Kingsway Primary School

Inspection of Kingsway Primary School Ashville Road, Wallasey, Merseyside CH44 9EF

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 27 and 28 June 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), genuinely enjoy belonging to this small and nurturing school. They value their friendships with each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in the early years, are happy, and they feel safe. They know that staff are there to help them if they have any worries or concerns. Pupils share warm and respectful relationships with staff and with their peers. Pupils comment that bullying sometimes happens. However, when incidents of unkindness and bullying occur, leaders deal with them quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations for pupils’ achievement. However, pupils’ learning across the curriculum is uneven. This is because some pupils have gaps in their knowledge. Pupils do not have sufficiently secure foundations on which to build new learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff expect pupils to behave well. Most pupils strive to conduct themselves appropriately around the school. In the main, pupils try to show respect and are polite towards one another. However, at times, some pupils’ behaviour in class is disruptive to the learning of others. In addition, some pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the varied range of opportunities available to them beyond the academic curriculum, such as after-school clubs and trips. Pupils benefit from a well- designed enrichment programme, which develops their wider talents and interests.

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better?

The newly formed leadership team is taking the action required to improve the quality of education for pupils at Kingsway Primary School. Leaders have ensured that pupils are taught the full range of national curriculum subjects. They are in the process of refining the content of the curriculum in each subject. As a result of changes to the design of the curriculum, pupils are achieving more highly than they have done in the past. Nonetheless, current pupils do not progress through the curriculum consistently well. The impact of the previous curriculum means that they have gaps in their learning.

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better?

In the early years, leaders are also developing the curriculum. Across the areas of learning, leaders are establishing the building blocks of knowledge that children must acquire to be ready for the demands of Year 1. They are also thinking carefully about how that knowledge flows into the key stage 1 curriculum. Nonetheless, while leaders have taken some appropriate steps to improve the early years curriculum, this is relatively new. Weaknesses in the previous curriculum mean that some children do not achieve as well as they should. 27 and 28 June 2023

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Leaders are thinking more deeply about how to upskill teachers in the delivery of the curriculum. Currently, however, teachers are not sufficiently confident about what should be taught and when this should happen. They do not give pupils enough opportunities to recap or recall prior learning. Consequently, some pupils struggle to make connections with what they have learned previously.

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Teachers are developing their confidence in using leaders’ assessment systems as the new curriculum is rolled out. Teachers are proficient in dealing with pupils’ misconceptions when they arise. However, because the curriculum is in development, some teachers do not have a secure understanding of where pupils have insecure foundations on which to build new learning.

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Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND appropriately. However, at times, staff do not adapt the delivery of the curriculum as effectively as they should for these pupils. Nevertheless, leaders work well with other agencies to ensure that pupils with SEND get the help and support they need.

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A new phonics scheme has been introduced, which begins in the early years. Staff are gaining confidence in delivering this new programme. There is also a strong emphasis on developing children’s language skills in the room for two-year olds and in the Nursery and Reception classes. As soon as children start in the provision for two-year olds, or in the Nursery class, they are introduced to the joys of stories, rhymes and poems.

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Leaders ensure that the books that pupils read match the sounds and words they know. Leaders identify swiftly any pupil who is not keeping up with the programme. They put support in place so that these pupils can catch up quickly. Leaders have recently developed a new library, which is well stocked with high-quality texts to broaden pupils’ knowledge and understanding of books and authors.

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In lessons, although behaviour is improving, there are some pupils who have difficulty in managing their emotions. This disrupts learning. At times, some pupils also arrive late to lessons, often after they have started.

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Leaders promote pupils’ personal development well. Staff make sure that pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, develop their independence and resilience. Pupils are tolerant and respectful of each other. They understand that people have different beliefs and come from diverse family backgrounds.

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Pupils have a secure understanding of fundamental British values. For example, older pupils recognise and understand what democracy is and why it is so important to have laws in society. They understand that they must take regular exercise and eat a balanced diet.

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Governors know the school well, and they are aware of the challenges that lie ahead. They are holding leaders more fully to account to improve the quality of education for pupils. 27 and 28 June 2023

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Most staff, feel fully supported by new leaders. They appreciate all that leaders do to ensure that they have an acceptable workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff are vigilant and keep pupils safe from harm. This is because all staff have received comprehensive safeguarding training. Staff know how to identify a pupil who might be at risk of harm and what action to take.

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Safeguarding

When needed, leaders work well with external agencies to provide support and help for pupils. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. For example, they recognise the dangers of disclosing personal information when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Weaknesses in the previous curriculum, both for children in the early years and pupils in Years 1 to 6, mean that pupils have gaps in their knowledge. This makes it difficult for them build new learning. Leaders should ensure that teachers address gaps in pupils’ learning so that they can progress well through the curriculum. Leaders are in the process of ensuring that teachers know how to deliver the new curriculums.  Leaders’ assessment systems do not fully identify where pupils have gaps in their knowledge. Added to this, teachers do not revisit key elements of learning frequently enough to bridge those gaps. Consequently, some pupils have insecure foundations on which to build new learning. Leaders should ensure that their assessment system closely aligns to the new curriculum and that pupils have sufficient opportunities to revisit and recap important learning.  There is a number of pupils who do not come to school on a regular basis, or

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

they arrive late to lessons. This means that these pupils miss out on important aspects of their learning. Leaders should ensure that these pupils attend school regularly. They should ensure that pupils arrive to lessons on time.  Some pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour in class. They disrupt the learning of others. Leaders should ensure that these pupils receive the support they need to regulate their own behaviour so that they, and other pupils, can learn all that they should. 27 and 28 June 2023

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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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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. 27 and 28 June 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10289873 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 Daniel Stenhouse

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 and 28 February 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides care and education for children aged two-years old.  The school runs a breakfast club.  Leaders make use of one alternative provision, which is registered with Ofsted.  Since the previous inspection, a new headteacher and deputy headteacher have been appointed. A new chair of governors has also taken up post.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded 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. 27 and 28 June 2023

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 Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, other leaders and staff in school. The lead inspector spoke with the chair of the governing body and with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors met with the special educational needs coordinator and the leader for the early years.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors spoke with subject leaders, visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work, held discussions with teachers and talked to pupils about their learning. The lead inspector listened to pupils read with a familiar adult. Inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subject areas.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes, at lunchtimes, in class and as they moved around the school. They considered information relating to pupils’ rates of attendance and their behaviour.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including that relating to

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safeguarding. They spoke with leaders, staff and pupils about the culture of safeguarding in the school.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being.  Inspectors considered the views expressed by parents in their responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text comments.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaires for staff and pupils.  An inspector spoke with parents as they dropped their children off at school.

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Inspection team

Sue Dymond, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Sandra Hamilton Ofsted Inspector 27 and 28 June 2023

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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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