Riverside Primary School

Riverside Primary School Minton Lane, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE29 6DQ

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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

 The very effective headteacher, ably supported by an experienced leadership team, is highly ambitious and determined to raise further the attainment of pupils and improve their well-being.  Recent actions have ensured that teaching has improved. As a result, achievement is now good and improving.  The governing body is well informed about the quality of teaching and holds the school to account, asking challenging questions.  Children in the early years classes make a good start in their writing and understanding of number. They quickly develop skills that allow them to play and learn happily together.  Pupils’ progress, from their below average starting points in Year 1, is consistently good, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs or who are disabled.  Teaching is good, which results in pupils learning quickly and enjoying their lessons, evident in improved attendance. Teachers usually apply high

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

expectations to all subjects, allowing pupils to use their skills in reading, writing and mathematics in lessons.  Teaching assistants are skilled in supporting the learning and development of individuals and small groups of pupils. This makes a significant difference to these pupils’ progress.  The behaviour of pupils is good. There are high levels of trust and respect between pupils and adults in school.  Pupils feel very safe and secure because the care provided by the school is excellent. They are usually eager to learn, and are proud of their school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The rates of progress made by some pupils over time have not been consistently outstanding in every year group.  Opportunities can be missed to share the inspiring teaching that exists in school and sometimes a few pupils do not work hard enough in lessons.  Occasionally, not enough is demanded of pupils and the pace of learning slows, resulting in some pupils losing concentration.  High quality marking and feedback is not consistently seen in every year group.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in lessons, including two observed jointly with the headteacher. In addition, inspectors listened to some pupils read, reviewed a sample of their work alongside the headteacher, and made a number of short visits to lessons to check the quality of what is provided for pupils.  Inspectors held meetings with different groups of people involved with the school. These groups included pupils, members of the governing body, the headteacher, senior and subject leaders, other members of the teaching staff, some parents and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors viewed a range of documents, including information on pupils’ achievements, the school’s data on current and recent progress, the school’s view of how well it is doing, the school’s improvement plan, documents relating to safeguarding, and records of behaviour and attendance.  The inspection team took account of the 14 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), the

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Information about this inspection

schools’ most recent survey of the views of parents and 18 responses to the inspection questionnaire for staff. The school’s website was also scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Philip Scott, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Riverside Primary is a below average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and for whom English is not their first language is well below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is average.  Currently, there is a much higher than average proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium funding. This funding is to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.  Early years provision is part time in the Nursery and full time in Reception.  The school provides a free breakfast club each day for pupils.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The school is experiencing a number of changes in staffing.

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Information about this school

 The school has achieved a large number of awards including the Full International School Award, the Basic Skills Quality Mark and the Eco Schools Silver.  The school is part of the New York Teaching School Alliance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all teaching is consistently of a high standard to enable all pupils to make rapid and sustained progress, and reach even higher standards by:  raising the expectations of all staff even further to make sure pupils are continuously challenged and stretched, and always produce a sufficient quantity of work  share more widely the inspiring practice that already exists in school  ensuring that the pace of learning always allows pupils to remain engaged in their learning and maintain concentration  making sure that the high quality marking and feedback seen in some classes is consistently applied across the whole school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and senior team have worked tirelessly to develop systems and procedures that support and encourage each teacher in school to improve in order to tackle underperformance and raise standards. The headteacher has skilfully built an increasingly effective school team who share the same ambition to improve the quality of teaching and tackle and eliminate underachievement.  Senior leaders have an accurate view of what the school does well and have clear-cut priorities for those areas that require further improvement. Although senior leaders have not yet secured and maintained the highest levels of achievement and progress for pupils over time, they communicate a sense of drive and urgency to move forward rapidly. Leaders have ensured that a period of changes to staffing has not allowed the rates of pupils’ learning to slow.  Procedures to check the quality of teaching across the school are rigorous and well established. This

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The leadership and management are good

includes checking of assessment information, observations of learning in lessons, and analysis of work in books. Leaders and managers are skilful in ensuring that their analysis and interpretation of pupils’ progress information is carefully considered, and subsequently take necessary action to address any areas of concern. These actions include effective use of the pupil premium funding which is successfully securing support for disadvantaged pupils.  Staff performance is managed effectively and ensures no automatic pay progression. Staff have challenging objectives for their own professional improvement which are linked to the school’s action plan and the progress made by pupils. Staff training is closely linked to the needs of the school and of individual staff, but sometimes opportunities are missed to share the most successful practice more widely.  Pupils benefit from a lively, broad and well-planned curriculum, constantly under review in light of the new

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The leadership and management are good

National Curriculum. Themes and topics, often based on the rich local history, link subjects together extremely well to promote curiosity and team work, and provide many opportunities to make visits out of school.  The school’s promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong and reinforces traditional British values, such as its work to promote ‘Restorative Justice’. It prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain, and is currently holding a mock election for the Head school councillor in light of the national General Election.  The views of all pupils are valued, and many have an opportunity to play an active part in the life of the school such as the school council, eco warriors or as a ‘playground buddy’. The school’s inclusive approach fosters good relations and ensures that relationships are strong between all groups of pupils.  Links with parents are highly positive. Their views are valued and many families benefit from the way in

