Hedworthfield Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to provide a range of work and support to ensure that boys in all year groups improve their attainment and progress so that they more closely match the achievement of girls.
• Ensure that teachers raise their expectations of what pupils can achieve, especially the most able pupils, by setting work which matches their abilities and builds on prior learning.
• Continue to reduce the number of pupils who are not attending school regularly.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher, senior leaders and governors have very effectively and determinedly tackled the issues identified at the last inspection. As a result, the school has made the rapid improvements needed to be good. Leaders and governors now have very high expectations of staff and pupils. Teachers are held to account for the progress of their pupils.
• Leaders have a very clear vision for the school, based on an extremely accurate view of its strength and weaknesses. The headteacher has established herself as a trusted and respected school leader among the whole school community, including parents. She exudes high expectations. This culture increasingly permeates the school, leading to better, more focused teaching, and to children making faster and more consistent progress.
• Leaders have been successful in improving the school without losing sight of their core values of care, respect and inclusion for all. The school motto ‘Responsibility, Respect, Resilience, Engagement’ is fully lived out by staff and pupils.
• They have developed an effective, outward-looking team of teachers who are very willing to learn from outstanding and very effective practice in other schools. This has been successful in bringing new initiatives into the school that have had a positive impact on pupils’ progress.
• A new robust monitoring system to improve the quality of teaching has been introduced. Teaching has improved significantly due to the rigorous checks that are carried out by senior and middle leaders. Leaders use a range of information, including data on pupil progress, to evaluate the impact of teaching. Where issues are identified, professional development is put in place so teaching improves quickly. The school makes the most of opportunities to share examples of strong teaching practice they have observed with other staff across the school.
• Leadership is now more widely distributed than at the last inspection. The staff responded very positively to their online questionnaire. They especially appreciated that their professional development is very effective and told inspectors that it is now more personalised to their individual needs.
• The primary school physical education and sports funding is used effectively to reinforce the skills of teachers and, therefore, improve the outcomes for pupils. Funding includes the provision of a specialist sports coach. Pupils talked excitedly about their participation in a wide range of sports activities and tournaments.
• Pupil premium funding is used very effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are supported to make progress that is at least in line with that of pupils nationally. The range of initiatives, including the employment of an inclusion leader and extra staff, enables this group of pupils to improve their attendance and to achieve well.
• The school is inclusive and responds quickly and effectively to pupils’ special educational needs or disabilities. Additional support is targeted carefully to help pupils to be fully included and to help them catch up. A number of pupils have significant additional needs. The school is driven in its determination to find exactly the right support for vulnerable pupils and their families. Leaders work with an extensive range of external agencies. Support for vulnerable families is at the heart of the school’s work. Consequently, these pupils make good progress from their starting points.
• The curriculum has been carefully thought out to ensure that it is relevant to pupils in the school. It is motivating and provides pupils with a wide range of real-life experiences on which to draw. The range of topics pupils study is comprehensive and well balanced. There are good opportunities for pupils to develop their basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics across the curriculum.
• The curriculum is well enhanced by trips, visitors to the school, assemblies and extra-curricular clubs. Vibrant displays around the school celebrate pupils’ creativity, such as pastel artwork in the style of Monet, drawings and models of Egyptian artefacts and a stunning display showing features of the Hindu religion.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported well. Pupils have a clear understanding of the importance of respecting cultural differences, and as a result diversity is clearly valued. There is a clear sense for pupils of belonging to the school community and also to the local community. Pupils talked with excitement about how they had recently visited places of interest in their locality and had been proud to take part in a local Remembrance Day event.
• The school’s own values of respect and tolerance ensure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. In describing the wide range of cultures in our diverse country, one child reminded the inspector about the need for us all to be aware of extremism.
• Parents are supportive of the school, its leadership and staff. The vast majority would recommend the school to another parent. One parent summed up the views of many with the comment: ‘I can't speak highly enough of the teachers, the head and deputy head. It has changed a lot over the last two years. When I enter the school now the atmosphere is a happy and fun one.’
• The school works effectively with other schools and benefits from activities such as jointly looking at books to check pupils’ progress and moderating work.
• The local authority has worked productively with the school since the last inspection and supports it effectively. Senior leaders have welcomed the support given. The local authority supports the school’s own evaluation of its performance.

