Ivy Road Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve the quality of teaching and accelerate the progress that pupils make by:
  • ensuring that the most able pupils are consistently challenged, so that more attain the higher standard by the end of key stage 2
  • refining how teachers use questioning, so they are more skilled at judging pupils’ depth of understanding and knowing when to move the lesson on
  • improving the range of extra help for pupils who are at risk of falling behind, especially for writing at key stage 1 and for mathematics at key stage 2.
• Improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • developing the quality of the wider curriculum beyond English and mathematics, so that subject-specific skills are taught in a more progressive manner
  • working more closely with and supporting the families of pupils who are persistently absent in order to improve their level of attendance.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The formation of a new senior leadership team has helped the headteacher to address previous weaknesses in teaching, learning and assessment. As a result, pupils are now making stronger and more consistent progress, particularly in English and mathematics. All members of staff who responded to Ofsted’s questionnaire felt that better training and more scrutiny had improved the school. Parents also have greater confidence. All parents who responded to Parent View would recommend the school.
• Central to the improvements in the school has been the more systematic and thorough approach leaders have adopted to checking the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make. The headteacher makes excellent strategic use of assessment information. She knows precisely which pupils are on track to make the progress they should and which are not. As a result, the checks that leaders make are now more focused, and additional help for pupils is better targeted.
• The headteacher and other leaders have benefited from the advice, training and guidance of the local authority. Members of staff have also gained much from a partnership with another North Tyneside school. This external support has improved the accuracy and use of assessment, developed the skills of subject coordinators and improved the quality of provision in early years.
• Improvements to the way the curriculum is delivered have improved pupils’ progress. Changes made have brought rapid improvements in the teaching of writing, and a more flexible approach adopted in early years is helping children to make a better start. Topics appeal to boys more and teachers give more emphasis to fostering positive ‘can-do’ attitudes in pupils. Many pupils now participate in the wide range of lunchtime and after-school activities available for them. Furthermore, the popular breakfast club has made a positive contribution to improving punctuality and the level of attendance.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered effectively. Displays around the school and themes in assemblies reinforce the school’s values of community, respect, being yourself, nurturing others and having the courage to do the right thing. The curriculum plans ensure that pupils are introduced to different cultures and faiths. For example, pupils in Years 1 and 2 have learned about Islam and can talk in an informed way about Jewish festivals and the Chinese New Year. Pupils are also very considerate of those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and older pupils take care of younger pupils in the playground. The caring and open-minded culture in the school ensures that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders are making effective use of the pupil premium and the physical education and sport funding for primary schools. They have researched how funding is used in other schools and made changes to the way they spend it. Governors provide close scrutiny and challenge leaders to demonstrate the impact the additional funding has. Although some gaps remain between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of others in the school, they are closing and leaders know what needs to be done to improve things further.
• Leaders have reviewed the use of special educational needs funding and tightened up how they identify and assess pupils. External specialists are being used earlier to ensure that specific needs are identified quickly. As a result, support plans are sharper and their effect is checked and reviewed more systematically. The progress made by pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities matches that of other pupils in the school.

