proud members of this school and are taught to be tolerant and welcoming to all. This was summed up by one pupil, who said to me, 'It's what's on the inside that counts.'

Your mission statement encourages pupils to treat each other well, show kindness and use their talents to have a positive impact on the world. Carefully planned assemblies teach pupils about British values and prepare them for life in modern Britain. Pupils have lots of opportunities to take responsibility as members of the school council, house captains or prefects.

In addition, they learn about taking care of animals such as the rabbits and chickens that they care for in school. Pupils involved in these activities told me that they take their responsibilities very seriously. You have responded well to the areas for improvement identified at your last inspection and in the subject survey inspection in mathematics in 2014.

One area to improve at the last inspection was the quality of teaching. You have acted upon this successfully through effective staff training and appraisal. In addition, you have ensured that pupils make rapid progress by more closely matching activities to their learning needs.

Inspectors also asked the governing body to develop a sharper focus on school improvement planning. Governors have done this successfully. They have undertaken training to help them to evaluate school data more effectively and they give greater challenge to you and your leadership team.

They know what the school's improvement priorities are and they check on your actions to ensure that they are effective. In response to the subject survey inspection, you have strengthened subject leadership in mathematics and standards for all pupils, including for the youngest children, are rising. Standards in mathematics are above average, with a greater proportion of pupils working at above-average standards than in schools nationally.

You have worked to ensure that the learning needs of different ability groups are met and, as a result, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and the most able make good progress in mathematics. My review of your data and scrutiny of pupils' work indicates that pupils make good progress, especially in mathematics. Pupils develop their understanding of mathematical concepts well through reasoning and problem-solving activities.

Outcomes for the most-able pupils are better in mathematics than in reading and writing. Having focused on raising standards in mathematics after a dip in attainment in 2015, you have more recently turned your attention to reading and writing. Pupils' progress in reading and writing is improving and more most-able pupils achieve above-average standards in writing.

You recognise that there is still more work to be done to ensure that pupils' progress continues to improve. You rightly compare the progress of different groups in school such as disadvantaged pupils and others and this ensures that all groups make good progress. However, you acknowledge that this evaluation could be more sharply focused and effective by comparing the progress of groups with the same starting points.

Safeguarding is effective. You have created a strong safeguarding culture where ensuring that pupils are safeguarded well is a high priority. You respond promptly to concerns and hold weekly meetings with the governor responsible for safeguarding to review any ongoing issues.

You have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. High-quality, detailed records are kept securely. You ensure that safeguarding leaders and all staff have regular training and updates.

You have put systems in place to ensure that only suitable people are recruited to work with pupils in school. You work effectively with other professionals and agencies to support pupils. You have considered the impact of building work on the school site and have taken appropriate steps to ensure that pupils are safe.

There are appropriate filters and monitoring systems to ensure that pupils are safe online in school. Also, you teach pupils about internet safety so that they learn what steps they need to take to keep themselves safe. Parents who spoke to me and those who completed the online questionnaire said that their child feels safe at this school.

Inspection findings ? The inspection focused on several key lines of enquiry, the first of which related to the progress and attainment of children in the early years. In 2016, there was a dip in the percentage of children achieving a good level of development. The good level of development ensures that children are ready for entry into key stage 1.

In particular, you have worked very hard to ensure that children achieve higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Your assessment information and children's work show that they now make good progress and overall attainment is now in line with what is expected for children towards the end of the Reception Year. In addition, pupils currently in Year 1 who had lower attainment in Reception last year are making excellent progress and are achieving well.

• In 2016, most-able pupils, including most-able disadvantaged pupils, did not make as much progress from key stage 1 to key stage 2 as other pupils with similar starting points. This year, you have ensured that these pupils are making better progress and that more are working at above-average standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Work in books shows that teachers now focus on this group, with greater challenge in the tasks set, and have higher expectations of their achievement.

• Across all key stages you have raised teachers' expectations of the progress that pupils should make. Your assessment information and the work in pupils' books shows that pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress overall in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils have good opportunities to write at length and in a variety of styles.

They take care to present their work well, ensuring that it is legible. High-quality writing is celebrated in displays, including those in the school hall relating to a whole-school topic. You rightly evaluate the progress of different groups, such as disadvantaged pupils and others, but recognise that this could be refined by comparing the progress of different groups with similar starting points throughout the year.

You agree that this analysis could be used to raise expectations further and increase progress. ? Another key line of enquiry related to pupils' progress in key stage 1 in reading and writing. School assessment information shows that pupils make good progress in these subjects.

You have greatly increased the percentage of pupils that achieves the required standard in the Year 1 phonics screening so that this figure is above average. The pupils from key stage 1, who read to me, used their phonic skills very successfully to read fluently and with expression. Work in books in Year 2 shows that more pupils are writing skilfully and achieving above-average standards.

Teachers set work to extend pupils' vocabulary, such as when one pupil explained to me that she was using the word 'forage' to explain how a meerkat searches for food. ? Governors have reviewed their training needs and have undertaken appropriate training to ensure that they have the skills to hold the school to account more effectively. They know the school's strengths and areas for development and offer a good level of challenge.

Through regular checks and visits, they ensure that your improvement strategies are successful, and there has been an improvement in outcomes for pupils as a result. You have developed your leadership team well, even taking on the leadership of mathematics until a suitably skilled leader was ready for this role. You invest greatly in supporting your subject leaders so that they are very effective in improving the quality of teaching.

Leaders at all levels contribute well to school improvement planning and to the evaluation of outcomes for pupils. ? Prior to the inspection, some of the required information was missing from the school's website. This included up-to-date details of the curriculum.

I therefore wanted to find out if you ensure that pupils follow a broad and balanced curriculum which is tailored to their learning needs. You showed me curriculum information that is up to date and covers the full range of subjects. In addition, there is a wealth of evidence in pupils' work and in displays around the school to show that they follow a rich and exciting curriculum.

Conversations with pupils both formally and informally confirmed to me that they enjoy their learning in a range of subjects. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the focus on ensuring that pupils make rapid progress is maintained, especially in reading and writing, by: – using existing assessment information for individuals to compare and evaluate the progress of various groups with the same starting points – using this evaluation to identify whether progress needs to be further accelerated for any particular group. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Bury.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Andrée Coleman Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and the assistant headteacher along with five governors including the chair of the governing body. I also met with a representative from the local authority.

I met formally with a group of key stage 2 pupils and talked to pupils informally at lunchtime and in lessons. I spoke with several parents at the start of the school day. I heard a group of key stage 1 children read.

Accompanied by you, I observed teaching and learning across each key stage and looked at pupils' work in books and on displays. I examined a range of documents, including your self-evaluation and your improvement plan. Also, I looked at school assessment information for this academic year and I examined documentation showing the school's work to ensure that pupils are safeguarded well.

As part of this inspection, I considered the responses to Ofsted's Parent View, along with free-text comments, and the responses to the questionnaires for staff and pupils. Finally, I undertook a review of the school's website. There were some omissions in the statutory information which should be displayed on the website, but these were remedied during the inspection.

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