Governance of the school

• Governors and school leaders now have much higher expectations of what can be achieved. The ‘excuse culture’ has vanished. They are knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of the school and bring a good level of expertise to their roles. They have a deep and passionate ambition for the school to be outstanding. Governors are fully committed to the success of the school and their effectiveness has improved beyond recognition since the last inspection.
• A standards committee is proactive in requesting and scrutinising data about children’s progress. They show a good grasp of the issues and trends and evaluate very effectively the impact the school is having in diminishing differences. Minutes of these meetings indicate a perceptive level of challenge.
• Governors now have a much better grip on what is going on in school because they are regular visitors and analyse the provision. They do this by, for example, sharing the work scrutinies and seeing for themselves how pupils are progressing, how pupils’ presentation is improving and how marking is consistently used to drive improvements. Governors ensure that teachers’ pay is linked to their performance and level of responsibility.
• They are very familiar with the school improvement plan and are much sharper in their focus, for example on the expenditure on disadvantaged children and sports funding.
• Governors are forward-looking. They participate fully in a joint Valley View and Hedworthfield committee which is working towards federation of the two schools by the end of this school year.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders are well trained and proactive in their work with other agencies and parents to ensure that pupils are kept safe from harm.
• The headteacher is extremely knowledgeable about individual cases. Safeguarding processes are reviewed regularly by the governors to ensure that pupils are safe, including the checking of documentation and records.
• The effective work of the inclusion manager ensures that the school has an accurate view of the needs of families. Well-kept records show that concerns are diligently recorded and that leaders act quickly.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is good and much improved since the last inspection when it was found to require improvement. Senior leaders have taken effective action to address any weak teaching. The work in pupils’ books and the school’s own information show that teaching is now good over time.
• Teachers now have higher expectations of what pupils should achieve in their work. Teachers plan work which interests and engages pupils so that they learn well. Even so, leaders have correctly identified that sometimes work planned for the most able pupils lacks challenge, especially in mathematics.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are especially strong. This gives pupils the confidence to have a go at new work without fear of failure. A calm, purposeful atmosphere for learning has been created in all classes.
• Teachers often provide pupils with helpful information to extend their learning. ‘Working walls’ provide good prompts and examples for pupils so that they can be more independent in their work.
• Pupils say that the introduction of targets has helped them understand what they need to do to be successful in their work over time. Very clear success criteria are discussed at the beginning and end of each session. Pupils are self-critical as they discuss with their classmates and ‘talk partners’ and consider their successes or areas for development. They are also becoming more self-critical when proofreading their work to identify common spelling and punctuation errors.
• Good questioning is used effectively by staff to check pupils’ understanding. They assess and check pupils’ outcomes in all subjects regularly. As a result of teachers’ feedback, pupils are clear what they have done well. The guidance about how pupils can improve their work is clear and precise.
• Teaching assistants provide very effective support for learning, for example by asking pupils questions to clarify their understanding and through focused work with small groups, including the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants are well briefed and trained and work well in partnership with teachers.
• The teaching of basic skills is good. Reading and phonics are taught very well. In small, focused groups, teachers encourage a love of reading through the choice of texts and themes linked to pupils’ interests, and by getting them to predict what will happen next to engender excitement and anticipation.
• Pupils develop decoding skills which they apply to their reading to tackle unfamiliar words. They read fluently, accurately and with expression.
• The teaching of writing has improved and is now good. There is a more systematic approach to building up the process across a wide range of writing styles. In some year groups, the teaching of writing is highly effective and teachers plan a wide range of writing activities across subjects. They set very high expectations for handwriting and presentation and they quickly pick up on spelling and grammatical errors. In these classes the progress of the most able boys is speeding up.
