Wallsend St Peter's CofE Aided Primary School

Inspection of Wallsend St Peter’s CofE Aided Primary School North Terrace, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear NE28 6PY

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 17–18 September 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Christian values permeate the school. Pupils are happy and proud to attend. They take pride in caring for each other. Warm relationships with teachers give pupils reassurance that they are safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. During the inspection, they were polite and courteous. Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils show positive attitudes in lessons. They understand why good behaviour is important.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the breakfast club. They say they like to socialise with friends and can make healthy food choices. Pupils can attend free clubs after school. Sports club, Lego club and choir are popular choices.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that bullying is not a problem because adults would not tolerate this. Leaders recently changed the way they deal with any poor behaviour. Pupils say that this works better.

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better?

The headteacher has focused on improving the quality of education. She has managed turbulence in staffing well. Many curriculum leaders are new to their roles this academic year. They have begun to review curriculum plans for all subjects. Senior leaders prioritised reading, writing and mathematics following the previous inspection. Staff now follow a clear structure to plan and teach these subjects. This has led to an improvement in pupils’ ability to write for different purposes and audiences. In mathematics, pupils can use their knowledge of calculation to solve mathematical problems. However, leaders have not been consistent in implementing plans for the remaining curriculum subjects. As a result, pupils have missed learning crucial bits of knowledge in the past.

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better?

Leaders have improved the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make). Staff follow a consistent approach when they teach the daily phonics session. However, pupils in the earliest stages of reading struggle to make sense of the books they read. This is because the reading books do not match the pupils’ abilities. Pupils are not able to apply the skills they learn in phonics to sound out words when reading. Older pupils who struggled to learn their phonics receive extra sessions to help them. These pupils do not catch up to other pupils, as some of the sessions repeat what the pupils already know or can do.

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better?

Pupils enjoy science, in particular experiments and field trips. Teachers make good connections in science with technology, engineering and mathematics. However, some pupils are unable to make connections between previous and present learning in science and other subjects beyond English and mathematics. They find it difficult to remember or discuss facts that they have learned across the curriculum.

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better?

The new special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has clear expectations of 17–18 September 2019

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how to improve the curriculum for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils are now beginning to receive specific support within lessons. Staff adapt work to enable pupils to access the task.

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Staff provide pupils with experiences to prepare them for life beyond school. Pupils take part in engineering workshops and visit local businesses. Staff teach pupils about respect, equality and rights. Some parts of this curriculum for personal development are in the early stages of development. For example, pupils are starting to learn about the importance of healthy relationships. Pupils are not able to apply the skills they learn to other subjects.

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Leaders have worked well with parents and carers to improve pupils’ attendance. It is now in line with the national average.

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Children settle into the early years classes well. They are polite and behave well. There are lots of activities that aid children’s personal and social development. Children appear to be confident, take turns and play together well. However, many children do not get off to a secure start in reading, writing and mathematics. This is particularly the case for lower-ability pupils and pupils with SEND. Teachers make accurate assessments of what children can and cannot do. Leaders do not use these assessments to build on what children need to know next. Only half of the children enter Year 1 with the skills they need to be successful at key stage 1.

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Governors are well informed and have a clear rationale for their roles. They bring a wide range of skills to support and challenge senior leaders. They understand their legal duties and play an important part in school improvement. Governors have recently begun to challenge leaders to develop the whole curriculum. Governors have training planned to help them in this role.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have created a strong culture of safeguarding, with an emphasis on pupils’ safety and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The designated safeguarding lead works well with vulnerable pupils and their families. Families receive the support they need.

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Safeguarding

Staff safeguarding training has included awareness of radicalisation and child criminal exploitation. Staff show a good understanding of this training. They also make sure that the curriculum includes teaching pupils how to stay safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders new to their roles have made improvements to the curriculum since the previous inspection. There is still much work to do as the school does not provide a good quality of education. Leaders have started to ensure that the long-term plans for reading, writing and mathematics set out the specific knowledge and skills that pupils need to acquire across each year group. Plans are not as strong across the other subjects of the national curriculum. Leaders need to plan all curriculum subject content so that it is well sequenced. Pupils need opportunities to revisit their learning so that they build on what they know.  Many curriculum leaders are new to their role since September 2019. Senior leaders and governors should ensure that curriculum leaders receive relevant professional development. Weak curriculum planning in the past has resulted in gaps in knowledge for many pupils. Teachers should use assessment to identify

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

which areas of the curriculum to revisit. Staff should ensure that pupils who need to catch up do so quickly.  Pupils in the earliest stages of reading do not read books matched to their reading abilities. Some older pupils cannot read fluently because they have not gained sufficient phonics knowledge. Leaders need to ensure that the teaching of phonics and the resources used meet the needs of these pupils, including those who need to catch up and pupils with SEND.  There are some strengths in the curriculum for pupils’ personal and spiritual development. Other curriculum experiences, beyond the academic, are in the early stages of development. Leaders need to ensure that the curriculum supports pupils to be resilient and independent.  Leaders in the early years do not use assessment information to improve the curriculum. This means that children do not make a strong start to their reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders should tackle this issue to ensure that more

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 17–18 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110608 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2–3 March 2017

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  A new headteacher was appointed in September 2018.  A new deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher were appointed in September 2019.  Several leaders were new to leading curriculum subjects and areas in September 2019, including SEND, English, mathematics and science.  The school has a Nursery class and provides full-time and part-time places.  The school offers a breakfast club and a range of clubs and activities after school.  The proportion of pupils with SEND support is above the national average but below average for those who have an education, health and care plan.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.  The school is designated as having a religious character and received a section 48 inspection in July 2018.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher, SENCo, early years leader, curriculum leaders and attendance officer.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, the school improvement partner from the local authority and the assistant director of the Church of England Diocese for Hexham and Newcastle.  Subjects considered during the inspection were: reading, mathematics, science and personal, social and health education. We visited lessons in these subjects. Afterwards, inspectors held discussions with pupils and staff from the lessons visited, looked at pupils’ work and listened to readers in Years 1, 2 and 3.  Inspectors observed behaviour in lessons, at breaktimes, at lunchtime, in and around the school and in breakfast club.  We listened to pupils’ views about the school during lessons and breaktimes.  We talked to staff about the quality of training and support they receive from

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Information about this inspection

leaders, and about workload.  Inspectors examined a range of safeguarding policies and procedures. They held discussions with pupils, parents, staff and governors about the safety of pupils. Referrals made to the local authority were also reviewed.  We also examined documentation, including a summary of the school’s self- evaluation, the school development plan, curriculum progression documents, bullying and incident logs, and documentation relating to attendance and exclusions.  Inspectors considered the 19 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including parents’ free-text responses. Inspectors also considered 11 responses to the staff questionnaires and 42 responses to the pupil survey. An inspector met with parents at the start of the school day on the second day of the inspection.

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Inspection team

Alison Aitchison, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Dominic Brown Ofsted Inspector 17–18 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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, 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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