Park House Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Park House Primary School Rupert Street, Lower Pilsley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S45 8DB

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Outcome

Park House Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to Park House Primary School, which is reflected in the above- average rates of attendance. Pupils say that they are happy at the school. As one pupil said: ‘Teachers are kind. If you need help, this is given’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Governors and leaders have high expectations for pupils and a shared vision of providing a ‘challenging, exciting, enjoyable and relevant curriculum’ that is designed with the intent of pupils being well prepared for their secondary education. Pupils’ views advocate this. Typical comments are: ‘I get to learn new things each day’; ‘Teachers help me to get better’; ‘I get to learn things independently’; and ‘Teachers make learning fun’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff care about pupils and their families. As one parent stated: ‘Park House is a lovely school. It has a real community feel. Pupils thrive here and make great progress.’ The vision of leaders is on its way to being realised. Pupils achieve well, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have equally high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils behave well in lessons, during assembly and at breakfast club.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils interviewed say that they feel safe in the school. They say that any problems they have are sorted out quickly.

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

Senior leaders prioritise reading. The design of the early reading programme is well structured and ambitious. Staff have received appropriate training to secure a consistent approach. The reading books that pupils are given are well matched to their stage of development. Adults keep a close eye on pupils’ progress. If pupils begin to fall behind, support programmes are put in place to help them catch up quickly. Pupils have access to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction reading material. They enjoy the daily story time, 18 and 19 July 2023

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which is delivered animatedly by teachers. The package that pupils receive helps them to become fluent, proficient and confident readers.

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Teachers have good subject knowledge. They harness this to present learning in interesting ways, which engages pupils. For instance, in mathematics, pupils explain how, in each lesson, they do ‘flash-back’ activities. These cover content that they have been taught before. This helps them to review and remember their prior learning. Teachers check what pupils can recall. They redesign their programme if they find gaps in pupils’ mathematical learning.

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Leaders have designed and implemented a new curriculum for the foundation subjects. This is intended to provide a structure of continuity and progression for pupils’ knowledge from the early years to Year 6. The curriculum content is ambitious in breadth and content and is suitably balanced. It places an emphasis on pupils learning about the history and heritage of their locality in north east Derbyshire. In history, pupils visit Creswell Craggs to learn about the Stone Age. They learn about the inventor George Stephenson. This has helped them to understand the importance of the railways during the Victorian era.

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The curriculum is more firmly established in subjects such as history, and it continues to evolve in a small number of foundation subjects. Leaders are still putting the finishing touches to their plans. They have not yet identified in all subjects the precise knowledge that they want pupils to know and recall. In addition, pupils are not revisiting their learning as often as they could to ensure that levels of recall remain high. This is a barrier to pupils achieving as well as they could in these subjects.

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Leaders quickly identify those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff liaise with other agencies to secure a programme of support that enables pupils with SEND to achieve well.

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Leaders have a clear vision and plan for promoting pupils’ personal development. Pupils enjoy accessing a range of extra-curricular activities, particularly in sport and music. Pupils know that the decisions made by the school council have improved the school. Pupils help the environment by recycling. They also share how ‘playground buddies’ have helped to support pupils who may be feeling lonely during social times.

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Pupils learn about relationships in an age-appropriate way. They develop a respect and understanding for those who have different beliefs and backgrounds to their own.

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Governors provide appropriate levels of support and challenge to leaders. Governors and leaders have ensured that pupils’ behaviour is good. The enthusiasm of a few pupils during competitive sports at breaktimes can overspill into misbehaviour. Governors have agreed a new approach to anti-bullying. This is to support pupils to manage their emotions during these times.

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Staff feel that leaders are considerate of their well-being and workload. 18 and 19 July 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Senior leaders are systematic in recording any concerns about pupils, triangulating information with pupils’ attendance and behaviour. They are able to quickly identify those who may be at risk. They provide timely support to pupils and families when concerns arise, involving other agencies if required. Staff are knowledgeable about how to keep pupils safe because they are well trained. Leaders ensure that the suitability checks made on staff are thorough.

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Safeguarding

Pupils say that they are taught how to keep themselves safe. This includes when learning online and in out-of-school contexts, such as road safety, railways and not talking to strangers.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum development, in a few subjects, is still relatively new. The ambition of leaders is not yet fully realised. Leaders should continue to refine their curriculum plans, notably in identifying the precise knowledge that pupils need to learn, so that pupils are able to achieve highly in all subjects. Subject leaders need to check the implementation of the refined curriculum to assure that it is being delivered to a standard that meets the high expectations of leaders.  In some foundation subjects, pupils’ recall of what they have been taught before is not always as secure as it could be. They need to be given more frequent opportunities to revisit and recall their learning. This will help teachers to check more closely what pupils know and remember in order to quickly identify any gaps in learning, which will in turn inform their next teaching steps. This is so that pupils can achieve as well in

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

these subjects as they do in core subjects.

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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 October 2014. 18 and 19 July 2023

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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. 18 and 19 July 2023

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School details

Local authority Derbyshire County Council

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School details

Inspection number 10298376 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 12 April 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, a new headteacher has been appointed in September 2019.  The school offers a before- and after-school club on site. This provision is managed by the governing body.  Leaders do not make use of 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.  The inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair, the headteacher and deputy headteacher, and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector held meetings with subject leaders, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, the leader responsible for early years and staff responsible for attendance and safeguarding. 18 and 19 July 2023

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspectors also looked at curriculum plans in other subjects, including art and design, computing, geography, and physical education.  The inspector spoke with leaders about how the curriculum supports pupils’ personal development. He spoke to pupils about personal, social and health education.  The inspector listened to five pupils read to an adult.  To evaluate the school’s safeguarding procedures, the inspector spoke with the headteacher, governors and the school’s additional safeguarding lead. The inspector reviewed the school’s records of safeguarding concerns and the school’s single central

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register of staff employment checks. The inspector also spoke with teachers and pupils.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. Additionally, he spoke to pupils to discuss their views about the school.  The inspector also considered the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View. He also took into consideration the staff survey.

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Inspection team

David Carter, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 18 and 19 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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