• However, in a small number of classes, although pupils can independently demonstrate skills in grammar, punctuation and spelling, they do not always apply these skills when writing creatively or for extended periods of time. The school improvement plan identifies a number of focused actions which will be taken over the coming year to improve outcomes in writing.
• Pupils’ learning in mathematics is largely good but occasionally there is room for improvement. This is because activities are not always planned effectively to meet the needs of all abilities. At times, teachers do not move the most able pupils on rapidly enough. Too often, these pupils ‘over practise’ the work, even though it is clear they understand it well. At other times, the lower-ability pupils find it difficult to understand and need resources to be provided sooner to support them. Teachers do not always provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to explain clearly the mathematical skills they have used or to develop their reasoning skills.
• Teaching is consistently good in the speech and language unit. Lessons are planned well to take into account the differing levels of ability.
• Teachers make good use of resources to consolidate pupils’ understanding before moving on to more complex problems. They show high expectations for the presentation of pupils’ work and provide immediate feedback to pupils so they can progress quickly. Pupils focus well on their learning because lessons motivate them well and staff provide effective opportunities for language development. Teachers use questioning well to check knowledge and understanding and to share examples of good practice.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils thrive in a happy, caring environment where their welfare and safety are paramount. They enjoy their time in school and almost all have very positive, good attitudes to learning. They are friendly, well mannered and respectful to visitors, staff and other pupils.
• Pupils are extremely proud to be at Hedworthfield Primary School. They enjoy the opportunity to have responsibility and develop leadership skills. For example, the school council, house captains and buddies play an important role in school. They show good responsibility in helping pupils make friends and play well together. Pupils in Year 6 show maturity as they help younger pupils at lunchtime and encourage them to eat healthily.
• Pupils know how to keep safe. They have a well-developed understanding of how to protect themselves and others, especially when online. In discussion, they were able to give good examples of how the curriculum has ensured they are taught about ways to keep safe, appropriate to their age. All parents say that their children feel safe and are well looked after.
• The school cares very well for all its pupils. They know that the inclusion manager is always available and will talk to them about their concerns and worries. Pupils say there are also lots of other adults in the school that they can go to for support.
• Most pupils now take more responsibility for their own learning and are willing to edit and check their work, not simply being content to let the teacher correct their mistakes. This is increasing their resilience and improving their ability to become self-critical as learners.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. This is the case both in lessons and around the school and contributes to the orderly and harmonious atmosphere within the school.
• Pupils, staff, governors and parents agree that behaviour is good in school. School records confirm that behaviour has improved and is now typically good over time. Pupils say that bullying is rare. They say that if it does occur, it is dealt with quickly. School records confirm this.
• The small number of pupils who find it more difficult to manage their own behaviour receive good support from staff and generally settle quickly as a result.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the school’s behaviour system. They follow the rule ‘kind hands, kind feet, kind words’ and understand the different levels of sanctions. They believe that the reward system is fair. Consistent implementation of this system by staff, and their high expectations for behaviour, help contribute to pupils’ good behaviour.
• The school’s very well-subsidised breakfast club provides a good, healthy, nurturing start to the day for those who attend. This is one of the strategies used to improve attendance.
• Since the last inspection attendance has improved year on year. It is now much closer to the national level, but remains slightly below average. As a result, it requires further improvement. A range of strategies aimed at improving attendance have been put in place. These include a tightening of systems to support families and children with specific needs or issues. Strategies include regular monitoring and warning systems for parents. Leaders and the inclusion manager actively bring children into school where needed. Internal records demonstrate that punctuality has improved significantly.
