Wingrove Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Wingrove Primary School Hadrian Road, Fenham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE4 9HN

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Outcome

Wingrove Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils really enjoy coming to school. They like the academic challenge, meeting up with friends and the positive relationships they have with members of staff. The school is a visually exciting place. Colourful displays, exhibitions and information adorn classrooms and corridors. Pupils are proud of their school. Older pupils set a good example. Many pupils volunteer as eco warriors, forest school leaders, playground leaders or librarians. Other pupils help to look after the school dogs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ethnically diverse. Many pupils speak English as an additional language. Pupils celebrate each other’s cultural heritage and share in each other’s festivals. There is a tangible sense of harmony and respect. Pupils behave extremely well. They work hard in lessons. They take good care of their books and make improvements in response to the teacher’s comments. Most pupils are kind to one another. Consequently, bullying hardly ever happens.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Wingrove Primary is an inner-city school. The staff make sure there are lots of opportunities for pupils to get out of the city and into the countryside. There are camping trips, cycle rides and a residential visit to Northumberland. Pupils also enjoy weekly forest school lessons. These opportunities make a positive contribution to pupils’ character and conduct.

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

The school’s curriculum is well established. Teachers are familiar with curriculum planning and are confident to teach the curriculum. They have good subject knowledge. Teachers plan lessons together. They think carefully about the sequence in which knowledge is taught. This helps pupils to build a solid understanding in each subject. In mathematics, for example, pupils quickly learn to solve percentages problems because they have a good grasp of fractions and methods of addition. They are not fazed by more complex problems requiring two or three steps. 19 and 20 January 2022

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Leaders have made sure that curriculum planning matches the ambition of the national curriculum. Plans set out in detail the knowledge pupils are to learn. However, plans do not always identify the underpinning concepts pupils need to understand. In history, for example, pupils learn many facts about the Egyptians, but do not know that the power of the Pharaohs was built on slavery. Leaders are working to develop this ambition within the curriculum. They check each year that teachers and pupils have covered the national curriculum programmes of study in each subject.

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The school’s approach to teaching reading is effective. Children are taught phonics from the start of Reception. They eagerly take part in phonics sessions each day. As pupils’ learning has been disrupted by the pandemic, teachers are providing extra phonics sessions in the afternoons. Teachers make sure that most books are well matched to the phonics pupils have been taught. However, the school’s current phonics programme does not provide the staff with all the resources they would like. Consequently, leaders are committed to investing in a different programme.

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Teachers continually check whether pupils have retained the knowledge they teach. They do this through questioning pupils and using quizzes. Pupils like this approach. They say it helps them make sure the knowledge sticks. In discussion, pupils showed they can recall much of the content taught this year.

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The school’s early years curriculum prepares children well for Year 1. Learning is thoughtfully planned and rigorous. Teachers make sure there are good resources that appeal to children’s curiosity. There is much to help children develop their vocabulary. Teachers make sure children develop a secure grasp of reading, writing and number before the end of the Reception Year.

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The last inspection of the school noted that pupils’ behaviour and attitudes were ‘stunning’. This is still the case. Pupils are very eager to learn, and many adopt a mature, studious approach. They enjoy answering questions and are keen to have a go. Pupils have many opportunities in lessons to discuss their ideas and work in groups. They relish this and support one another very well. The few pupils who join the school with more challenging behaviour learn to manage their emotions and improve.

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There is rich provision for pupils’ wider development. The school has achieved ambassador school status for its teaching of personal, social and health education (PSHE). Topics are woven into the academic curriculum wherever possible. Teaching about relationships is fully in place. Pupils learn about different types of family. Older pupils learn about consent. Wingrove Primary is a School of Sanctuary and welcomes refugees and asylum seekers. There is good provision in place to support mental health. Pupils talk fondly about the Festival of Thought last year during which they had the chance to reflect on issues that concerned them.

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The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide highly effective leadership. They have fostered a strong team approach. Teachers and support staff are keen to step-up and share leadership responsibilities. Leaders are aware of workload pressures and consult the staff regularly. Changes to marking and assessments have been made to reduce the 19 and 20 January 2022

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burden on staff. The staff feel that leaders do much to reduce workload and support their well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school has an experienced team of safeguarding leaders who share the responsibility for keeping children safe. They ensure that all adults who work in the school know their responsibilities. Staff are well trained and consistently follow safeguarding policies and procedures. Leaders act quickly to protect the vulnerable. They keep meticulous records of the actions they take in partnership with other professionals.

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Safeguarding

The safeguarding team has good links with families and with community leaders. This helps them to know about the risks to children’s safety locally. They teach pupils about how to keep themselves safe. Staff are trained to look out for sexual harassment between pupils. They make sure pupils are taught about this.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s phonics programme has some limitations. Teachers do not have the best possible resources to support pupils who have fallen behind or face greater challenges because they speak English as an additional language. The staff do a good job with these resources but they know they could achieve more with a more comprehensive reading programme. Leaders should review what is available from the validated systematics synthetic programmes available and take steps to strengthen what they offer.  Some curriculum planning falls short of identifying the important concepts that reoccur and connect content within subjects. Pupils need to understand these concepts if they are to develop expertise within the subject. Leaders should enhance the curriculum further by ensuring these important concepts are identified and taught.

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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. 19 and 20 January 2022

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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 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 .

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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. 19 and 20 January 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10200471 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 6–7 December 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been few changes to the leadership, staffing or governance of the school since the last inspection.  Wingrove Primary School is a member of the West End Schools’ Trust.  The school does not use any alternative education providers.

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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 leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspector also met with the chair and seven other members of the governing body and spoke to the school improvement partner on the telephone.  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and physical education. 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 19 and 20 January 2022

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about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also visited a forest school session.  The inspector looked at curriculum planning for geography and met the geography leader. Curriculum planning was sampled across some other subjects.  The inspector checked the single central record and met with designated safeguarding leaders to explore the school’s work to keep children safe. The inspector also discussed safeguarding more widely through discussions with other members of staff.  The inspector considered the parental responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector also considered responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Chris Smith, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 19 and 20 January 2022

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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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