Governance of the school

• The quality of governance has been transformed. Governors learned much from an external review. They have audited their skills and recruited new governors who have brought relevant experience and knowledge. As a result, they are well placed to hold leaders to account.
• The governors make frequent visits to the school to check whether actions set out in the school improvement plan are being effective. They meet regularly with colleagues in school and listen to the views of pupils. Consequently, governors know what is needed to move the school forward.
• The governors have streamlined their committees and ensured that people with the right skills attend meetings where their expertise can be best used. Records of meetings show that governors now ask tough questions and require leaders to justify their decisions. Governors carefully consider their spending decisions in order to ensure that a challenging budgetary position is managed effectively.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils are safe because leaders ensure that everyone is suitably trained and aware of the duty upon them to protect children from harm. Thorough checks are made when members of staff are recruited and when visitors or volunteers come into school. The safety of the site is regularly reviewed and appropriate risk assessments are in place. Although there are relatively few child protection cases, the headteacher ensures that staff are briefed each week, stay vigilant and maintain good records.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching has improved since the previous inspection. Helpful training and more frequent and purposeful checks on the work in pupils’ books have helped to raise expectations. Leaders have ensured that teachers new to the school this September have appropriate training and mentoring in place to help them get up to speed with the school’s agreed policies and practices. Early checks on their pupils’ books have been made at the start of the term in order to ensure that the work set is suitably challenging.
• Teachers have the respect of pupils. Behaviour in lessons is managed positively and lessons flow productively, without interruption. Pupils show positive attitudes and try hard to achieve the learning objectives. Pupils know their targets and use these and the feedback they receive to edit and improve their work.
• Participation in a local authority-wide initiative has significantly improved the methods teachers employ to teach writing. The methods they use now help pupils to create ideas and rehearse their stories through drawing, speaking out loud and using actions. As a result, pupils are able to write freely and with confidence when they put pen to paper. Further subject-specific training has improved teachers’ technical grasp of English and mathematics. As a result, teachers and pupils now use accurate terminology when they review or analyse pieces of text.
• Clear guidance and the provision of helpful resources by the subject coordinator have helped to improve the teaching of mathematics. The work in pupils’ books shows that they get a good balance of activities and are regularly set open-ended problems to solve. However, the school has not provided pupils who find mathematics more difficult with extra help. As a result, some pupils, particularly in key stage 2, struggle to grasp important concepts and make less progress than they should.
• Teachers routinely plan activities that are adapted for pupils with different starting points. Most teachers do this well and ensure that the work is appropriately challenging. However, in some lessons, the most able pupils are not challenged deeply enough to understand the concepts that underpin topics. For example, the most able pupils were confidently able to round five-figure numbers to the nearest 10,000, but were not clear why or when rounding numbers was a useful skill.
• Most teachers use questioning confidently to gauge when to move the lesson on. Their questions are probing and targeted around the class through the use of randomly selected names on coloured sticks. However, some teachers ask too many questions that do not lead anywhere, which causes the pace of learning to stall.
• Teaching assistants provide effective in-class support and many teach targeted pupils one to one to help address gaps in their knowledge. They have received appropriate training for their roles and contribute well to helping disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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 safe, secure and well cared for. They enjoy coming to school and show this through their buoyant and cheerful natures. They can explain how the school has improved over recent years and can suggest how it could be improved further.
• Pupils are delighted with the new outdoor equipment, which is helping to foster enjoyment in physical activity. The outdoor gymnasium is very popular and pupils make great use of the climbing walls. There are numerous opportunities for pupils to get involved in dance, different games and a range of competitive sports for boys and girls.
• Pupils’ understanding of how to stay safe is comprehensively covered through the curriculum. For example, their knowledge of how to stay safe online is well developed. Pupils also are taught about safe cycling, fire safety and dealing with accidents in the home. A range of external experts provide workshops for pupils.
• The school provides a wide range of opportunities for parents to visit the school and take part in workshops with their children. Fostering a strong sense of community is a strength of the school. Parents who responded to Parent View were full of praise for the good communication and wealth of opportunities to meet members of staff.
• The staff at Ivy Road Primary show care towards pupils. For example, the headteacher supervises lunches in the dining hall and helps the younger pupils to use their knife and fork correctly. Although Ivy Road Primary is already a very caring school, the headteacher is keen to improve provision for the school’s more vulnerable pupils. A nurture room is in the process of being developed and members of staff are receiving specialist counselling training.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils display positive attitudes across the day and are eager to do well. They concentrate in lessons and are happy to get involved and participate fully in class. They work well with one another, respecting one another’s point of view and being open to new ideas.
• Teachers model and expect good manners. As a result, pupils are polite and courteous to one another and members of staff. Lunchtime supervisors are full of praise for the way pupils conduct themselves and look after the school site.
• The level of overall attendance improved last year to be in line with the national average for primary schools. There continue to be some pupils who miss school regularly, however. Leaders take advice from the local authority, but have not used all of the approaches they could to ensure that regular absence is fully addressed.
• Poor behaviour is rare at Ivy Road Primary. When pupils exhibit particularly challenging behaviour, the school makes use of local authority provision for pupils who have social and emotional difficulties. Currently, a small number of pupils attend alternative provision. The school checks on their attendance weekly and is in regular contact to track the progress these pupils are making.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Rates of progress and standards of attainment have improved since the previous inspection because the quality of teaching has improved and leaders are faster to provide extra help for pupils who fall behind.
• Provisional results from the 2017 national curriculum tests show that weaknesses in the quality of pupils’ writing have been addressed. Leaders have provided teachers with very helpful training, which has served to raise everyone’s expectations. Teachers now help pupils to develop their ideas in far more detail, so that they are able to sustain their writing in more depth. Training to develop teachers’ subject knowledge ensures that pupils’ grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar is good. In 2017, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in writing improved by 57%.
• The more frequent and thorough checks made by leaders have helped to address previous inconsistencies in the progress that pupils made in different subjects. Last year, pupils made consistently strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics across key stage 2. As a result, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected and higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics at least matched that seen nationally.
• The whole-school focus on improving writing has also led to better outcomes for younger pupils. In 2016, for example, only one in five pupils displayed writing skills in line with national curriculum expectations. However, in 2017, three in every five pupils attained the standard. Leaders know that there is still more to do, however, to ensure that standards in writing at the end of Year 2 match or are better than those seen nationally. A more systematic approach to the teaching of writing is already improving standards in early years, and scrutiny of books shows that the quality of writing is improving for pupils currently in key stage 1.
• Standards of attainment in reading and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 match those seen nationally. The school has good additional support programmes in place to help pupils develop their reading skills. Pupils targeted for extra help make particularly rapid progress. Pleasingly, all pupils in Year 1 attained the expected standard in the national phonics screening check last year.
• However, the school does not have similarly effective support in place for pupils who find mathematics difficult. Consequently, pupils who fall behind in mathematics do not always make up lost ground.
• Well-targeted extra help for disadvantaged pupils is now improving their performance. This is most evident at key stage 1, in part because of the quality of the additional help they receive with reading and writing. At key stage 2, a gap remains between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of others pupils nationally. Leaders have recognised this and have taken steps to establish a suitable programme of extra help to meet their needs. Leaders are also regularly checking the work in the books of disadvantaged pupils and challenging teachers in order to ensure that the work set is suitably challenging.
• Over time, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and the most able pupils have made similar progress to others in the school. Checks on pupils’ books show that teachers now stretch and challenge the most able pupils more effectively, particularly in their written work, where there are many examples of good-quality stories, accounts and reports.
• There remains some variability of the progress of pupils in other subjects. While the topics they study include interesting content and are enriched with learning opportunities beyond the classroom, their skills are not developed as systematically as in English and mathematics. Scrutiny of books shows that progress in science and the arts subjects, for example, is less secure.
• The few pupils who attend local authority alternative provision are making good academic progress.
• As a result of the increasingly consistent progress pupils now make across the curriculum, most are now well prepared academically for the next stage of their education.

