Broomhill Primary School

Inspection Report Broomhill First School

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122196 Unique Reference Number Northumberland LEA 281186 Inspection number 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006 Inspection dates Mrs Margaret Shepherd Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Station Road School address First Type of school North Broomhill Community School category Morpeth, Northumberland 3 to 9 Age range of pupils 01670 760339 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01670 760339 Fax number 90 Number on roll Mrs Ethel Fairish Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Hazel Jenkins Headteacher 1 June 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281186 21 March 2006 - 3 to 9 22 March 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by an additional inspector.

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Description of the school

Broomhill First School is smaller than average. There is a part-time nursery class, a full time reception class and two mixed aged classes. Reception children use the nursery accommodation in the afternoons. The headteacher works for half of her time in the Year 3/4 class. Children enter the nursery with standards that are slightly below average. Social and economic circumstances are lower than average. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below average. There are no children from minority ethnic groups.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory school. The school judged several aspects of their provision as good. Children make good progress in the nursery due to the good quality teaching and a stimulating curriculum. Children make satisfactory progress through the rest of the school. Standards are broadly average and pupils achieve satisfactorily overall. Achievement is best in reading. This is due to a well-balanced curriculum and a close partnership with parents in supporting reading at home. Standards are lower in writing than in reading. The school has introduced some good strategies for raising these standards, but children do not have a clear enough idea of what they need to do to improve. Boys do not achieve as well as girls. The school has extended the curriculum to increase boys’ interests and this is working well. However, teachers do not provide enough variety in tasks for the boys, the whole class sessions are sometimes too long

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Grade: 3

and there are not enough opportunities for the boys to practise their speaking skills in lessons. Personal development and well-being are satisfactory overall. Children have a good understanding of safe and healthy living and they appreciate the contributions they are able to make to the community. The curriculum is satisfactory with good opportunities for enrichment. Standards and provision in the Foundation Stage are satisfactory overall and good in the nursery. The reception children do not have enough opportunities to engage in independent learning across the full curriculum in the morning sessions. Care, support and guidance are satisfactory overall with good levels of care and support. Leadership and management are satisfactory. The school has made satisfactory improvement since the previous inspection and has a satisfactory capacity to improve in the future. Value for money is satisfactory. not applicable

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What the school should do to improve further

• Extend the strategies for raising boys’ achievement by: -providing a wider variety of tasks, particularly practical activities, that match the boys’ learning needs -making sure that the whole class sessions are not too long to sustain the boys’ concentration -providing more opportunities for boys to talk in order to develop their language skills. • Raise standards in writing further by: -giving children more effective individual guidance about what they need to do to improve -extending the emphasis on handwriting. • Increase the variety and quality of independent activities for reception children in the morning sessions across the six areas of learning. 2 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006

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Grade: 3

Achievement is satisfactory overall and standards are broadly in line with the national average. Children enter the nursery with standards slightly below expectations. They make good progress in the nursery due to the carefully constructed curriculum and the good quality teaching team. Children then make satisfactory progress through the school. The school sets itself realistic targets and generally achieves them. Standards in Year 2 are higher in reading than in writing, with more children reaching the higher levels than average. This is sustained to Year 4. The school has identified the weakness in writing standards and has put some good quality strategies in place to raise standards. For example, in the Year 1/2 and Year 3/4 classes, several individual children have made good progress in writing this year. Boys’ achievement is lower than girls. Achievement of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is satisfactory.

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Grade: 3

Children achieve well in literacy when they are given daily special small group support by the good quality teaching assistant. The achievement of children with a statement of special educational need is good. The organisation of these children working with children of a younger age group works well and they receive good quality support from staff.

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Grade: 3

Personal development and well-being are satisfactory with some good features. Attendance is satisfactory. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They show a reverence during prayers in assemblies and have a good understanding of moral issues. Children have satisfactory attitudes towards their work. They are enthusiastic about their extra-curricular clubs and their opportunities for sport. Behaviour is satisfactory. Older children enjoy carrying out the role of buddies in the playground and take these responsibilities seriously. Children have a good understanding of safe and healthy living because of the school’s emphasis on these issues. Children have satisfactory skills for economic well-being and good skills in contributing to the community. They have a good understanding of local industry through the high quality links with a local business. Children enjoy the range of visits

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Grade: 3

and visitors, such as the pensioners who join them every week for lunch.

