Bedlington West End Primary School

Bedlington West End First School West End, Bedlington, Northumberland, NE22 6EB

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Teaching is good. Teachers work effectively with teaching assistants to make sure lessons are challenging and pupils enjoy learning.  The curriculum is broad, varied and exciting with many opportunities for pupils to extend their skills and pleasure in art, music and physical education.  From their starting points, pupils make good progress and achieve well by the time they leave the school at the end of Year 4.  Pupils have very good attitudes to learning. They enjoy coming to school. They behave well, take care of each other and are keen to work hard to achieve their best.  Leadership is good. The headteacher promotes a culture of learning where all are expected to do their best.  Leaders know the school well. They monitor the quality and impact of teaching very carefully to ensure that standards continue to improve.  Pupils are known well as individuals and are both cared for and challenged, including those with

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

special educational needs and disabilities.  The school is particularly successful in developing children’s reading skills. Children and pupils enjoy books and read widely both at school and at home.  Early years provision is good. In most aspects, children are well prepared for learning in Year 1.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Early years provision, while moving forward positively under the direction of the deputy headteacher, does not always give children sufficient opportunities to develop the creative and technological aspects of their skills in a consistent way.  Although improving, governors are still too reliant on the headteacher and her team for information and detail about the school’s progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 17 lessons across all year groups. Three were observed jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors saw registration, two assemblies and observed how pupils behaved in and out of lessons.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, representatives of the governing body, including the Chair of the Governing Body, senior staff, middle leaders and a representative from the local authority. Informal discussions also took place with staff and pupils.  Discussions were held with groups of pupils across the school about their educational experience and behaviour. Samples of pupils’ work were scrutinised, including in lessons. Inspectors listened to pupils in Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 read.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documents, including the school’s view of how well it is doing, development planning, pupil progress tracking, the monitoring of teaching, performance management,

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Information about this inspection

staff training and records of governors’ meetings. They also looked at records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance. A range of information from the school’s website was reviewed.  The inspection took account of 55 responses on the online questionnaire for parents (Parent View). Inspectors also received a range of messages from parents expressing their views and inspectors conducted conversations with parents at various times during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Mark Evans, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a slightly larger than average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage and the remainder is from a range of minority ethnic groups. All pupils speak English as their first language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who receive support through pupil premium funding (additional funding to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils who are looked after by the local authority) is one in four, which is slightly below the national average.  The proportion of disabled students and those with special educational needs is slightly above the national average.  The school provides a daily, mornings only pre-reception class (Apple class) for 26 children, which runs from January to July each year. Children are admitted in the term after their fourth birthday.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 In Reception, improve the rate at which children acquire and deepen their language skills by giving them more opportunities for learning which help them develop their creativity.  Improve governors’ skills and knowledge so that they have a clearer insight into the strengths and needs of the school by ensuring that:  there are more opportunities for governors to have direct contact with staff and pupils in order to develop a deeper understanding of the school’s work and so that they are not over reliant on the headteacher for information about the school’s performance.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is led and managed well. The headteacher, working with her team, creates a culture that encourages every child to reach his or her full potential. Pupils are aware of this and respond well. They behave well and demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their learning and enthusiasm to work for and with others. Staff are supported and challenged well by leaders.  Leaders know the school well. The school’s own assessment of its performance is based on secure measurable evidence, which is validated by external sources such as the local authority. This information is used carefully to plan for further improvement. Leaders are aware of areas of where improvement is needed, such as in Reception, and have detailed plans in place to address them.  The performance management of teachers is effective and reflected in pay progression, so that teachers are rewarded for their work in raising standards. The school encourages all staff to improve the quality of

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The leadership and management are good

their work through carefully tailored training which addresses issues identified during the performance management process. This is increasingly improving the effectiveness of the school.  Literacy and mathematics leaders use information about pupils’ progress to gain a clear understanding of how well they are achieving. Their good subject knowledge enables them to support staff to improve their teaching. They regularly scrutinise work books and folders to gauge how well pupils are learning. They combine this with regular meetings with staff to discuss individual pupils’ progress and target additional support when pupils fall behind.  The provision for disabled pupils and those with special education needs is led and managed well. The leader keeps good records of these pupils’ progress and makes sure that each child has well-planned and appropriate programmes of support. The responsibility for the day-to-day support for these pupils is

