Langley First School

Langley First School

Address: Drumoyne Gardens, West Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, NE25 9DL Unique reference number (URN): 108591

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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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Early years Expected standard

Learning in the early years is carefully considered and activities are purposeful. Leaders identify children's starting points, when they join the school, including any gaps in their knowledge. Staff design learning across the curriculum that is matched well to children's needs. This supports children to progress well through the curriculum.

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Early years Expected standard

The early years environment enables children to gain knowledge and skills across all areas of learning. There are meaningful links between children’s interests and the curriculum. Activities reflect and stimulate children’s curiosity, helping them to practise what they have learned and strengthening important skills, such as their physical development. Staff use stories, songs and rhymes to build essential language, mathematical understanding and wider knowledge. Adults ensure that children learn high-quality vocabulary through all aspects of their learning in the early years, including conversation and play. Leaders prioritise early reading and ensure that children in Reception learn phonics every day.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders make decisions in the best interests of children, putting their wellbeing at the centre. Children enjoy being in the early years. Leaders work closely with parents and carers to support children's progression through the curriculum. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their education.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Everyone is welcome in this school. Staff are dedicated to ensuring that pupils thrive. The school has clear systems to identify and assess pupils’ individual needs early, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who are disadvantaged and those known or previously known to children’s social care. These systems are generally used well to ensure that pupils benefit from the right support at the right time.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have ensured that a range of strategies and resources are available to support pupils to access learning and the wider opportunities the school has to offer. Staff consult with parents and carers and seek advice from external professionals to ensure they get the right support for pupils. Staff receive training to develop their expertise. As a result, pupils with SEND typically get the support they need to access the curriculum. Leaders check the impact of this work closely. This means that these pupils progress well from their different starting points.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders' strategy to support disadvantaged pupils ensures that the needs of each pupil are understood and supported. Leaders use additional funding effectively to ensure that pupils, regardless of any barriers they may face, can access all aspects of school life.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders ensure that the school's programme of personal development and wellbeing supports pupils to thrive. The personal, social and health education curriculum starts in the

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Needs attention

early years and builds progressively as pupils move through the school. Staff teach relationships and sex education effectively, helping pupils to develop an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships, including online safety. Leaders organise purposeful experiences to help pupils to remember important messages, such as railway and open water safety.

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Needs attention

Leaders have thoughtfully woven character values across the curriculum with a focus on supporting pupils to become resilient, effective communicators and independent learners. Wider experiences such as clubs and educational visits are carefully planned to ensure that pupils benefit from a range of cultural experiences to support their understanding of diversity. Adaptations are made to support all pupils to access these opportunities, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils enjoy the wide range of clubs that the school provides, including chess, running and art. The school tracks engagement for clubs and wider opportunities to ensure that all pupils benefit from the school's offer. Pupils are encouraged to develop their own interests and talents. They enjoy events such as sports competitions and residential visits. Pupils develop leadership skills by becoming 'mindful minis', where they support their peers to learn

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Needs attention

Pupils are developing their understanding of the fundamental British values. They understand values such as individual freedom and democracy by voting for pupil councillors and choosing classmates to receive awards. This prepares them well for life in modern Britain. Pupils are confident speaking to adults about any concerns. The range of pastoral support helps pupils to share their thoughts and feelings and to learn strategies to support pupils' mental health.

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Achievement Needs attention

Inconsistencies in teaching mean that pupils make uneven progress through the curriculum. In some instances, teachers do not ensure that pupils secure important knowledge. This means that pupils do not build progressively on what they already know. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) generally make progress from their starting points. However, pupils with SEND experience the same inconsistencies in teaching as their peers, which impacts on how well they progress through the curriculum.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils achieve well in phonics. This is reflected in outcomes in the phonics screening test in Year 1. Children in the Reception Year are prepared well for Year 1. Some pupils have gaps in their mathematical knowledge and they do not achieve as well as they could in the multiplication check. Leaders are addressing this to close gaps in pupils' knowledge. This work is relatively recent. These improvements in the school's offer have not had sufficient time to have a positive impact on published outcomes.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Leaders ensure that most pupils attend school often and whole school attendance is above the national average. However, leaders’ analysis of attendance patterns is not precise enough to help staff identify concerns quickly and provide support at the right time to families to remove barriers to attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders have good relationships with families. The support they provide is tailored to pupils different circumstances. Parents are grateful for this thoughtful approach.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