Early years provision Good

• The quality of early years education has improved since the previous inspection. Teachers are now much more aware of children’s different starting points and provide learning activities which help children to develop their understanding of the world. The teaching of children’s reading, writing and number skills is much sharper and more effective than it was in the past.
• The Nursery and Reception classes now share a bright, vibrant and exciting environment which operates as an integrated early years unit. Teachers utilise the integrated space well and routinely group children of different ages for specific phonics, writing and number sessions. This flexible approach is ensuring that learning activities are suitably pitched to help children consolidate and extend their knowledge and understanding.
• The move to an integrated early years unit has helped to quicken the pace of learning. On average, children enter the school with skills below those typical for their age and make strong progress across both the Nursery and the Reception classes. By the end of Reception Year, around three quarters of children are working at the expected level. Teachers’ observations and assessments are used to inform the type and nature of learning activities. As a result, children make more consistent progress.
• The early years leader is using additional funding for disadvantaged children wisely. The funding has been used to develop the skills of teachers and teaching assistants to support early reading and number and to provide resources to make learning more tangible. More widely, the early years unit is well led and parents speak warmly of the care and support their children receive. One parent said, ‘My daughter is in her second year of the early years and absolutely loves it. She looks forward to school every day and talks positively about the staff and other children.’
• Teachers in early years are lively, enthusiastic and energetic. They ensure that children feel awake and ready to take part through warm-up exercises and songs. Learning activities are well designed and engage the children’s interests. For example, children hunted the classroom to find the missing numbered rungs from Pirate Pete’s ladder and then thought carefully to assemble them in the right order. The activity was effective in helping them to recognise and sequence numbers from 1 to 20.
• Children feel safe and well cared for. Teachers and other adults are attentive to their needs and draw upon a range of techniques to monitor children’s level of confidence. Children who need extra support are skilfully drawn into activities and helped to socialise with others. Children’s ability to concentrate and take turns develops well because teachers make routines clear, and reward and praise positive behaviours.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 108606 North Tyneside 10036555 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 129 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Gill Wilson Susan Watts Telephone number 0191 2008 346 Website Email address www.ivyroadprimary.org.uk ivyroad.primary@northtyneside.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 October 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Ivy Road Primary School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The school is part of the North Tyneside Learning Trust.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is well above the national average.
• Children attend part time in the Nursery and full time in the Reception class.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than average.
• In 2016, the school was below the government’s current floor targets, which are the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of Year 6.
• The school runs a breakfast club and offers a range of after-school activities.
• A small number of pupils on the school’s roll attend Silverdale additionally resourced provision.
• Since the previous inspection, the school has received support from another local school, the headteacher of which is a national leader of education.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited lessons across all phases of the school, including the Nursery and Reception classes. Most visits to lessons were undertaken jointly with the headteacher. During observations, the inspector sampled pupils’ books and talked to pupils to evaluate the quality of their current work. In addition, the inspector scrutinised in detail a sample of books containing work from English and mathematics and the wider curriculum. The inspector also listened to a number of pupils read.
• The inspector observed pupils at playtime and lunchtime and observed their movement and behaviour around the school.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, curriculum leaders, the early years leader and the deputy headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator. The inspector also met with a group of pupils, a group of governors (including the chair of the governing body) and a representative of the local authority.
• The inspector scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, policies, assessment information and records of checks on the quality of teaching. The inspector looked at records of attendance, behaviour, minutes of governing body meetings and safeguarding information.
• The inspector took account of the 16 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. In addition, the inspector took account of the 10 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

Inspection team

Chris Smith, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector