Westerhope Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching still further so that pupils reach the highest standards of which they are capable by:
  • ensuring that pupils are consistently set challenging tasks to extend their learning and progress, especially the most able pupils
  • developing the monitoring of pupils’ outcomes in subjects other than English and mathematics, so that all subjects are monitored equally rigorously.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher provides strong strategic leadership. Along with the senior team and governing body, the headteacher has swiftly addressed the areas identified in the previous inspection. Leaders have worked successfully to eliminate underperformance, improve the quality of teaching and accelerate the pace of progress pupils make in their learning.
• Leaders and managers have an accurate view of school performance because they rigorously check on pupils’ progress, achievement and the standards that they reach. Middle leaders play an increasingly important role in checking the impact of teaching and classroom support to ensure that all pupils make at least good progress and achieve well. Working cohesively, leaders and managers are totally committed to ensuring that all improvement gains are sustained and added to continuously.
• Other leaders support the headteacher effectively. Together, they have established a culture of high expectations for all members of the school community. As a result, pupils are well aware of expectations to work hard, behave well and show respect to adults and each other. The school is calm and purposeful, because leaders and staff successfully promote a very positive climate for learning and socialising.
• The good communication that exists between all staff helps to sustain a positive culture of accountability and willingness to develop professionally. Leaders monitor teachers’ performance carefully. Teachers are set challenging targets linked to school improvement priorities and to improving aspects of their teaching, where needed.
• Leaders base plans for further development on a clear view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, which they detail in the school development plan. Leaders monitor actions carefully so that they lose no time in further improving the school. Planned actions clearly align with the measurable rates of progress pupils make in their learning. Leaders’ checks of pupils’ outcomes in English and mathematics are very thorough, detailed and effective. Leaders have, rightly, identified that further work is needed to monitor pupils’ outcomes in other curriculum subjects equally rigorously.
• The great priority given to pupils’ welfare and personal development helps pupils’ learning. For example, high-quality nurture provision for those with particular barriers to their learning helps these pupils relate well to others, enjoy learning and aim to do their best. As a result, they achieve well in school.
• Leaders use additional pupil premium funding for disadvantaged pupils well to secure pupils’ progress and to develop their emotional welfare. These groups of pupils are closely monitored so that additional support can be provided when necessary. Well-trained teaching assistants and support staff work closely under the direction of teachers to provide additional and specialist support in lessons, to individuals and groups of pupils. Through this carefully targeted support, differences in achievement are diminishing.
• Pupils with SEND receive appropriate support. Teachers identify their needs early and accurately track their progress, which is mainly good. Consequently, additional funding for pupils with SEND is used effectively.
• Leaders use the primary school physical education and sport funding to increase effectively the range of sporting opportunities available to pupils. The quality of teaching and pupils’ participation and enjoyment of sport have been enhanced by the work of the physical education teacher, who works across the school.
• Links with parents and carers are very positive. Parents appreciate that the school gives all children an equal opportunity to succeed and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. Nearly all parents who completed the online questionnaire agreed that they would recommend the school to another parent and that their child was happy in the school.

