Woodlea Primary School

Inspection of school: Woodlea Primary School Fence Houses, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear DH4 6AR

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Inspection dates: 30 April and 1 May 2024

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Outcome

Woodlea Primary School continues to be a good school

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at Woodlea Primary School. They are happy and feel safe. The school is at the heart of the community. Pupils, staff and parents describe the school as an extension of their family. Pupils are explicitly taught the school’s values of kindness and resilience. The school recognises and rewards pupils when they demonstrate these values. Consequently, pupils throughout the school treat each other with kindness and respect.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Older pupils have a keenly developed sense of responsibility. They say that Woodlea is their own little democracy, where they have a voice to make changes. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. Pupils are focused on their learning. Lessons are rarely disrupted. Pupils say that they have trusted adults to sort any problems out for them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school staff are ambitious in what they want pupils to experience. They have high aspirations for pupils’ academic success. Pupils also have access to a diverse range of enrichment opportunities. Pupils have the opportunity to take part in a residential to an outdoor adventure centre, Kielder Forest, and London. They talk with excitement about the visitors that come into school and how they learn to stay safe on the roads with the bikeability team. Pupils say they enjoy assemblies because they learn about British values and how to keep safe online. They celebrate their school motto to be ‘proud’. Pupils appreciate the opportunities that they have and parents echo this.

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

Pupils get off to a flying start in the early years provision. The school has planned the early years curriculum to ensure that children develop their communication and language skills. Teachers check carefully what children are learning. They use this information to ensure that the environment reflects the needs and interests of the children. Staff are clear that high-quality interaction with adults is key to embed learning and to challenge new thinking. Children are ready for their next steps.

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

The school has a strong culture of reading. Reading has high status in the school. Pupils are provided with high-quality and diverse reading materials. They are excited about the 30 April and 1 May 2024

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books they read. They enjoy finding out about other places around the world and other cultures.

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The school has prioritised the teaching of reading from early years. Effective phonics teaching is consistent across the school. Teachers identify gaps in pupils’ understanding and address them promptly to ensure that pupils keep up. Extra support for reading is of high quality and carefully planned. The school makes effective use of adult support to help pupils who find reading difficult. Pupils develop their fluency through regular reading practice.

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Pupils enjoy using a variety of apparatus in mathematics lessons. This develops their problem-solving and reasoning skills. They can explain their learning and describe the methods that they are using. Lessons are well planned and suit the needs of all pupils. This includes pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils with SEND access the activities independently through carefully planned visual prompts. Pupils with SEND are supported well. They learn the curriculum as effectively as their peers.

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The school brings the curriculum to life for the pupils, with educational visits to immerse pupils in their learning. Pupils talk enthusiastically about a trip to London, where they saw the Houses of Parliament. In religious education (RE), there has been careful thought into planning visits to places of worship so that pupils have a good understanding of the world they live in and different world faiths.

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Pupils talk about their responsibilities such as school councillors. They say they make an impact in their school and have a voice. They talk about the new playground equipment they have bought and plans to develop the gardens.

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Pupils behave well in school. They are attentive and engage well in lessons. Pupils respond well to the high expectations of staff. Pupils of all ages attend school exceptionally well. The school ensures that pupils and parents understand the importance of attending school regularly. High pupil attendance is emphasised and celebrated in school.

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The curriculum in the foundation subjects is less well developed. At the beginning of lessons, pupils revisit learning and link this knowledge to new ideas and concepts. However, some activities in lessons do not support the intended outcome. This means that pupils sometimes don’t remember the finer detail and are not able to articulate it in terms of subject-specific vocabulary.

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Governors know the school well. They are aware of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Governors provide appropriate support and challenge for the school. Staff feel well supported to manage their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 30 April and 1 May 2024

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What does the school need to do to improve?

 In some curriculum subjects, the school has not identified the important knowledge and vocabulary that pupils need to learn. This means that pupils do not develop a deep understanding of these subjects over time. The school should ensure that, in all subjects, it identifies the knowledge and vocabulary that pupils need for later learning and support teachers to deliver this content consistently well.

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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 2019.

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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). 30 April and 1 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 9 and 10 January 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Woodlea Primary School was last inspected in January 2019. It was judged to be good overall.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school provides wraparound care through a private provider.

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with school leaders, teachers, pupils, the governing body and spoke to a representative from Durham local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in phonics, reading, mathematics and RE. For each deep dive, curriculum plans were discussed with leaders, lessons were visited and 30 April and 1 May 2024

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the inspector spoke to pupils about their learning. The inspector looked at samples of work and listened to pupils read to a familiar adult.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding the inspector: reviewed the single central record, took into account the views of leaders, pupils and staff, and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding the puts pupils’ interest first.  The inspector observed behaviour in lessons and around the site.  The views of parents and carers, staff and pupils were gathered through Ofsted’s surveys and face-to-face discussions.  The inspector viewed a range of documents including the school improvement plan, the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s analysis of behaviour and attendance, and minutes from governing body meetings.

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Inspection team

Debra Murphy, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 30 April and 1 May 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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