Goldstone Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Goldstone Primary School Laburnum Avenue, Hove, East Sussex BN3 7JW

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Outcome

Goldstone Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at this friendly school. They are happy, active and excited to learn. One parent summed up the views of many by saying, ‘My child skips into school each day and comes out buzzing.’ Pupils and parents feel listened to. Pupils trust that adults care for them and will respond if they have any problems or worries. This helps pupils to grow in confidence and to feel safe. Consequently, bullying is not something they worry about.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are expected to behave well and work hard, and for the most part they do. The school is a hive of purposeful activity. Staff know pupils and their needs well. This ensures that pupils who need additional support benefit from the thoughtful provision that is put in place. This helps all pupils to feel included and experience success.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A strong sense of community pervades all aspects of school life. Right from the start in early years, families feel welcomed and involved. Pupils engage confidently with the wide range of additional opportunities available to them. This includes different clubs and activities such as camping on the school field. They are proud of their many sporting achievements at local and national levels. Pupils are active in community projects and initiatives such as ‘Our City, Our World’.

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

Leaders have put in place a broad and ambitious curriculum. It is ordered logically from early years to Year 6. Across most subjects, leaders identify precisely the important knowledge that pupils should learn. This helps pupils to build their knowledge systematically. Leaders are taking effective action to strengthen some aspects of the curriculum further still. For example, in mathematics, there has been a successful focus on developing pupils’ knowledge of the times tables. However, the curriculum is not as precisely considered in a small number of subjects. Leaders are rightly focusing their efforts to address this. 3 and 4 July 2023

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The curriculum has been carefully designed to engage and interest all pupils. Teachers implement the curriculum well. Where adaptations are needed, for example for those pupils with special educational needs and or disabilities (SEND), these are carefully identified and planned for. Regular checks help ensure that all pupils build knowledge effectively. Staff make full use of the school’s grounds and location as effective learning resources within the curriculum. For example, pupils plant vegetables as part of their ‘Dig for Victory’ focus before harvesting them and making soup with them as part of food technology.

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Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Right from the start in Nursery, children enjoy stories and are excited by events such as getting a letter from a local author. Phonics is taught systematically. This helps pupils to learn to read quickly and well. Any pupils who start to fall behind are identified by regular assessment and given the help that they need to catch up quickly. Staff ensure that reading books match the sounds that pupils are learning. This helps pupils to apply their growing knowledge so that they become increasingly fluent and confident. Pupils enjoy reading and being read to. Teachers select stories to read to pupils which engage their interest and help them to broaden their vocabulary and knowledge of the world. Pupils have well-developed opinions about the characters and plots in the books that they read.

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Pupils behave well. In lessons, they engage with their learning and follow instructions. Even the very youngest children learn to use ‘kind hands and kind words’. Any pupils who need redirecting are quickly identified and orientated so that there is little lost learning or disruption. Relationships are warm throughout and this supports learning effectively.

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Pupils’ personal development is well considered. Leaders have ensured that the well- structured personal, social and health curriculum responds to pupils’ changing needs in an age-appropriate way. Pupils can volunteer to take part in the wider life of the school by, for example, acting as a playleader, reading buddy or running the pupil tuck shop at breaktimes. A focus on sustainability is helping pupils to reflect on environmental issues in an informed way.

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Governors know and support the school well. They use a wide range of information to help them to monitor and evaluate the impact of leaders’ actions effectively. Staff feel that their contributions are valued and appreciated. They know that leaders consider their workload and well-being carefully and have made adaptations to aspects of their work in response.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have strong systems in place to identify and communicate any safeguarding concerns effectively. This includes carrying out appropriate checks to ensure the suitability of staff. Leaders ensure that staff are well trained. This helps leaders to act swiftly to secure the right help for any pupils at risk. Leaders work well with a range of outside agencies when it is needed to help protect pupils. 3 and 4 July 2023

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Leaders have a good awareness of how to adapt the curriculum accordingly so that pupils learn how to keep themselves safe both in and out of school. They provide parents with helpful safeguarding information.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, the curriculum does not sufficiently identify the essential knowledge pupils should learn and remember. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. Leaders are aware of this and have plans in place to address it. Leaders should continue to review and refine the curriculum to ensure that pupils build all the knowledge they need across all subjects to be fully prepared for the next stages of their education.

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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 school to be good in June 2013.

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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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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. 3 and 4 July 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10268849 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 24 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current headteacher and deputy headteacher took up their roles in September 2022.  The school does not currently 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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspectors met with school leaders. The lead inspector also met with representatives from the governing body and held a meeting with a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector listened to pupils read. 3 and 4 July 2023

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 Safeguarding records were reviewed, including the single central record and appointment procedures. The inspectors spoke to staff about safeguarding and spoke to pupils about the support they have in understanding how to keep safe.  The inspectors reviewed responses to Ofsted’s parent, pupil and staff surveys. The lead inspector received some written communication and two emails from parents.  The inspectors talked to staff to gather their views about the school, including their workload and well-being. The inspector met with several groups of pupils, and spoke to pupils during lessons and at playtime and lunchtime.

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Inspection team

Deborah Gordon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Vickie Farrow Ofsted Inspector 3 and 4 July 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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