Etherley Lane Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Etherley Lane Primary School Clarence Gardens, Etherley Lane, Bishop Auckland, County Durham DL14 7RB

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Outcome

Etherley Lane Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this warm and welcoming school. They appreciate being part of an inclusive community where they can be themselves. Pupils proudly tell visitors that ‘we are Etherley Lane’. Inside the school, there is a tangible sense of belonging. Staff are proud to work here, and they put pupils at the heart of everything they do.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils engage well with their learning. Teachers expect all pupils to behave well, try their hardest and do their best. Pupils want to do well at school, and they take pride in their work. They achieve well during their time at the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school successfully instils five core values in pupils. These are collaboration, honesty, equality, empathy and resilience. Pupils know these as the ‘CHEER values’. They are central to life in school. Pupils have a genuine sense of why these values are important rules by which to live their lives. Pupils learn to consider opinions that are different to their own. They know that diversity is a thing to be celebrated and not feared. The school prepares pupils effectively for life in modern Britain.

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

The school has strengthened the curriculum since the previous inspection. Governors have provided effective oversight of leaders’ work to improve the quality of education. New curriculums have been developed in some subjects. Well-considered professional development has been delivered to teachers. As a result, the curriculum is taught well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are quickly identified. They get the right support to learn the curriculum. For example, new subject vocabulary is carefully introduced to pupils with speech, language and communication needs before they encounter it in lessons. This helps them to keep up with their peers. 4 and 5 March 2025

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In the main, teachers check pupils’ understanding well. For example, they spot when pupils find a particular topic difficult. Teachers prioritise checking that more vulnerable learners have secured important knowledge before moving on. At the end of each topic, teachers spend extra time teaching content pupils have found difficult. However, when learning is revisited, teachers do not check sufficiently for emerging gaps in knowledge over time. This means that some pupils forget important knowledge.

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Reading is high on the school’s agenda. Early reading is taught well. Staff notice when pupils find a particular sound difficult to learn. Staff make sure that these pupils get extra time to practise these sounds. This builds pupils’ confidence in reading. Pupils who fall behind in reading are given plenty of extra help and support. Older pupils develop proficiency in reading increasingly complex texts.

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Pupils behave cordially and sensibly. When children start in the early years, staff help them to learn the school’s routines swiftly. There is effective support for those pupils who need help to develop and sustain appropriate behaviour. This helps pupils to be attentive in lessons and make the most of their time in school.

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The school has rightly prioritised improving pupils’ attendance. In the past, attendance was too low. It is much improved this year. This is because the school has taken effective action to tackle poor attendance before it becomes habitual. Attendance is tangibly promoted in school. Pupils understand why they need to come to school regularly. The proportion of pupils who miss school frequently has halved compared to the previous academic year. Attendance rightly continues to be a high priority for the school.

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The school’s approach to pupils’ wider development is impressive. There is a keen focus on creating ambition and curiosity among pupils. The school does this in many ways, including introducing pupils to jobs, careers and cultures they might not otherwise encounter in their local community. Pupils really value these opportunities. They are at their most articulate when they talk about personal development. This work enthuses pupils, develops their character and builds their sense of ambition.

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There is genuine engagement between leaders, governors and staff at all levels. Everyone’s views are considered when leaders make key decisions. This approach has built a healthy team spirit among leaders, teachers and teaching assistants. Leaders have fostered a collaborative ethos, which supports staff’s workload and improves their well- being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 When key learning is revisited in lessons, teachers do not check carefully for emerging 4 and 5 March 2025

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gaps in knowledge over time. This results in some knowledge being insufficiently secured in pupils’ long-term memory. The school should ensure that teachers make consistently effective use of retrieval activities to support pupils to remember more of the curriculum over time.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in January 2020.

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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, 4 and 5 March 2025

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 4 and 5 March 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.etherleylane-pri.durham.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 21 and 22 January 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is in a federation with Etherly Lane Nursery School. The headteacher of this school is also the executive headteacher of the other school in the federation.  At the time of the inspection, the school was not using any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 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. 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 the headteacher and deputy headteacher throughout the inspection. The inspector also met with members of the local governing body, including the chair, and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also met with subject leaders to 4 and 5 March 2025

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discuss the curriculum.  The inspector spoke to pupils and staff throughout the inspection, both formally and informally.  A range of documentation was reviewed by the inspector, including attendance analysis, the school’s improvement plans and behaviour records.  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 considered the views of staff and parents received through Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Graham Findlay, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 March 2025

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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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