The Gateshead Cheder Primary School

The Gateshead Cheder Primary School Bede House, Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 3HY

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Governors and leaders share a clear vison and desire for pupils to flourish and achieve highly. They lead by example, creating a caring culture and ambition for excellence among staff and pupils that is based on their faith beliefs. The school is improving.  Governors and leaders have a good knowledge and understanding of the school’s performance. They ensure that all the independent school standards are met consistently.  Governors support and challenge leaders to sustain and bring about further improvement. However, they miss some opportunities to scrutinise pupils’ progress in the same depth as other aspects of the school’s work.  Leaders ensure that the curriculum provides rich learning opportunities across a wide range of subjects. Pupils are interested in their lessons and value their learning.  Pupils make strong progress across a wide range of subjects, including in English and mathematics.  Pupils feel very safe and cared for well. The

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

personal development programme is a particular strength of the school. Almost always, pupils behave well throughout the day. They show respect for each other and the adults who work with them. Pupils are open, curious about and respectful of others’ backgrounds, beliefs and lifestyles.  Effective teaching enables pupils to make strong progress from their starting points. Teachers know their pupils well and plan lessons to meet their needs. On occasion, teachers miss opportunities to engage pupils in extended writing tasks across a wider range of subjects.  Well led, teachers in the early years ensure that they use accurate assessment information to provide a range of exciting activities. Teachers engage children’s interests and encourage them to explore their surroundings and ideas. Children make strong progress, particularly in their communication and language skills.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by sharpening further assessment and recording processes, so that governors are able to challenge leaders with greater precision on the progress pupils make.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by providing more opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills across a wide range of subjects.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Governors and leaders convey their vision and ambition for pupils through their commitment to the school community. As a result, teachers and pupils alike are motivated to do their best and the school is improving. Governors work with leaders weekly, systematically checking that all the independent school standards are met.  Governors and leaders have a firm grasp of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They plan with leaders how to improve the school’s performance further. Governors and leaders take well-considered steps that lead to improvement in pupils’ personal development and their achievement.  Leaders have introduced new curriculum plans that meet pupils’ needs and engage them in their learning. By doing so, leaders have sharpened teachers’ planning and broadened pupils’ learning. Leaders ensure that there are valuable opportunities for pupils to reapply their skills, such as reading and debating in a range of subjects.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The well-considered programme for personal development integrates learning through personal, health, social and economic lessons, as well as those in religious studies and citizenship. It is a particular strength of the school. As a consequence, pupils are well rounded, thoughtful and respectful of others, whatever their backgrounds, beliefs or lifestyles. Pupils live out the school’s values in their day-to-day interactions with each other and adults. They are very well prepared for life in modern Britain, ambitious for their futures and look forward to the contribution they can make in society.  Educational visits are planned carefully to enrich pupils’ learning and provide ‘real’ experiences that enable them to contextualise their classroom-based activities. For example, pupils studied the seven local bridges that cross the River Tyne in Newcastle, combining learning about history, local industry, transport planning and design. Older

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

pupils contribute to the spiritual life of the school by sharing leadership of prayer services. Others take part enthusiastically in the school’s choir, developing an appreciation of music and singing skills such as harmony. For children in the early years, regular outings, for example to post letters, provide them with early experiences of public services, crossing roads safely and interacting with others in a safely managed context.  Leaders have developed new approaches to assessment, so that they can check on pupils’ progress with greater accuracy. Leaders use this information to challenge teachers to plan learning that best meets pupils’ needs, and to put in place additional personalised learning opportunities to accelerate progress if pupils fall behind, for example in reading.  Governors and leaders ensure that teachers have well-focused opportunities for professional development. For example, teachers in key stage 3, which opened during the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

last two years, benefit from frequent opportunities to work with experienced external subject specialists to develop their skills and practices.  Leaders have put in place policies and practices that reflect their values and respect for others’ rights. By doing so, they recognise diversity and promote the rights of protected groups under the Equality Act 2010.

