Blakehill-Ofsted.PDF

School report
Blakehill Primary School
Highfield Road, Idle, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD10 8NQ
Inspection dates 15–16 January 2015
Overall effectiveness
Previous inspection: Good 2
This inspection: Good 2
Leadership and management Good 2
Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2
Quality of teaching Good 2
Achievement of pupils Good 2
Early years provision Good 2
Summary of key findings for parents and pupils
This is a good school.
 This is a happy school, which is held in very high
regard by pupils and their parents, staff, the local
community and the local authority.
 Achievement is good and attainment over time is
above average.
 All groups of pupils make good progress from
their starting points because the school knows
them well and puts in place effective support
when necessary.
 Pupils make good progress because teaching is
good and the things that they learn about are
interesting and relevant.
 Learning is brought to life for pupils through
extensive opportunities to take part in visits, meet
visitors to school and take part in exciting events
and activities.
 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural
development is a strength of the school. Pupils
learn about their own identity, equality, diversity
and community. Pupils reflected deeply during a
whole-school project, ‘Lest We Forget’, about the
First World War and produced some powerful,
emotional writing.
 The school’s work to keep pupils safe is very
effective and there is a strong sense of pupils being
nurtured and well cared for throughout the school.
 Pupils are polite and courteous. They take great
pride in being part of their school. Relationships
between staff and pupils and between pupils
themselves are a strength of the school and pupils
treat each other with kindness and respect.
 The good provision for children joining the school in
the Reception class ensures that they settle in well,
enjoy learning and make good progress. Parents
are provided with a range of information to help
them support their children’s learning at home.
 The headteacher, assistant headteachers and
governing body provide a very clear vision for the
school and work relentlessly to make the school
more successful, including improving teaching.
 Senior leaders and all staff work together to reflect
on what is working well and to identify areas that
can be further improved in order to ensure that all
pupils achieve as well as they possibly can. As a
result, the school is improving.
It is not yet an outstanding school because
 The work teachers plan and set for lessons,
particularly at the start of lessons, is sometimes
too easy for some pupils, especially the most able,
to achieve their best.
 Teachers do not always direct teaching assistants
and other adults to work in a way that supports
pupils’ learning most effectively.

Inspection report: Blakehill Primary School, 15–16 January 2015 2 of 10
Information about this inspection
 Inspectors spent time in all classes and observed lessons, including two observations carried out with the
headteacher.
 A range of other school activities was also observed, including assembly, playtimes and lunchtimes.
 Inspectors looked at a range of pupils’ work in their books and displayed around the school and also
looked at the school’s own information about pupils’ progress.
 Inspectors listened to a small sample of pupils in Years 2, 4 and 6 read and talked to them about their
learning.
 Meetings were held with pupils, school leaders, members of the school staff, members of the governing
body and a representative of the local authority.
 Inspectors took account of the views of a small number of parents spoken with during the inspection and
considered the 41 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. They also took into account
the 33 questionnaires completed by staff.
Inspection team
Lesley Bowyer, Lead inspector Additional Inspector
Maria McGarry Additional Inspector
Christine Potter Additional Inspector

Full report
Information about this school
 This is a larger than average sized primary school.
 The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those who are supported by the pupil premium (additional
funding provided by the government to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and
those who are looked after by the local authority) is below the national average.
 The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds.
 The proportion of pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs is below average.
 The early years provision is for children in the Reception class, who attend full time.
 The school meets the government’s current floor standards which are the national expectations for pupils’
attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
 There has been a considerable number of staff changes and a new senior leadership team established
since the previous inspection.
What does the school need to do to improve further?
 Further improve the quality of teaching in order to raise achievement by making sure that:
work provided for pupils, especially the most able, is always challenging enough in order to enable them
to achieve their best in all lessons, particularly in reading and mathematics
work is well matched to the needs of all pupils, especially at the start of lessons
teaching assistants and other adults always have a clear role in lessons to support pupils’ learning.

