Kelvin Grove Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Kelvin Grove Community Primary School Kelvin Grove, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 4UN

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 January 2022

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Outcome

Kelvin Grove Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at school. They talked about how staff help them aim for academic excellence and encourage diversity and tolerance. Above all, pupils said that school is a kind place, and they are right. Pupils use the ‘Let’s Talk’ boxes to arrange to have a chat with a member of the pastoral team about any worries that they have. Break- and lunchtimes are happy and sociable. A member of the ‘Kindness Crew’ is on hand for anyone feeling lonely or left out.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They can explain how to stay safe online. Pupils said that bullying has ‘died out’ in the school. They know to be respectful and tolerant, and that homophobia and racism are wrong. Pupils celebrate the different cultures and languages in school. They respond well to teachers’ high expectations, and work hard in lessons. From the mud kitchen in Nursery to complex pie charts in Year 6, teachers design activities to help make learning fun.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are very supportive of the school. Achievements are celebrated and pupils learn how to persevere. Parents, as well as pupils, staff and governors, are ‘proud to be part of the Kelvin Grove Community’.

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

Leaders have worked hard to address deficiencies in the wider curriculum. The school now has a curriculum that is carefully planned and sequenced in each subject. The history curriculum is especially strong. Key ideas are threaded through the study of each historical era. Pupils can make sense of new learning by comparing and connecting it to what they already know. For example, pupils study the concept of ‘empire’ in ancient Greece in Year 4. They then use this knowledge to compare it to the Roman Empire in Year 5. Other foundation subjects use the same approach, where key ideas are threaded through the intended learning. 11 and 12 January 2022

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Teachers have just started to use new curriculum plans. Pupils have not yet been exposed to a full cycle of curriculum planning. Some of the plans do not show a clear link between what is taught in the early years and Year 1. Planning needs to become embedded so that pupils can expand their knowledge base. This will help them connect new learning to what they already know. Current assessment systems do not identify what pupils have remembered in some subjects in the long term because the curriculum plans are new.

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Leaders are continuing to make significant improvements in the teaching of early reading. A systematic approach to teaching phonics starts in the Reception class. Children learn how to read new words and blend sounds together. Nearly all pupils gain confidence and belief in themselves as readers because they are given books that they can read independently. Pupils in key stage 1 are becoming skilled readers. Teachers have thought carefully about the books and stories that they read to pupils. Pupils enjoy listening to these at the end of each day because teachers read them with enthusiasm and expression. This happens right through school. In the early years, a book read in Nursery inspired children to dress up as knights in the role-play castle and investigate dragons’ eggs.

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Leaders have embedded a culture of trust and care in the school. This enables staff to ask for extra time and support for tasks when they need it. Leaders manage the staff’s workload sensitively. Staff enjoy being at school. This is typified by them meeting together in the ‘Wednesday tea club’. Relationships across school are strong. Similarly, pupils appreciate their teachers. They described their teachers as ‘welcoming and kind’. This helps pupils to work hard in lessons and behave well. They strive for their own success rather than seek a reward. Pupils know that academic and non-academic success are both important. They like the ‘vision and values in action’ display, and the assemblies that celebrate this.

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Despite COVID-19, leaders have made sure that pupils are offered many opportunities for their wider personal development. These include after-school clubs, local visits, assemblies, theme weeks, visitors to school and pupil leadership groups. Leaders and teachers cultivate and build on the diverse range of cultural backgrounds of pupils in the school. Staff celebrate difference and oppose prejudice. No pupil misses out on any aspect of school life. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Sensible and helpful adaptations are made to teaching for pupils with SEND. This enhances their experiences at school, supports their academic progress and secures their all-round well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils’ well-being and safety are a top priority for leaders. Leaders and governors are vigilant. They are always on the lookout for the smallest sign that something could be amiss. Central to this is the role of the pastoral team and its weekly welfare meetings. Incidents and concerns are meticulously recorded. Leaders deliver training for staff that enables them to spot any pupil at risk. Leaders seek appropriate help from safeguarding 11 and 12 January 2022

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partners. Annual audits of safeguarding practice highlight any gaps in school systems. Pupils know how to stay safe, including online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Not all foundation subject curriculum plans are used successfully by teachers, because they are so new. Plans are not yet embedded and have had insufficient time to enhance the quality of pupils’ learning across the curriculum. Assessment systems introduced by leaders are at the early stages of implementation, and are not fully understood by teachers in some subjects. Pupils are unable to draw on prior learning because they have not been taught some of the intended content. Leaders must ensure that current curriculum plans become part of daily teaching and classroom practice.

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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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2011. 11 and 12 January 2022

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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. 11 and 12 January 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211081 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.kelvingroveprimaryschool.org/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 December 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher took up their posts after the previous inspection.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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 his evaluation of the school.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, teachers, the school business manager and teaching assistants. The inspector also met four members of the local governing body. A meeting was held with the local authority educational adviser.  Deep dives were carried out in reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and teaching assistants, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also listened to some pupils read. 11 and 12 January 2022

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 The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lesson visits and at break- and lunchtimes. The inspector spoke to pupils about their views on behaviour, and a group of pupils gave the inspector a guided tour of the school.  Safeguarding records, including the single central record, were reviewed. The inspector talked to pupils, governors and staff about what they knew about safeguarding.  The views of 26 parents who responded to Ofsted’s questionnaire, Parent View, were considered.  The inspector met with staff to discuss their well-being and workload. The inspector considered the 42 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Phil Scott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 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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