Northgate Primary School, Great Yarmouth Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that governors develop their knowledge and skills so that they can more effectively contribute to raising standards
  • ensuring that the impact of pupil premium spending is evaluated more closely, so that support can be more precisely focused on further diminishing the difference between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • ensuring that teachers consistently set high expectations for all pupils to present their work to a good standard
  • ensuring that pupils, including the most able, are provided with sufficient challenge so that they make the progress of which they are capable.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since the previous inspection, the headteacher, senior leaders and governors have successfully expanded the school to provide for pupils from Reception to Year 6 from September 2018. With improved attainment and good progress in key stage 1, pupils build on secure foundations as they move through the school. Pupils’ good progress and attainment seen in Year 5 demonstrate that teachers have the necessary skills and knowledge to prepare Year 6 pupils for secondary school.
• The local authority has provided effective advice and support to school leaders, particularly with checking teachers’ accuracy in assessing pupils’ progress. This has led to a better understanding of what good progress is and, therefore, increased teachers’ confidence.
• Leaders’ systems for checking how pupils progress in their learning are effective. They identify pupils who are not making the expected progress and put into place small-group, focused support. The impact of such support is routinely reviewed and evaluated. Leaders, teachers and teaching assistants work cohesively to meet the needs of all pupils so that they make good progress.
• The focus on developing pupils’ speaking and listening skills is evident across the curriculum. This priority is linked closely to staff performance and is therefore understood by all staff across the school. Evidence of pupils making good progress in this area was seen in drama lessons, pupils’ presentation work and when speaking with pupils. As a result, pupils have made good progress in developing their confidence when speaking publicly and carefully consider their answers when responding to questions.
• Leaders demonstrate a strong commitment to developing staff skills. Teachers and teaching assistants have completed courses to help them support pupils of varying abilities and with specific needs. Some teaching assistants have become specialists at supporting pupils who are new to speaking English and for those pupils who have social, emotional and behavioural needs. This wealth of expertise enables pupils to settle, thrive and make good progress at Northgate.
• Special educational needs funding is effectively used to support pupils with a range of needs. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works well with parents, carers and external agencies to ensure that pupils get the best support available to them. As a result, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their different starting points.
• The school’s curriculum develops pupils to become good and caring citizens. It encourages curiosity and questioning and provides pupils with a secure base to help them to develop their own viewpoint. For example, pupils in Year 2 had a view on different religions and the similarities between Islam and Christianity, recognising that all religions are about being kind and caring. They were aware of their changing and diverse community and believed that being British was about being welcoming.
• Pupils in key stage 2 researched, and presented to younger pupils, the consequences of using and disposing of plastic products in their own local environment as well as the world. Because of the raised awareness, local families regularly litter pick around the seafront and beach areas.
• The curriculum is also broad and inspires pupils to be able to enthusiastically recall what it has taught them. For example, pupils in key stage 2 described scientific experiments that demonstrated chemical reactions and could draw conclusions from their findings. Pupils could also talk about their project on mountains and Sir Edmund Hillary’s conquering of Everest. They used this knowledge to write for a variety of different purposes, such as newspaper articles, and to recount and explain the process by which mountains are formed.
• Pupils in key stage 1 have a good understanding of where their town is situated in relation to the rest of the world. They could tell inspectors that Russia and the United States are super powers and the names of the politicians who run them. They relayed events from the past, such as the Second World War, and could explain the roles of different countries during this time. They shared their work on Admiral Lord Nelson and their paintings of Monet’s bridge in his garden at Giverny. Pupils were clearly inspired by their topic work and had gained valuable knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
• Disadvantaged pupils are supported effectively to make good progress. The pupil premium funding is used to provide a range of support for all pupils, but particularly those who need help with routines and boundaries. Leaders acknowledge that closer analysis and evaluation of the different types of support provided will give them better information about the spending, so that they know more precisely what is working well and what could be improved further.