Inspection judgements
The leadership and management are good
 The headteacher and assistant headteachers have a clear vision for the school to provide the best possible
education. They consistently share their high expectations with all staff, pupils and governors.
 Senior leaders identify areas for improvement through robust systems to know how well the school is
doing. As a result, they have a clear picture of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement.
 School leaders carefully plan actions to improve the school, making sure that improvements can be
continued and have a lasting impact on the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make.
 The pupil premium funding is used well to increase staffing levels in order to provide a wide range of
effective support. This has resulted in disadvantaged pupils making good progress. The funding has also
been used to provide a Learning Mentor whose work is a key feature of supporting pupils to be ready to
learn in lessons. Leaders, including governors, have a good understanding of how the funding is used and
the impact it is having in raising achievement for pupils. The effective use of pupil premium funding has
resulted in the gaps between the levels reached by disadvantaged pupils and those reached by other
pupils closing in most subjects and year groups.
 The school promotes equality of opportunity well and makes checks to ensure that individuals and groups
of pupils are making good progress. Additional support is provided where needed and as a result all
groups of pupils make good progress. However, the rate of progress for the most able pupils could be
increased further through more appropriate challenge.
 The school has effective policies in place to prevent and tackle discrimination. Pupils say that there is no
racism in the school and they learn about discrimination in lessons. The school actively promotes good
relationships both within the school and in the wider community, for example through activities shared
with other local schools.
 School leaders provide good support for teachers at different stages of their career. The support and
guidance for newly qualified teachers is very effective and almost all staff feel that the school provides
good support for professional development. As a result, there is a culture of continual improvement in the
school; staff are always looking for ways to improve their work further.
 The headteacher has managed considerable changes in staffing over recent years well and has taken the
opportunity to improve the quality of teaching. All staff understand the agreed expectations which has led
to a consistent approach to the teaching of the important basic skills of reading, writing, communication
and mathematics.
 The senior leadership team is relatively new and is providing strong direction for the school. The role of
middle leaders has been a priority for improvement and work has already resulted in middle leaders
developing their contribution to monitoring and evaluating standards and progress in their area of
responsibility. They have clear, well-thought out action plans that support improvement. For example,
following a review of mathematics, there has been a range of improvement work including providing a
teachers’ toolkit and producing a calculations policy to match the increased expectations of the new
National Curriculum. Consequently, pupils are making above expected progress in mathematics.
 The school is an active member of a local partnership of schools, with the headteacher being the lead
person for community cohesion. The local authority holds the school in high regard and undertook a
comprehensive review of standards and the quality of teaching in November 2014. Consequently, the local
authority recognises the school as needing only ‘light-touch’ support.
 The curriculum and things pupils learn about have been very carefully planned in order to be interesting
and often exciting. There is a focus on pupils’ learning through first-hand experiences and educational
visits or visitors to school are frequently used to very good effect. For example, Year 3 pupils take part in
the Linking Schools project, which involves pupils from different schools taking part in activities together
to learn about their own identity, equality, diversity and community. As a result, pupils are well prepared
for life in modern Britain. Pupils told inspectors, ‘It is good to be different!’.
 There is a very wide range of extra opportunities for pupils to learn outside the school day. Inspectors
enjoyed watching the school choir rehearsing at lunchtime for a forthcoming performance in a concert
with pupils from other schools.
 Sport plays an important part in pupils’ development and there are extensive opportunities for pupils to
take part in after-school coaching in a range of different sports, including extreme Frisbee. The primary
sports funding has been used to provide professional coaching, additional resources and staff
development. As a result, the number of pupils taking part in sport has significantly increased and the
school has enjoyed increased success in sporting competitions.
 The school’s safeguarding procedures are highly effective and records are well maintained.

