Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School Front Street, Lanchester, Durham DH7 0HU

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Outcome

Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s strong and distinctive Christian ethos shines through. The school’s core values, such as love, hope and compassion, are not platitudes; they are enacted. Pupils trust adults to keep them safe, resulting in a feeling of confidence and self-belief. Relationships are warm and trusting. Older pupils ‘buddy up’ with younger pupils to talk, read or play together. Pupils talk openly about the need for equality and the need to include everyone, no matter how they may be different.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well. Adults deal swiftly and fairly with any poor behaviour or ‘falling out’. Pupils are self-motivated, which means they work hard, but also know teachers expect the very best from them. Aspiration and ambition are tangible. Pupils set themselves challenging targets and achieve well. They aspire to rewarding careers in, for example, architecture, science, education or sport.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about the range of opportunities available to them. This includes local, national and international residential trips and access to the creative arts. Pupils enjoy performing Shakespeare and working with the National Opera to sing parts of ‘The Magic Flute’. A clear favourite is learning outdoors in the school’s forest area to build dens, cook food by an open fire or birdwatch in a special hide.

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

The school’s curriculum grabs pupils’ attention, fosters curiosity and promotes enthusiasm for learning. Overarching topics link learning in design and technology, history, art and design and geography. In most subjects, the key ideas that connect learning are clearly defined. For example, pupils apply their learning in mathematics to their work in art and design. Teaching delivers knowledge progressively through well-sequenced lessons in short units of work. The essential knowledge pupils need is tightly defined and builds on what pupils know. Pupils make connections in learning within the same subject. In a small number of subjects, this is not the case. Some pupils struggle to link new learning to what 5 and 6 March 2024

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they already know, make sense of new content and embed knowledge in their long-term memory.

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Pupils quickly learn to read. They show enthusiasm for books and read with confidence and expression. Daily phonics lessons follow the same routines and use familiar activities. Children in Reception already know many sounds that letters and strings of letters represent. They swap one sound from a simple word to make another word. Pupils in key stage 1 use their knowledge of phonics to write short sentences. They spell words accurately. Older pupils proudly speak about the revamped library, cosy reading areas in class and a reading shed outside. The importance of reading in the school shines through.

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Checking on pupils’ understanding, grasp of new ideas and retention of knowledge over time is crucial for the school. Checks in lessons, pupil discussions and formal termly tests allow the teachers to change or reshape future learning. Teachers plug gaps in knowledge and reteach areas of weaker understanding. This also helps the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to quickly come to light. The school works with parents to devise plans and to make sure all pupils thrive. Pupils with SEND receive additional support. They use specialist equipment, and access learning or record work in different ways. All pupils access the same curriculum, reflecting the school’s commitment to equality and inclusion.

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Pupils enjoy school and want to learn. Pupils’ rates of attendance reflect this. Positive behaviour in lessons helps pupils to succeed. This starts in Nursery. Children have fun, working with their friends to show all the different ways to make the number 7 by dividing themselves between two pallets. Pupils concentrate and try hard in lessons, from shading a drawing of a bottle in art in Year 4 to finding 78% of 60 in Year 6.

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The curriculum supports pupils to develop strength of character and positive attitudes. This is a strength of the school. Pupils’ understanding of other cultures develops through visits from a rabbi, visiting a mosque, links with schools in Birmingham and in other countries and celebrating festivals from other faiths and communities. Creative arts have a high profile. Pupils visit theatres, museums, art galleries and places of natural beauty, including the beach and local cathedral. During Enterprise Week, pupils make and sell items at the Christmas fair. The school is a vital cog in the local community. Pupils sing in the local care home and hospice. Raising money for local, national and international charities is the norm.

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Staff say morale is very positive because of strong teamwork. They value the open channels of dialogue. Senior staff check on their well-being. Parents are extremely supportive of the school. They appreciate the extensive information they receive about their children’s education and school activities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 5 and 6 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some foundation subjects, the most important knowledge and key concepts that pupils need to grasp and remember lack clarity. Some pupils only concentrate on the topic. This limits pupils’ ability to connect new learning to what they already know and to remember more key knowledge over time. The school should ensure that the key knowledge in all subjects is equally clear, so that pupils can remember more and do more.

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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 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). 5 and 6 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Co-chairs of the governing body Ben Garside and Michael Knowles

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School details

Date of previous inspection 25 September 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative providers.  This is a Church of England voluntary-controlled primary school with a Christian character.  The previous Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools was in December 2017.

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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. 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, the deputy headteacher, senior leaders and other school leaders. The inspector also met with teachers and a range of support staff. 5 and 6 March 2024

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 The inspector met twelve members of the local governing body, including the co-chairs, and spoke to the local authority school improvement partner and a representative from the diocese.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, and art and design. 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, from different year groups, read.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lesson visits, in breakfast club, 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.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single

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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 5 and 6 March 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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