Emmaville Primary School

Emmaville Primary School Main Street, Crawcrook, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, NE40 4ND

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The dedication and inspiration shown by the headteacher motivates all staff to give their very best for the benefit of pupils. The headteacher’s passion for learning has created a culture of hard work and excellence throughout the school.  Leaders, managers and governors are determined that standards in reading, writing and mathematics are as high as possible. Improvements in teaching and pupils’ achievement are driven relentlessly, for example in the way reading is now taught. The improvements accomplished have proved very effective and have raised standards in all key stages.  Children joining the early years quickly develop the skills and confidence to learn at a very rapid rate because the of the school’s excellent provision.  Pupils make outstanding progress from their individual starting points, regardless of their ability or any barriers to learning. By the end of Year 6, standards are above average in reading, writing

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and mathematics. While pupils’ achievement is excellent, the school recognises that there remains scope to ensure that the proportion of pupils reaching the higher levels of attainment increases even further.  Teaching is outstanding over time. All teachers and their assistants share the headteacher’s vision to get the best for and from every child. They manage pupils’ different learning needs very well so that learning proceeds with rigour and pace. However, occasionally, a few pupils spend too long being taught skills that they have already securely mastered and are not always quickly moved on to more challenging work.  Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They love learning and feel confident with their teachers and their classmates. Pupils show great consideration, respect each other and demonstrate the values the school instils in them from the earliest age. They work hard in lessons because learning is fun.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

Younger pupils are very well cared for by older pupils who readily take on these responsibilities with diligence and pride.  Pupils say they feel very safe in school. There is an abundance of pastoral care from staff that creates a warm, safe and welcoming environment where excellent relationships flourish.  The school’s reputation in the community is very strong and parents acknowledge its many strengths. Their views of the school and its leadership are extremely positive.  The rich, diverse curriculum creates highly memorable opportunities for learning. Families welcome the plethora of visits, visitors and out of school activities.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching and learning in lessons, small groups and during the routine of the school day. Some lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with the Chair and other members of the Governing Body, senior leaders, staff and pupils.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at documentation, including that relating to safeguarding procedures. Assessment information showing the attainment and progress of pupils across the school was reviewed.  Inspectors undertook an examination of pupils’ writing in all key stages. They listened to a sample of pupils reading in Years 1, 2 and 6.  Inspectors took account of 83 responses to the online questionnaire, (Parent View); they also noted the views of seven parents during the inspection. The views of 13 members of staff who returned questionnaires were also taken into consideration.

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Inspection team

Jonathan Chicken, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Emmaville is an average sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  There is a below-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are supported by the pupil premium. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those children that are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  There is a before- and after-school club that is managed by the governing body.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of pupils that reach the highest levels of attainment at the end of Years 2 and 6 by:  making sure that pupils do not spend too long being taught skills that they have already securely mastered and are always quickly moved on to more difficult work  undertaking even more regular checks on pupils’ achievements and work to ensure that all groups of pupils, especially the most able, are continually making excellent progress.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders and managers at all levels demonstrate the determination and expertise to continually improve the school. Improvements since the previous inspection are evident in all key stages. In particular, the quality of teaching has improved in Key Stage 1, and especially in reading. Pupils’ excellent progress seen in Key Stage 2 in 2013 has been successfully sustained and strengthened even further in 2014. The proportion of pupils making the expected rates of progress and doing better than this through Key Stage 2 is considerably above the proportion that does so nationally.  Highly accurate evaluation by senior and middle leaders provides the school with a clear understanding of where further improvements are needed. Teamwork and extremely professional dialogue between staff enables the school to continue to improve at a rapid pace and with rigour.  The school has robust systems in place to track how well pupils are learning and ensure that any slowing

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The leadership and management are outstanding

in progress is picked up swiftly and prompt remedial action is taken. Leaders have identified that there is scope to undertake even more regular checks on pupils’ achievements and work to ensure that all groups of pupils, especially the most able, are continually making excellent progress.  Leaders ensure that the pupil premium funding is used highly effectively, offering additional support where it is needed to ensure that any gaps in attainment between disadvantaged and other pupils are swiftly closed. This reflects the school’s commitment to ensuring that every pupil is given an equal opportunity to succeed and that no one is discriminated against.  Teaching has improved since the previous inspection and is now outstanding. The management of staff performance and provision of training successfully meet the whole school aims and the individual needs of staff extremely well. There is an explicit and clear link between teachers’ performance and their salary

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The leadership and management are outstanding

progression.  The school’s curriculum is highly effective and successfully sustains pupils’ interest and motivates them to foster a love of learning. It is well structured and gives pupils regular opportunities to practise their literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects. The richness and diversity of the curriculum provides excellent opportunities for the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. They are well prepared for life in modern Britain as a result.  Parental views of the school, and its leadership, are extremely positive. A very large majority of parents said that they would recommend the school to others.  The school’s use of the primary sport funding is highly effective in improving the quality and breadth of physical education and sport provision. After-school sporting activities have been extended and participation in sport has increased. The wider school community, including governors, are rightly proud of