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Governance

 Governance is effective. Governors are actively involved in the school’s life every week by: – supporting and challenging leaders to sustain high standards and continue to improve them – making frequent visits to the school to check for themselves that the premises and accommodation are suitable, well provided for and maintained to a high standard – meeting weekly with school leaders to check on the progress pupils are making and ensure that suitable interventions are in place if pupils fall behind; however, governors do not yet use information about pupils’ progress with the same degree of detailed precision as they do in other areas of the school’s work – keeping a close eye on the school’s arrangements to safeguard pupils and keep them safe. The headteacher is a member of the local children’s safeguarding board and so brings a deeper understanding of potential risks to pupils, which sharpens the school’s

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school’s policy to safeguard pupils and keep them safe has been updated recently and, as the school has no website, has been made readily available from the school on request. The policy takes full account of the most recent guidance of the Secretary of State.  Staff are well trained and have up-to-date information about the signs of neglect and abuse, and they know what to do if they have a concern. Throughout the school, including the early years, there is a strong culture of safeguarding.  Leaders ensure that pupils learn how to keep themselves safe by teaching them about bullying of different kinds and the harm it can cause. Leaders plan carefully how to develop pupils’ understanding of risks and how to manage them, from crossing the road safely to the dangers of alcohol and substance misuse and how to use mobile technology safely.  Governors and leaders make sure that all the checks to safeguard pupils and keep them

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Safeguarding

safe are carried out carefully and recorded. Leaders take care to ensure that safe travel arrangements are in place for all pupils and carefully weigh up the risks of planned activities. They put in place sensible measures to reduce risks.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers know pupils well. Teachers use their good subject knowledge and knowledge of pupils’ needs to plan lessons that are interesting and engaging. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ conduct. As a consequence, pupils settle quickly to tasks and almost always apply themselves well.  Teachers are skilled in developing and deepening pupils’ understanding. For example, in a key stage 3 mathematics lesson, skilled modelling and questioning cemented pupils’ understanding of how to express recurring fractions as decimals.  Teachers give pupils time to consider their answers and use debate and discussion effectively as tools to draw out pupils’ learning. Teachers check that pupils have not misunderstood and correct them quickly if needed. Pupils respond positively to teachers’ advice and use teachers’ feedback to help them. Pupils are keen to improve their work.  Pupils learn to read well, because teachers, from the early years onwards, help them

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

develop the skills they need to decode and make sense of unfamiliar words. Teachers provide effective additional support in reading for those who need it, so that pupils do not fall behind. As a consequence, pupils read with increasing confidence and fluency. Pupils’ effective reading skills help them access learning and reapply their skills across a wide range of subjects.  Pupils apply their mathematics learning in subjects such as science. For example, pupils observed during the inspection considered how fast different forms of sugar dissolved in water, interpreting data tables to form their hypotheses.  Teachers maintain a positive attitude to pupils’ learning. Teachers model learning effectively. Pupils use frequent opportunities to debate their learning, and learn to apply their knowledge and skills. This supports the strong progress they make. For example, pupils made good use of research skills in a history project to create interesting

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

biographies of famous people. They enlivened their writing with imagined extracts from diaries. This helped pupils deepen their understanding of what it was like to live in Europe during the Second World War, for example. However, on occasion, teachers miss opportunities for pupils to write more extended passages in a wider range of subjects, where they can reapply the learning from their English lessons.  Teachers ensure that parents are kept well informed about the progress pupils make through regular contact and annual reports.  The school’s shared values and pupils’ determination to show respect for each other and learn as well as they can mean that teachers do not have need to correct stereotyping or derogatory language. No such instances were noted throughout the inspection, and pupils confirmed inspectors’ findings that this was the norm. However, when needed, teachers remind pupils of their high expectations of behaviour and, in return, pupils respond