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The leadership and management are good

which the school involves them, one parent stating that ‘I like this school’s dedication to the pupils’ welfare’. Parents know that the school gives all children an opportunity to succeed and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.  Primary school physical education and sport funding is used extremely effectively to ensure high pupil participation rates in a wide range of sport, extend staff coaching expertise and provide additional opportunities for pupils to develop individual skills over lunchtime or after school in new sports such as in fencing, archery and golf.  Extra funds to support disadvantaged pupils are used successfully. Leaders regularly check that there has been a positive impact on the progress of this group of pupils and that attainment is rising.  Safeguarding and child protection procedures meet requirements. Procedures are firmly established, and exemplary practice is seen in the day-to-day management of the school providing care and protection for

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The leadership and management are good

pupils.  The local authority knows the school well, visiting termly and providing training as requested.  The governance of the school:  Governors are well informed, and both challenge and support senior leaders effectively.  Governors hold leaders and teachers to account for the quality of teaching and learning in the school. They have a good grasp of the school’s performance information and check on the impact of the pupil premium funding on the performance of disadvantaged pupils.  Governors ensure that staff performance management is rigorous and that teachers only receive financial reward if pupils meet their progress and attainment targets. They have a firm grasp of the strategic direction of the school and manage financial resources effectively.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Staff set high standards to which pupils respond well, showing high levels of respect and friendliness to adults, visitors and their classmates. This ensures a happy, welcoming and harmonious school, committed to success for its pupils.  Pupils’ behaviour in the playground, in the dining hall, in breakfast club and as they move around school is extremely good. They are polite and courteous, showing excellent manners and there is very little mean or unkind behaviour. They follow classroom routines well, and appreciate the ‘Restorative Justice’ system, the school’s system to manage behaviour.  Pupils are aware of the different types of bullying they may encounter, including cyber bullying. They are confident that when occasional incidents do occur, they are quickly and effectively resolved by staff.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are usually very good across school, but occasionally a few pupils can become

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Behaviour

disengaged from learning, lose concentration or are too slow to respond to instructions from the teacher.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. It is typified by the friendly and harmonious atmosphere around the school. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe and are well informed about identifying risks and danger, such as cyber bullying. They value the range of visitors and the information they receive in assemblies and in lessons to help them stay safe both in and out of school.  In their responses to the school’s questionnaire and the online questionnaire, virtually all parents indicated that their children are safe and happy in school.  The school has worked hard with families using a range of strategies to promote good attendance, although the attendance of groups is not systematically tracked. As a result of these successful strategies, rates of attendance have improved and are now currently broadly average and rising.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good and occasionally inspiring and exciting. Teachers almost always have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and ensure that the pace of learning and level of challenge usually enables pupils to concentrate and be fully involved in learning.  When pupils’ progress is consistently fast and achievement high, teaching makes high demands of pupils. Opportunities are provided for pupils to apply their skills in a variety of ways and tasks are adapted to meet the learning needs of each pupil. Teachers question skilfully, and regularly check pupils’ knowledge and understanding. Pupils’ imagination is stimulated in imaginative ways by knowledgeable staff.  Occasionally, pupils’ progress is variable or too slow as a result of insufficient challenge for some pupils, the pace of learning slows and pupils lose concentration, and not enough is expected of pupils. This variance over time has resulted in pupils’ rates of progress and the standards they reach not being high

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The quality of teaching is good

enough in the past.  In mathematics, basic skills are taught well and consolidated regularly, such as in a Year 1 lesson where pupils were successful in subtracting multiples of 10 from a 2-digit number using a hundred square. In Nursery, children identified the names and some properties of shapes in a game with the teacher. Pupils are given frequent opportunities to consolidate and practise their number and calculation skills, but there are fewer opportunities to use reasoning and apply them in more open-ended activities.  Pupils write enthusiastically and with imagination as a result of both excellent teacher knowledge and exciting resources to engage pupils. In a Year 6 lesson, pupils made outstanding progress in their ability to use formal language and write in paragraphs when producing an official report of a staged break-in and burglary in their classroom. This resulted from an exciting purpose for writing, excellent prompting and

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The quality of teaching is good

questioning from the teacher and a well-structured and engaging writing framework to plan their work.  Younger children make an excellent start in their early reading because of the recently introduced rigorous and systematic activities to teach letters and the sounds that they make in order to make sense of words. Pupils continue to enjoy and make good progress in their reading which is fluent and expressive, many reporting how much they love reading for pleasure. Pupils are extremely proud of the newly refurbished and very welcoming library.  Marking of work is thorough and regular, and usually of a high standard in both English and mathematics books. This is not yet consistently the case across the whole school because occasionally some marking does not provide pupils with clear, simple information on how well they have done. Sometimes when next steps or further challenges are set by teachers when marking work, pupils simply do not respond and

