Cockburn Ingram Road Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff care for the pupils who attend Ingram Road. Staff provide effective pastoral support for pupils and help them to feel safe. However, the school's expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low.

Over time, the school has not ensured that pupils are provided with an education that prepares them for their next steps. All pupil groups, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are underachieving.

This is an inclusive school.

Pupils are proud of the cultural and ethnic diversity and different faiths represented at Ingram Road Primary. Pupils are polite and courteous. They behave well during socia...l times.

However, lessons do not interest pupils. Some pupils can become bored. Despite this, pupils generally behave well in classrooms.

Pupils are encouraged to be active citizens. For example, some have shared their worries about traffic near the school with the police and councillors through the 'Safer Leeds' partnership. The council introduced narrowed roads and a one-way system around the school as a result.

Pupils know that they can come back to school if they feel unsafe. Some staff walk pupils home to make sure they get there safely.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

There are appropriate levels of supervision in the early years.

However, they do not get off to a good start to their education. A high proportion of children enter the early years with poor communication and language skills. The school has not adapted the curriculum or provided appropriate training for staff to prioritise improving children's communication and language.

Opportunities to help children learn when they are playing, or increase children's vocabulary, are consistently missed. By the end of the Reception Year, too many children cannot communicate, count, read or spell as well as they should.

In reading, the expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low.

The curriculum for early reading and phonics is not implemented well. The school does not follow the key stage 1 phonics curriculum sufficiently well. As a result, the progress that pupils make through the phonics programme is too slow.

Pupils do not learn to read as well as they should. A high proportion of Year 1 pupils do not meet the standard expected in the phonics screening check. Many pupils miss this standard by a considerable margin.

The school has increased the range of reading books in each class library to promote pupils' love of reading. Some pupils supplement these with books from home that they are interested in reading. However, pupils who are behind in reading are not supported well enough to become fluent and confident readers.

The school's expectations of what pupils can achieve are equally low in other curriculum subjects. The school underestimates what pupils are capable of. The school has not identified the precise knowledge that pupils need to learn in some curriculum subjects.

Some of the learning activities that teachers choose do not help pupils to learn the knowledge they need to read, write and apply mathematics as well as they should for their age. In foundation subjects, pupils learning does not build on what they already know. Pupils are not helped to remember the knowledge they are taught.

By the time pupils reach Year 6, many are significantly underachieving.

The school's approach to checking the curriculum is effectively taught across different subjects is not effective. As such, the school is not aware of the priorities for improvement across the curriculum.

Staff do not receive the help and training they need to ensure that they teach subjects well.

The support for pupils with SEND is inconsistent. In some cases, the school does identify pupils with SEND and puts steps in place to support them.

However, this is not the case for all pupils. Some pupils do not receive the help they need in lessons. The needs of these pupils are not met, which means they do not achieve well.

A high proportion of pupils are persistently absent from school. The school is doing all that it can reasonably be expected to do to improve this. Pupils' absences are closely monitored to identify any patterns or triggers.

The school works closely with parents and carers to encourage them to bring their children into school every day. Although pupils' attendance rates are low, there is evidence that this is improving.

The school has adapted the curriculum for pupils' personal development to build their confidence and resilience.

Pupils have a secure understanding of protected characteristics. They understand fundamental British values and show tolerance and respect to each other.

There has been some recent change in staffing, including among leaders, which has delayed some school improvement actions.

However, over time, the school, including governors, has not taken the actions needed to ensure that pupils are provided with a consistently high-quality education. The school is too reliant on the support of the local authority to identify and address priority areas for improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum for early reading and phonics is not well implemented. Pupils do not learn to read as well as they should. The school should ensure that the curriculum for early reading is taught well and that those pupils who need support to catch up receive it.

The school has not identified the knowledge that pupils need to learn in some curriculum subjects, including the areas of learning in the early years. Pupils' learning does not build progressively over time. Leaders should identify the knowledge pupils should learn in each subject precisely.

• Some staff have poor subject knowledge and do not understand the best ways to help pupils to learn. As a result, the implementation of the curriculum is variable, which contributes to pupils' underachievement. The school should provide training for staff to develop their subject and pedagogical knowledge.

• The curriculum in the early years does not meet pupils' needs. The attainment and progress of children in the early years is consistently low. The school should construct a carefully considered curriculum for the early years and provide training for staff to help them understand how to implement the curriculum well.

• The school, including governors, has not addressed the weaknesses in the quality of education, including in the early years, quickly enough. As a result, pupils experience a weak curriculum that does not prepare them for their next steps. The school should urgently raise its expectations and address the weaknesses in the quality of education that pupils receive.