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning. They want to do the very best they can and apply themselves conscientiously to their tasks. Pupils develop self-confidence as learners and as members of the school community. They are proud to be members of their school, and, as a result, their approach to learning has a strong and positive impact on the progress they make.  Pupils value their education highly and have positive ambitions for their future. They know about a range of different professions and how the skills they develop across the curriculum help prepare them for the next steps in education, training and employment. Work with a local college’s careers guidance service is developing further as the key stage 3 cohort of pupils develops, to ensure that pupils can make informed choices for the future.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils live out the school’s values, underpinned by its religious beliefs, in their day-to-day interactions with one another and with staff. Pupils show sensitivity and maturity when they consider others’ needs or consider differences in others’ backgrounds, life-styles or beliefs. Pupils are open and curious and keen to learn about others. Pupils know the harm that bullying causes and are determined to reaffirm their openness and acceptance of others, whenever the opportunity presents itself.  The personal, health, social and economic education programme provides frequent opportunities for pupils to express their personal responses, for example through art and design activities. Pupils are proud to take part in activities such as the choir, where they sing with gusto and considerable skill in harmony.  Pupils understand the value and importance of physical activity, enjoying the chance to run around at playtime, and enjoy their physical education lessons. Pupils’ learning in

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Personal development and welfare

age-appropriate ways about healthy relationships supports their emotional well-being. As a result, pupils are happy and relaxed in each other’s company.  Pupils learn about social issues and democracy, holding debates for example about ‘Brexit’ and the future role of England in the European Union. As a result, pupils develop a wide understanding of the world around them and how to keep well and they consider the future part they can play in society. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Attendance closely reflects the national average, and there are very few instances of unauthorised absence. There have been no fixed-term or permanent exclusions this year or in the previous school year.  Pupils almost always manage themselves very effectively in lessons and during break and lunchtimes. Pupils’ choices to show consideration for others and behave well contribute to the school’s safe environment. Very occasionally, the highest standards of behaviour demonstrated by pupils slip if teaching is not as challenging as it could be. However, pupils respond immediately to a short reminder in these cases.  Leaders and staff keep a watchful eye on pupils, especially the youngest, supervising them appropriately, to ensure their safe arrival and departure. Staff are always on hand if pupils need help. Pupils are confident that should they need extra help, it will be provided

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Behaviour

quickly and effectively. As a consequence, pupils feel safe and well cared for throughout the school day, and parents who made their views known to inspectors agree.  Leaders ensure that the premises are secure, safe and well maintained. This contributes to pupils’ safety. Pupils learn key information about how to keep themselves safe, for example when using mobile technology, and about the dangers of alcohol and substance misuse. As a result, pupils grow in confidence in recognising risks and how to deal with them appropriately and maturely.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils make consistently strong progress across a range of subjects and year groups, including in English and mathematics, because teaching is effective and pupils apply themselves well.  Pupils make particularly rapid progress in developing their reading, speaking and communication skills from the early years onwards. As a result, pupils are able to discuss and debate their learning and thus deepen their knowledge and understanding across a range of subjects, including religious studies, history, science and design. However, pupils do not have frequent opportunities to write extended passages across a wider range of subjects that capture their learning and understanding.  Opportunities to reapply learning in different contexts to solve problems contribute to the good progress pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, make from their starting points. For example, pupils used mathematics and design skills effectively to make model shelters,

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Outcomes for pupils Good

according to a tightly defined design brief, which also allowed for creative decoration.  Carefully planned, additional support and interventions are effective in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to flourish. Effective collaboration between the special educational needs coordinator, teachers in school and external agencies enables pupils to make strong progress and, in some cases, excellent progress against their agreed targets.  The most able pupils make the same good progress as others, because teachers consider their starting points, plan activities and almost always ask questions of them that stretch their knowledge and understanding. For example, most-able pupils considered the ethics associated with aspects of business law and what was right and wrong in terms of making a profit.  Pupils from different starting points, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds,

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Outcomes for pupils Good

make the same good progress in English and mathematics. Pupils develop their skills incrementally in English to improve the range of their writing, grammar and punctuation. From their baseline assessment points, pupils make consistently strong progress in mathematics. Almost all pupils make progress at least in line with the school’s expectations, and a growing number in both English and mathematics make accelerated progress.