The behaviour expectations of leaders are clear, however, the approaches that staff use are not always in keeping with leaders' high expectations. This means that a small number of pupils receive inconsistent guidance and support on how to improve their behaviour. Despite this, most pupils behave well. Positive relationships encourage pupils to behave respectfully. Leaders have created a culture in which pupils value coming to school. Pupils who have additional needs have helpful adaptations in place to ensure they succeed and low-level disruption in lessons rarely occurs. The school environment is calm. Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils are confident that adults will resolve any issues. Poor behaviour, including discrimination, is not tolerated by leaders.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The quality of teaching is variable across subjects. Where it is effective, teachers consider what pupils already know and revisit prior learning, helping pupils to remember what they have learned before moving on to new content. Teachers do not check pupils' understanding and address misconceptions consistently well across the curriculum. Some teaching is not informed by precise checks on what pupils know and can do. This makes it difficult for pupils, including some with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to build knowledge securely.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders make sure that reading and phonics are prioritised. Well-trained staff ensure that phonics is taught well. Pupils who need extra help with reading receive timely support. Pupils with SEND usually get the help they need to access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is sequenced so that pupils' learning builds as they progress through the school. Recently, leaders have refined the curriculum for mathematics and writing. There is a renewed focus on ensuring that pupils develop fluency in handwriting, spelling and number facts, including multiplication tables. Staff are being supported to develop their teaching in these aspects of the curriculum. However, it is too early to see the impact of these changes on pupils' achievement across the curriculum.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders have made improvements to aspects of the school’s provision, including the curriculum and teaching. This recent work is making a difference although it is at too early a stage to demonstrate sustained impact on pupils’ achievement. However, over time leaders’ actions have not ensured consistently high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and engagement with learning. Leaders’ checks on the impact of their work are not thorough enough to improve pupils’ experiences quickly, where it is appropriate to do so. For example, leaders’ oversight of attendance is not secure enough to drive improvements for disadvantaged pupils.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Governors show commitment to the school and the community it serves. They understand and meet their statutory duties. Governors support leaders, staff and parents through challenging circumstances.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders manage staff workload thoughtfully. They ensure that staff access professional learning opportunities relevant to whole-school priorities. This includes subject-specific training in mathematics and writing. Staff value this support, which builds their expertise.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Governors, leaders and the staff team understand the school’s context and the needs of its community well. They ensure that all pupils are included in the life of the school. They make decisions in pupils' best interests. Further work is needed to ensure that leaders' actions to improve the school have a positive impact on pupils.

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

There is a sense of community at this school. Pupils, parents and carers value the warm welcome every morning by caring staff, who know pupils well. This gives pupils a sense of belonging. They feel safe and happy and develop respectful relationships with staff. Most pupils attend school often. However, some pupils do not attend school often enough and miss important learning.

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

Pupils generally enjoy learning. Reading is prioritised and leaders ensure that pupils learn to read so that they can benefit from the range of books on offer. Leaders plan the curriculum carefully. They have made changes in English and mathematics to ensure that pupils develop fluency in spelling, handwriting and number facts. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive support that helps them take part in lessons successfully. However, pupils do not learn as well as they should because the quality of the curriculum and teaching across the school is variable. Teachers' checks on what pupils are learning, and how they can improve, do not consistently help pupils address gaps in their knowledge or correct misconceptions. Leaders are beginning to make notable improvements, however, older pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they need to be.

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

Staff maintain a calm and orderly environment around the school. Pupils generally follow school rules and routines well. There are systems in place to help pupils to share any concerns and staff are on hand to support them whenever needed. Bullying or any form of unkindness are rare. Staff deal with any issues swiftly. Pupils get along well with one another and make good friends.

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

Pupils enjoy the activities, clubs and leadership opportunities that the school provides that help them grow in confidence and experience new things. They are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Next steps

Leaders and governors should continue to strengthen their strategic oversight of the school's work so that priorities for improvement are promptly and effectively addressed. Leaders should develop staff expertise in the use of assessment to identify gaps in knowledge and address misconceptions swiftly, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, enabling teachers to adjust learning so that pupils build their knowledge securely across subjects. Leaders should embed recent improvements to the teaching of writing and mathematics to ensure that pupils gain important foundational knowledge and achieve well. Leaders should analyse attendance patterns more closely, identify the reasons behind absence to secure consistently high attendance for pupils, including those who are disadvantaged. Leaders should ensure that behaviour expectations and approaches to behaviour management are consistently applied by all staff.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Christopher Riding.

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

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, other school leaders, and governors, including the chair and vice-chair, during the inspection. The lead inspector also spoke to a representative from the local authority on the telephone.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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About this inspection

Since the last inspection, a new headteacher has been appointed.

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About this inspection

At the time that the inspection took place, there were 298 pupils on roll. The school has capacity for 352 pupils, including children enrolled in the nursery. The proportion of pupils with education, health and care plans was 5.4%. The proportion of pupils receiving SEN support was 11.4%.

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Lead inspector:

Kathryn McDonald, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Katrina Morley, Ofsted Inspector Helen Smith, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 12 May 2026

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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 6 years.

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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 needs support 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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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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Persistent absence

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

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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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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