Moving beyond the floor target case study: Various primary schools, Bradford

School(s) context and profile

The case study involved the following three schools:

• Atlas Community Primary School
• Bradford Moor Community Primary School
• Lapage Primary School and Nursery

Atlas Community Primary School

Almost all pupils are of Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage and 98.1 per cent of pupils speak English as an additional language (EAL). The proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is over twice the national average with 95 per cent of the pupils living in neighbourhoods described as being among the ten per cent most deprived in the country.

In an Ofsted inspection report of April 2007 the school was given a notice to improve, and required to:

• improve pupils’ attainment
• ensure that the quality of teaching was consistently good, and that pupils were suitably challenged
• improve the use of assessment.

Attainment at Key Stage 2 over a three-year period was as follows:

	2005	2006	2007
English	44%	54%	71%
Mathematics	46%	46%	79%

Although a new headteacher was appointed in January 2007, improvements had begun prior to his taking up post.
In December 2007, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) judged that the headteacher was providing strong leadership and that the school was on track to be removed from category within 12 months.

Bradford Moor Community Primary School

The school serves an inner city area which has very high levels of social and economic disadvantage with 99.6 per cent of pupils in the 20 per cent most deprived in the country and 85 per cent of pupils in the ten per cent most deprived in the country, particularly regarding income, health and education. Almost all pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the majority being of Pakistani origin. A very high proportion of pupils (98.1 per cent) are at the early stages of learning EAL. The school was inspected in February 2007 and evaluated as satisfactory.

Attainment at Key Stage 2 over a three-year period was as follows:

	2005	2006	2007
English	59%	61%	65%
Mathematics	59%	59%	72%

A downward trend in Key Stage 1 results in reading and writing were largely due to concerns regarding the validity and reliability of pre-2006 data. A new headteacher was appointed in 2005, and was very well supported by a deputy headteacher and an assistant headteacher.

Lapage Primary School and Nursery

The school serves an inner-city area which has very high levels of social and economic disadvantage. Almost all pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the majority being of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin and 94.6 per cent speaking EAL. The current headteacher was appointed in January 2005. Prior to her appointment the school had seven acting headteachers in the space of four years.

In an Ofsted inspection report of February 2007 the school was given a notice to improve, and required to:

• raise standards and improve achievement in English, mathematics and science across the school
• raise the overall quality of teaching and learning to good or better.

Attainment at Key Stage 2 over a three-year period was as follows:

	2005	2006	2007
English	49%	42%	67.1%
Mathematics	42%	45%	59.8%

In November 2007 HMI judged that the school was making good progress.