• Although such strategies are paying off, they are yet to be fully effective.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ achievement has improved significantly across the school since the last inspection. This is because of improved teaching and learning and more appropriate learning activities. As a result, all groups of pupils make good progress from their starting points. Standards of attainment have risen and a greater proportion of pupils are achieving age-related expectations.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected level in the Year 1 phonics screening check has continued to increase since the last inspection. In 2016, attainment in the phonics check improved from 66% in 2015 to 83%. This was the result of effective school improvement planning, staff training and implementation of a new phonics curriculum. This demonstrates that effective phonics teaching is enabling good progress from often low starting points into school.
• Although the attainment of both boys and girls improved, girls outperformed boys significantly. Targeted teaching is now in place for those children in Year 2 who did not achieve a pass in Year 1, with a specific focus on improving boys’ progress.
• There has been an improved trend over time in national assessments at Year 2 and Year 6. In Year 2 in 2016, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected level was broadly in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. This reflects at least good progress from pupils’ previous low starting points. Only four in 10 of these pupils achieved a good level of development when they were in the Reception class. The proportion of pupils attaining the higher levels was above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics, again representing impressive progress.
• In the 2016 Year 6 cohort, there were five pupils within the language unit special provision included within the whole-school data. There were only 16 pupils within the mainstream cohort. Without the language unit pupils, all of whom had an education, health and care plan, attainment was above the national average in all subjects except for reading, where it was broadly in line with the national average. However, too few pupils achieved at a higher standard, with the exception of writing, which was above the national average. There were no children who managed to attain a higher standard in reading and mathematics.
• As in key stage 1, there appears to be a significant gender gap in key stage 2. However, with very few boys in this cohort, the data is not statistically viable as a measure of attainment of this group.
• Progress in reading for the 2016 cohort was lower than that of pupils nationally with the same prior attainment. Progress in mathematics and writing is better than that of other pupils nationally with the same prior attainment.
• The school’s information and a scrutiny of pupils’ work show that there is an increased proportion making more than expected progress this year across all subjects. Pupils are now much better prepared for the next stage of their education. Even so, leaders recognise that sometimes a lack of opportunity for pupils to give explanations and justifications hinders their ability to deepen their reasoning skills, particularly in mathematics.
• The progress of boys is improving and a greater number are making better than expected progress this year, but they still have some catching up to do. This is a significant improvement compared to their performance over the two previous years. Current progress is good across all year groups.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in the mainstream classes, and those pupils attending the speech and language unit, receive close support from adults to ensure they are secure in their learning. Pupils with particularly complex needs benefit from working in small support groups.
• Disadvantaged pupils are now making much better progress. In the 2016 national assessments at the end of Year 2, the difference in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils had been eradicated. In fact, disadvantaged pupils achieved as well as non-disadvantaged pupils nationally in all subjects, and better than them at higher levels.
• In the Year 6 assessments, disadvantaged pupils achieved broadly as well as others nationally at the expected level in writing and mathematics, but not as well in reading and grammar. However, these results were significantly affected by the lower attainment of pupils in the speech and language unit. The majority of disadvantaged pupils currently at the school are making similar progress to other pupils. Closely targeted support has helped to diminish the differences in learning.
• Pupils’ books show that the most able pupils are usually making similar progress to their peers. At times, however, they are not challenged as well as they could be. They do not always move quickly on to deeper work once they have grasped a new concept, and when this occurs it slows their progress.