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall. The teaching of reading is good. Teachers ensure that it is based carefully on the systematic learning of letter sounds, combined with developing enjoyment through reading different stories and using non-fiction books. They provide good quality reading journals for children to record their responses 3 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006 to different books. Teachers are successfully using new techniques to improve children’s writing development. They identify clear targets for learning at the beginning of lessons. However, they do not reinforce these well enough with individual children as the lesson progresses. The new school marking strategy is working effectively for showing children what they are doing well, but is not as good at showing what needs to be done to improve. These weaknesses slow children’s progress in learning to write.

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Grade: 3

Teachers work well with their assistants both during group work and in whole class sessions. They use the interactive whiteboards confidently and children enjoy the challenges set from the different programs. The organisation of laptops and computers supports children’s learning well. However, there are some weaknesses in the teaching of the boys. These include whole class lessons that are too long to sustain their concentration; not enough variety in the tasks or practical activities to match boys’ learning needs; and insufficient opportunities to extend their language skills through talking. Teaching in the nursery is good. The teaching team work very efficiently together and provide an excellent balance between independent learning and adult-directed learning.

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Grade: 3

The quality of the curriculum is satisfactory. There is a satisfactory balance across the different subjects. The school is working hard to ensure that the curriculum matches the needs of the boys. This includes an increased emphasis on sport, which is bringing in a good range of visiting male role models and the introduction of books to match boys’ interests. The school organises the use of the library well to develop reading skills. However, there is not enough time spent on the development of handwriting skills, which has a negative impact on writing development. The curriculum for the nursery children is good quality. Reception children benefit from this in the afternoons but in the mornings the reception area does not provide enough independent activities across the six areas of learning. There is a good coverage of health and safety issues, particularly through the whole school initiative that brings in a very good range of

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Grade: 3

visitors. This ensures that safety issues specific to the school’s location are addressed effectively, such as considering the dangers of the nearby railway line. Community links support the curriculum well, particularly those with a local business.

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Grade: 3

Care, support and guidance are satisfactory with good features. Teachers are extending the target setting systems to guide children in understanding what they have to do to improve their work. There is a good quality system for communicating this to parents. However, teachers do not provide enough guidance to children about their targets on a daily basis. Teachers work well with parents to support reading development. Arrangements for safeguarding children are satisfactory. Staff use the small size of the school to provide a good quality network of adults to support and care for individual children and to address their worries or concerns. The strategy of teachers taking a 4 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006 different age group through the school each half term for extra-curricular clubs works well. It provides equal opportunities for children as well as helping staff to get to know

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The headteacher identifies key weaknesses in the school effectively, and then works closely with staff to introduce strategies to raise standards. Her role as a part time teacher, as well as a headteacher, ensures that she keeps well in touch with the realities of the classroom. However, this reduces the amount of time that she has for her management responsibilities. Co-ordinators are enthusiastic and communicate with each other well. They carry a heavy load of responsibilities due to the small size of the staff. The school has benefited from the national leadership programme which has provided good quality external support for developments. The school creates good partnerships to extend their provision. Governance is satisfactory. The governing body is committed to developing the work of the school. Self-evaluation is satisfactory but the school was too generous

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Grade: 3

in some of its judgements about its provision. Parents have a high opinion of the school. The school has made satisfactory improvements since the previous inspection. It has a satisfactory capacity to improve and provides satisfactory value for money. 5 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006 .

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Broomhill First School, 21 March 2006 to 22 March 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 3 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 3 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 3 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 3 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 3 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 3 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 3 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 3 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 3 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 3 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 Ofsted helpline 08456 404045 To the children of: Broomhill First School Station Road North Broomhill Morpeth Northumberland NE65 9UT 23 March 2006 Dear Children, Thank you very much for welcoming me into your school. I really enjoyed talking to you and looking at your work. The best things about your school are: how well you learn to read the way that you understand how to keep safe and healthy your understanding of the community, particularly the local businesses the way your teachers help you to learn by using computer equipment the teaching and the activities in the nursery all the different clubs that you have in school and the interesting visitors that come to help you learn the way that the school looks after you the way that your teachers work with the teaching assistants. One of the things that I have asked your school to do is to help the boys to reach higher

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

standards by giving you different types of tasks in lessons, to make sure that your whole class sessions are not too long and to make sure you do more talking in lessons. I have also asked the school to help you get better at writing by doing more handwriting and by letting you know what you need to do next to improve your work. The other thing I have asked the school to do is to make sure that children in reception have more time to work independently across different subjects in the morning. Best wishes,

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