Governance of the school

• Governance is much improved since the previous inspection, and the governing body focuses closely on helping the school move forward. The governing body has a detailed and accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. It has established good systems to challenge and support leaders. Governors hold leaders to account for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ outcomes.
• Governors monitor pupils’ personal development and check that pupils are safe. They ensure that child protection and safeguarding are a high priority for staff, that procedures fully meet requirements and that they keep policies and practices up to date.
• The governing body ensures that leaders spend additional funds well. Governors are knowledgeable about the effect that additional funds have on pupils’ progress, including funding to support disadvantaged pupils or to support pupils with SEND.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. All staff are regularly trained in all necessary aspects of safeguarding. The school knows its pupils very well, and detailed records are kept about all safeguarding issues. All required checks on adults who work with pupils are carried out and recorded suitably. A clear culture of high-quality practice exists across the school.
• Leaders keep pupils safe in the school environment and on educational visits. Risk assessments are appropriate and strong.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is good and has improved since the previous inspection. Improvements have come about through a strong commitment to training teachers and offering them professional development opportunities. This is enthusing teachers and helping them to make improvements in their practice. This means that teaching now meets most pupils’ needs.
• In lessons, pupils are enthusiastic in their learning, and expectations for both achievement and behaviour are usually high. Teachers and support staff expect pupils to work hard. Workbooks show that pupils waste very little time. In lessons, pupils interact with each other to share ideas and improve their knowledge and skills.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are harmonious. Most pupils work hard in lessons and enjoy their learning. They often find lessons interesting and fun. Sometimes, when the work is not hard enough, a few pupils lose concentration. The most able pupils sometimes do not do their best when the work does not fully extend their thinking.
• Guidance for learning is good. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to make it clear to pupils exactly where they should focus their efforts in lessons. Pupils are often given clear criteria and checklists to help them assess their own work and see how to improve it. This helps them to make good progress in their learning.
• Reading is well taught throughout the school, and many pupils enjoy reading. Older pupils, especially the most able, read fluently and with confidence, and some read for pleasure at home. From the early years, pupils are taught to use their knowledge of phonics to support their reading of new words, and phonics skills have improved since the previous inspection. Daily reading lessons help pupils make good progress in their reading.
• Teachers share good practice and learn from one another. They assess work carefully and identify appropriate next steps for pupils in their learning. However, at times teachers do not challenge the most able pupils sufficiently to enable them to make the rapid progress they should.
• The regular checks on pupils’ understanding are also helping teachers to identify misconceptions quickly. This means that the issues are addressed quickly, so that these misconceptions do not persist.
• Teaching assistants are well trained and effectively deployed. They have the strongest impact on the learning of those who find learning more difficult. Pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils receive frequent additional support in class or in additional sessions outside 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.
• Because the quality of teaching has improved, pupils’ attitudes to learning are better than at the time of the previous inspection. Teachers and teaching assistants expect pupils to behave well, and the pupils have risen to this challenge. As a consequence, pupils enjoy school and achieve more.
• Pupils show respect and care for each other. They value their classmates’ opinions, and work happily and co-operatively in lessons. Pupils’ skills in speaking and listening in paired and group discussions are good.
• Pupils told inspectors that the school looks after them well and that they feel safe at school. They make good progress in their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Their social development is a particular strength and pupils relate well to one another, staff and visitors. They demonstrate secure knowledge and experience of other ways of life and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils understand what bullying is and are proud to say that bullying is very rare in their school. They are confident that adults will quickly deal with any bullying that does occur.
• Clear routines mean that pupils move between activities in class quickly and calmly. Pupils walk around the school, to assemblies or to the dining hall calmly and purposefully. This means that learning time is not wasted. Pupils respond quickly to teachers’ instructions or expectations.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in lessons and during the more unstructured times of the day.
• Pupils are attentive in lessons. They willingly answer questions and are keen to help and support other pupils. Pupils cooperate when working in groups and are mature enough to work independently and show initiative. Sometimes, a few pupils drift off task when they are not sufficiently challenged, although they are polite enough not to disturb others while waiting for more work.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are largely very positive. They are keen to learn. Their good attitudes to learning are an important factor behind their improving rates of progress.
• The vast majority of pupils attend regularly and arrive punctually at school. Rates of attendance for all groups of pupils have improved. Although rates of persistent absence have reduced this year, especially for disadvantaged pupils, they remain slightly above national averages. The school is working effectively to reduce persistent absence further and has good procedures to do this. Pupils have responded well to the school’s rewards for regular attendance and value the recognition and treats they receive when they attend well.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Since the last inspection, improvements in teaching have resulted in pupils making better progress throughout the school. Outcomes have improved in all key stages and are now good.
• After a good start to learning in the early years, pupils continue to make good progress in key stage 1. Standards of attainment by the end of Year 2 have risen and are now above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Results in the national phonics screening check in Year 1 have been above average for the last three years. This is due to the very good-quality teaching of phonics.
• Standards of attainment by the end of Year 6 have also risen. In Year 6 in 2018, a well-above-average proportion of pupils reached the expected standard in reading and mathematics, and an above-average proportion did so in writing. This represents good progress from pupils’ previous starting points. Pupils are well prepared for secondary school, both in terms of their achievement and in their knowledge of how to be a successful learner.
• The school’s own information shows that current pupils are also making good progress, including in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress in pupils’ books and in lessons confirms this.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress. Staff quickly identify their needs, and they are supported effectively in their learning. Some parents told inspectors that they are very pleased with the way that the school helps their children.
• Leaders are committed to ensuring that disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other pupils. The school’s current assessment information and pupils’ work seen during the inspection indicates that disadvantaged pupils are making good progress from their different starting points. Any differences between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally are diminishing.
• Teachers are quick to identify any pupils who start to fall behind. When this happens, teachers make effective provision for them, either within the class, in small groups, or individually. As a result, they catch up quickly.
• The progress of the most able pupils is more variable. While some make good progress, not all reach their full potential or the higher standards they are capable of. This is because, sometimes, work for these pupils lacks enough challenge. In 2018, for example, while a much higher-than-average proportion of pupils reached the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics, only an average proportion reached the higher standards in each of these subjects.