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The leadership and management are outstanding

this increased engagement and excellence in sport.  The school works closely with the local authority which has provided consistently effective support and challenge over time.  Safeguarding procedures meet current requirements.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has an excellent understanding of the school’s strengths and relative weaknesses. It is fully involved in driving improvement. Governors are confident that they have identified the right areas of focus and can articulate the impact that their strategic decisions have. Through frequent meetings and regular focussed visits to school, they monitor the school’s work and take part in a wide range of training to ensure their continued effectiveness.  The school’s budget is managed efficiently so that good levels of staffing support pupils’ excellent achievement, that resources are plentiful and the school’s physical environment is maintained to the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

highest standards.  Governors challenge the school well through their analysis of school performance information. They hold leaders to account for the way funding to support disadvantaged pupils is used to raise their achievement. They have good knowledge of the quality of teaching and understand how senior leaders make checks on this. The governing body has high expectations of staff who are paid to take on extra responsibilities.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Behaviour around the school and outside is exemplary and pupils encourage one another to conduct themselves well. They are extremely proud of their school and are considerate and supportive of each other in lessons. Their consistently thoughtful behaviour is an important factor in their highly successful learning. It creates a welcoming, friendly and professional atmosphere throughout the school. Incidents of poor or serious behaviour are almost unheard of.  Pupils have exemplary attitudes to learning and consistently show a thirst for knowledge. This is because the school offers so much that is exciting, stimulating and fun to do in lessons. They have been taught to show resilience and support one another. The slogan ‘you can do it’ is promoted by the headteacher and models the school’s expectations of persistence and determination.  Pupils’ enjoyment of school reflects in their usually high levels of attendance. They are very keen to attend

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Behaviour

and arrive punctually and ready to learn.  Parents and pupils appreciate the before- and after-school clubs provided by the school. Pupils behave very well at the clubs, because the provision is well resourced and managed as an integral part of the school.  Parents overwhelmingly agree that behaviour is a strength of the school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils are taught very effectively to identify and manage potential risks to their well-being. They can clearly explain how to keep safe in a variety of situations, including when using the internet, mobile technologies and social media.  Pupils have an excellent understanding of the different kinds of bullying, including those based on prejudices such as name-calling. They are confident that should an incident occur, staff at the school would deal with it effectively.  Staff provide outstanding pastoral care and support for pupils and their families. The close community of the school leads to highly positive relationships that are quick to spot any changes in circumstances or behaviour. The school has robust systems to support pupils whose circumstances could make them vulnerable. Pupils and their families know that the school will support them very effectively.

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Safety

 Parents overwhelmingly agree that their children feel safe and happy at the school.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching over time is outstanding across the curriculum, including in reading, writing, phonics and mathematics. This is demonstrated in lessons, in pupils’ work, and in their books which also show them making outstanding progress. A high level of expertise in teaching reading and mathematics over time has led to many pupils making exceptional progress and standards across the school are rising quickly.  A recent focus on how writing is taught has been highly successful and school information and inspection evidence confirm that pupils are now making similarly high levels of progress. Teachers usually have high expectations of all pupils, and provide excellent role models to show pupils how to do their very best.  Pupils are highly engaged in their learning, which enables them to develop skills and knowledge imparted by the teacher rapidly. The very positive relationships in classrooms create excellent conditions for

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

learning. Pupils behave exceptionally well. They are confident and value their lively classroom experiences. They enjoy their lessons and always have a very clear understanding of what they should be learning.  Pupils’ achievement and performance are tracked across the curriculum. Information collected is used to target additional teaching and support any pupils at risk of falling behind. Sometimes, a few pupils are taught knowledge and skills that they have already mastered and are not always quickly moved on to more challenging work.  Teachers usually know their pupils’ learning needs exceptionally well and check carefully that they are learning and gaining the knowledge, understanding and skills they need. Teachers assess this learning carefully and know exactly what point pupils are at in their work. Recent refinements in planning processes enable them to use this knowledge to plan the next steps of learning precisely.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Pupils’ work is marked diligently and teachers make very good use of this opportunity to praise achievements and encourage pupils’ efforts. Teachers usually tell pupils what they must do next and through dialogue, seize opportunities that extend thinking and deepen understanding.  Teaching is well led and both teachers and other adults are carefully deployed to maximise learning. The way pupils are organised for teaching contributes well to their high levels of achievement. The most-able pupils, disadvantaged pupils, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are each taught according to their needs. They learn systematically and develop an increasing mastery of the skills they are taught. As a result, they make rapid and consistent progress.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children enter the school with skills and abilities that are generally typical for their age. Excellent care and good routines help them to settle quickly. They learn to share, make friends and get on well with adults. As a result, their learning rapidly gathers pace. By the end of Reception, the large majority have achieved a good level of development. Their literacy and numeracy skills are strong. This, along with their advanced social skills, confidence and enquiring minds prepares them well for learning in Year 1.  Excellent progress continues as pupils move up through the school. Unvalidated data in 2014 confirm that by the end of Year 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics have risen, due to much better teaching, and are now above average. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher Level 3 in writing and mathematics has risen.  Pupils make rapid and sustained progress in Key Stage 2. In Year 6 in 2013, the proportion of pupils

