Nelson St Philip's Church of England Primary School

Inspection of Nelson St Philip’s Church of England Primary School Leeds Road, Nelson, Lancashire BB9 9TQ

p.1

Inspection dates: 13 and 14 September 2023

p.1

Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 13 and 14 September 2023

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in the early years, are proud to attend this calm and friendly school where everyone is made to feel welcome. The school provides an environment that allows pupils to grow in confidence and learn the curriculum successfully. This ensures that pupils are prepared well for secondary school.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from and appreciate the kind and caring relationships that they have with staff. If pupils do not understand something, they know that they can ask staff for help. Pupils also know that staff will listen to any worries or concerns that they may have. Pupils said that this helps to make their school a happy place.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement and for their behaviour. Pupils live up to these expectations every day. They are polite and respectful to each other and staff. Through their interactions with their peers, pupils demonstrate kindness and gentleness. This creates a calm and purposeful atmosphere in which pupils can learn well. Typically, pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well across a range of subjects.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy taking up the many leadership roles on offer in school. They are proud of the contribution that they make to school life. For example, by acting as school councillors, worship ambassadors and mental health champions.

p.2

better?

The school has designed a curriculum that is suitably broad, ambitious and meets the needs of pupils, including those with SEND. Across subjects, the school has identified the key knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this content should be taught.

p.2

better?

The school provides high-quality training so that staff, for the most part, can deliver the curriculum effectively. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to explain new learning clearly to pupils. Added to this, staff typically design activities to enable pupils, including children in the Reception class, to remember the intended curriculum. For example, pupils in Year 6 completed calculations in mathematics with confidence because their earlier learning on place value was secure.

p.2

better?

In the main, teachers design learning so that pupils can revisit important knowledge as a matter of routine. Added to this, in most subjects, teachers check that pupils’ understanding of important earlier learning is secure. However, in a small number of subjects, staff do not afford some pupils the opportunity to recap aspects of earlier learning frequently enough. On occasion, this hinders some pupils when they come to apply this knowledge to new concepts.

p.2

better?

The school has prioritised the teaching of early reading and phonics. This begins as soon as children join the school in the Reception Year. All staff receive appropriate training to ensure that they can deliver the phonics programme effectively. For 13 and 14 September 2023

p.2

3

example, staff carefully match the books that pupils read to their phonics knowledge. Those pupils who struggle with reading are quickly identified by staff. Staff provide these pupils with bespoke support to enable them to catch up quickly.

p.3

3

Older pupils talked enthusiastically about the books that they had enjoyed recently, including some high-quality texts that they had borrowed from the school library. Older pupils, in their roles as ambassadors, were keen to promote the benefits of reading to younger pupils.

p.3

3

The school has appropriate systems in place to ensure that pupils’ additional needs are identified by staff in a timely manner. Teachers adapt how they deliver the curriculum to ensure that pupils with SEND learn well alongside their classmates. In addition, the school ensures that pupils receive high-quality pastoral support and carefully considers the wider needs of families.

p.3

3

In the Reception Year, staff ensure that classroom routines are quickly established and that children know what is expected of them. As a result, children learn how to behave well and they listen attentively to adults as they learn new things. Across the school, pupils are highly committed to succeeding in their learning. Lessons are seldom disrupted by poor behaviour.

p.3

3

Pupils understand that eating a healthy diet and doing regular exercise help them to look after their own physical and mental well-being. They learn about different faiths, cultures and families. Pupils also learn about the importance of respecting each other’s differences. For example, older pupils spoke knowledgeably about British values and their worth within a modern society.

p.3

3

Pupils are eager to take part in a wide range of after-school activities that capture their interests. The school ensures that opportunities to listen to guest speakers, visit places of interest and participate in residential trips help to enhance pupils’ wider personal development.

p.3

3

The school considers staff’s workload and well-being when making decisions about how to further improve the quality of education for pupils. As a result, staff feel that they are listened to and they feel valued by leaders.

p.3

3

The school offers a range of support for parents and carers such as regular ‘reading cafes’. These initiatives encourage parents to take a more active role in their children’s education.

p.3

3

Those responsible for governance provide an appropriate level of challenge to the school. Members of the governing body are well informed about how well pupils are learning the curriculum.

p.3

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 13 and 14 September 2023

p.3

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, the school has not ensured that staff provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to revisit essential knowledge, including important subject-specific vocabulary. This hinders some pupils when they come to apply this knowledge to more complex tasks. The school should ensure that, in these subjects, learning is designed so that pupils can revisit the knowledge that will be most useful for future learning.

p.4

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.

p.4

How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

p.4

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

p.4

Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 13 and 14 September 2023

p.4

School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

p.5

School details

Dates of previous inspection 16 and 17 January 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

p.5

Information about this school

 A new headteacher has been appointed since the last inspection.  The most recent section 48 inspection took place in February 2023. The school’s next section 48 inspection will take place before 2028.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.

p.5

Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.5

Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken this into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other members of staff. The lead inspector spoke with representatives of the governing body, including the 13 and 14 September 2023

p.5

6

chair of governors. They also spoke with a representative of the local authority and the monitoring and improvement adviser.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, they discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, and spoke to teachers and to some pupils about their learning. They also looked at a sample of pupils’ work. The lead inspector listened to pupils read with a familiar adult. Inspectors also discussed the curriculum with leaders in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors observed behaviour as pupils moved around the school, in class, in the

p.6

6

dinner hall and the outdoor-play area.  Inspectors considered the views expressed by parents in their responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text comments. Inspectors also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaires for staff and pupils.  Inspectors spoke with parents as they brought their children to school at the start of the school day.

p.6

Inspection team

Pat Speed, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

p.6

Inspection team

Joe Dryland Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 September 2023

p.6

7

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.

p.7

7

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.7

7

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

7

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

7

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

p.7