• The primary physical education and sport premium funding is used effectively to provide pupils with a wide range of sporting opportunities. This has led to an increase in pupil participation in inter-school competitions as well as the school’s holiday sports club. Teachers develop their skills and knowledge working beside experienced coaches. Pupils told inspectors that they love the wide range of sports offered.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious for the pupils of the school. They are committed to supporting school leaders to drive improvements that ensure pupils get the best start and that provision meets the many different needs of their pupils.
• The new chair and vice chair of governors have undertaken a wide range of training to help them meet their governor responsibilities and carry out their statutory duties, including checks for safeguarding pupils at the school.
• Minutes of governing body meetings show that they are kept well informed by school leaders and ask appropriate questions to gain a deeper understanding of leaders’ work.
• Governors acknowledge that, as a priority, they need to further develop their knowledge and understanding of leaders’ work so that they can take more of a strategic role in holding school leaders to account for their actions. Relevant training and development are already planned.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have established a strong safeguarding culture where pupils’ well-being is a priority. Leaders and school staff provide strong pastoral support for the many pupils who are vulnerable and who have complex needs.
• The school’s pastoral team works well with families and external agencies to ensure that pupils get the support they need. Parents commented positively about the effective support they and their children receive.
• Leaders and teachers are committed to ensuring that pupils are safe and attend school regularly. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe at school and almost all parents who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, agreed that their children are safe and well looked after.
• Leaders ensure that staff know their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding. Processes are clear, and any concerns are followed up in a timely fashion. The designated safeguarding leads ensure that procedures are followed thoroughly. There is extensive and regular safeguarding training for all staff.
• The school’s single central record of employment checks and employee files are well maintained and contain all required statutory information. All adults have undergone the necessary checks to be suitable to work with children.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers’ good subject knowledge is leading to an improvement in pupils’ outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics across the school. Staff training and a focus on pupils’ individual needs have ensured that teaching and learning have been tailored to ensure that pupils get the right support. As a result, pupils make good progress from their different starting points.
• A consistent approach to developing pupils’ speaking and listening skills has improved pupils’ vocabulary and skills in reading and writing. As a result, pupils’ attainment in both subjects has improved this year.
• Teachers have completed training in mathematics to further develop their teaching of reasoning and problem-solving skills. Pupils’ work shows that they can confidently apply their knowledge of calculation to word problems. Pupils told inspectors about how they are challenged in mathematics. Teachers demonstrated how they develop pupils’ reasoning skills, showing inspectors examples of how they achieve this. Pupils have a good understanding of mathematical concepts and can confidently apply them to a range pf problem-solving tasks.
• Reading and phonics are taught well across the school. Teachers have a consistent approach to teaching reading. Pupils are introduced to new words with ‘word of the week’. For example, in Year 1, pupils were learning the word ‘woe’ from the rhyme ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe’. They were able to provide the meaning and several alternative words. The school’s targeted approach to teaching phonics has ensured that pupils are confident at reading and using new words. As a result, more pupils across the school are at the expected standard in phonics and reading this year.
• The quality of teaching and learning in subjects other than English and mathematics is good. This was apparent in pupils’ work and in the way they confidently spoke with inspectors about their understanding of topics they had learned in both key stages 1 and 2. Subject leaders ensure that teachers plan lessons that make purposeful connections across topics where they can, for example by linking a range of history and geography topics to pupils’ local environment. In addition, a wide range of school visits and enrichment activities help to deepen pupils’ understanding across a range of subjects.
• Teachers ensure that vulnerable pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those who have SEN and/or disabilities, have many opportunities to develop their confidence and self-esteem. Pupils who spoke with inspectors had high aspirations for their futures. Inspectors observed an uplifting musical production to parents involving pupils of all abilities, demonstrating that ensuring inclusion, and building aspirations and confidence are strengths of the school.
• Pupils write for a range of purposes and show that they are becoming more proficient in being able to apply grammar skills consistently well. They were able to tell inspectors what they needed to do to improve in their work. Good progress can be seen in pupils’ writing over time.
