The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You work exceptionally well as a senior leadership team with your head of school, Sharon Harwood. Your vision and high expectations of what pupils can achieve are shared by your dedicated staff. The school’s values statement of ‘GROWTH’, representing, goals, respect, ownership, work ethic, teamwork and health, permeates well throughout the school. You have made an accurate evaluation of your school. Subsequent action plans and strategies used to improve the quality of teaching have enabled you to ensure that areas of improvement from the previous inspection have been dealt with well. They have also helped you identify the need to enhance the learning environment and give teachers more precise feedback. You and your team have worked tirelessly to improve attendance through implementing consistent and rigorous strategies with the support of the education welfare officer. This has seen rates of attendance improve for pupils who are eligible for support through the pupil premium funding and those with a special educational need (SEN). You and your team have made this school a very caring school where pupils’ emotional and educational needs are met well. Some pupils at the school have complex and specific emotional needs. You and your team take exceptional care in making sure that their needs are considered and that all pupils are made to feel safe and welcome. In 2013, and since the last inspection, the school formed a federation with neighbouring Copley Primary School. This federation has allowed New Road Primary School staff to share good practice and ideas to the benefit of the pupils. Your vision of growing new school leaders from all teaching staff is clear, and staff enthusiastically respond to the roles and responsibilities they are given. This means that the quality of leadership in the school is constantly improving. Governors support the school well. They are well informed by the senior leaders but, although they ask questions appropriately, they do not challenge thoroughly and follow up on actions taken. All parents who chose to respond to Ofsted’s questionnaire using text feedback commented positively about the school. They are highly supportive of the leadership and commented on the improvements made since the school became a federation with Copley Primary School. Parents wrote about how ‘fantastic’ and ‘brilliant’ the school is. They said how ‘approachable’ the staff are and that concerns are dealt with ‘sensitively’. Parents support the school events well. There are a number of regular workshops on a range of different aspects, which are well attended by parents. Pupils said how much they love their school. They said enthusiastically that the best thing about the school is that everybody is well behaved and friendly. Pupils’ behaviour is a strength of the school. Pupils rise to the high expectations set with the need for very little adult supervision and they know they are responsible for their own behaviours. They are polite and courteous to others and make the school a calm, orderly and friendly environment to be in. Pupils know that everybody is different and they welcome and celebrate those differences. Pupils have an excellent attitude to learning. They enjoy learning and are proud to show the work they have completed in their books. They said how much teachers help them improve their work. In the past, many pupils have joined the school during key stage 2, rather than in Reception or key stage 1. Some of these pupils, when they arrive, have complex needs or lower levels of attainment. Therefore, many do not have the time to make as much progress as pupils who have attended the school for many years. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils said that they feel safe in school and that they know that adults in school will try to resolve any concerns they may have. The majority of pupils spoken to said that bullying, in any form, such as homophobic, racial or cyber bullying, rarely takes place. However, on the exceptional occasion when it occurs, pupils said that adults have dealt well and swiftly with issues. Pupils know what the different types of bullying are and they know different strategies to keep themselves safe, for example, when using the internet. Designated safeguarding leaders and their deputies are clearly known in the school because they are named on policies, and photographs of them are placed around the school. Therefore, pupils and adults know whom to turn to should they have any concerns. Your head of school takes the lead in liaising with external agencies and with record-keeping regarding child protection issues. This she does extremely well, and records are accurate and detailed. You ensure that systems are in place to support all safeguarding leaders so that they also know whom to turn to if they have any questions or queries. Your administration staff are highly efficient at recording all recruitment checks and in ensuring that all adults visiting the school have the appropriate checks or supervision while with you. A safeguarding governor works with the school team to make sure that regular checks and audits ensure that safeguarding arrangements and records are fit for purpose. This information also confirms that you are up to date with current requirements and that you and your team do not become complacent with regards to pupil safety. Inspection findings You and your head of school know your school well. The evaluation of your school represents an accurate picture, which is gained from contributions from all those involved in your school. The professional development of your teaching staff is a strength of the school. All teachers are given clear roles and responsibilities and the support to enable them to carry out these roles. A focused strategy of professional development to build new middle leaders from all teaching staff is highly effective in supporting school improvement and succession in leadership. The close links with the other school in the federation have helped to improve the quality of teaching. All staff who responded to the questionnaire or whom I spoke to commented on how well supported and valued they feel. Governors play an important part in school improvement. They play an active role in the life of the school. They have strategies which enable them to work alongside teachers to gain a greater understanding of what is happening in school. This then equips them to be able to challenge and ask questions more effectively. However, they do not follow up sufficiently on the questions they ask and check the effectiveness and impact of the actions that have been taken. Published information on outcomes for pupils who left the school at the end of Year 6 last year indicate that they left having made progress that was well below that of other pupils of the same age nationally. However, due to a small year group of pupils, some of whom who have complex needs and several who joined the school towards the end of key stage 2, this information does not accurately reflect the progress that pupils made during their time at the school. You regularly review the progress that pupils make to identify where things can be improved and to improve the quality of teaching. Sometimes, the areas of improvement that you identify for teachers to help them are not precise enough. In some cases, this can prevent the quality of teaching and pupil’s progress from improving as fast as they could. Due to a legacy of poorer teaching and subsequent underachievement, some older pupils need to make much faster progress to reach the standards of attainment they are capable of. Younger pupils in school are generally making much better progress than their older peers as they have had the benefit of the improving quality of teaching and they have not joined the school late in key stage 2. Pupils said that they enjoy learning, although they said that at times learning can become ‘boring’. You and your team recognise that although the learning environment is clean and tidy it is not as good at inspiring pupils as it could be. Your detailed analysis of pupils’ progress enables you and your team to quickly identify any pupil or groups of pupils who are not making good or better progress. Teachers implement a system of daily immediate intervention to tackle any misconceptions before they become embedded. Teaching assistants are highly valued and skilled in ensuring that pupils understand concepts and they quickly pick up when pupils need some attention to help them continue in their learning. Strategies are implemented when you identify weaknesses in groups or areas of learning. In the early years, for example, a particular weakness for these young children when they join the school has been communication, language and literacy skills. A series of commercial intervention programmes were introduced, which positively influenced the outcomes for this cohort of children. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: governors challenge leaders thoroughly by following up on questions they raise and subsequent actions taken so they can be fully aware of the impact of the strategies on pupil outcomes the learning environment, both inside and outside, is more stimulating and engaging for pupils to support them in making even better progress teachers receive more precise feedback on areas for improvement so that they become even better equipped to improve pupil outcomes. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Calderdale. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Jo Sharpe Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I spent most of the time with you and the head of school. We considered learning in lessons and in books in all year groups. You both accompanied me in lessons, where we observed teaching and spoke to pupils about their learning. We had discussions and considered a range of documentation about safeguarding, governance, the quality of teaching and pupils’ performance. I studied internal and external evaluations of the school and the school’s action plan. I observed pupils’ behaviour at different times of the school day, including breakfast and after-school club. I spoke to pupils about the work in their books and what it is like to attend your school. I took account of the 27 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 23 comments on the text service for parents. Twelve staff members responded to the staff questionnaire; these views were also considered.