Early years provision Good

• Effective early years leadership and management have successfully strengthened the quality of provision since the previous inspection. The quality of teaching is now good and, as a result, children are well prepared for learning in Year 1.
• In the early years, staff, children and parents enjoy highly positive relationships and share information effectively about what children can and cannot do. Through this, children quickly become confident learners with a positive attitude to school. During the inspection, children worked happily together. For example, when searching for frozen eggs, children took turns in counting the number they had found and discussed where they should look to find more.
• Children in the early years get off to a good start. Many enter Nursery with skills and abilities which are below expectations typical of children of their age. As a result of good teaching and provision, careful observation and good questioning, children make good progress. An above-average proportion of children reach a good level of development by the end of Reception Year.
• Children quickly learn essential social and emotional skills. They are able to share, take turns, concentrate and apply themselves to tasks. In the Reception class, they show good levels of maturity and can concentrate for relatively long periods of time. This underpins their strong progress in all areas of learning.
• Teachers identify children’s special educational needs accurately and at an early stage, so that children receive the support they need to help them make good progress from their starting points.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged children is well spent and these children, including the most able disadvantaged children, make good progress.
• Adults know the children well. They make regular assessments and use these assessments to modify activities and their teaching to meet children’s needs in both indoor and outdoor learning. Parents regard the early years highly and feel fully involved in their children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number 108457 Local authority Newcastle upon Tyne Inspection number 10059040 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 400 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Brid Fitzpatrick Mark Outterside 01912674750 www.newcastle.gov.uk/ admin@westerhope.newcastle.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 27-28 September 2016

Information about this school

• The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is slightly above average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is similar to the national average.
• Most pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.
• The school is a member of the Outer West Learning Trust.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes. Some lessons were observed jointly with senior leaders. In addition, shorter visits to classrooms were carried out to see particular aspects of the school’s work, such as the teaching of reading or the provision of nurture guidance.
• Meetings and discussions were held with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, members of the governing body, the school’s achievement partner and a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors met with a group of pupils, observed playtime and lunchtime and talked with pupils and staff around the school.
• Inspectors analysed documents, including the school’s plans for improvement and reports showing the school’s view of its own performance. The school’s website was evaluated. Safeguarding documents and policies and records relating to pupils’ personal development, behaviour, welfare, safety and attendance were inspected.
• Inspectors analysed information on the performance of the school in comparison with other schools nationally and the school’s own records of pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Inspectors took account of 55 responses received from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire Parent View. In addition, inspectors spoke with parents in the playground at the start of the school day.

Inspection team

Geoffrey Seagrove, lead inspector Olie Flitcroft Gillian Nimer

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector