Silverdale School

Inspection of Silverdale School Langdale Gardens, Howdon, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear NE28 0HG

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The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Inadequate Leadership and management Inadequate Previous inspection grade Good 9 to 11 April 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Inconsistencies in the school’s approach to behaviour management, coupled with a weak oversight of pupils’ welfare, contribute to an ineffective safeguarding culture. Some pupils do not feel safe due to the behaviour and attitudes of their peers. Many pupils do not report concerns because they do not trust the school to deal with them. Some members of staff report that they do not have the support from senior leaders to keep themselves, or pupils, safe from harm. Swearing and the use of derogatory comments by pupils are commonplace.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ rates of attendance are low. The school has not acted quickly enough to improve attendance since the previous inspection in May 2023. This has declined further. Classes are closed on a regular basis due to staff absence. When this happens, pupils do not have access to a remote learning offer and are not receiving their education entitlement.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s expectations of pupils are low. Pupils frequently experience a series of disconnected lessons that do not build their knowledge, skills or understanding. Much of the curriculum is not carefully designed or delivered effectively. Pupils do not achieve well. The school does not prepare them well enough for future education or employment.

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

A period of staffing instability has contributed to a significant decline in the quality of education. All pupils at the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Their needs are not being adequately met. Pupils do not achieve well, and some do not feel safe. The school has done too little to tackle the widespread weaknesses in its provision.

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

The school has not taken effective action to improve pupils’ attendance. Too many pupils do not attend school regularly. This includes pupils who attend alternative provision at other appropriate settings. A significant minority of older pupils choose to miss lessons. They often wander outside the building and beyond the school gates. There is no systematic checking of where pupils are. Added to this, the school’s decision to close classes, when staff are absent, is having a negative impact. This disrupts pupils’ routines and conveys confusing messages about the importance of attending school. Pupils do not receive any education at these times.

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

Despite many positive relationships between pupils and staff, some aspects of behaviour are ignored and go unchecked. Reasonable expectations are routinely flouted. For example, pupils frequently use mobile phones in lessons. Some have a poor understanding of personal space, which leads to others feeling uncomfortable. The school does not manage pupils’ social, emotional and mental health needs effectively. Pupils are frequently suspended. Some members of staff are neither skilled nor confident in managing behaviour.

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

Some curriculum subjects are well designed and contribute to pupils’ learning, such as in art and design. However, the overall school curriculum is not ambitious enough and lacks a coherent structure. The teaching of basic skills such as grammar, punctuation and 9 to 11 April 2025

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spelling lacks structure. Although leaders are aware of this, they do not have the capacity to review and adjust the curriculum.

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In the primary phase, pupils have a few lessons on one subject, such as French, before moving on to another subject for a short period of time. This approach does not give pupils the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of each subject that is being taught. In the secondary phase, the curriculum is limited by the subject expertise of teachers. For example, pupils would like to study history and geography but are unable to do so. The school does not use assessment effectively to identify any misconceptions that pupils may have or any gaps in their learning. This means that pupils do not catch up with any learning missed when they have been absent from school or through transferring from another school. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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Pupils do not acquire the important knowledge they need for life beyond school. Despite a well-designed programme for teaching personal, health, social and economic (PHSE) education, many pupils do not benefit from this. PHSE lessons are frequently cancelled due to staff absence. Some pupils have low levels of attendance and do not access the personal development programme. In addition, the religious education (RE) curriculum is narrowed to focus on major concepts in Christianity such as Christmas and Easter.

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Older pupils access enrichment activities such as a residential visit to Ford Castle and several other off-site visits. Pupils have had specific workshops on the impact of knife crime. There is an appropriate careers programme, and pupils have access to independent careers advice.

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The school lacks leadership capacity at all levels. This has had a negative impact on the quality of education. The school does not have effective oversight of how well pupils are learning.

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Governors have not acted quickly enough to address some of the critical weaknesses in the school, such as staff shortages and class closures. They do not provide effective support and challenge to secure sufficiently high standards of education in the school. Staff do not feel well supported. They are not consistently helped to deal with poor behaviour. Staff do not consider that their workload and well-being have been prioritised at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

The school has failed to establish an effective strategy to rigorously oversee pupils’ whereabouts and take swift actions to assure their safety. By closing classes for pupils, many of whom are disadvantaged or have additional vulnerabilities, the school has increased pupils’ exposure to local risks.

