Tudhoe Colliery Primary School

Inspection of Tudhoe Colliery Primary School Front Street, Tudhoe Colliery, Spennymoor, County Durham DL16 6TJ

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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The headteacher of this school is Allison Bousted. This school is part of Tudhoe Learning Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Jim Smith, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Ivan Whitfield. 1 and 2 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The ‘Tudhoe Child’ is at the heart of this successful school’s ethos. This focus on community underpins the school’s curriculum, behaviour system and personal development programme. The wider curriculum celebrates pupils’ heritage in this ex- mining area. Pupils are taught to be well-rounded young people. The ‘Tudhoe Child wheel’ helps them to do this. It makes clear the character traits that pupils should display and develop. Pupils relish living up to these expectations. They show high levels of respect for others. Pupils are kind and empathetic. They are also outspoken against any form of discrimination.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a carefully constructed curriculum. They show high levels of motivation. Pupils achieve well as a result. Children in the early years quickly settle into the school. They learn the routines of phonics and continuous provision well. Children are proud to earn ‘independence points’. They enjoy the reward of taking home the early years stuffed dog, Arthur.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The personal development of pupils is skilfully woven throughout the curriculum. From Reception to Year 6, pupils enjoy fulfilling the requirements of ‘Tudhoe 30’. These are activities they must take part in before they leave. Older pupils are proud to talk about their ‘Tudhoe 30’ scrapbook. They know they will enjoy looking back on these memories when they are adults.

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

The school has developed a largely bespoke curriculum. This meets the needs of pupils well. The school makes clear the important knowledge that pupils should learn. Staff ensure pupils build this knowledge up over time. Staff break learning down effectively. For example, in Year 6 art, pupils learn about observational sketching. The teacher demonstrates each stage of drawing. As a result, pupils produce high-quality sketches of whole and dissected fruit. Recently, there has been some staffing turbulence at the school. Currently, subject leadership is mostly overseen by senior leaders. This adds to leaders’ workload. The school and trust recognise this. They have plans in place to spread leadership of subjects more widely across the school. This is an important priority moving forward.

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

The school ensures reading and mathematics are prioritised in the curriculum. Pupils achieve well in end of key stage 2 tests. In the early years, children enjoy practising their mathematics outside in the ‘maths shed’. They use building blocks to practise counting. However, the mathematics curriculum is not taught consistently well throughout the school. Some pupils do not move on to more complex mathematics as often as they should. In addition, some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not reach the same ambitious outcomes as their peers. This is because the learning is not consistently adapted to meet their needs. 1 and 2 October 2024

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Staff and pupils in the school share a passion for reading. Reading is at the heart of everything the school does. Phonics is expertly delivered by well-qualified staff. Pupils who fall behind are helped to catch up quickly. Children in the early years rapidly develop routines to support learning. This sets positive foundations for their next steps. Children also enjoy sharing stories with their teacher. Story time is used to help children understand new words such as ‘flickering’. Every year group in school has a literature plan. This sets out the ambitious, diverse and engaging texts pupils will read. Pupils love to read with staff. Well-chosen books contribute exceptionally well to their personal development. Pupils speak about the themes in these books with maturity and sensitivity. They develop a passionate commitment to equality over time.

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Pupils enjoy coming to school. They make a significant contribution to the impressive culture. A respectful warmth spreads through the school. Pupils enjoy being peer mediators on the playground. Pupils in Year 6 also take their role as pen pals to Reception children very seriously. This model of leadership and peer support is highly embedded. It impacts greatly on pupils’ attitudes towards others. ‘Talk assemblies’ help create an atmosphere where pupils are happy to speak out. In these assemblies, they debate and vote on interesting issues. For example, they talk about whether it is better to contribute to animal or human charities. These rich experiences ensure pupils’ attitudes to learning and each other are exceptional.

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Leaders, directors and governors commit to providing a high-quality, bespoke curriculum for pupils. They focus well on continuing professional development for staff. This helps improve the experience for pupils further. Staff thoroughly enjoy working at the school. They are exceptionally proud of the pupils. Staff also appreciate the support they receive for their workload and well-being. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school. One summed up the views of many by saying that the school is a ‘warm, welcoming and nurturing’ place.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There is inconsistency in the implementation of the mathematics curriculum. Some pupils, including pupils with SEND, develop gaps in their learning or do not progress on to problem-solving and reasoning as often as they should. The school should continue to review and improve the implementation of the mathematics curriculum from the early years upwards to support all pupils’ progress in the subject.  Due to recent staffing changes, senior leaders are currently responsible for multiple subject areas. This adds to the workload of senior staff. The school should develop and implement effective distributed leadership, supported by a focused programme of professional development. 1 and 2 October 2024

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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). 1 and 2 October 2024

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School details

Website www.tudhoecollieryprimaryschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 March 2014, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher are new in post from September 2024.  The school is the founding school of Tudhoe Learning Trust. There are seven academies in the trust.  The school does not currently make use of alternative provision for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 1 and 2 October 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and other leaders from the trust over the course of the inspection. The lead inspector also met with the CEO of the trust.  The lead inspector met with the chair of the board of trustees. The lead inspector also met virtually with the chair of the local governing body and four other governors. They reviewed documentation relating to governance, including minutes from governors’ meetings.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum

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with subject leaders, 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 also discussed the history curriculum with the subject leader and looked at a sample of pupils’ work in this subject.  An inspector met with the leader responsible for early years. The inspectors also spent time in the early years provision across the course of the inspection.  The inspectors met with the special educational needs coordinator. They also reviewed documentation relating to SEND.  The lead inspector met with the leader responsible for personal development.  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.

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 The inspectors met with groups of pupils formally throughout the inspection and spoke with them informally at social times and in lessons.  A range of school documents were reviewed, including the school’s self-evaluation and the school improvement plan.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments. Inspectors also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and for pupils.

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Inspection team

Hannah Millett, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Kate Byrne Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 October 2024

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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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