Lingham Primary School

Inspection of Lingham Primary School Townmeadow Lane, Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside CH46 7UQ

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Inspection dates: 27 and 28 February 2024

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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 February 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this school. They talked with enthusiasm about the special days, trips and visits that they take part in. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are entrusted with a range of leadership roles. These include acting as school councillors and reading buddies. They relish these opportunities. Pupils talked proudly about the difference they make to the school. For example, the school council helped to secure a change in the timings for the end of the school day. This has made the end of the day calmer for everyone.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement, and pupils enjoy their learning. However, over time, pupils do not achieve as well as they could. This includes some pupils with SEND, who sometimes do not receive effective support with their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value the support that they receive for their mental health and well-being. They trust adults to keep them safe. They know that they can talk to adults if they are ever worried. Pupils understand the new school rules and many pupils behave well. However, on occasion, a minority of pupils do not behave as well as they could in lessons.

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better?

The school has taken decisive action to improve the curriculum, including in the early years. The curriculum is suitably broad and ambitious. The school has identified the important knowledge that it wants pupils to learn and when they should learn it. However, in many subjects, the curriculum has only recently been introduced. Pupils are starting to make links between their current and previous learning, but this is at an early stage. This means that some pupils’ knowledge in these subjects is not as secure as it could be.

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better?

The school has ensured that teachers have sufficient knowledge to deliver the curriculum. In the early years, including the provision for two-year-olds, there is a focus on developing children’s communication skills. Staff model spoken language well. In many lessons across the school, there are regular opportunities for pupils to revisit prior learning. This is starting to help pupils to recall and embed their subject knowledge.

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better?

Teachers typically check that pupils understand what they are learning in lessons. The school has also designed assessment strategies which help to identify any gaps in learning that pupils may have. It is now using this information to start to address the gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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better?

Pupils with SEND are identified quickly by staff. The school has secured training and support from external agencies to help with this process. However, the school has not ensured that staff are able to carefully and successfully adapt the delivery of the 27 and 28 February 2024

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curriculum for some pupils with SEND. This is also the case for some children in the early years. This prevents these pupils from learning as well as they could.

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The school prioritises early reading. Staff receive regular training and are confident in their teaching of phonics. Children in the provision for two-year-olds and in the Nursery Year thoroughly enjoy joining in with stories, rhymes and songs. This prepares them well to link a wider range of sounds and letters when they enter the Reception Year. The new phonics programme supports staff in their teaching of phonics. Pupils read books that contain the sounds that they are learning. Teachers quickly identify support for any pupils who may need to catch up. This more rigorous approach is helping pupils to read more confidently and fluently.

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Most pupils across the school meet the high expectations set by many staff for their behaviour. However, where staff do not share these high expectations, pupils do not behave as well as they could. This means that, at times, lessons are disrupted and learning time is lost.

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The school works hard to encourage regular attendance. It is relentless in reviewing and refining its practices in managing poor attendance. The school seeks support from external experts to ensure that no stone is left unturned. When pupils’ attendance is low, the school takes appropriate, bespoke action. In many cases, this secures improvement.

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The school supports pupils well in their personal development. Many children in the early years learn to play cooperatively and focus for increasing periods of time. Pupils learn to be respectful of difference. They spoke confidently about some of these differences. For example, pupils spoke about how some adaptations are made for pupils with SEND, so that they are included in the wider life of the school alongside their peers.

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The pace of improvement across the school has increased the demands placed on staff. Despite this, staff appreciate the support given to them to manage their workload, such as the extra time that the school gives them to carry out their wider roles. They are proud to be part of the school team.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In many subjects, the curriculum has only recently been introduced. Some pupils struggle to make connections between their previous and current learning in these subjects. The school should embed the improvements to these curriculums so that pupils know and remember more. 27 and 28 February 2024

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 Staff’s expectations of pupils’ behaviour are inconsistent across the school. As a result, a minority of pupils sometimes do not behave as well as they could, and learning time is lost. The school should ensure that all staff implement the behaviour policy as intended.  The school has not ensured that some teachers are equipped well to meet the needs of some pupils with SEND. Consequently, these pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff receive appropriate guidance to adapt their teaching for pupils with SEND effectively.

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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’ 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). 27 and 28 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 A new headteacher, deputy headteacher and chair of governors have taken up post since the previous inspection.  The school provides provision for two-year-old children.  The school makes use of one unregistered alternative provider.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, as well as other senior and subject leaders. The lead inspector also spoke with a representative from the local authority. 27 and 28 February 2024

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 The lead inspector met with members of the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics, art and design, physical education and design and technology. For each deep dive, this involved holding discussions about the curriculum, visiting a sample of lessons, speaking to pupils about their learning and looking at samples of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector observed some pupils from Year 1 to Year 3 reading to a known adult.  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 pupils’ behaviour during lessons and recreational times. Inspectors also spoke with pupils about their experiences of school.

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 Inspectors took account of the responses from the Ofsted surveys for staff and pupils. An inspector spoke to parents at the start of the school day. Inspectors also considered the responses from Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.  Inspectors also considered a range of documentation, including minutes from governing body meetings, attendance records, behaviour logs and information on pupils’ destinations for those who left mid-year.

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Inspection team

Kathy Nichol, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Karen Morris Ofsted Inspector 27 and 28 February 2024

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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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