Newport Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management in order to accelerate the progress pupils make, by:
  • ensuring that governors challenge leaders effectively, especially regarding pupils’ progress
  • making sure that teachers have the highest expectations of what pupils can do
  • putting in place effective systems to measure pupils’ progress across subjects
  • making sure that support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is effective
  • strengthening checks that the school makes on its effectiveness so that they reflect more accurately the current picture of education in the school
• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by:
  • making sure that teachers use assessment information effectively to provide appropriate challenge for pupils
  • making sure that teachers’ subject knowledge is strong so that they challenge and support pupils well
  • making sure that adults use the outdoor area in the early years effectively
  • sharing the best practice which exists in the school. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders and governors have high ambitions for school improvement but these are not yet shared by all staff. As a result, pupils are not challenged enough.
• Leaders know the strengths of the school but their evaluation is overly generous. This means that their plans for improvement do not focus on the most important areas. For example, one of the school priorities is to do with parental involvement but parents are already very positive about the school.
• The headteacher has addressed inadequate teaching effectively. She has been instrumental in stemming the decline, especially in teaching, and has taken some difficult decisions about ineffective staff performance. However, teachers whose performance is not yet good have not been challenged or supported well enough to improve. As a result, teaching remains inconsistent.
• Leaders have not monitored the progress of pupils effectively. They attribute slow progress to previously inflated key stage 1 outcomes. Leaders have not tackled slow progress well enough. Information about current pupils’ progress is generous and inconsistent with the quality of teaching overall. Leaders do not have accurate information about the progress that pupils make over time and this means that they are not well placed to make sure that pupils who have fallen behind catch up. This is especially true for most-able pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced, with good opportunities provided by artists in residence and trips, both local and further afield. However, leaders acknowledge that it needs refinement so that it reflects better the context of the school. The sports premium is well used to increase participation in a range of sporting activities, some of which are new, like dance, and to support the school’s work on developing healthy lifestyles. Staff in the school kitchen now provide healthy snacks for the pupils, who say that they like this change.
• Leaders make sure that staff respect each other and are polite to each other, which provides a strong role model for pupils, who, as a result, behave courteously.
• Staff are proud to be members of the school community. They say that they are treated fairly and so enjoy working at the school.
• In 2015, the local authority recognised that the school was at risk of failing and provided intensive support. From 2016 to the present, the local authority has reduced its support for the school to light touch because they evaluate the school as being good. The evaluation is based largely on the pupils’ attainment rather than progress. This means that local authority support has not had the right impact.

Governance of the school

• Since governors have not challenged leaders precisely enough to tackle slow pupils’ progress, their view of the quality of education is inaccurate, especially regarding outcomes.
• Governors are beginning to ensure that additional government funding is used effectively so that disadvantaged pupils do as well as their peers. They have successfully held leaders to account for the effective use of the sports premium.
• Governors are aware of the requirement to link teacher performance and salary progression. They receive useful reports from the headteacher to support their work in this area, but they have not challenged her well enough because teaching is not yet consistently good.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire Parent View all agreed that their children are safe and are well cared for. Some of them said that they felt that the school does not deal well with bullying but the inspection team found no evidence to support this view.
• Safeguarding threads through everything the school does. Care is taken to ensure that the school is safe and that procedures are rigorous. Designated staff are tenacious in following up safeguarding concerns with external agencies.
• Policies which relate to safeguarding are well organised and are fully understood by staff, who benefit from regular and up-to-date training to enable them to fulfil their statutory duties.
• The checks on staff when they begin work at the school and on governors and volunteers are rigorous and meet statutory requirements.
• Safeguarding records are robust and are extremely carefully kept. They are completed with great accuracy.
• The governor with responsibility for safeguarding makes sure that all governors have a clear understanding of their specific safeguarding responsibilities.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• While there is some good teaching in the school, there are too many inconsistencies in teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. This means that there is often a lack of challenge for pupils of different abilities and groups of pupils. For example, some of the most able pupils are not being well enough challenged to develop their skills at the higher levels.
• Teachers do not explain learning well enough and this means that the pupils do not understand exactly what they are learning about, how they will know they are successful and how to improve their work.
• Teachers do not model spoken and written language consistently well enough. For example, in a lesson, a teacher used the singular verb when it should have been plural and inspectors saw a similar example in pupils’ books. Too few teachers have the strong subject knowledge they need to support pupils to deepen their understanding of key concepts, including in subjects such as religious education where activities are determined by English skills rather than comparing and contrasting religions or articulating what the religion means to them.
• Teachers adhere to most aspects of the school’s feedback policy. The policy states that pupils should respond to teachers’ feedback but teachers but do not give pupils time to do this. This means that pupils are not able to give meaningful examples of how to move their learning forwards. Teachers accept too readily the first answer which pupils give, rather than challenging them to think more deeply.
• Teaching assistants are highly committed to supporting pupils’ welfare but the work in classrooms to secure the progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is not effective. Teachers do not routinely deploy teaching assistants well enough to make sure that they support pupils’ learning. Small-group support is more effective than that seen in whole-class work. This is especially the case where teaching assistants work well with pupils on the school’s chosen method of teaching phonics.
• Pupils present their work well because they take pride in it and because teachers’ expectations for presentation are high.
• Where teaching is most effective, pupils work at the standard expected of them and make progress in their learning because teachers’ subject knowledge is strong and teaching builds on what pupils have learned previously.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils feel supported by their teachers, who ensure that they are safe and well cared for. The specialist sports coaches help pupils to understand how to stay healthy.
• Inspectors observed a key stage 2 assembly where the focus was on the pupils keeping themselves safe on the roads. The teacher who led the assembly kept the pupils engrossed throughout by telling them a story about something which happened to her and asking them how they thought she felt.
• Pupils take on responsibilities such as being ‘global citizens’, ‘music makers’ and ‘time travellers’. They work together to raise the profile of these areas across the school community.
• Pupils move sensibly around the building and play safely outside. Levels of adult supervision at breaks and lunchtimes are good. Staff are visible and approachable. Arrangements for administering first aid and medicines are effective and incidents are recorded carefully and passed to parents where appropriate.
• Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe online. They know not to give personal information over the internet and what to do if something which upsets them appears on screen. Pupils speak confidently about the place of British values in their lives. For example, they know that school rules are important to make sure that everyone knows what is and is not allowed in school. The school promotes the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. For example, there are displays which focus on the major world religions and the displays encourage the pupils to reflect on what the key tenets of the religions mean for them.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in structured and unstructured activities, when they are supervised and when they are on their own. They look after equipment well. There is a calm and orderly atmosphere.
• The inspection team saw examples where pupils behaved well in classrooms even where teaching was weaker and did not adequately meet their needs.
• Attendance is in line with the national figure. In 2016, pupils who receive support for their special educational needs did not attend as well as they should because they had significant medical needs. Leaders followed up their absence rigorously and, on one occasion, the headteacher went to the pupil’s house to check that all was well. Pupils arrive punctually to lessons and are ready to learn.