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The leadership and management are good

delegated very effectively to classroom staff. Staff know the needs of their pupils very well and provide support that is well targeted and promotes improvement.  Pupil premium funds are used effectively. They enable a broad range of academic and pastoral support to be provided, including the provision of small groups and intensive, targeted support. As a result of these actions, the ‘gap’ between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is closing.  The school’s curriculum is rich and varied. It prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education and for life in modern Britain. Good, carefully planned provision for pupils’ spiritual, social and cultural development helps them develop positive attitudes to themselves and to each other. Cultural education is a particular strength. For example, all Year 3 pupils, supported by the local music ‘hub’, learn a brass instrument. This helps pupils extend their understanding of the tradition of brass playing in the local

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The leadership and management are good

community, as well as helping ensure that all pupils have an understanding of basic music notation.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. All aspects of safeguarding, including those relating to the appointment of staff, are monitored rigorously.  The local authority supports the school effectively. There are regular monitoring visits from local authority officers to discuss pupil progress and they help assure the accuracy of teachers’ assessments of pupils’ work.  The school is using the physical education and sport funding very effectively. Teachers team-teach with specialist coaches who work with their classes on a regular basis. This is increasing the quality of all staff’s knowledge and skills. The school is part of the Schools Sports Partnership across Bedlington. This gives the school opportunities to play competitive matches against other schools and for groups of staff from

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The leadership and management are good

across the partnership to work closely together. During the time of the inspection, the school’s gymnastics team came first in a partnership-wide competition. As a result, they will represent the area at the forthcoming Northumberland Games.  The school’s website meets statutory requirements. It is attractive and easy to access for parents and those wanting information about the school. It gives a clear picture of the broad range of activities offered. There are detailed descriptions of the programmes of study the pupils follow now and in the future. There are also helpful and detailed descriptions of related homework and lists of key spellings.  The governance of the school:  Governors are increasingly more able to challenge the leaders in detail about the quality of provision at the school. Until recently, the governing body has been too reliant on the headteacher for information about the performance of the school. This is now being addressed and governors are increasingly using

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The leadership and management are good

visits to the school to see for themselves the progress that is being made.  Governors have had appropriate training in the interpretation of pupil performance data. This helps them check whether all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and the most able, are doing well and to make sure that any groups falling behind are supported.  Governors monitor the progress of disadvantaged students and they understand that the overall achievement and attainment gap needs to continue to narrow.  Governors have a good understanding of the quality of teaching at the school and the school’s performance management strategy’s role in improving teaching and learning.  Governors ensure that the school meets statutory requirements for safeguarding.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite and well behaved outdoors and around the school. They are very considerate towards each other and welcome opportunities to be of service. For example, older pupils have the opportunity to volunteer as play leaders. This involves special training (which pupils relish) and then a role l eading play and encouraging others to join in, particularly those who appear to be playing alone.  There were no fixed-term exclusions in the academic year 2013-2014. There have been no fixed-term exclusions during this academic year.  The school’s code of conduct is rooted in equality of opportunity and key ideas of tolerance, kindness and understanding. Pupils were able to talk with enthusiasm about the ways in which the Golden Rules helped encourage everyone to give of their best and behave well.  Nearly all of the parents who completed the Parent View questionnaire felt that the school makes sure

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Behaviour

pupils are happy and behave well. Almost all of the parents spoken to say how much their children enjoy coming to school and learning.  Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning strongly support their progress. Pupils are eager to learn and they work co-operatively and well with each other. Pupils report that they ‘feel happy and excited’ in school. They come to school with the correct equipment and take real pride in their work; their work books and folders are usually well presented and tidy.  Relationships are good. Staff manage behaviour very well. Pupils respond very promptly to adults’ requests.  The impact of the additional physical education and sport funding is increased because pupils are so eager to engage and learn new skills. This was demonstrated during a physical education lesson when Year 1 pupils demonstrated high levels of co-operation and welcomed the opportunity to reflect positively on

