Broadwood Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, so that all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and the most able, make at least good progress, especially in writing, mathematics and spelling, by ensuring that teachers:
  • use pupils’ prior assessment information to plan activities that meet pupils’ needs and abilities effectively
  • plan learning activities that correspond to the intended learning outcomes
  • consistently apply the school’s teaching and assessment policies
  • provide pupils with opportunities to deepen their understanding and apply their knowledge, skills and understanding to a range of different concepts
  • are familiar with, and plan for, the additional needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Further improve the effectiveness of leadership and safeguarding by:
  • continuing efforts to engage more parents and carers in the work of the school, particularly in relation to e-safety
  • clarifying expectations relating to teaching, learning and assessment
  • ensuring that all subject leaders have a thorough understanding of, and act upon, less effective teaching and the pupils who are underachieving in their subject areas
  • refining the curriculum, particularly for the foundation subjects, so that pupils acquire a broader range of knowledge, understanding and skills
  • reviewing the support available to help pupils who speak English as an additional language learn a new language swiftly
  • acting upon the remaining recommendations from the recent pupil premium review.
• Improve provision in the early years and key stage 1 by:
  • ensuring that children have ready access to reading books which match their phonic knowledge and abilities closely
  • implementing the phonics reading programme with fidelity to one scheme
  • developing teachers’ and teaching assistants’ expertise in delivering systematic synthetic phonics
  • ensuring that teachers model, effectively, how sounds in phonics are transferred to writing, ensuring that pupils form letters correctly and know how to improve their work.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The pace of change has been hindered in recent years as several headteachers have come and gone. Since his appointment in September 2016, the new headteacher has brought much-needed stability to the school. However, while the quality of teaching is improving, pupils’ outcomes across the school remain below average.
• Leaders have not ensured that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is consistently strong in all key stages. Some teachers tend to ‘do their own thing’. Expectations of what teachers should include in lessons or aspire to achieve are blurred at present. Following a period of implementation, leaders have realised that the school’s current approach to teaching and learning has not been as successful as anticipated. Another new headteacher is due to take up post in the summer term. Until then, the existing approach to teaching and learning will remain.
• The quality of subject leadership requires further development. Not all subject leaders have a thorough understanding about the quality of teaching in their subject or the progress pupils make. This is because some subject leaders do not routinely observe teaching or scrutinise pupils’ work books in enough detail.
• In places, the curriculum lacks the necessary breadth and range to help pupils acquire knowledge, understanding and skill, particularly in the foundation subjects. Frequently, in subjects such as geography, history and art, pupils learn new subject content and skills superficially. However, teachers seldom provide pupils with opportunities to investigate topics in detail, practise new skills or apply their new learning to a wide range of concepts before they move on to something new.
• The attainment of key stage 2 pupils who speak English as an additional language is similar to that of their peers. However, because many are still learning a new language, key stage 1 pupils, and those in the early years who speak English as an additional language, do not attain as well. Leaders have not considered or implemented additional strategies to support pupils to learn a new language in the early years or when they arrive to the school from a different country.
• Leaders, including governors, acknowledge that additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils has not been well spent in the past. Plans are far more precise now. They identify disadvantaged pupils’ barriers to learning and staff are assigned to lead a range of appropriate actions. Additionally, an experienced headteacher from the federated West End Schools’ Trust (the trust) has conducted a review of pupil premium spending to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. Recently, leaders have started to implement the recommendations from the review. The school’s own information demonstrates that disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is starting to improve.
• Senior leaders are honest in their appraisal of the school’s effectiveness. The headteacher, ably supported by the deputy headteacher, has improved the way in which leaders monitor the quality of teaching. A comprehensive monitoring schedule helps leaders ensure that all aspects of the school’s work are reviewed frequently. Collectively, all senior leaders hold challenging discussions with staff when a strategy or initiative does not work as expected. In this way, the school’s self-evaluation is accurate and enables leaders to forward-plan, focusing their attention on aspects of the school’s work that need it most.
• The trust provides strong support to the school. Staff frequently visit other schools in the trust to observe effective teaching and learn from other colleagues. For example, staff from St Johns Primary School continue to work successfully with staff from Broadwood Primary School to help improve the teaching of mathematics and writing. Similarly, the local authority now provides stronger support for the school. Inspection evidence demonstrates that local authority staff visit the school regularly, offering astute advice and guidance to leaders relating to the quality of teaching, leadership and governance.
• The vast majority of staff who responded to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire worked at the school during the last inspection. Nearly all staff say that the school has improved, and every member of staff considers that the school is well led and managed.
• Leadership of pupils with SEND is a strength. Pupils with a hearing impairment receive excellent support from staff in the enhanced mainstream provision (HIARC) and when integrating with their peers in some school classrooms. Teaching assistants are well led, receive effective training and are deployed sensibly across the school. Most pupils with SEND make good progress from their different starting points.
• Leaders know pupils well. They have developed a thorough understanding of pupils’ pastoral needs and family circumstances. In this way, leaders ensure that pupils are given opportunities to broaden their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, pupils take part in residential visits to Kielder reservoir, dine out at restaurants to practise their social skills in different contexts and visit local farms.