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Safeguarding

Poor behaviour has become normalised. Pupils have little confidence in the school’s ability to keep them safe. Too many pupils do not believe that concerns about their safety will be 9 to 11 April 2025

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taken seriously. These factors have led to some pupils now choosing not to report concerns. Staff are not confident that senior leaders take the concerns they raise about the safety of themselves and pupils seriously.

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Several safeguarding checks on third-party staff working with pupils, including at alternative providers, had not been made prior to the inspection. In addition, some members of staff have not had recent suitable safeguarding training. These issues were resolved during the inspection.

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There is a lack of oversight in the management of safeguarding. For example, several policies on the school’s website relating to safeguarding did not reflect current legislation and/or guidance at the time of this inspection. This creates confusion in the procedures that staff must follow when reporting concerns.

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When acute concerns arise about a pupil, appropriate actions are taken to check on their welfare, involving police and other safeguarding partners. In these instances, record- keeping is accurate and paints a clear picture of the actions taken.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Safeguarding procedures and the checks made on third-party providers are not rigorous enough. In addition, some members of staff have not received appropriate safeguarding training. This leads to inconsistent approaches to safeguarding pupils. Some pupils do not trust that the school will take their concerns seriously. The school must improve safeguarding procedures swiftly, making sure that all staff follow safeguarding procedures consistently and appropriately.  Some pupils’ rates of attendance are very poor. The school does not have effective systems in place to manage pupils’ attendance. Staff do not know which pupils are in school or not. This creates additional safeguarding risks. The school must take immediate action to improve the systems to manage pupils’ attendance and check their welfare when they are absent. Leaders should ensure that pupils attend school regularly.  The governing body does not fulfil its statutory responsibilities. Governors have not

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

ensured an effective culture of safeguarding. They have not held the school to account for an increase in pupil absence, an increase in suspensions and a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. Governors must take swift action to carry out their statutory duties and responsibilities.  The curriculum is not ambitious enough and does not meet the needs of pupils. Pupils experience a disconnected series of lessons which lack structure. Pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school must review the content and sequence of learning in the curriculum, so that pupils progress through the curriculum purposefully and achieve well. 9 to 11 April 2025

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 Some pupils do not experience a high-quality personal development programme. Lessons such as PHSE, careers and outdoor education are regularly cancelled. Additionally, the RE curriculum is narrowed. This has a negative impact on pupils’ preparation for adulthood. The school must ensure that all pupils are supported to develop the knowledge and skills they need for life in modern Britain.  Poor behaviour is commonplace. It is not consistently well managed. This means that too many pupils are regularly subject to suspension, missing out on more of their education. The school must take swift action to review how behaviour is managed and ensure that pupils receive the support they need to positively engage with their education.  There is a lack of capacity in leadership at all levels. The school does not have a strategic approach to school improvement. This impacts on the school’s oversight of safeguarding and the quality of education that pupils receive. Governors must work

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with key stakeholders to strengthen leadership capacity.  The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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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). 9 to 11 April 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 23 and 24 May 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the deputy headteacher became the headteacher, in October 2024.  The school uses one registered and two unregistered alternative provisions.  All pupils at the school have an education, health and care plan. The school caters for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.  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.  At the time of the inspection, there were too few children in the early years to reach a judgement about this provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a graded (section 5) inspection under the same Act. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of 9 to 11 April 2025

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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.

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In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s educational provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other senior leaders, staff, pupils and members of the governing body. The lead inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and PHSE. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subjects.  An inspector observed pupils reading to a familiar adult.  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

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors spoke to staff about pupils’ behaviour and their workload in school.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey. They took account of the views of parents through discussions at the school gate and the coffee afternoon held in school. Inspectors considered the views of pupils through discussions held with pupils during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Mary Cook, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Rawstorne His Majesty’s Inspector 9 to 11 April 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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