• In key stage 1, teachers ensure that pupils routinely practise their handwriting. However, pupils are not consistently joining their letters in either key stage 1 or 2. A consistently high standard of presentation is not evident in some year groups. This is now a priority for leaders.
• Where teaching and learning is more focused, the higher-attaining pupils make good progress and attain well, as demonstrated in the teaching of phonics in key stage 1 and mathematics in key stage 2. However, the most able are not sufficiently stretched to reach greater depth and the higher standards of attainment.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• ‘Cosmic Corner’ provides early support for younger children who can sometimes find school and learning challenging. Pupils thrive and benefit from small-group work to help them access the curriculum. Pupils are soon ready to integrate into whole-class learning with increased confidence and clear expectations.
• Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe at school. They shared their wide range of learning about safety. This included how to stay safe when using the internet, the most common danger signs and what to do if they felt that they were unsafe. They could also talk confidently about safety at the seaside and activities that could lead to danger around the seafront. In addition, younger pupils could explain their approach to staying safe if they were lost.
• Parents recognise the staff’s commitment to supporting the well-being of their children. One parent’s comments were echoed by many: ‘Staff do their absolute best to ensure that pupils behave well, strive to achieve and make good choices both academically and socially. The nurturing ethos is clear when you enter the school and I have complete trust in how they run the school.’ Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils show a love of learning, demonstrated by positive learning behaviours in lessons. Year 5 pupils clearly knew the importance of education as they shared their aspirations for the future. These included being a scientist, a teacher, an architect and a palaeontologist. Some showed a desire to go to university to study for a degree, and others wanted to follow in their grandparents’ footsteps into the army, police or farming.
• Pupils are lively and sociable individuals. They work well together in class and socialise sensibly during the less structured times of the day. Pupils told inspectors that they were confident that incidents of bullying would be followed up if they happened. They could name individual staff who they would go to if they had any concerns.
• Leaders monitor and analyse attendance closely and their actions are beginning to have a positive impact. Although still not in line with national averages, persistent absences have decreased year on year and have significantly decreased this academic year.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ attainment in key stage 1 has been below the national average for at least three years in reading, writing and mathematics. However, this is improving over time and attainment is higher each year. Teachers focus on pupils’ specific needs and provide focused support from the beginning. This has ensured that pupils, including current pupils, are making very good progress from very different starting points in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Outcomes in phonics are improving over time due to targeted support for pupils who need extra help, particularly those who are new to speaking English. Inspectors heard the most able pupils read with confidence. Those who needed to catch up were able to use strategies they had been taught to attempt difficult words and phrases. As a result, pupils make good progress from their different starting points.
• In 2017, attainment in key stage 1 in writing was significantly below the national average. Current attainment information shows that this is quickly improving. However, pupils are not always challenged well enough to make the most progress they can. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils, as demonstrated by too few pupils reaching greater depth.
• Effective support for disadvantaged pupils has led to them making good progress from their starting points. Nonetheless, a deeper analysis of the impact of pupil premium spending will help leaders and teachers to finely tune provision further, so that they can diminish the difference between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally even further.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are supported well with their individual needs and therefore make good progress over time.
• Pupils’ work, and leaders’ information about pupils’ progress and attainment, demonstrate that progress continues to improve as pupils move further up the school. A high proportion of pupils enter the school at other than usual times for admission. The current Year 5 pupils who have attended Northgate since the start of their primary education have made good progress. A high proportion of these pupils are attaining at the expected and higher standards. Those new to the school are making good and sometimes better progress from their starting points when they joined Northgate.
• From Year 1 to Year 5, pupils demonstrate they are making good progress over time, with clear progression seen across year groups, so that more pupils are reaching the expected standards as they approach Year 6.

Early years provision Good

• The early years is well led and managed. Leaders review and adapt the early years curriculum year on year, and throughout the school year, to ensure that teaching and learning meets the many different needs of their children. Many children enter Reception with skills and abilities below those typical of their age, particularly in speaking and listening. Leaders’ effective monitoring and evaluation of their actions are ensuring that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development is increasing year on year.
