Shevington Vale Primary School

Inspection of Shevington Vale Primary School Runshaw Avenue, Appley Bridge, Wigan, Lancashire WN6 9JP

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 1 and 2 March 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very happy and safe at this school. They attend regularly and receive a caring welcome each day from leaders and staff. Parents and carers would not hesitate to recommend the school to others.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They listen carefully to each other and adults and follow instructions immediately. Staff and pupils help anyone who is new to the school to settle in quickly. Pupils treat others with respect. They told inspectors that staff deal with any instances of bullying quickly so that they are not repeated.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and work. Staff give pupils the help that they need to succeed. Pupils work hard and are keen to do their best. They achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders ensure that every single pupil takes part in an exceptionally rich range of experiences to develop their talents, character and appreciation of culture. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Pupils benefit from working alongside external organisations to enhance their personal development .

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

Leaders have devised a well-balanced curriculum that meets the needs of pupils and matches the requirements of the national curriculum. Across a wide range of subjects, from the Reception Year to the end of Year 6, leaders have identified the most important knowledge that they want pupils to learn. They have also made clear the logical order in which pupils should learn it. Teachers have a strong understanding of the subjects that they teach. They make sure that pupils successfully meet the expectations that leaders set for their learning.

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

Each unit of work starts with an ‘archive’ of prior knowledge which allows teachers to revisit previous learning and build on it. In most subjects, this allows pupils to consolidate new learning and commit it to memory before moving on. However, sometimes pupils do not have enough opportunity to embed their knowledge and use it for future learning. At times, this slows pupils learning, for example when they use new methods to solve problems in mathematics.

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

The curriculum in the Reception class lays a firm foundation for pupils to make a strong start in Year 1. Teachers regularly check on how well pupils, and children in the early years, know and remember what they have learned. Teachers use this information to plan appropriate support where needed. By the end of Year 6, pupils are well prepared socially and academically for secondary school.

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

Lessons are calm, positive and purposeful. Lessons are not disrupted by pupils’ behaviour, so no learning time is wasted. Pupils keenly use regular opportunities for discussion to increase their understanding and help each other. 1 and 2 March 2022

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The reading curriculum is carefully thought out. From the start of the Reception Year, children are taught well to recognise letters and the sounds that they make. In key stage 1, the books that pupils read match their phonics knowledge. Pupils read to adults regularly in school. Teachers and teaching assistants make sure that those pupils who find reading difficult have the help that they need to keep up with the intended curriculum. Pupils move from reading words and simple sentences accurately to becoming confident and fluent readers.

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Teachers accurately identify and assess the learning and social needs of disadvantaged pupils and those pupils with SEND. They make sure that these pupils are well supported. These pupils follow the same ambitious curriculum as their peers in all subjects and achieve well.

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The school provides an extensive array of high-quality experiences designed to develop pupils’ wider skills and experience. These include a range of exciting and memorable educational experiences which are integrated into the curriculum every year. They give pupils a thirst for knowledge and put school subjects into real-life contexts. There are many and varied opportunities for pupils to develop enterprise skills, such as running the school’s radio station and restaurant. The school’s ‘Young Governors’ play a real role in decision-making. Pupils enthusiastically learn about race, culture, beliefs and lifestyles that are different from their own so that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They appreciate how leaders, including governors, consider their well-being. They value the many opportunities that leaders give them to undertake training and develop professionally. Governors bring many skills to their roles and use them very effectively in carrying out their responsibilities. Leaders regularly gather the views of parents and involve them in the life of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

A strong culture of safeguarding permeates all aspects of the school. Policies are clear and well implemented. Procedures and roles are understood by all. Staff undertake regular training and have weekly updates about local and national issues.

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Safeguarding

Staff know how to spot when a pupil is in difficulty and quickly give vulnerable pupils the help that they need. Pupils are confident that they can share worries with adults in the school and that staff will act quickly.

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Safeguarding

Leaders welcome support from external agencies when specialist help is required. The curriculum helps pupils to understand how to stay safe online, in school and the outside world. 1 and 2 March 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, sometimes pupils do not have opportunities to consolidate new learning, for example in mathematics. This means that some pupils do not remember aspects of their prior learning as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that pupils have more regular opportunities to embed their knowledge and skills, so they can build on these in future learning.

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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. 1 and 2 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 and 13 January 2017

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Information about this school

 Shevington Vale Primary School has been part of a federation with Millbrook Primary School since 2010. In 2014, a third school joined the federation, but this school closed in 2017.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, inspectors spoke to pupils about their work and school life. They spoke to members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority, a lead headteacher from the Wigan North consortium of schools, the executive headteacher, the deputy executive headteacher, senior leaders and members of staff. 1 and 2 March 2022

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 Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including information about attendance, safeguarding and checks undertaken on newly appointed staff. They reviewed leaders’ evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, as well as responses to Ofsted’s online survey for school staff. There were no responses to the pupil survey.  Inspectors conducted deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and science. For each deep dive, they discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils and teachers about learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. They also listened to pupils read to a teaching assistant.  Inspectors spoke to leaders, teachers and pupils about the curriculum and their learning in other subjects. They looked at samples of pupils’ work from other subjects.

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Inspection team

Liz Kelly, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Young Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 March 2022

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