Backworth Park Primary School

Inspection of Backworth Park Primary School Hotspur North, Backworth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE27 0AH

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 October 2021

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 13 and 14 October 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. Classrooms are calm and behaviour is good. Pupils report that there is no bullying of any kind. They have complete confidence in adults to solve any problems if necessary.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a mature understanding that everyone is different. They know that respect and tolerance are crucial to good relationships. Leaders have ensured that pupils have opportunities to take on responsibilities. Pupils enjoy being members of the ‘Board of Backworth’. Older pupils support younger pupils during playtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious for their pupils. Leaders have carefully considered each subject and then created a vibrant, well-structured curriculum. Pupils are keen to learn and work hard because lessons are interesting and relevant.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers in the early years provide a welcoming environment for children. New children settle in well. They make friends quickly and learn to take turns and share resources. They love the stories and rhymes they hear. Children are thrilled and excited to join in with and remember whole stories.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers recognise the significant improvements made in recent years. One parent wrote: ‘The school has created a wonderful, welcoming environment where children can learn and develop.’ This reflects the views of many other parents.

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better?

A love of reading permeates the whole school. Leaders ensure that every child becomes a confident, fluent reader. In the early years provision, children love to hear and repeat songs, stories and rhymes. This helps them to develop speaking and listening skills and develop their vocabulary. Children start to learn phonics as soon as they begin Reception. All staff who teach phonics are well trained. Staff carry out daily checks to identify children who are struggling to keep up. Additional help is quickly given. The books pupils read match the sounds they are learning. Most children are well on the way to reading by the end of Year 1.

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better?

Children in the early years get off to a good start. They learn good routines and settle well in a warm and caring setting. Children are excited by the imaginative activities that staff provide. Staff use activities to improve the communication of children. For example, during the inspection, children were enthusiastically trying to see inside a pumpkin. Staff used the activity to teach children new vocabulary and how to use hand tools. Showing significant determination, children eventually opened the pumpkin. They were astonished and in awe at their findings. Staff then had conversations with the children about what seeds are and then moved on to tell pumpkin stories and sing songs. 13 and 14 October 2021

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Leaders have not thought carefully enough about how to use the outdoor area in early years. Learning is less purposeful than indoors because activities are not as well matched to the intended curriculum.

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Leaders have developed an ambitious, carefully sequenced curriculum. Teachers teach knowledge in a carefully considered order. Staff check that pupils know and remember what they have been taught. Staff ensure that pupils’ learning builds securely on what they already know and can do.

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Leaders have provided high-quality training in mathematics and science to teachers. In mathematics, pupils practise new techniques daily. Teachers ensure that pupils think hard and solve problems. In science, teachers use a wealth of scientific knowledge and vocabulary to teach pupils. However, leaders have not included enough opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge. Pupils carry out very few practical experiments. They are not able to consider evidence they might collect and use this to answer scientific enquiry questions.

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders have designed a programme of support to help pupils close any gaps in their learning. Consequently, pupils are catching up quickly and working well within the curriculum for their new year groups.

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Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) enables pupils to learn confidently alongside their peers. Learning activities are well matched to pupils’ needs. Staff expertly judge when to allow a pupil to work independently and develop resilience, and when to intervene.

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Pupils’ attitudes to learning are good. They work hard and attend school regularly. Their good behaviour is underpinned by the school’s values of respect, resilience and responsibility.

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Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong because it includes a wide range of experiences that leaders have planned for pupils. These range from visits to local heritage sites to playing in the school rock band.

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Governors are determined to see all pupils achieve well. They provide very strong support and appropriate challenge for the headteacher and leadership team.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained. They know how and when to report concerns about a child’s welfare. Leaders work closely with external agencies to keep vulnerable pupils safe. They are relentless in pursuing help for the most vulnerable pupils.

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Safeguarding

Leaders complete appropriate recruitment checks on the suitability of adults who work in the school. 13 and 14 October 2021

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Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe when using social media. They know how to form good friendships. They are very confident that if they had any concerns or worries, then teachers would be there to help.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not thought carefully enough about all the activities in which children participate in the early years outdoor area. The outdoor provision is not matched to the intended curriculum. Pupils’ experiences outside are limited. There is little rich learning or purposeful play. Leaders should ensure that staff know how to plan suitable activities outside that fully match the intended curriculum. Staff should be trained on how to resource these activities so that rich and purposeful learning continues when children move outside.  Leaders have not thought carefully enough about how pupils will acquire the disciplinary knowledge they need in all subjects. In science, for example, pupils do not carry out practical experiments. They are not able to apply the substantive knowledge they have learned. Pupils do not know how to reason about how to carry out an experiment in science. Leaders should ensure that opportunities for

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

pupils to apply their knowledge are built into the curriculum in all subjects, especially science. Leaders need to train teachers on how to implement this successfully so that pupils build up disciplinary knowledge over time.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 13 and 14 October 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200698 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chairs of governing body Judith Williams and David Simpson

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School details

Headteacher Louise Welsh Website www.backworthpark.com

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 and 22 March 2018

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Information about this school

 The school is an average-sized primary school.  A new headteacher was appointed in January 2020.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND, including those with an education, health and care plan, is below average.  The school runs a breakfast club.  The school does not use alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation. 13 and 14 October 2021

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 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders and staff.  The lead inspector held a meeting with the chair of governors and members of the governing body.  The lead inspector met with the school’s improvement partner.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and science. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met with groups of pupils, both formally and informally.  Inspectors scrutinised documents and records relating to safeguarding, checked the school’s single central record and met with the designated leader for safeguarding.  Inspectors considered 109 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey, 19 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey, and 60 responses, including free-text responses, to Ofsted’s

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Inspection team

Janice Gorlach, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Deborah Ashcroft Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 October 2021

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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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