 The governance of the school:
Governors know the school well and share the clear vision of senior leaders. As a result, they contribute
to the strategic planning for school improvement. They are knowledgeable about the strengths of the
school, the areas for further development, school data and the quality of teaching.
The governors are knowledgeable about how the school is using additional funding, such as the pupil
premium and primary school sports funding and are well informed about the impact on pupils’
achievement.
Governors take part in a range of training and are very active in the school. There are effective systems
to enable governors, including those new to the role, to understand their purpose when visiting the
school. Each governor is linked to a class and has opportunities to visit to support the class, such as on
educational visits, and to monitor the impact of school improvement work.
The governors understand how teachers are rewarded for good performance and how any
underperformance is addressed by the school. They have an overview of the school’s systems to ensure
safeguarding procedures are robust and consequently safeguarding and child protection procedures
meet requirements.
The behaviour and safety of pupils are good
Behaviour
 The behaviour of pupils is good. It is a strength of the school and at times is outstanding. This is as a
result of well-thought-out procedures that are understood by all pupils, starting in the early years, and
which are consistently applied by staff. Pupils’ good behaviour contributes to the calm and friendly
atmosphere in the school.
 Pupils get along very well together and are cooperative and supportive of each other. They are polite and
demonstrate respect towards other people, including different adults. Pupils usually behave well at
different times of day, including lunchtime, playtime and when moving around school, although on rare
occasions a minority of older pupils become a little over-excited and are not as sensible as at most other
times.
 Pupils display a sense of enjoyment in learning. They have positive attitudes and take pride in their work.
Pupils talk about a ‘good learning culture’ and they learn well in lessons because low-level disruptions are
rare. Behaviour is less strong on the few occasions when lessons do not provide enough challenge.
 Attendance is good and improving as a result of a consistent approach to tackling absence and the fact
that pupils enjoy learning and want to be at school. Good attendance is celebrated through newsletters,
on the school’s website, through displays in school and also by rewards, such as a visit to the cinema for
pupils with 100% attendance.
Safety
 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and this view
is shared by staff and all parents responding to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.
 Pupils know how to stay safe in different situations and are particularly well-informed about how to stay
safe when using the internet.
 A very small minority of parents expressed concerns about bullying. Inspectors were satisfied that the
school always takes bullying seriously and that policies and procedures for dealing with it are effective.
Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, in particular cyber-bullying. They say
bullying rarely happens but, when it does, staff take prompt action to deal with it effectively.
The quality of teaching is good
 Good teaching over time has resulted in pupils of all groups making good progress in reading, writing and
mathematics. This progress is clearly evident in the high quality work seen in pupils’ books.
 Marking of pupils’ work, both by teachers and by other pupils, is consistent and provides feedback about
what pupils have done well and what they need to do in order to improve further. Subsequently, pupils
respond to feedback and make good progress.
 Teachers make learning interesting and, at times, thought provoking. For example, pupils in Year 6
English were engrossed in watching a DVD about a robot as a stimulus for their writing, which was very
challenging and which caused them to think very deeply. Their resulting work was of a high quality with
most able pupils writing in a lively and mature style.

 Teachers and other adults use questions effectively to check pupils’ understanding and in order to extend
their learning. In some lessons, teaching assistants are well deployed and they make a significant
contribution to developing learning. However, in some classes, teaching assistants and other adults do not
have a clear role which results in opportunities to support and extend learning being missed.
 The school has developed effective policies and procedures to ensure that the basic skills of reading,
writing, communication and mathematics are well developed and consequently gaps in learning are being
addressed and pupils are developing a much more secure understanding. This is increasing their rate of
progress.
 Most teachers plan work which challenges pupils of all abilities throughout lessons. At times though, some
pupils who already have a secure understanding of the work being taught are not challenged at the start
of lessons and they consequently fail to make as much progress as they could do.
 The learning environment in classrooms and around school is stimulating. High quality displays reflect the
pride that pupils take in their work and that staff take in celebrating pupils’ achievements. For example,
pupils studied the work of a range of authors, with each class studying a different one. The resulting
written and artwork was of a very high standard and was beautifully displayed.
 Additional support is provided for those pupils at risk of not making good progress. Appropriate
intervention is put in place at an early stage which enables pupils to make good or, in some cases, rapid
progress. However, the pace of progress is not always fast enough for some most able pupils as they are
sometimes given work that is too easy.
The achievement of pupils is good
 Pupils join the school with knowledge, skills and understanding that are broadly typical for their age. They
make good progress through the Reception Year and are well prepared for Year 1.
 By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils make good progress.
 Pupils continue to make good progress in Key Stage 2 and have, since the previous inspection, usually
attained levels above the national average by the time they leave the school in Year 6. Whilst there was a
dip in attainment in reading in 2013 and in mathematics in 2014, the school has taken robust action to
ensure that pupils are on track to attain above the national levels in all subjects again this year.
 The school has a well-established systematic approach to the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds
they make) and as a result, the number of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics
screening check have been well above that of most schools for the past two years. Pupils make good
progress across the school in reading and have extensive opportunities to read for a range of purposes.
 Achievement in writing has improved for the past three years and pupils now use their writing skills
effectively across a range of other subjects.
 Pupils make good progress in mathematics. Pupils in Key Stage 1 learn rapid methods for addition and
subtraction. Pupils in Key Stage 2 demonstrate good mental and written calculation skills although they do
not always look for the most efficient method when applying skills to solve a problem.
 Overall, disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their different starting points and the Year 6 test
results in 2014 show that the attainment of pupils supported by the pupil premium was just over half a
term behind other pupils nationally in reading and had closed the gap completely in writing. The gap in
mathematics had widened to just less than a year behind other pupils nationally which mirrors the dip in
attainment in mathematics for the school. When compared to other pupils in the school, disadvantaged
pupils were just over a term and a half behind in mathematics, half a term in reading and just over half a
term in writing. Current school data and other inspection evidence show that the gaps in attainment are
closing across the school and that in some year groups and some subjects the gaps have been closed
completely Disadvantaged pupils in all Key Stage 2 cohorts are making above expected progress in
mathematics.
 The achievement of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs is good and improving as a
result of the early identification of additional needs and the appropriate support provided, both within
lessons and through additional programmes. Pupils with special educational needs are well prepared for
their next phase of education, for example, a programme of life skills is taught prior to transfer to
secondary school.
 The proportion of pupils achieving the highest levels in writing was above those in most schools in 2014
and pupils currently in the school are on track to achieve above the national average in reading, writing
and mathematics in 2015. However, the work in some lessons does not sufficiently challenge the most
able pupils and as a result, not all make rapid and sustained progress.