Outcomes for pupils

• Standards have declined since the previous inspection. In 2016, at the end of key stage 2, progress was below the national average in reading and writing and well below in mathematics. The picture improved only slightly in 2017, when progress in reading was average. Progress in writing and mathematics was well below the national average. In 2017, pupils who had SEN and/or disabilities and those who had been at the school for all of Years 5 and 6 made progress in writing and mathematics which was well below that of other pupils nationally. In 2016 and 2017, the most able pupils made progress in reading which was above average but their progress in writing was well below average and in mathematics was below average.
• Pupils’ books indicate that they are currently making progress at a rate which is to be expected. However, pupils do not reach their potential. For example, in Year 6, in English, the most able pupils make slightly better use of interesting vocabulary than at the start of the year. In Year 4, pupils use compound sentences better now than at the start of the year. In Year 2, while pupils have opportunities to carry out experiments in science, they are not challenged to explain why the results are as they are.
• There is a small number of disadvantaged pupils in the school. They have made better progress of late and this means that the differences between their outcomes and those of other pupils nationally are diminishing.
• The school’s own information suggests that pupils’ progress is beginning to improve but the teacher assessments are not accurate in some cases as they do not match the profile of the teaching nor do they match work in pupils’ books.
• Leaders gave two verbal case studies of pupils who have made strong progress from low starting points. Others have not made enough progress.
• Children enter the Reception class with skills and abilities which are typical for their age. They go on to make good progress and leave the early years with skills which are above those found nationally. The progress which pupils currently in the school make indicates that leaders have begun to address the decline. The proportion of pupils who pass the Year 1 phonics screening check is higher than the national average. Attainment in Year 2 and Year 6 is above the national average.

Early years provision Good

• Children get off to a good start in the early years because adults make sure that activities match their needs very well. There are no differences in outcomes between the boys and the girls and between the various groups of children. Children do equally well in all areas of learning. Children are confident to talk about their learning because adults explain it clearly throughout the session.
• Routines are well established and transitions from activity to activity are seamless. This means that the children are confident and self-assured because the environment is safe for them. Welfare requirements are met. There is a good number of fully trained paediatric first aiders. Parents are fully involved in children’s learning.
• Children were happy to speak to inspectors about their learning and about themselves. They spoke clearly in full sentences. They asked and answered questions articulately and were curious about why inspectors were there.
• Adults take every opportunity to secure learning. For example, at morning registration, the teacher asked how many children were there today, how many there were in the class altogether and how many were absent.
• Adults offer challenge in some of the activities, and this develops children’s resilience. Children negotiate and take turns well. They listen to one another and have a sense of what is right and wrong. They know about healthy eating and are aware of how to use money. These developing skills mean that they are well placed to move to Year 1 at the end of the year.
• The early years leader has an accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the setting and she is clear about the impact she has had on quality since she took up post. She has ensured that the curriculum is well balanced and holds the interests of all the children except a very few of the boys.
• Adults do not use the outdoor area effectively enough. When children are outside, adults do not give them opportunities to take risks to enhance their learning. This means that opportunities for physical development are limited.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 114985 Essex 10037653

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Number of pupils on the school roll Maintained 4 to 11 Mixed 176 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Reverend Neil McLeod Sharon Lester 01799 540055 www.newport.essex.sch.uk admin@newport.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 January 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• This is a smaller than average primary school. Almost all pupils come from white British backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils receiving support for SEN and/or disabilities is below the national average. The proportion needing more support through an education, health and care plan is below average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes, sometimes jointly with the headteacher.
• Pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 read to inspectors and talked about their books.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ written work in their English, mathematics, science, history, geography and religious education books. They also looked at displays around the school.
• Inspectors observed and spoke with pupils at playtimes and lunchtimes. They spoke to them as they worked in class and more formally in groups. They spoke with parents about their views of the school.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, who is also the assessment leader, and a range of other leaders, including those for mathematics, art and early years. They spoke with the special educational needs coordinator, the chair of the governing body and six other governors. They met with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors considered the views of 86 parents who responded to Parent View and 18 members of staff who completed the staff questionnaire.
• Inspectors looked at a range of the school’s documentation, including policies and record-keeping for safeguarding. They checked the single central record of statutory suitability vetting carried out on all staff, volunteers and governors.
• Inspectors checked school’s information about how well it is performing and its plans for future improvements.

Inspection team

Helen Jones, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Sandra Jones Ofsted Inspector