Newhall Park Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Newhall Park Primary School Newhall Road, Bierley, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD4 6AF

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Inspection dates: 16 and 17 November 2021

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Outcome

Newhall Park Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils in this school are happy. They are proud of their school. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Leaders ensure that all staff know how to keep pupils safe. Pupils are confident that adults will listen to them if they are worried. Teachers value pupils’ opinions. Pupils are encouraged to contribute to the wider life of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The headteacher has high expectations for all pupils. She makes sure that pupils experience a wide range of learning activities. These activities deepen pupils’ understanding of the local and global community. The headteacher has established rigorous procedures for monitoring attendance. These support parents to understand the importance of pupils being in school, on time, every day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have introduced new behaviour systems. All staff apply these consistently. Pupils learn how to manage their emotions well. Bullying rarely happens and, when it does, staff act quickly. Behaviour in lessons and in corridors is calm and well ordered. Pupils listen well and show enthusiasm for their learning. At breaktimes and lunchtimes, pupils play positively. A very small number of pupils and parents say that some behaviour is not good. Leaders are taking effective action to address this.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Mathematics is a strength of the school. The leader for mathematics has an expert understanding of the subject. Pupils enjoy their lessons and successfully apply their mathematics knowledge to a range of different challenges. Leaders have developed an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum based on educational research. Subject leaders have agreed the important knowledge and vocabulary that pupils will learn each year. This helps pupils to continually develop their subject knowledge. For example, in geography, work on rivers in Year 3 leads on to learning about the water cycle in Year 4, which then supports the learning about flooding in Year 5. Pupils make relevant connections between their learning in geography and other subjects, such as science. 16 and 17 November 2021

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The early years leader supports all staff in the Nursery and Reception Years to use assessment effectively. Staff know the children well and successfully adapt the curriculum to meet their needs. Teachers in key stages 1 and 2 use assessment well in English and mathematics. Regular assessments identify what pupils know and what they need to learn next. Assessments in other subjects are not as well developed. In other subjects, teachers do not use regular assessment information to identify pupils’ gaps in learning.

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Leaders have prioritised the teaching of reading. A sequenced programme for phonics is in place across the early years and key stage 1. However, this lacks rigour. Some lessons do not have a clear focus on helping pupils to crack the phonics code. Additional support for pupils in key stage 2 who still struggle to learn to read is not consistent. This means pupils do not catch up quickly. Leaders have introduced a new reading scheme in Reception and key stage 1. This ensures pupils read books that match the sounds they know. In key stage 2, teachers use a wide range of books within whole-class reading lessons. This helps to develop pupils’ love of reading.

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The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures that provision for pupils with education, health and care plans is robust. She has established effective partnerships with external partners, such as the community nursing team and Bradford’s speech, communication and language team. This helps to ensure that pupils get the support they need. A small minority of parents disagree that their child’s special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well met. The SENCo provides opportunities for parents to discuss and understand the SEND provision in place.

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The curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables pupils to build a good understanding of healthy relationships. Leaders prioritise the teaching of online safety. Pupils learn about different career and further education opportunities. Visits from the ‘Bradford Champions’ provide pupils with the opportunity to meet local people who have overcome adversity to achieve success. Pupils learn how to manage their emotions and behaviour. Teachers help them to reflect on the impact their behaviour has on others. Behaviour throughout the school is positive, in and out of the classrooms.

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Senior leaders have a clear determination to ensure that all staff are providing pupils with a high-quality education. Effective professional development has helped to develop teachers’ curriculum knowledge. Teachers speak highly of the support they have received. Governors have a clear understanding of the priorities of the school. They make sure that they develop their own knowledge of educational developments. This helps them hold leaders to account effectively.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have ensured that safeguarding is a priority of the school. Procedures for ensuring the safe recruitment of staff are robust. The record of staff recruitment checks meets all requirements. Leaders have created a ‘tell me’ culture in school. All staff understand how to raise concerns. The designated safeguarding lead has created a comprehensive record-keeping system to monitor all concerns. Leaders use the support of 16 and 17 November 2021

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external partners, such as the community police team and health education, to deepen pupils’ understanding of positive and negative relationships.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum for early reading is not robust. Some lessons lack a clear focus on cracking the phonics code. Teachers do not use assessment consistently to identify support for pupils in key stage 2 who still struggle to read. Therefore, pupils do not make the best progress possible. Leaders should ensure that the phonics programme is ambitious for all pupils and is underpinned by rigorous assessment processes.  Leaders have not identified a systematic approach to assessment in the foundation subjects. Teachers do not regularly assess pupils’ understanding and recall of subject knowledge. As a result, teachers do not identify pupils’ gaps in knowledge quickly enough. Leaders should establish a clear structure for regular assessment of pupils’ knowledge and understanding across the foundation subjects.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 18 and 19 October 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 . 16 and 17 November 2021

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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. 16 and 17 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200256 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Stephanie Nuttall

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18 October 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, governors have appointed a new headteacher, a deputy headteacher and an assistant headteacher.  Two new school business leaders took up post in 2017 and 2019.  Most governors are new in post since the previous inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, the SENCo, and representatives of the governing body and local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector 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. 16 and 17 November 2021

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 The inspector also met with the subject leaders for PSHE and religious education. In addition, the inspector spent time observing pupils’ behaviour and relationships during the lunchtime break.  To judge the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector scrutinised the single central record, checked the procedures for the safer recruitment of staff and held a meeting with the designated safeguarding lead. The inspector met with staff to check their understanding of safeguarding and the impact of any training received. Additionally, the inspector met with members of the governing body to discuss their statutory responsibilities.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s survey, Parent View, including 20 free-text responses. In addition, the inspector considered the responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Alex Thorp, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 16 and 17 November 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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