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Early years provision Good

 Governors and leaders ensure that all the independent school standards and related requirements for the early years provision are met. Careful planning and frequent checks ensure that all the welfare requirements for working with young children are met.  Governors and leaders keep a firm focus on children’s safeguarding. They carry out all the required checks, recording them carefully, to ensure that only suitable adults work with children. Governors make sure that child protection policies are kept up to date and that staff are well trained to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect.  Leaders ensure that children begin to understand risks to their safety early, in age- appropriate ways. They model important messages, for example moving around the provision safely or watching out for traffic when they go on an outing with children.  Leaders use detailed information about children’s progress to evaluate the provision’s

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Early years provision Good

strengths and weaknesses and put in place actions to bring about further improvement. Leaders have sharpened their approaches to ensuring accurate assessment of children’s learning and development, which takes into account parental information about their child when starting the school.  Staff use information about children’s progress as the basis for effective planning for children’s learning and development. Their very good knowledge of children’s needs and their careful planning lead to the good progress that children make. Staff maintain high expectations of children, challenging them to talk and think about their experiences.  Leaders recognise the need to develop the outside learning area further as a rich and stimulating resource for pupils to explore, and in which to enhance their learning and development.  Children enter the early years with personal development, language and numeracy skills

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Early years provision Good

that are broadly typical for their age. As a result of well-focused teaching and the range of opportunities children have to explore their environment, children make good progress and many better than good progress, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  The proportion of children who achieve a good level of development by the end of the early years is well above the national average. This is because they have a wide range of opportunities to follow their interests, exploring their environment and acquiring good basics skills in number work and language development. The children are keen to learn through listening to what staff say to them and sharing their ideas with each other.  Leaders and staff are adept at developing children’s early speaking, reading and writing skills. Children quickly acquire the basic skills they need to begin to recognise letters and

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Early years provision Good

sounds. They quickly learn to take the first steps in applying their knowledge to be able to read words and simple sentences. This stands them in very good stead for their learning in key stage 1.  Children feel safe and well cared for from the moment they arrive at school on buses with their staff. They happily interact with each other, sharing activities and equipment and accepting others’ needs by taking turns and offering to share toys.  The positive experiences children have in their early learning and in developing key social skills mean that they are ready to start the next stage of their education with enthusiasm and confidence.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11–13 March 2014

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Information about this school

 The Gateshead Cheder Primary School is an Orthodox Jewish school. It provides education for boys between the ages of 3 and fourteen. The vast majority of pupils come from the immediate surrounding area.  The school was last inspected in March 2014. Since that time, a new headteacher and a small number of other leaders have taken up post.  The school began using its current premises in September 2016.  Since the previous inspection, the school has begun to admit boys into key stage 3. The school does not make use of any alternative providers of education.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors held discussions with groups of pupils, talked with them informally during the school day and listened to a small number read aloud.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, governors and other leaders.  A sample of pupils’ books across a wide range of subjects was scrutinised.  Inspectors visited lessons to observe teaching and learning.  Inspectors checked if the school complies with the independent school standards. They toured the school and scrutinised a wide range of documents relating to the health and safety, safeguarding and governance arrangements of the school. Inspectors also considered other documents, such as the school’s records of pupils’ progress and its plans for development.  Inspectors took into account the views of parents in responses to Ofsted’s online parental survey, Parent View, and the many responses made on paper. Inspectors also considered the views of pupils and staff.

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Inspection team

Chris Campbell, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Julia Norton Foulger Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

Parent View 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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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