The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Ossett South Parade Primary School is a school where pupils are safe and feel safe. This is because behaviour is good and because pupils know how to keep themselves safe in various situations. Pupils’ conduct is strong at all times of the day and the relationships between different groups of pupils, and between adults and pupils, are also very positive. As a result, bullying is very rare, as are serious behaviour incidents. This is why pupils feel safe and parents and carers believe that their children are safe, happy and well cared for in school. Parents are pleased with the school. They report that you and your staff are approachable, and that you listen to their concerns and deal with these quickly and effectively. They also feel that you communicate well with them; they understand how well their children do at school and enjoy the opportunities to join in activities with their children. Teaching is good. It is engaging and largely matches pupils’ needs well. Consequently, pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and are keen to learn and to do well. Classroom work is further supported by visits outside school and the events you hold in school. For example, you have developed a programme to give pupils an understanding of different careers and the types of skills they will need for different jobs. Such events have inspired pupils, who report that the opportunity to meet people from different walks of life has been extremely enjoyable and informative. At the last inspection, inspectors identified two main areas for improvement. The first was to improve teaching further and ensure that pupils’ progress continued to increase, especially in writing. Inspectors recommended that assessment information be used to carefully plan activities which match pupils’ needs closely, especially those of the most able pupils. They also suggested that teachers offered pupils more opportunities to write independently at length. In addition, the inspectors recommended that teachers gave pupils clear guidance on how to improve their work. I was interested in pupils’ progress in writing, mathematics and reading. I am pleased to report that you have succeeded in improving the teaching of writing, and in maintaining strong progress in reading and, especially, in mathematics. Pupils’ progress has improved in writing thanks to the regular opportunities they get to write at length, thus developing their stamina. This writing practice has also helped pupils’ accuracy in spelling and their use of punctuation and grammar. The second area for improvement identified by inspectors was for leaders to be more rigorous in their monitoring of teachers’ planning and marking. Again, you have succeeded in this area and your rigorous monitoring of teaching has led to strong training opportunities, and, in turn, teachers who plan well. This has led to improved outcomes in these areas so that by the time the pupils leave at the end of Year 6, they are well prepared for secondary school. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors make sure that the safeguarding arrangements in the school are appropriate and work effectively to keep pupils safe. All staff receive regular training in safeguarding and child protection and this is updated when necessary. This means that all your staff understand their responsibilities regarding pupils’ safety and that they know what to do when an issue concerning safeguarding arises. Your staff, the governors and any volunteers who work in school are checked for their suitability to work with and be with children. These checks meet statutory requirements and you keep detailed records of them. You also keep detailed records of any incidents that relate to pupils’ safety and safeguarding. This means that you and your staff have a clear understanding of any safeguarding issues, which helps the school to work effectively with external agencies. The very few incidents of inappropriate behaviour, coupled with the rarity of bullying, confirm that pupils are safe in school. Inspection findings During the inspection, I was interested to understand how well you serve the needs of disadvantaged pupils and how well the funding they attract is spent. Disadvantaged pupils have not always done as well as other pupils since the last inspection. However, more recently, improvements have been apparent, due to the effective actions you have taken to monitor these pupils’ achievement. When underachievement is identified, it is done so in a timely way, and effective support is provided, including work before and after school to improve pupils’ skills in reading. Linked to the work for disadvantaged pupils, your work to support pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is particularly strong. You have a high number of these pupils, some of whom have very significant and complex needs. Leaders have an excellent knowledge of these pupils’ individual needs and how to support them through a wide range of programmes and resources. As a consequence, they achieve very well from their starting points. Historically, phonics outcomes have been weak in the school and this has been due to weaker provision in early years. However, you have worked successfully to improve the early years provision so that outcomes in this part of the school are now much stronger and children leave Reception well prepared for Year 1. In turn, this has meant that children’s phonics provision is stronger. They learn these skills securely and rapidly, leading to better outcomes when their phonics skills are checked at the end of Year 1. During the inspection, I wanted to understand how well pupils behave, considering the very high number of exclusions you have had since the last inspection. I also wanted to check that attendance is well monitored and improving. Pleasingly, you have virtually eradicated the serious behaviour incidents that had led to exclusions. This is thanks to your effective work to meet the needs of different pupils who have previously found it difficult to manage their feelings and behaviour. This year, attendance has dropped slightly, and the number of pupils who are persistently absent has increased slightly. You have asserted that low levels of attendance are largely due to a high number of holidays taken during term time. Despite your warnings and administration of fines, a large number of parents still choose to take their children out of school during term time. I was keen to understand how well the wider curriculum has been developed in the school. Exciting events and trips take place regularly. They support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as well as their understanding of British values. However, while the curriculum is broad and balanced, the teaching of subjects such as science, history and geography is not good. Too often, work does not meet the needs of different pupils closely enough. In addition, there are too few opportunities to reinforce reading, writing and mathematics in the wider curriculum in a way that challenges and stretches pupils. Teachers do not always offer pupils appropriate opportunities to develop their oral communication skills. Pupils are eager participants in class discussions, but are often expected to give only very short answers. Teachers miss opportunities to encourage pupils to give full answers, using full sentences and giving explanations for their answers. The governors understand the school well and work effectively with you and your other leaders. They know what the school’s strengths are, how improvements have come about and where improvements are still needed, including in the development of the wider curriculum. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teaching in the wider curriculum improves and matches that seen in reading, writing and mathematics teachers offer pupils regular and authentic opportunities to develop their reading, writing, mathematical and oral communication skills throughout all areas of the curriculum they continue to work with parents so that they avoid taking their children on holidays during term time. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wakefield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Fiona McNally Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I visited a number of classes to observe teaching and its impact on learning. I also looked at a wide range of pupils’ books from several year groups across a variety of subjects. I met with you and your governors and with other senior and middle leaders. I also held a discussion with a representative of the local authority. I looked at the school’s information about the safeguarding of pupils and examined exclusion and attendance records. I also checked a range of other documentation, such as your self-evaluation, your school development plan and your assessment information. I held formal discussions with some pupils from key stages 1 and 2 and spoke informally to several pupils during breaktime. I also listened to four pupils read from Years 2 and 6. I considered the parents’ responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I spoke to a number of parents in the playground as they dropped their children off at school.