Governance of the school

• Governance is improving. Since the previous inspection in December 2016, the governing body has been strengthened by the appointment of new governors from a range of backgrounds and with a wide variety of skills.
• Governors are proactive and eager to hear the thoughts of pupils and their parents and carers. Governors attend many school events, including parent evenings. By doing so, governors speak to parents and carers and evaluate the school’s work. Members of the governing body report back to the full governing body during meetings, ensuring that any concerns pupils, parents and carers may have are swiftly addressed and raised with leaders.
• The safety and welfare of pupils are high on each governor’s agenda. Governors are steadfast in their belief that their statutory responsibilities should go beyond policy creation or ‘ticking a box’. Governors speak with passion about the ways that they ensure that staff remain vigilant when it comes to the safety of pupils. For example, governors will often question leaders to ensure that pupils who leave the school to be educated elsewhere arrive as expected, to ensure the safeguarding of children who may be missing in education.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff are clear about the school’s procedures where they are concerned about the safety of a pupil. They are vigilant and alert to the words pupils may use, or signs to look out for, that could indicate a pupil is at risk of harm. Staff have a thorough understanding of risks associated with domestic violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. Inspection evidence demonstrates that safeguarding leaders make swift referrals to external agencies when they are concerned about a pupil. They ensure that investigations are followed through to a suitable conclusion.
• The designated senior member of staff in charge of safeguarding arrangements is trained to an appropriate level. She is experienced in the role and ensures that other staff with safeguarding responsibilities receive regular training and can deputise when she is away from school.
• A very small minority of pupils were overheard using inappropriate language during the inspection. In discussion, pupils told inspectors that they hear these words frequently when they play computer games that are not appropriate for pupils below the age of 18. Leaders have endeavoured to engage parents in e-safety workshops and alert them, via newsletters and alerts, to the inappropriate content their children are able to access.
• Pupils say that they feel safe. They appreciate the time that staff give up, acting as their ‘adult mentors’. Pupils are confident that staff, including their mentors, will listen to any worries or concerns that they may have and act swiftly to resolve them.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Although improving, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment varies across the school. This has contributed to pupils’ below-average attainment and progress in recent years.
• Learning activities are not always well matched to pupils’ different starting points. The most able pupils say that they can become frustrated when they complete their work and must wait for their peers to catch up before they are provided with additional, more challenging work.
• In some lessons, the activities pupils are asked to complete do not always correspond to the teacher’s intended learning outcome. When this occurs, pupils willingly complete the tasks that they are set, unaware that their learning has not progressed as it should. This, coupled with superficial learning in the foundation subjects, leads to some pupils becoming confused in the following lessons because they do not have the depth of knowledge needed to be able to grapple with new learning.
• Not all teachers follow the school’s assessment policy consistently. Contrary to leaders’ expectations, many teachers focus on pupils’ presentation of writing when marking pupils’ work rather than the skills, knowledge or misconceptions that are apparent. Pupils often continue to make the same errors across the year because they have not been brought to their attention.
• Pupils’ accuracy with spelling, punctuation and grammar is inconsistent. Teachers’ expectations vary in this regard. Some teachers, particularly in literacy lessons, insist that pupils use a wide range of appropriate vocabulary and spell words correctly. These teachers encourage pupils to use dictionaries or complete routine spelling corrections. However, in lessons other than literacy, teachers sometimes lower their expectations of what pupils can and should do. Some pupils ‘take their eye off the ball’, make frequent spelling errors and/or do not use challenging or subject-specific vocabulary in their writing.
• Most teachers liaise well with the hearing impaired service’s specialist teachers and teaching support staff. By doing so, these teachers are familiar with pupils’ needs and able to plan lessons to fully integrate all pupils. However, the success with which teachers do this is variable across the school.
• Teachers have developed effective routines in classrooms. Pupils are generally on-task, move swiftly between activities and use time wisely in lessons. This ensures that, when teachers have high expectations, pupils respond accordingly and are productive.
• Typically, lessons are characterised by effective working relationships between teachers and pupils. Some teachers use the positive working environment to ask probing questions that require significant thought or collaboration between pupils.
• Pupils often work well in groups. They are not afraid to air an opinion, share ideas or disagree with each other. This was evident in a Year 5 religious education (RE) lesson where pupils were learning why Muslims respect the Koran as the word of God. The teacher had prepared for the lesson by bringing into school items from home that were special to her. Pupils responded by sensitively sharing ideas with each other and the class, describing what was special to them and why.
• Teachers who are new to the profession receive effective support. They say that they appreciate the opportunity to visit other schools and observe more experienced staff teaching. Additionally, new and recently qualified teachers say that the tailored support they receive from school leaders is helping to build their confidence in the classroom.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Leaders place significant emphasis on creating a ‘nurturing school’, one in which pupils explore, discover and develop new skills and interests that complement academic learning. Pupils take part in many visits, activities or projects. These are selected by leaders to enrich the lives of pupils and provide opportunities that they may not have otherwise. For example, pupils learn new bushcraft skills during camping trips, refine their debating skills by taking part in inter-school competitions and build their resilience by going ice-skating.
• Inspection evidence demonstrates that bullying is rare. Pupils told inspectors that, from time to time, some pupils can be unkind to each other. However, pupils also say that staff are always on hand to successfully resolve friendship quarrels and disagreements.
