Lingfield Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Lingfield Primary School Buxton Avenue, Marton, Middlesbrough TS7 8LP

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Inspection dates: 24 and 25 January 2023

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Outcome

Lingfield Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a real sense of family at Lingfield Primary. Staff and pupils talk about the school with pride. Parents appreciate the high level of care and nurture that staff provide. Pupils have a good understanding of bullying and say this rarely happens in school. They are confident that staff will address any concerns that they may have. As a result, pupils feel safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of pupils. Leaders work hard to ensure that these expectations are realised. Pupils say that learning is fun. They feel well supported by their teachers, who help them to improve their work. Pupils behave well. They are motivated to work towards merit certificates and star awards. Pupils are highly engaged in learning. No time is wasted due to poor behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum is enriched by visits and visitors into school. For example, Year 6 pupils recently had the opportunity to develop their team building and problem-solving skills on a residential visit to Cumbria.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a number of special roles in school. For example, they have responsibilities as school council members, sports crew and Year 6 Lingfield leaders. Leaders provide pupils with a variety of after-school clubs. Sports multi-skills and football are particularly popular. A science, technology, engineering and mathematics club is currently investigating biodiversity around the school grounds.

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

Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching early reading. All staff are well trained to deliver the school’s phonics programme. From Nursery, children are introduced to the sounds that they can hear in the environment. Children get off to a flying start in Reception. No time is lost in beginning to learn to read. As pupils progress through key stage 1, they learn more complex sounds, building on their prior knowledge. Leaders have purchased new reading books which closely match the sounds that pupils are learning. 24 and 25 January 2023 Teachers carry out timely checks to identify any pupils with gaps in their phonics knowledge. These pupils receive extra help to keep up with their classmates. Older pupils who still struggle to read fluently continue the phonics programme until they can read independently. Pupils experience a variety of high-quality texts that they listen to, read and discuss.

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

Pupils love to read. Teachers provide ‘cosy reading corners’ in each classroom. Termly raffle prizes offer an incentive to pupils for reading regularly at home. There are strong links with the community library and a local bookshop. Parents and carers are encouraged to get involved too through a playground book exchange scheme.

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

Leaders have benefited from working with other schools within the trust to create an ambitious curriculum. The curriculum offer is strong. Leaders have given considerable thought to the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn. The curriculum is sequenced and designed to build on pupils’ prior learning. There is an emphasis on teaching ambitious vocabulary within each subject. Leaders establish the foundations for learning in the early years so that pupils are well prepared for key stage 1.

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

Teachers carry out regular checks of what pupils have learned and remembered in subjects such as English, mathematics and science. Teachers provide pupils with frequent opportunities to revisit prior learning to ensure that this is embedded in their long-term memory. However, some pupils are less able to remember knowledge from other subjects. For example, in history, Year 3 pupils found it difficult to explain what they have learned in a recent topic about the stone age. In Year 6, pupils were much more confident recalling their knowledge of World War Two. This is because they have regular opportunities to recap and revisit prior learning. These checks are not consistent in all foundation subjects in all year groups.

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

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Professionals, such as occupational therapists and educational psychologists, provide advice for pupils with additional learning needs. Staff are effectively deployed to support these pupils to learn alongside their classmates.

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

Equality and diversity are promoted throughout the curriculum. For example, pupils learn about Walter Tull and Mary Seacole in history. Leaders have purchased a variety of reading books that are representative of diverse cultures and family types. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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

Leaders invest time to regularly review what is working well and to identify areas for further development. Governors check the impact of leaders’ actions through their critical evaluation and questioning. Staff appreciate the changes made by leaders to reduce their workload and to support their well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 24 and 25 January 2023 All the appropriate pre-employment checks are completed to ensure that adults are suitable to work in school.

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Safeguarding

Staff have attended relevant safeguarding training and know their responsibility to keep all pupils safe. When a concern is raised about a pupil’s safety, appropriate referrals are made to the relevant agencies. Leaders work closely with multi-agencies to support pupils in school. In addition, a school counsellor is employed to support vulnerable pupils.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum teaches pupils how to be safe. For example, pupils learn about pedestrian and cycle safety. Pupils are knowledgeable about the risks they might face when working online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The system for checking what pupils know in some subjects, such as history, does not enable teachers to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Some pupils do not remember long term the content that they have been taught. Leaders should develop a meaningful system for checking how much knowledge pupils remember in these subjects so that any gaps in pupils’ knowledge can be filled.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour, or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Lingfield Primary, to be good in November 2017.

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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. 24 and 25 January 2023

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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. 24 and 25 January 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255785 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the James Cook Learning Trust.  Wraparound childcare is available before and after school, for a charge.  The school does not use any alternative 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 his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, senior leaders and the special educational needs coordinator. He met three governors, including the chair of governors, the chief executive officer for the James Cook Learning Trust and spoke with a representative from Middlesbrough local authority. Discussions were also held with some teachers and support staff.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, he discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a 24 and 25 January 2023 sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector considered the views of parents via responses to Ofsted’s Parent View

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Information about this inspection

survey.  The inspector listened to pupils reading to a familiar adult, observed their behaviour moving around school and at lunchtime, met with pupils formally to gather their opinions and held informal discussions across both days of the inspection.  A wide variety of safeguarding information and documentation was scrutinised, including referrals to external agencies and other records.

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Inspection team

Andy Jones, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 January 2023 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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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