St Bartholomew's Church of England Primary School (Aided)

Inspection of a good school: St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School (Aided) Goathland Avenue, Longbenton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE12 8FA

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 November 2023

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Outcome

St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School (Aided) continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school that serves its community, supports local charities and serves others. Pupils reflect its values of compassion, service, excellence and determination. Pupils care for each other and show respect. Lunchtime monitors help younger pupils in the dining hall. Courtesy and good manners are the norm. Pupils are happy in school. They say that they feel safe because there is always a trusted adult or a good friend to help them. Pupils learn how to stay safe online and near roads.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils explain they always try hard because teachers know ‘what each pupil’s best looks like’. Pupils enjoy their learning. They achieve well as their knowledge builds over time. Behaviour is good. Pupils stick to the simple school rules of being respectful, ready, safe and hopeful. They know issues will be dealt with swiftly and fairly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils show off the school’s facilities like the large hall for performances, the wildlife area with the pond, the climbing wall and the prayer gym. Performing arts lie at the heart of the school. Pupils speak with pride about the recent performance of Aladdin and the forthcoming performance of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Their confidence is sky high.

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

The school’s curriculum is ambitious, well structured and of good quality. It is carefully mapped out to reflect pupils’ needs. The knowledge pupils acquire is linked by broad themes. Lessons are planned sequentially to build learning over time. Pupils build on what they already know, which helps them remember more. The key knowledge pupils need is spelled out clearly. A few subjects, such as history and design and technology, are not as well planned, because pupils struggle to connect learning to what they already know. 15 and 16 November 2023

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Pupils benefit from a daily, systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. Lessons follow the same structure and use the same phrases and approaches. New sounds are introduced each day for pupils to practise and remember. Phonics teaching starts in Nursery with simple rhyming words. Children in Reception sound out unknown words and blend them together to read new words. Pupils read books that are carefully matched to their phonics knowledge. Daily checks spot anyone not keeping up with their classmates. Extra help is provided so that no-one falls behind. Pupils are quickly becoming confident, fluent and expressive readers.

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The school uses assessment well. Checks are made in lessons or at checkpoints during the school year to see if there are gaps in knowledge or understanding. Extra help is given, or lessons are adapted to recover the learning. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are spotted early. Teaching plans are devised to meet individual needs. Pupils learn the same curriculum alongside their classmates. Adaptations, such as writing slopes, wobble cushions or the way work is presented or recorded, are offered. Pupils are fully acceptive of each other, irrespective of SEND, and treat each other with dignity and respect. No one misses out in this highly inclusive school.

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Pupils are fully engaged in learning. Off-task behaviour is rare. Occasional shouting out an answer is dealt with swiftly and firmly. Children in Nursery maturely sit and listen when constructing simple repeating patterns with colour. Reception children work happily together to sell pumpkins in the class ‘shop’. Pupils in Year 1 take great care to write a sentence on their whiteboards, which they do very well. Behaviour in lessons is excellent.

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The school’s work to promote pupils’ broader development is of high quality. The school’s Christian ethos ensures that there is no discrimination and pupils flourish. They are encouraged to discover hidden talents. Experiences go beyond the school gates with visits to local museums, parks, farms and the beach. Pupils visit local places of historic interest or natural beauty. Residential stays, running stalls at the Christmas fair or the school tuck shop, and a range of clubs from dance, art, wildlife, and sports are only a small part of what is on offer. Pupils take on extra responsibilities such as house captain, sports leader or reading ambassadors.

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Staff morale is positive. There are high levels of mutual support. Informal communication is a strength. The new well-being committee is already making changes that benefit staff, such as the availability of information from staff briefings. The school gives good support to staff new to teaching. The governing body is highly skilled, challenging and supporting leaders in its strategic role. Detailed checks are made on safeguarding and the support for pupils with SEND. Governance is a strength of the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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 A few foundation subjects are not as well mapped out as they need to be. In these subjects, the main ideas that link knowledge, and the knowledge that pupils need to know and remember, are unclear. This is limiting pupils’ capacity to remember more over time and make links to previous learning. The school needs to make sure that all subjects are equally well structured so that pupils can learn equally well across the whole curriculum.

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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 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’ is used to mean pupils with 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). 15 and 16 November 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is a Church of England primary school (aided).  The most recent Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools was completed in October 2023.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education 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 the school and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, senior leaders, early years leader, subject leaders and the special educational needs coordinators. The inspector also met with teachers and a range of other staff. 15 and 16 November 2023

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 The inspector met four members of the local governing body remotely, including the chair. He also spoke to a representative of the Church of England Diocese of Newcastle and the school improvement adviser from the North Tyneside local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to pupils and teachers, and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector looked at curriculum documents and spoke to leaders about a range of other curriculum subjects.  The inspector listened to a range of pupils read from different year groups.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lesson visits, at breaktime and at lunchtime. He spoke to pupils about their views of behaviour. A group of pupils gave the inspector a tour of the school.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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.  The inspector considered the views of parents through the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector considered the well-being and workload of staff. He took note of the responses and comments from Ofsted’s staff survey, including comments made by staff about their well-being.

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Inspection team

Phil Scott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 15 and 16 November 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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