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Pupils report that they feel safe in school. They feel secure and say that they know that adults will listen carefully to them and look after them if they have any concerns. Pupils report that they understand and can recognise the different forms bullying can take. They say that incidents of bullying are very rare. When they do occur, they say they are dealt with very promptly.  Pupils are clear about how to keep themselves safe, including when online. Pupils report that they receive regular information in assemblies and lessons about ways to keep themselves safe. Displays around the school underline this message.  Attendance is similar to the national average and improving. Punctuality to lessons is good. The school carefully monitors pupils’ patterns of attendance. It employs a member of staff who works with families of children whose attendance is of some concern to help ensure that any barriers to attendance are

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Safety

removed. There is evidence that this action by the school is having a positive impact on attendance.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers know their pupils well. They use this detailed knowledge and school data about their pupils to plan and set challenging work. They monitor pupils’ progress during lessons and are adept at making changes to their teaching in response to pupils’ developing ideas and interests.  Good teaching results in pupils being very clear about what they are going to learn. They have opportunities to reflect on their learning during lessons and discuss it with their peers. Time is regularly provided in lessons for pupils to respond to teachers’ marking and feedback. This marking is detailed and of a consistently high quality across the school. It helps pupils know what they need to do next to improve and they are given the time to make corrections to their work.  The curriculum is varied and interesting. Science is taught well across the school, with pupils gaining a good grasp of scientific concepts, such as ‘fair testing’. They then use appropriate scientific language to

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The quality of teaching is good

describe their findings. Music, art and physical education are key features of the school’s rich curriculum. Pupils report that they enjoy the opportunities these subjects give them to learn about the wider world.  Teaching is good in mathematics. Pupils enjoy problem-solving and the opportunities that they have in lessons to work in a range of different ways to extend their mathematical skills. In a Year 4 lesson, for example, pupils made rapid progress as a result of working in pairs on a calculation: one pupil undertook the calculation while the other gave a detailed running commentary on the steps taken.  Teaching is good in English. Both boys and girls enjoy reading and they are given very regular opportunities to extend their skills. The ‘Big Talk’ initiative is helping pupils improve their writing. It also helps consolidate the strong links that the school has with parents. Parents and children discuss a topic in

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The quality of teaching is good

detail at home. Then the pupils, back in school, use the information and experience as a basis for their writing. The school’s records show that this is having a positive impact on improving pupils’ progress in writing.  The impact of the teaching of phonics (how the sounds in words are represented by different letters) is improving and children and pupils are now making better progress than they did in 2014. This is because the school has re-focused the way it deploys staff in this key area. The school’s own recent data and the good teaching seen during the inspection strongly suggest that the results of the phonics check in 2015 will be an improvement over recent years.  Teaching assistants are used well to support particular individuals and groups of pupils. A strong feature is their joint planning with teachers. Their assessments of the progress that pupils make feeds directly into the planning of next steps. The school is effective in developing the skills of this group of staff through

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The quality of teaching is good

carefully targeted training and other opportunities for professional development.  The teaching of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is good. Staff identify the needs of individual pupils accurately and provide appropriate support. Pupils supported by the school are helped to catch up successfully through carefully targeted action which is monitored regularly. Outside specialist help is used to identify specific learning needs of pupils and parents are fully involved.  In the lessons seen, teachers often use questioning expertly to develop pupils’ ideas and deepen their thinking. These teachers ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ rather than ‘what’? They also challenge children to extend their thinking by expert use of ‘follow-up’ questions so that pupils understand that answers to questions are rarely simple.  Homework is used effectively to support pupils’ learning. The homework programme is published on the