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The quality of teaching is good

ignore them.  Teachers usually insist on high levels of behaviour and manage their classes well. Relationships are good, and levels of trust are high. This was seen in a Year 4/5 class when pupils felt confident to share their views and opinions on ‘Who is God?’ asking perceptive questions such as ‘Why is God always seen as a male?’  Teachers and teaching assistants work well together to give timely and constructive advice to pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. The quality of support given to pupils is extremely high, which results in significant gains in pupils’ academic, emotional and social development, and is a strength of the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most pupils make good progress as they move through school. Data shows that the proportion of pupils reaching a good level in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 is broadly in line with all pupils nationally. The school’s own progress information, confirmed by inspection evidence and work in pupils’ books, shows that attainment for the current Year 2 is on track to be close to the national average, with a greater proportion of pupils reaching the higher levels of attainment than last year.  By the end of Key Stage 2, standards are broadly average. Pupils are now making consistently good progress in every year group. This follows the dip in the rates of progress made by some pupils in Year 6 last year in writing and mathematics across Key Stage 2. Assessment information and work in books, indicates that current standards at the end of Year 6 are broadly average, and more pupils are on track to

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The achievement of pupils is good

reach the higher levels of attainment in national tests.  The most-able pupils make similar progress to their classmates, although opportunities are sometimes missed to add further to the level of challenge and ensure that they move on at an even faster rate. The proportion who reached the higher levels in the 2014 tests was above the national average in reading and English grammar, punctuation and spelling, but below in writing and mathematics. The most-able in the current Year 6 are on course to reach the higher levels in this year’s tests.  Reading is taught well, all pupils making good progress as they move through the school. Pupils read fluently and widely, whether to research in other subjects or for pleasure. Pupils’ attainment in reading in 2014 at the end of Year 6 was high.  Early identification of pupils who are at risk of falling behind enables the school to make effective provision

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The achievement of pupils is good

for pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs. These pupils make good progress because they are given activities well matched to their individual ability and needs, and they are supported extremely well.  Evidence from school assessment information and work in books shows that gap between the attainment and progress of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils is closing in every year group. Data from 2014 shows that although disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 were two terms behind their classmates in mathematics and a year behind in writing and reading, the gap from the previous year had closed significantly. This gap is much narrower in other year groups, but does vary from year group to year group.  The gap between disadvantaged pupils and all pupils nationally is narrower than it is in the school. Disadvantaged pupils were slightly ahead of all pupils nationally in reading and English grammar,

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The achievement of pupils is good

punctuation and spelling, and two terms behind in writing and mathematics.  The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates is narrowing because the school uses the pupil premium funding very effectively to support individuals and groups of pupils’ academic and all-round development in a variety of ways.

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The early years provision is good

 Children get off to a flying start to their education in the early years. Most start Nursery with knowledge and skills which are below those typical for their age, a substantial proportion having a considerable weakness in their speech, language, social and emotional development.  As a result of good teaching, good provision and a vibrant learning environment, they quickly develop essential social and emotional skills, especially in becoming independent and learning to take turns and share. This continues throughout Nursery and Reception, and underpins their good progress in all areas of learning. As a result many catch up quickly, although their skills are sometimes still below those typical for their age when they start Year 1.  Positive relationships between staff, parents and children are a strength of the early years. This helps children develop confidence and a positive attitude to school and learning. During the inspection, children

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The early years provision is good

worked and played happily together, sharing equipment and talking confidently.  All children are kept extremely safe and secure, and are cherished by staff. This includes those with more complex needs and those who may potentially be vulnerable.  Teaching is always good, and at times imaginative and exciting. Staff encourage children to experiment and become more independent through well-established and consistent routines. Activities are exciting and are organised so that there is an effective balance between those led by teachers, and those chosen by children to explore and practice skills as they play. In Nursery, one child was fascinated by an open- ended activity involving metal objects and a magnet, telling an inspector ‘it sticks because it’s a magnet!’  Basic skills in reading, writing and number are promoted effectively, including developing children’s speech and language. In Reception, one group of children acted out the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ using

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The early years provision is good

expressive language, another group put statements into the correct order and then wrote a sentence, while another group worked with the teacher to make a ‘wanted poster’ for the wolf. One child was able to write and use her knowledge of the sounds made by letters to spell ‘pink’ to describe the wolf’s hair.  All groups of children make good progress in the early years, including the most able and those who are disabled or have special educational needs. Any specific needs are quickly identified, and activities planned to ensure that their needs are met.  Links between home and school are very strong. Parents are positively involved with their children’s learning and development such as through ‘Wow Wednesday’ and ‘Stay and Play’ sessions, and appreciate the support and encouragement given to the children.  The leadership and management of early years is excellent. Staff constantly seek improvements, and

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The early years provision is good

share a passion to provide the very best for the children. The early years leader knows the strengths and weaknesses of the provision, accurately measures the progress children are making in their learning, and has well thought through plans to make yet further improvements. There is a firm emphasis on nurturing early reading, writing and number skills.

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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 108575 Local authority North Tyneside Inspection number 461685

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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 187 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Miss Dawn Palmer Headteacher Mrs Angela Yilmaz Date of previous school inspection 4 July 2012 Telephone number 0191 200 5037 Fax number 0191 200 5081 Email address riverside.primary@northtyneside.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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