Ashurst Primary School

Ashurst Primary School

Address: New Glade Hill, Off Chain Lane, Blackbrook, St Helens, Merseyside, WA11 9QJ Unique reference number (URN): 104771

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders are unwavering in their focus on prioritising pupils’ attendance. They work closely with individual families and, when necessary, external agencies, to identify and remove any specific barriers to pupils attending school. Leaders are systematic and highly effective in taking swift action to provide support for these pupils and their parents and carers. As a result, pupils’ rates of attendance are improving. Persistent absence rates are declining.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Pupils’ behaviour around the school is extremely positive. They develop as independent and motivated learners who are incredibly supportive of one another. This starts right from the early years. Children are taught to be polite and caring towards each other. Routines are established and expectations are high. Staff consistently model and promote the school’s values. Pupils are respectful towards each other and adults. They demonstrate self-control, emotional awareness and highly sophisticated approaches to resolving conflict with each other. Pupils who sometimes struggle to regulate their own behaviour benefit from sensitive support from staff. They are helped to manage their emotions. Staff provide gentle reminders of the school rules when this is needed. On the rare occasion that behaviour falls short of leaders’ high expectations, leaders take prompt and effective action.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school's values permeate all aspects of its work. Pupils know these values well and can explain articulately how they guide their behaviour and attitudes. This is celebrated in school's termly OBE awards for pupils. From the early years, children learn to take turns and to share ideas and resources. Older pupils maturely act as role models for younger pupils, for example by helping in the dining hall.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders' work to support pupils’ wellbeing is noteworthy. They act to develop this at every opportunity. Pupils learn to use yoga, ‘distraction’ dances and breathing techniques to help them to manage their emotions. They recognise that this helps them to become more resilient when they are facing difficulties. Learning to recognise and celebrate the strengths and talents of others is showcased by ‘saying something nice every day about someone else’.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils have a highly developed understanding of right and wrong. Pupils learn about consent and healthy relationships. They talk confidently about how to stay safe, including when near water, online and how to use basic first aid. Pupils know what to do if they feel unsafe. They learn to listen and respect the views of others through debating activities with other local schools. Pupils show a respectful knowledge of, and interest in, lifestyles and religious beliefs that differ from their own. They are exceedingly well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

A wide range of opportunities further enrich the offer for pupils. Leaders ensure that barriers to taking part in these opportunities are removed. Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those who attend the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are encouraged to develop new interests. Visits to support pupils’ learning such as to the Lake District, beaches and museums broaden their

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Expected standard

horizons as do visitors such as health practitioners. These experiences enhance pupils’ dreams for life beyond school. Pupils aspire to be marine biologists, engineers, doctors, lawyers and scientists.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils achieve well overall. They are ready to move on to their next steps in education. Typically, by the end of Year 6, most pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, attain close to the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, this dipped in 2025 and pupils' attainment was lower than is usual. Leaders have ensured that current pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are progressing well through the curriculum.

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Achievement Expected standard

Changes to the curriculum have ensured that children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 secure the phonics and number skills that they need to read, write and use mathematics with increasing accuracy.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils’ knowledge of the curriculum beyond English and mathematics is particularly secure for current and recent learning. However, pupils' recall of some prior learning is not secure enough to help them to build on what they have already been taught. This hinders some pupils from learning all that they can in these subjects.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum makes clear what pupils should learn in each subject and builds knowledge from the early years. Leaders make sure that this curriculum is right for the pupils at Ashurst. For example, they have refined the curriculum to prioritise basic knowledge and skills in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics, so that pupils are able to access other curriculum subjects successfully.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff are provided with the training and support that they need to teach the curriculum effectively. Staff give pupils plenty of practice in key skills such as number facts and handwriting. This helps pupils to develop their confidence and to use these skills increasingly accurately. However, some older pupils have gaps in their writing knowledge, particularly in spelling, handwriting and grammar. This is because they have not benefited from the improved curriculum over time.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Teachers adapt lessons carefully for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities so that they can tackle concepts that they find more difficult with confidence, whatever their starting point. Typically, teachers use their checks to identify and address gaps in pupils' knowledge well. However, in some subjects beyond English and mathematics, these checks sometimes do not focus sharply enough on the most important knowledge that pupils need to secure.

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Early years Expected standard

Children settle quickly into the calm, consistent routines of the early years provision. Effective systems help staff to get to know children and their families well. These systems help teachers to spot when children may have additional needs or barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Members of staff use this information to ensure that the right help and support is provided. They establish warm, caring relationships with children.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum outlines the progression in children's learning from one year group to another in the early years, towards the goals children must achieve to be ready for Year 1. The curriculum identifies the building blocks of learning in reading, writing and mathematics. Children learn to recognise sounds, patterns and rhythms in the Nursery Year. This prepares them for word reading and increasing fluency in the Reception Year and beyond.

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Early years Expected standard

Through the curriculum, staff help children to learn and use ambitious new words. Most interactions between staff and children are of a high quality. For example, staff model new language and use questioning to provide opportunities for children to practise what they have learned in adult-led sessions. Children learn and play happily and confidently. Most children are ready for Year 1 by the end of the Reception Year.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff take great care in identifying the barriers that may prevent some pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), from succeeding academically, socially and emotionally. This early identification of pupils' needs means that leaders can act quickly to put support in place that enables pupils to be successful. This includes supporting pupils' wellbeing and providing them with tailored support to talk about any worries or concerns that they may have.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders work extensively with parents, carers and external agencies to shape support for pupils, including those who attend the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND. They ensure that staff are well equipped to meet the range of pupils' needs, through professional development and advice from external specialists. Pupils with SEND benefit from adjustments to teaching that help them to learn well. When necessary, they receive tailored teaching that enables them to become more confident learners. Disadvantaged pupils are included in all that is on offer at the school through effective use of additional funding. Pupils, regardless of their different needs, are welcomed and included at the school.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils at the school. They ensure that appropriate improvement priorities are in place to further develop the offer provided for pupils. Leaders make decisions and changes with pupils’ best interests at heart. For example, with regards to the support for pupils who attend the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders seek and act on appropriate guidance to best meet the needs of these pupils. Leaders regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of the education that pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, receive. They have continued to improve many aspects of the school's work, for example, to pupils’ attendance and the curriculum. Leaders are taking the right action to help older pupils who have gaps in writing knowledge to catch up.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors ensure that their statutory duties are met. They have clear systems in place to support and challenge leaders in equal measure. This means that they have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff appreciate that their wellbeing and workload is considered by leaders. They value the opportunities that they are given to develop their knowledge and skills through the professional learning provided by leaders. This focuses on what will make the school a better place for its pupils. The majority of parents and carers value the support provided for their children.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

This is a happy school. Highly positive relationships and staff's warm greetings help pupils to feel secure and part of the ‘Ashurst family’. Pupils enjoy one another’s company. They often give staff and each other a friendly greeting as they pass them in the corridors. It is unusual for pupils to fall out. Pupils feel safe. They confidently put their trust in staff. Pupils know that staff care about them and will deal quickly with any worries that they might have, including bullying,

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are inspired to ‘learn, live, laugh and love’ and to aspire to ‘Excellence everyday’. They have a well developed understanding of the importance of respect and kindness for each other from a young age. As a result, classrooms are industrious and social times enjoyable and harmonious. Staff are ambitious for pupils. In the early years, children learn the essential building blocks of knowledge. This supports pupils' progress through the curriculum as they move from class to class. Leaders successfully recognise and reduce barriers for pupils facing challenges in their lives, ensuring that they benefit from all that the school has to offer. Most pupils attend regularly and, overall, they achieve well.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils’ confidence and self-esteem is built through the school's wider development offer. They endeavour to achieve weekly ‘GRIT’ awards in recognition of their ‘Growth, Resilience, Independence and Teamwork’. Pupils are keen to make a positive difference to school life. They are thrilled to be trusted by staff with special helper roles, such as being ‘B’s buddies’, subject ambassadors and reading stories to younger pupils at breakfast club. Pupils regularly share their ideas about how to make their school even better. Recently, they have chosen a new owl mascot for their school.

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Team inspectors:

Gillian Burrow, Ofsted Inspector Ian Cooper, Ofsted Inspector

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to focus on improving older pupils’ handwriting, grammar and spelling knowledge so that pupils are able to apply these key skills more consistently and achieve all that they can in writing. Leaders should ensure that, in subjects beyond English and mathematics, they support staff to further develop their use of checks on pupils’ most important prior knowledge, so that pupils’ new learning builds more securely on what they already know.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Chris Forrest.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our updated inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspection activities: Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other school leaders and staff during the inspection. The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. She also spoke with a representative of the local authority.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school: The school moved to a new, purpose built building in April 2023.

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About this inspection

The school provides breakfast and after-school club provision for pupils.

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About this inspection

In September 2023, the school opened a local authority commissioned specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This provision provides an education for up to 8 pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. Currently, 7 pupils attend this provision.

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About this inspection

The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years. National average: 26.3%

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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What does this mean?

The type of Special Educational Needs provision provided at the school (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2024/25 (final) 57% 62% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 61% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 65% 60% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (final) 73% 75% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 77% 74% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 77% 73% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (final) 70% 72% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 74% 72% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 74% 71% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 (final) 71% 73% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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national average

2023/24 (final) 50% 46% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (final) 50% 44% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 58% 62% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 67% 60% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (final) 56% 59% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 58% 58% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 58% 58% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 (final) 58% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 4.9% 5.2% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 5.8% 5.5% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (3 term) 6.2% 5.9% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 11.8% 13.0% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 11.4% 14.6% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (3 term) 14.4% 16.2% Close to average

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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