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The quality of teaching is good

school’s website. It is carefully linked to the topics being studied. It contains an element of choice. The work pupils do at home is used well to enrich their learning in school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start school with knowledge, skills and understanding broadly typical for their age. They make good progress in the early years in almost all areas of learning. Progress in technology and expressive arts is not always so good.  Progress is good and improving across Key Stage 1, particularly in reading. Progress is now good in phonics (how the sounds in words are represented by different letters) because there is more focused support for pupils in smaller groups. Results in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 were in line with national figures in 2014. Progress continues to be good throughout Years 3 and 4 and standards are higher than those typically seen in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 4.  Pupils enjoy reading. They read widely from different types of books. By the end of Year 4 most pupils are fluent and confident readers.  Speaking and listening skills are well developed in the school. This is because pupils are given regular

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The achievement of pupils is good

opportunities to discuss their learning with each other and with adults at the school. For example, pupils regularly discuss their reading. The ‘Big Talk’ project also encourages pupils to ask questions and listen carefully to responses.  Pupils have good basic numeracy and problem-solving skills. They acquire a range of strategies for calculating and working with numbers and explore how number systems work. There is a strong focus on problem-solving which allows pupils to use their skills to good effect.  The most able achieve well in literacy and numeracy. They read widely for pleasure and for information. Their writing is varied and of a high quality and they have very good number skills. Many of these pupils succeed beyond the ‘core’ subjects. The school provides opportunities, both in and out of the classroom, to extend their skills and experience. For example, able young artists spent six sessions with an artist at

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The achievement of pupils is good

the Baltic centre for contemporary art in Newcastle as part of a research project developing their skills as sculptors.  The achievement of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is good. Carefully targeted support has ensured that by the end of Year 4 the progress of this group of pupils is in line with, if not better than that of their peers.  Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. From their starting points across their time in school they make similar progress to that of their peers. The school’s most recent data and the work books and lessons seen by inspectors suggest that in Years 3 and 4 disadvantaged pupils’ progress is greater than that of their peers, particularly in reading and writing. In mathematics it is broadly similar.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years is led and managed well. The early years leader, who is the school’s deputy headteacher, works effectively with her staff to develop their skills through carefully targeted training. The progress and well-being of children is carefully monitored to help ensure that all are making the progress that they should. Officers from the local authority have confirmed the accuracy of teachers’ checks on their assessments of how children are progressing.  Children generally make good progress from their individual starting points. Children settle quickly into their new environment because of the careful links the school has made with home and the positive relationships that staff and children establish.  The children know and follow the class rules and increasingly understand why they are necessary. As a result, their behaviour is consistently good and staff are able to focus fully on their learning. Children

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The early years provision is good

know how to keep themselves safe and healthy. For example, they follow simple hygiene rules.  The Reception classes provide a well-organised and safe environment. Children are encouraged to make choices and to be active in their learning. There is a range of activities available and children were seen working carefully and well together, and with adults.  In some of the sessions seen where children choose what to do from a range of activities, there were insufficient opportunities for children to develop their creativity and technology skills. The resources were not stimulating enough and there was too much reliance on adults. Leaders recognise these shortcomings and have acted to address them.  The outdoor classroom is stimulating and fires children’s imagination. Staff have overcome restrictions in the building and there are opportunities for children to investigate and explore aspects of science and

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The early years provision is good

music.  Disabled children and those who have special educational needs learn well because their needs are identified quickly and accurately and appropriate individual support provided.  The most-able children’s needs and skills are identified carefully and they are supported and encouraged to learn in a range of different ways. They make good progress.  There are careful and detailed links with parents which support children’s learning well. Parents are encouraged to contribute to their children’s learning through regular visits, writing observations in their child’s learning journey book and their reading record.  The children leave the Reception class ready for learning in Year 1.

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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 122176 Local authority Northumberland Inspection number 449761

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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 4–9 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 281 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Neil Patterson Headteacher Jane Bushell Date of previous school inspection 5 May 2010 Telephone number 01670 822328 Fax number 01670 829448 Email address admin@westend.northumberland.sch.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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