The early years provision is good
 Children settle in quickly when they join the school as a result of good induction procedures. There is a
well-planned programme of activities to ensure that staff have the opportunity to get to know the children
well.
 Good leadership and management of early years result in robust procedures to assess children’s
understanding, skills and development when they first start at the school and throughout the year. This
enables staff to provide high quality learning experiences, both indoors and out, to meet children’s needs.
 Children make good progress from starting points which are broadly in-line with those typical for their age.
An average proportion of children reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year
and children’s overall achievement across all areas of learning is above the national average.
 There are good systems to involve parents in children’s learning and to provide them with a range of
information to help them support their children’s learning at home. Learning logs are used creatively to
enable parents and children to learn together and parents are encouraged to add their comments to help
staff to make accurate and well-informed assessments.
 Children behave well and clearly feel safe and secure. They are confident and happy to talk to adults in
the classroom, for example, a group of children were eager to show an inspector their well-developed
skills in writing and number.
 Information and communication technology is used well to enhance learning and also to enable children to
apply their skills independently. Children took great delight in solving number problems using electronic
tablets and showed good skills using technology.
 The outdoor learning area is used well to provide opportunities for children to develop in all areas of
learning. Staff respond to situations such as a brief fall of snow when the children were excited to catch
snowflakes on their tongues. Prompt use of the school blog enabled parents to share in photographs of
children having fun learning outside.
 Staff plan activities carefully to follow children’s interests and to ensure rapid progress, particularly in the
areas of learning where children’s attainment is lower. For example, children enjoyed improving their
physical development through crushing chalk in order to make and mix their own powder paints.
 Children are well prepared to move to the next phase of education, particularly in their well-developed
attitudes towards learning and their readiness to learn so that they make rapid progress as they move into
Year 1.
 Safeguarding procedures are in place including: the appropriate vetting and checks on adults working with
children, risk assessments and appropriate first aid training for staff. Whilst daily checks on equipment and
learning areas are carried out, these are not recorded and a method to do this would further enhance
procedures.

What inspection judgements mean
School
Grade Judgement Description
Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that
provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils
are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or
employment.
Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all
its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their
education, training or employment.
Grade 3 Requires
improvement
A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not
inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months
from the date of this inspection.
Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires
significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to
be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by
Ofsted inspectors.
A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing
to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s
leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have
the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This
school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

School details
Unique reference number 107224
Local authority Bradford
Inspection number 449730
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 4–11
Gender of pupils Mixed
Number of pupils on the school roll 422
Appropriate authority The governing body
Chair Phil Cavalier-Lumley
Headteacher Trevor Patterson
Date of previous school inspection 28 April 2010
Telephone number 01274 414355
Fax number 01274 414356
Email address office@blakehill.bradford.sch.uk

Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the
guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website:
www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300
123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.
You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted
will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to
inspect and when and as part of the inspection.
You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about
schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link
on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to
achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners
of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children
and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training,
work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in
prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services
for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.
Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school
must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not
exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.
If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please
telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.
You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you
give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.
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T: 0300 123 4234
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E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk
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