Early years provision Good

• Children start in the Nursery or Reception classes with skills and knowledge that are generally well below those typical for their ages, particularly in their communication and language skills and their self-care.
• Children get a good start to school. They make good progress throughout the early years. In 2016, there was a rise in the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development, and for the first time this was in line with the national average. This represents very good progress from low starting points. Current school performance information indicates that the results will be even higher this year. Children are increasingly well prepared for learning in Year 1.
• Disadvantaged children outperformed their peers and achieved well when compared with all children nationally in 2016. The school has successfully diminished the difference between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils because the pupil premium funding is used effectively to ensure that levels of support are high within both classes for those children who require intervention. Close attention has been paid to children’s developments in language and literacy through the use of a speech and language therapist. This has upskilled staff and provided early development of language for individual pupils.
• Good leadership has led to improved provision for children following close working with parents and other local early years settings. Revisions to the curriculum in order to make learning more appealing to boys and to accelerate their progress are paying off. Through the introduction of activities such as a builders’ yard and ‘boy friendly’ texts, boys are now more engaged. Boys were observed developing their early writing skills to write letters to Santa and developing their language skills during role play.
• The school has developed a highly effective assessment system to help with the tracking of children’s progress. ‘Learning journey’ folders show that staff are extremely confident and efficient with this system and astutely link next steps in learning to annotated photographs and observation notes. As a result, planned activities closely meet children’s needs.
• Leaders ensure that children’s welfare and safety are given the highest priority. As a result, children are safe and confident. A very happy atmosphere has been created, and consequently children have positive attitudes to learning. Relationships are strong. Parents are delighted with the start their children receive.
• Children were observed developing their fine motor skills by snipping sticky paper and glittery fixings for their Christmas tree decorations. They also showed considerable dexterity when weaving wool around their card fir tree templates and telling the teacher it was a triangle with three corners.
• Activities in the outside areas are a strong feature of the school’s provision. Here, children are able to take risks safely, such as building with wooden blocks, climbing on the purpose-built apparatus and using the wheeled toys safely. Children are well aware of how to keep themselves safe.
• Children are engaged well in their learning through the choice of activities they have inside and outdoors. Activities and tasks that children can choose for themselves enable them to practise skills developed already and try out new experiences. However, there are a few occasions when teachers do not spend sufficient time in checking what children are learning, and fail to ask the probing questions to maximise learning. Some opportunities to extend learning are missed.
• Children are extremely polite and friendly. They say ‘Please, thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’ when handed things by their classmates. They confidently recall the rules of how to behave in class and how to treat others. Early reading, writing and mathematical skills are threaded through the activities undertaken here.
• Children are enthusiastic about their work and keen to show it to visitors. They work well with each other in groups and pairs and behave well. Expectations are high and children respond well to them. Children are active and inquisitive learners who are happy to share and take their turn.
• Early numeracy and literacy skills, including phonics, are taught very well. Opportunities to write are found in numerous activities provided for children. Reception children were very taken with their writing based on the film ‘Frozen’ and excitedly described their characters and the features of the story. Teachers choose books regularly to motivate and encourage children to join in. Children described the story of ‘Panta Claus’ enthusiastically and showed good recall of the story.
• Links with parents have improved since the last inspection. Parents appreciate the accessibility of staff as it means that any minor concerns can be resolved quickly. ‘Stay and play’ sessions and other opportunities have enabled parents to work alongside their children. Parents say how much they appreciate these opportunities.

School details

Unique reference number 108699 Local authority South Tyneside Inspection number 10023817 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 232 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Councillor Alan Smith Headteacher Gemma Jeynes Telephone number 0191 537 3373 Website www.hedworthfieldprimary.co.uk Email address info@hedworthfieldprimary.com Date of previous inspection 10 December 2014

Information about this school

• At the time of the inspection, Hedworthfield Primary was part of a ‘soft’ federation with Valley View Primary School. The executive headteacher leads both schools, which have separate governing bodies. Plans for the two schools to federate formally are in place.
• Hedworthfield Primary is a slightly smaller than average primary school. The school also has a speech and language unit which provides specialist provision for pupils across South Tyneside.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is also well below the national average. The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is over twice the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is around three times higher than the national average, although a below-average proportion have an education, health and care plan or statement of special educational needs.
• Children attend Nursery in the mornings only, and attend full time in the Reception class.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school provides a very well-attended breakfast club.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Pupils’ learning was observed in all classes, including those in the speech and language unit. A small number of lessons were jointly observed with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• The inspectors scrutinised the work of pupils in all year groups and spoke with many pupils during lessons about their work. The inspectors listened to pupils from different year groups read and gathered views about their experiences at school.
• The inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, other leaders, governors and members of the teaching and support staff.
• The views of staff were also gathered from 17 responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey.
• A telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority.
• The inspectors met formally with a group of pupils to gather their views on their learning and about school. The inspectors spoke informally with many pupils from all year groups during lessons, at breaktimes and around the school.
• The views of parents were taken into consideration, including the responses of 13 parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and many free text comments. Discussions were also held with parents as they dropped their children off at school.
• The inspectors considered documentation, including information on pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s improvement planning, minutes of governing body meetings, records of the monitoring of teaching and information on the management of teachers’ performance. Procedures for the safeguarding of pupils were examined, including information relating to attendance, behaviour and the exclusion of pupils.

Inspection team

Steve Bywater, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Garry Stout Ofsted Inspector Zoe Westley Ofsted Inspector