Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Walton-le- Dale Community Primary School Severn Drive, Walton-le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire PR5 4TD

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Outcome

Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy in this school. They enjoy their learning. They rise to the school’s high expectations and achieve well. From the early years upwards, staff develop warm, caring relationships with children. They foster a nurturing environment that helps pupils to thrive, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They enjoy receiving recognition such as certificates and house points that celebrate their successes. Pupils are typically kind and caring to each other. They have an appreciation of each other’s differences and do not tolerate any form of discrimination. At playtimes, pupil leaders organise games and sports activities for their peers to enjoy. Anti-bullying ambassadors keep a close watch on the buddy bench to ensure that nobody is left out of the fun.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupil voice is integral to the school’s ongoing work to develop and improve. For example, the pupil well-being group has helped staff to develop ‘zen zones’ in classrooms to help pupils to regulate their own behaviour. Many older pupils told the inspector that they value the opportunity to take a short time-out in these spaces if they feel upset or overwhelmed. They said that this helps them to get back on track quickly.

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

Leaders and governors share an ambitious vision for pupils’ education. They have an accurate understanding of the school’s current strengths and use it well to plan for improvement.

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

The school has carefully considered the wide range of knowledge that pupils should acquire. It has thought beyond the national curriculum, identifying the great thinkers and cultural experiences that pupils should encounter so that they are well prepared for their next steps. The school ensures that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, benefit fully from its high-quality curriculum. 26 and 27 March 2024

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Staff value the school’s commitment to their professional development. Regular training and coaching are highly effective in developing staff’s teaching expertise. The school’s approach to curriculum design ensures that staff know precisely what to teach and when. Staff value the wealth of well-developed shared resources that reduce their workload and further pupils’ learning.

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Staff are adept at checking pupils’ learning. This allows them to spot and address swiftly any emerging misconceptions before they become embedded. However, in some subjects, the school’s approach to helping pupils to remember their learning over time is in the early stages of development. Consequently, some pupils find it difficult to remember their past learning and link it to new knowledge.

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The school places a high priority on reading. Pupils value the array of texts that they encounter as part of the curriculum and the stories which they enjoy sharing with their teachers. Staff have thoughtfully selected these texts to allow pupils to have experience of a range of age-appropriate historical, social and cultural perspectives.

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Starting in the Reception class, pupils swiftly develop their competence in reading. They benefit from a highly effective phonics programme that systematically increases their phonics knowledge. Staff ensure that pupils benefit from regular opportunities to practise their reading using appropriately targeted books. Pupils that require additional support with reading are quickly identified. They receive the help that they need to develop their knowledge and fluency.

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The school quickly finds out the needs of pupils with SEND. It ensures that staff have the expertise to support them well. This means that these pupils can enjoy participating successfully in all aspects of school life.

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The school is quick to identify any pupils with declining attendance and acts swiftly to pinpoint and address the root cause of any ongoing absence. Its tenacious work ensures that pupils, and particularly the most vulnerable pupils, are rarely absent.

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Staff foster an exceptionally positive environment for learning within classrooms. They have established a culture of praise which reinforces with pupils the high standards of behaviour that they expect. In the early years, staff establish strong routines that help children to feel safe, secure and confident in their learning and play.

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The school’s work to promote pupils’ wider development is very strong. Pupils develop a strong understanding of British values such as democracy, which is enhanced through a visit to London to see the nation’s capital and seat of government. The school is determined to broaden pupils’ horizons. Pupils learn about different religious and cultural festivals, as well as celebrating British cultural traditions, for example when going on a theatre trip to see a pantomime.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 26 and 27 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, pupils find it difficult to remember what they have learnt in the past. As a result, some struggle to connect new knowledge to what they have learned before, which hinders their development of a broad body of knowledge. The school should ensure that pupils remember and develop their learning over time.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2014.

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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). 26 and 27 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Vickie Cunningham

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School details

Date of previous inspection 31 October 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of the 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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with senior leaders, including the headteacher, and a range of staff. She also spoke with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. She had a discussion with the independent school-improvement partner.  The inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector reviewed a wide range of evidence, including leaders’ self-evaluation documents, improvement plans and minutes of meetings of the governing body. She also reviewed records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. 26 and 27 March 2024

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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 spoke with pupils about their experiences of school and their views on behaviour and bullying. She observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at social times.  The inspector carried out deep dives in art and design, early reading and mathematics. For each deep dive, she discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some teachers and pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector discussed the curriculum in some other subjects with leaders.  The inspector observed pupils from Years 1 to 3 read to a familiar adult.

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 The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. She also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Charlotte Oles, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 26 and 27 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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