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

reaching the nationally expected Level 4 was above average in reading, writing and in mathematics. Similarly, in mathematics and reading, the proportion reaching the higher Level 5 was also above average. The proportion of pupils making the expected rate of progress in each of these subjects and the proportion doing better than this were far above the proportions that did so nationally. This reflects excellent progress from their previous starting points. Inspection evidence confirms that the achievement of pupils in Year 6 in 2014, and those now in Key Stage 2, is continuing to strengthen. For example, an above average proportion of pupils reached the highest Level 6 in mathematics in 2014.  Pupils read confidently, fluently and with very good understanding and expression. Reading skills are now taught extremely well, so that the youngest children quickly learn to apply these to their writing. The 2014

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

unvalidated data confirm that the at the end of Year 1, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the phonics screening check was above average and higher than in 2013. By Year 6, pupils of all abilities are keen readers who are able to explain their reading preferences, and why they enjoy certain authors. Across the school, pupils make frequent use of their reading skills for research into the many exciting topics they study.  Writing is very well developed because pupils have many opportunities to write in different styles, not only in English lessons, but also in their topic and science lessons. This provides them with some excellent opportunities to design their own layout and present information in many different ways. The very high quality of pupils’ written work in books and on display around the school demonstrates clearly pupils’ enjoyment and delight in seeing the high quality results of their hard work.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils’ mathematical knowledge and skills are very well promoted by regularly applying them to real-life problems, which helps pupils see the uses of mathematics while making their learning memorable. Teachers provide pupils with frequent opportunities to use their mathematical skills in other subjects, so they are constantly consolidating and extending their skills.  School data and inspection evidence show that pupils with special educational needs who are supported through school action, at school action plus and those with a statement all make excellent progress. This stems from the school’s detailed understanding of their needs and the skilful support they receive.  The most-able pupils achieve very well. They are challenged in all aspects of their learning, often in class groupings which focus on higher level work. They are highly motivated to do their very best by teachers’ high expectations and their own pleasure in seeing just how well they can do. The school recognises that

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

an even greater focus on the progress that these pupils make will enable more of them to reach even higher standards.  The school tackles any gaps in attainment between disadvantaged pupils in the school and the non- disadvantaged pupils with rigour and success. In Year 6 in 2013, the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in reading was around one term behind other non-disadvantaged pupils in the year group and non- disadvantaged pupils nationally. In writing, they were three terms behind both others in the school and nationally. However in mathematics, there was no difference in their attainment, either with others in the school or compared to non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. School information and inspection evidence confirm that the progress made by these disadvantaged pupils is excellent. Previous gaps in attainment in writing, for example, have been closed successfully.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 When children join the Nursery, their skills and abilities are typical for their age, although relatively lower in communication and language and moving and handling. By the time they leave the Reception class, most have made rapid and sustained progress through the early years and the majority exceed the expected level of development across all areas of learning.  Children enjoy highly stimulating and attractive areas which reflect their interests and in which they can explore and learn with enthusiasm. There is a very good balance of activities chosen by children and those led by teachers and their assistants.  High expectations and very well established routines lead to children developing excellent attitudes to learning and a very good ability to get along with each other and work together well. They quickly learn to behave extremely well. Children are carefully supervised and supported by the many adults in the early

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The early years provision is outstanding

years, each of whom has a clearly defined role. They are kept very safe and learn very effectively how to keep themselves safe.  Much teaching in the early years is outstanding and never less than consistently good. Children are highly absorbed by the wealth and variety of activities both indoors and outside. They make rapid progress in their personal and emotional development and mathematical skills. There is a great deal of stimulus throughout early years provision to interest children, particularly in these areas. The staff team has rightly focussed on providing even more opportunities to embed early reading and writing skills and is closely tracking the accelerated progress that children are making as a result.  Over time, outstanding leadership of the early years has resulted in significant improvements in the quality of provision and in children’s achievement. Children’s rapid progress means that the proportion of children

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The early years provision is outstanding

reaching a good level of development by the end of Reception has improved significantly, rising above the national average in 2014.  Leaders ensure that adults working in the early years share a deep commitment to children’s well-being, safety and achievement and that they all work together in a cohesive team. Assessments of what children know and can do are extremely thorough and rigorously checked, both within school and externally and, as a result, leaders ensure that teaching is outstanding and meets children’s precise needs.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing

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Grade Judgement Description

to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 108339 Local authority Gateshead Inspection number 448373

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 287 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bill Purvis Headteacher Avril Armstrong Date of previous school inspection 19 January 2010 Telephone number 0191 413 2460 Fax number 0191 413 2460 Email address avrilarmstrong@gateshead.gov.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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