• Leaders’ priority to focus on developing children’s speaking and listening skills is ensuring that children are exposed to rich vocabulary daily. Children’s work shows that they are encouraged to use exciting words in their writing. Children listen well to instructions and respond well to questioning. Additional adults support and extend children’s learning through effective questioning so that they become curious and confident learners.
• Leaders have ensured that the indoor and outside environments are exciting and inviting. Children are provided with a wide range of resources to enable them to develop skills in all areas of the curriculum. Adults closely monitor children’s progress. From their observations, they provide them with appropriate next steps, ensuring that they make good and sometimes better progress from their different starting points.
• Children make good progress in learning new sounds and develop their phonics skills quickly. This is because teachers have good subject knowledge and teach phonics well. Children further on in their learning read to inspectors and were confidently segmenting and blending unfamiliar words. Those who are new to speaking English are secure in their knowledge of phonics strategies, so that they too can read new words. As a result, most children make good progress in phonics.
• Activities are purposeful and are carefully planned to excite and inspire children while meeting their individual needs. Because of this, children’s interests are sustained for long periods of time. For example, in one activity, two boys worked together as scientists using a pipette to mix different inks in a pallet. They were excited to show the inspector the new colour that emerged. They then recorded their findings scientifically, using their number sentence knowledge ‘red+green=’. Children can link ideas in a meaningful way, building on and deepening their understanding.
• Children enjoy writing and teachers engage them well in writing about recent visits they have been on. Children were enthusiastic and shared their writing with inspectors about their visit to the circus. They wrote with eagerness about the trapeze and the tightrope, using prompts on the desk to help them write independently. Those less able were supported to write full sentences that were phonetically plausible to convey their exciting experience. Children’s work shows that the more confident writers are asked to use adjectives and adults discuss with them additional punctuation, such as question marks and speech marks.
• Children have opportunities to apply their number knowledge to reasoning and problem-solving activities. In one activity, a child wrote numbers in tens to one hundred. She then explored this further by completing a tens number pattern. Other children were investigating length by measuring the height of their friends using large plastic bricks.
• Parents are very positive about the support they receive early on to help their children settle into Reception routines. They appreciate the many parent workshops that give them a good insight into their child’s learning so that they can support them better at home. Some commented on, and gave examples of, the good progress their children have made in reading and writing since they started their full-time education, particularly parents with children who have complex needs and require extra support.
• Leaders acknowledge that, in some sessions, the most able children’s learning could be stretched further by starting them off more quickly on an activity so that they can make as much progress as possible.
• Children are well supported, safe, happy and well looked after in Reception and are given the strategies and skills to successfully prepare them for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 120981 Norfolk 10046526 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 Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 311 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Julie Bailey Lyndsay Hanger 01493 856515 www.northgateprimary.norfolk.sch.uk head@northgateprimary.norfolk.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 1–2 October 2014

Information about this school

• Since the previous inspection, the school has expanded from an infant to a primary school. The school will provide for pupils from Reception to Year 6 in September 2018.
• The majority of pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported through the pupil premium is much higher than average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is higher than average.
• A significant number of pupils enter the school at other than the usual times of admission.
• Provision in the early years takes the form of two Reception classes with, all children attending full time.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed teaching and learning across all year groups.
• The lead inspector held meetings with the headteacher, governors and school staff, including senior and middle leaders, and met with a representative from the local authority.
• The inspection team observed the school’s work and looked at pupils’ written work, information on pupils’ attainment and progress, curriculum planning, and records of behaviour and safety. They also looked at the minutes of governing body meetings, safeguarding documents, including mandatory checks made on the recruitment of new staff, and the school’s website.
• Discussions were held with pupils in key stages 1 and 2 and informal conversations took place during lesson times.
• The inspection team listened to pupils read and talked to them about the books they enjoy.
• The inspectors took account of the 29 responses to Ofsted’s online parental questionnaire, Parent View, and the 29 free-text responses. In addition, inspectors spoke with parents informally at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Cindy Impey, lead inspector Sarah Warboys Henry Weir

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector