Glendale Middle School

Inspection of a good school: Glendale Middle School 15 Brewery Lane, Wooler, Northumberland NE71 6QF

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Outcome

Glendale Middle School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Glendale Middle School. They are happy and safe at the school. It is a deeply caring and inclusive community. Pupils appreciate the support they receive from their teachers. Staff know the pupils very well and value them as individuals. They work with determination to ensure pupils’ needs are met. As a result, relationships between staff and pupils are positive.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are high expectations for all pupils in school, including those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils behave very well in lessons. They work hard and achieve well. Although bullying sometimes happens, the school deals with it effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with a broad range of opportunities to support their character and personal development. For example, pupils are enthusiastic about the outdoor education they receive. This gives pupils opportunities to support with local afforestation projects, to learn about and tend the school garden and also to plant trees in the local community. Pupils benefit from regular visits to places, such as Hawkhirst and the Lake District, where they take part in a range of adventure activities. Pupils’ confidence, communication and resilience are well developed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils play an active part in their school community. They can become members of the school council and older pupils take on roles, such as sports leaders.

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

The school’s curriculum is having a positive impact on pupils. Pupils know and remember much of what they have been taught. Pupils benefit from an ambitious, broad and well- sequenced curriculum. For example, in geography, pupils complete field work in key stage 2 where they complete field sketches and capture data. In key stage 3, this develops as pupils plan fieldwork with more independence. They learn to use specialist equipment, such as ranging poles, present data in graph form and then analyse it. 24 and 25 April 2024

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Teachers are passionate about their subjects. They have secure subject knowledge and explain concepts clearly. Lessons are calm and purposeful. Sometimes, the activities that pupils complete in lessons are not as effective as they could be. This is because, at times, they are not as closely connected to the learning intentions as they could be or structured in a way to help pupils to secure their understanding.

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Typically, teachers use effective strategies to help pupils recall the knowledge that they have been taught before. Sometimes, teachers do not check pupils’ understanding or identify the misconceptions that they have. This slows down the progress these pupils make.

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Pupils with SEND are well supported in lessons. Teachers use detailed support plans to identify useful strategies to help pupils. Teachers have received a wide range of training in recent months, such as supporting pupils with autism.

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Reading is a priority in the school. Leaders are quick to identify pupils who need support with their reading. The school has an effective programme of interventions in place, including a phonics programme for those pupils who are at the earliest stages of reading. Pupils benefit from author visits and regular reading with their form tutors. The books pupils are reading encourage pupils to explore ambitious themes, such as slavery, injustice and political oppression.

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In lessons, pupils work hard. Disruption to lessons is very rare. At social times, there is a wide range of both adult- and pupil-led activities for pupils to take part in. These include crochet, jewellery making, film club and sport. Pupils appreciate the breadth of this offer. As a result, social times are a productive part of the school day. Leaders monitor attendance carefully. They work tenaciously with professional agencies to support pupils with attendance where it is needed.

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The school has a clearly planned and sequenced curriculum for personal, social and health education. Pupils learn about healthy relationships and they have a secure understanding of how to keep themselves safe online. There is a careers programme in place and pupils have recently learned about careers in the NHS and in land-based industries.

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Pupils are tolerant. They learn about different faiths and opinions. The school provides pupils with a range of meaningful experiences to develop morally, culturally and socially. However, the curriculum does not teach pupils enough about fundamental British values. As a result, pupils do not know what these values are or why they are important.

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The school is led well. Leaders, including governors, have a clear understanding of the strengths and priorities for the school. There is a clear and unified vision to ensure pupils receive a high-quality education. Leaders support staff with their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 24 and 25 April 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes, the activities that pupils complete in lessons are not as closely matched to the learning intention as they could be. This means that pupils are not consistently supported to securely develop the knowledge and skills that are set out in the curriculum. The school should ensure that the activities that pupils complete are consistently well connected to the learning intentions and are designed so that pupils develop their knowledge and academic skills well.  The misconceptions or gaps in knowledge that some pupils have are not consistently identified in lessons. This impedes the progress pupils make. The school must ensure that teachers are supported to use assessment consistently in lessons to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge, address any misconceptions and/or move pupils on in their learning.  Some pupils do not have a secure understanding of fundamental British values. As such, they are not as prepared as they could be for life in modern Britain. The school

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

should further develop the ways it teaches pupils about fundamental British values so that pupils have a deep understanding of them.

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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 2015.

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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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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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). 24 and 25 April 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.glendale.northumberland.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 23 October 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use alternative provision.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.  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. 24 and 25 April 2024

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 The inspection team held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, staff and pupils.  The lead inspector had a telephone conversation with the chair of the local governing body.  The inspection team carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, geography and science. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector observed some pupils read to familiar adults.  An inspector met with the special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator.  An inspector met with the leader in charge of the personal, social, health and economic curriculum and pupils’ personal development.  An inspector met with the leader of the school’s careers education.  An inspector met with the leader responsible for reading in the school.

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 The lead inspector spoke with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors observed pupils during social times.  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.  The inspection team took account of a range of other information, including the school’s development plan, school policies and minutes of governors’ meetings.  The lead inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View. He also took into consideration the responses to the surveys for staff and for pupils.

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Inspection team

Dan McKeating, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Karen Gammack Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 April 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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