• Pupils with SEND, and educated in the HIARC, are involved in all activities and visits that promote pupils’ personal development and welfare. In this way, they, and other pupils with SEND, are integrated fully into the life of the school and develop appropriate relationships and skills together with their peers.
• Not all pupils are aware of what it takes to be a successful learner. A minority of pupils’ work books are untidy and their handwriting is poor. Pupils do not always use their initiative to complete unfinished work or act upon advice from teachers.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Until recently, rates of attendance were below the national average. Leaders appointed an attendance officer in 2018 and successfully raised the profile of good attendance throughout the school and beyond. This has had a positive effect. Rates of attendance are now similar to the national average and persistent absence has reduced considerably this academic year.
• Pupils’ behaviour in class and around the school is generally considerate and respectful. Pupils hold doors open for their friends and visitors and they are genuinely interested in the opinions of others. This was not always the case. Between 2016 and 2018, the proportion of pupils who were excluded for a fixed period was high. Most pupils who were excluded were disadvantaged boys. Leaders improved pupils’ behaviour by implementing a new behaviour policy, insisting on clear boundaries and a calm approach from staff when dealing with pupils who misbehave. This, and the improving quality of teaching, ensures that pupils are now able to learn without disruption most of the time.
• Pupils respect the large school site. Lunchtimes are orderly and inspectors did not notice any litter during the inspection. At playtimes, pupils are happy, use their imagination and ensure that everyone participates in games. No one is left alone.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Between 2017 and 2018, pupils’ progress in writing across key stage 2 declined from above the national average to below, and from broadly average to well below the national average in mathematics. In 2018, Year 6 pupils’ progress in mathematics placed the school in the bottom 10% of schools nationally.
• Over time, pupils’ results in the reading, writing and mathematics assessments at the end of key stages 1 and 2 have consistently been below the national average.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ progress has been poor historically. In 2018, disadvantaged pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics across key stage 2 was below average.
• Pupils with SEND make more progress when they are in receipt of specialist support from staff and attend lessons in the HIARC. Some teachers in the school setting have a comprehensive understanding of how they can plan activities that meet the needs of all pupils with SEND, not just those with a hearing impairment. Scrutiny of pupils’ work and observations in lessons demonstrate that these teachers are contributing to pupils with SEND making good progress from their different starting points. However, the progress of some pupils with SEND varies. This is because some teachers plan learning activities that are too complex, difficult to read or, on occasions, too easy for pupils with SEND to make progress similar to their peers.
• A higher than average proportion of pupils do not pass the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 and again at the end of Year 2. However, the school’s own information shows that current Year 1 pupils are on track to do well. A larger proportion of pupils are passing practice tests at this stage of the year when compared to previous cohorts.
• More recently, stronger teaching is contributing to current key stage 2 pupils making more progress than they have in the past, particularly in reading. Furthermore, the subject leader for English is beginning to ensure that teachers keep a watchful eye on the progress pupils make. In this way, when pupils are seen to be falling behind, leaders and most teachers ensure that learning activities are adapted or pupils attend additional intervention sessions to help them stay in touch with their learning. The proportion of Year 6 pupils attaining the expected standard in reading has increased by 26% in the last two years.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Over time, the proportion of children who leave Reception having reached a good level of development has been below average. Although improving, children do not consistently demonstrate that, by the end of their time in the early years, they are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Children in Reception love reading. They take pride in sharing their favourite stories and reading records highlight that children read widely and often. However, the teaching of phonics requires improvement. The books children read are ‘banded’ in a variety of different ways and include books from assorted reading schemes. Consequently, children are sometimes given books to read that do not match their phonic knowledge. Some children look for alternative ways to ‘read’ the words by using picture clues or guessing the words. Additionally, children do not reread books to improve their reading fluency.
• Teachers and additional adults in the early years do not always model sounds accurately when teaching phonics or using everyday language. Occasionally, staff mispronounce the individual sound of a letter during phonics activities and use vernacular language during informal discussions with children. Furthermore, staff sometimes miss opportunities to correct or improve children’s writing technique. The success with which children form letters when writing is not as good as it could be by this stage in the academic year or when considering children’s different starting points.
• Children in Reception develop a wide range of early personal, social and emotional skills. Staff have created an extremely vibrant environment for learning that encourages children to speak, share, listen and work together. Children are confident, seek out new experiences and talk regularly to children from outside their immediate friendship group.
• Relationships between staff and children are strong. Questions are encouraged. Children respond by enthusiastically interrogating their teacher. When a child asks an unrelated question, staff successfully counter this by ‘flipping’ the question, asking, ‘What do you think might be the outcome?’ or, ‘What do we all think?’ Consequently, children’s communication and language development is improving.
• The school’s own observations of children’s learning and inspectors’ scrutiny of children’s current work demonstrate that a larger proportion of children than in the past are on track to meet the early learning goals in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The early years leader is experienced and knowledgeable. She ensures that all the early years welfare requirements are met. All staff understand the early years safeguarding policy and procedures, and they are kept up to date with more recent safeguarding issues during weekly briefings. Furthermore, leaders ensure that staff hold a current paediatric first aid certificate and at least one member of staff is always on the premises and available when children are present.

