Godwin Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Godwin Primary School Finnymore Road, Dagenham, Essex RM9 6JH

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Outcome

Godwin 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 love coming to school. Through clear communication with families, the school supports parents and carers to build upon their children’s eagerness to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values of thoughtfulness, responsibility, determination, working together, resilience, respect and understanding are seen throughout this school. Pupils understand what these values mean. Throughout their time at the school, they are supported well to develop into successful citizens of modern Britain. For instance, the school prioritises helping pupils to actively become kind supporters of both themselves and those around them. Opportunities to work as members of the student council and eco-warriors also support pupils’ wider all-round development.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well. They are responsible and caring. Pupils work well together and support each other’s learning. The school makes sure that pupils are safe and that they learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy outside of school and online.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ learning. This includes making sure that disadvantaged pupils can learn the ambitious curriculum well. Pupils’ sound learning of the curriculum is seen in the work that they produce and their achievements, including in external assessments in mathematics and English.

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

Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum that is based upon the national curriculum and exceeds it in some areas. The curriculum starts in the early years and is carefully ordered at each stage, all the way to the end of Year 6. Where staff’s knowledge and understanding of the curriculum is strong, it is taught with expertise. This enables pupils 7 and 8 May 2025

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to achieve highly in a broad range of subjects. In a few instances, this subject knowledge is not as strong. This means that staff are less secure in designing activities that help pupils to learn the curriculum content. Therefore, in those instances, pupils’ progression in learning the curriculum is not as strong as the school aspires to.

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Staff routinely check how well pupils are learning. Using these checks, they identify and address any gaps in pupils’ learning. This means that pupils are able, on the whole, to build securely upon prior knowledge. When staff have less secure subject knowledge, the checks on learning are less precise and, occasionally, this leads to pupils’ misconceptions not being addressed.

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The school has put in place an effective approach to reading. From their first days in Reception, children begin to learn and practise phonics knowledge. Staff deliver the phonics programme with precision and expertise. They are quick to spot and remedy any gaps in pupils’ reading development. When needed, pupils benefit from personalised extra help. The school makes sure that pupils are exposed to a rich set of texts. This supports pupils in developing a deep appreciation of reading.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. The school works with families and relevant external professionals to ensure that there is early identification and support put in place. The school carefully designs this support to ensure that it has the intended impact on helping pupils to learn the curriculum. If this is not the case, the school makes adjustments to this support without delay. In the nursery, the additional resourced provision provides strong support for children’s needs. This supports them to make successful transitions to their next stages of education.

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The school has designed a behaviour policy that supports pupils to learn. Guidance for staff, pupils and parents helps this policy to be well understood and followed. The school recognises that attendance for pupils is not as high as it should be. It has put in place a clear strategy to tackle this. This is having a positive impact on improving attendance.

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The school makes sure that pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, have access to a wide range of clubs and educational visits. These are carefully designed to support the learning of the academic curriculum and to enable pupils to develop their cultural capital. Pupils are also encouraged to celebrate their similarities and their differences.

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The school has thought carefully about what opportunities pupils need during their time at school to support their wider development. For example, the school focuses on promoting children’s social and emotional skills and well-being when they first join the school. This continues throughout pupils’ time at school. Pupils learn how to take care of themselves, including the types of things that can support their well-being, both mentally and physically. They are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The governors know the school and its priorities well. Their work helps to ensure the continued success of the school. 7 and 8 May 2025

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Staff’s well-being is strongly supported by the school. For instance, staff appreciate the changes made to the school’s approach to giving feedback on pupils’ learning. They describe how these changes have supported both pupils’ learning and staff’s workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 When teaching is not supported by well-developed subject expertise, some activities do not help pupils to learn the curriculum well. At times, this leads to gaps in pupils’ understanding and knowledge and means their learning is not fully secure. The school should strengthen its expertise in teaching the curriculum in a way that promotes secure learning.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in January 2016. 7 and 8 May 2025

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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). 7 and 8 May 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 3 and 4 December 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses no alternative provision.  The nursery includes 16 places for children who have high levels of additional need, including in relation to autism. Admission to the additional resource provision is via the local authority referral process.

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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, other senior members of staff, governors and representatives from the local authority.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 7 and 8 May 2025

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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 considered the views of parents shared through the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including parents’ free-text comments. The inspector gathered the views of pupils and staff through Ofsted’s online pupil and staff surveys, as well as through discussions conducted throughout the inspection.

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Inspection team

Luke Stubbles, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 7 and 8 May 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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