School details

Unique reference number 108468 Local authority Newcastle upon Tyne Inspection number 10087524 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 Foundation 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 296 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Local authority Nicky Wise David McLeod 01912 741 684 www.broadwoodprimary.co.uk/web office@broadwoodprimary.co.uk Date of previous inspection 30 November–1 December 2016

Information about this school

• The school is a larger than average-sized primary school.
• The headteacher is leaving on 22 April 2019. A new headteacher will take up her new post on 23 April 2019.
• The school is part of the West End Schools’ Trust (WEST) along with seven other local primary schools: Bridgewater, Canning Street Primary School, Hawthorn Primary School, Moorside Primary School, St John’s Primary School, St Paul’s Primary School and Wingrove Primary School. The aims of the trust can be found on the trust’s website: www.westendschoolstrust.co.uk
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average.
• A larger than average number of pupils join the school at times other than the usual admission date.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and receive support from the pupil premium is much higher than the national average.
• The school has a hearing impaired additional resource centre (HIARC), resourced by the local authority. Twelve pupils currently attend the centre. Pupils attend lessons in the HIARC and in school with support from specialist teachers.
• Children attend full-time early years provision in the Nursery and Reception.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classes across the school, observing teachers more than once. Many of the observations in lessons were carried out jointly with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and special educational needs coordinator.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, teachers, members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and the lead inspector met with the person responsible for the school’s effectiveness from Newcastle local authority.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work during lessons and with senior leaders in all subjects. In addition, an inspector scrutinised a large sample of learning journals belonging to children in Nursery and Reception.
• An inspector visited classes in the HIARC and spoke with staff and leaders with responsibility for pupils with a hearing impairment.
• Inspectors held informal and formal discussions with many pupils and observed interactions during social times.
• Inspectors listened to a group of pupils read.
• Inspectors observed the work of the school and scrutinised a wide range of evidence, including the school’s self-evaluation, analysis of performance information, action plans and evaluations, attendance records, safeguarding files, recruitment checks and minutes of governors’ meetings.
• Inspectors took into account the 25 responses from parents who completed Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. Inspectors also considered the responses from the 20 members of staff and 10 pupils who completed Ofsted’s online survey.

Inspection team

Lee Elliott, lead inspector Dan Murray Christine Durand

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector