Bedlington West End Primary School

Bedlington West End First School Inspection report

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122176 Unique Reference Number Northumberland Local Authority 292331 Inspection number 26 °27 April 2007 Inspection dates Moira Fitzpatrick Reporting inspector

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

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First Type of school Community School category 4 °9 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 256 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Viv Brooks Chair Mrs Wendy Holland Headteacher Not previously inspected Date of previous school inspection West End School address Bedlington Northumberland NE22 6EB

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01670 822328 Telephone number 01670 829448 Fax number

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4 °9 Age group 26 °27 April 2007 Inspection dates 292331 Inspection number .

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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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

The school is about average size. Nearly all pupils are from White British families with less than 2% from minority ethnic groups; a very small number of pupils speak English as an additional language. The percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals is about average, so too is the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The attainment of children when they join the Reception class is broadly average, with some weaknesses in communication skills.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school where children’s love of learning is fostered through an exciting curriculum and excellent teaching. Parents wholeheartedly agree and one comment sums up their views; ‘My child’s education is progressing in leaps and bounds due to the excellent teaching at West End.’ Teachers’ very good planning and skilful questioning challenge pupils of all abilities to work to their full capacity. Teaching assistants provide very good support for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities so that they are able to achieve as well as others. The high quality teaching and curriculum motivate pupils to work hard and reach very high standards. Their achievement is excellent. By Year 4, nearly all reach the expected level for their age in reading, writing and mathematics and many exceed it. Provision in the Foundation Stage gives children an excellent start to their education so that they make very good progress

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Grade: 1

in all areas of learning. Pupils’ personal development and well-being are excellent because they are so well cared for and supported. The school’s excellent links with parents make a significant contribution to pupils’ learning by informing parents how they can support learning at home and involving them in the life of the school. Teachers have an excellent knowledge of pupils’ personal and academic progress and use this very well to ensure pupils’ sense of well-being. Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary and their attitudes to learning could not be better because they feel safe and happy in school and enjoy learning so much. They have a very good understanding of what a healthy lifestyle is and they know about personal safety. They are keen to take on responsibility and relish solving problems to make the school a better place. Most have very good attendance, but the education of a minority suffers because of holidays taken in term time. By the end of

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Grade: 1

Year 4, pupils have developed exceptional thinking and speaking skills and are very well prepared for the future because they are caring, considerate and able to get on with each other so well. Only one pupil expressed a slight concern about the school’s very high expectations, ‘We learn so much here that I’m scared when I grow up I won’t remember it all.’ Excellent leadership and management underpin the continuous improvement of the school. There is a constant focus on meeting the needs of all learners, including teachers and governors. The headteacher has created an ethos where everyone has a voice and is eager to contribute. This has produced excellent teamwork between teachers, governors, parents and pupils, which has resulted in innovative practice in the curriculum and the inclusion of parents in assessing their children’s learning. Pupils and their parents are very pleased to have a say in how the

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Grade: 1

school might be improved. Because of its rigorous self-evaluation, the school has a very accurate knowledge of its strengths and areas for improvement and an excellent capacity to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve the attendance of the minority of pupils whose learning is affected by holiday absence in term time.

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Grade: 1

Achievement is excellent. Pupils make very good progress from their starting points to reach very high standards. There is no difference in the achievement of boys and girls. Most children in Reception reach the goals set for their learning and a good proportion exceeds them. They 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007 make particularly good gains in their personal and social development and are well prepared for the next stage of learning. Standards in Year 2 have been well above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics since the last inspection and were maintained in the national teacher assessments in 2006. Standards seen during the inspection are slightly lower than this due to the higher proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in this year group. Standards in Year 4 are very high in English, mathematics and science reflecting this group’s

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Grade: 1

exceptional performance in national tests when they were in Year 2.Nearly all pupils, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are on course to reach at least the expected level for their age and a very high proportion are on course to exceed it. Work seen during inspection confirms this. This high performance at the end of Year 4 has been sustained since the last inspection. The school sets challenging targets that are often exceeded because of the excellent inclusion practices, which ensure that every pupil’s need is known and provided for.

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Grade: 1

Pupils’ personal development and well-being are outstanding. Excellent spiritual, moral, social and cultural development leads to a remarkable degree of self assurance, tolerance and independence in pupils of all ages. As a result, behaviour and attitudes to learning are exemplary. While the vast majority of pupils love school and, according to one parent, ‘..can’t wait for Monday mornings to come round.’, attendance has declined recently because of the number of parents taking holidays in term time. Pupils say that they feel safe from all aspects of harassment, including bullying. They know the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, show pride in their sporting accomplishments and in their healthy eating posters. Pupils are quick to respond to opportunities to raise funds for charities or to use their musical skills to perform in the wider community. All are eager to contribute to the smooth running of the school and take

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Grade: 1

responsibilities seriously. Members of STARS, (the school council) have played a significant part in voicing pupils’ views of the school and in making improvements. Pupils are very well prepared for the next stage of education and future adult life.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning are excellent. Teachers have high levels of expertise, which they use to very good effect in planning lessons that are challenging and fun. They cultivate in pupils a genuine love of learning because of this. Pupils are sure of success when they work independently because teachers always prepare them very well for their tasks and check that everyone understands what their targets are. These targets are revisited at the end of lessons when pupils are involved in assessing how well they have learned. Pupils are delighted at this point in lessons when they see the pleasure their success gives to their teacher. For other pupils, the demands of teachers’ questions provide a high spot in their learning as they think very hard to answer the many ‘why?’ questions that are posed. Pupils respond well to these challenges with exceptionally good thinking and reasoning skills. These are a hallmark of the high quality

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Grade: 1

learning throughout the school. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007 Teachers and teaching assistants work closely with parents to enable them to give good support to their children’s learning. The impact is seen particularly in some excellent homework tasks and the very high standards in reading.

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Grade: 1

Curriculum provision is excellent. It is rich, exciting and inclusive, providing very well for the needs of all pupils. Provision for literacy and numeracy is very good and for information and communication technology it is good and improving. A particularly strong aspect of the curriculum is the school’s development of thinking skills and philosophy. This has a considerable impact on pupils’ ability to think and make decisions because it impacts on all of their learning. Pupils have very good opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles and personal safety through the well planned personal, social and health education programme. The Foundation Stage curriculum is very well planned so that children have a good balance of learning through play and adult led learning. This has been successfully extended to Year 1 so that pupils continue to learn very effectively through play. Pupils’ interests and talents are very well catered for. The school responds well to their views

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Grade: 1

about their learning. The result is that enrichment to learning through the many visits and visitors, and out of school clubs is excellent. Provision for music and art and design is outstanding. This is reflected in the very high quality work seen during inspection.

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Grade: 1

The care, guidance and support for pupils and their families are outstanding. Parents are unanimous in their praise of the ‘highly professional, caring and approachable staff.’ Effective arrangements for child protection and safeguarding are in place. The needs of all pupils are very well met by accurate identification of their needs, excellent links with external agencies and the high quality support they receive from teachers and teaching assistants. Despite the school’s rigorous efforts to promote good attendance, an increase in holiday absence has caused a decline in attendance rates. The school has very good systems to track and record the personal development of pupils. Teachers are quick to alert parents to any changes in attitude or performance and swift action is taken to support any pupil who is perceived to have problems. There are rigorous and very effective systems for tracking pupils’ academic progress, which allow teachers to identify quickly

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Grade: 1

when intervention is needed. The school has a comprehensive system for mapping the support provided for all pupils, which allows senior managers to effectively monitor the school’s inclusion practices.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are excellent because of the headteacher’s constant drive for improvement and her careful nurturing of staff enthusiasm and expertise. This has resulted in a first rate team who have an unrelenting focus on raising standards and improving the quality of provision. School evaluation is rigorous and accurate and is followed through with effective action to bring about improvement. Because of this, the school has made very good improvement 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007 since the last inspection and has an excellent capacity to improve further. The school’s outstanding inclusion practices ensure that all pupils benefit equally from the many high quality opportunities the school provides. Teachers and teaching assistants are very well equipped through professional development to play a significant role in school improvement and are

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Grade: 1

confident in making suggestions for how things could be better. Governors have a very good understanding of the school’s strengths and give very good support for its development. They bring a wide range of expertise and experience to the service of the school and are proud of its successes and its reputation in the town. Excellent links exist with parents and external agencies to support pupils’ learning. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007 .

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

28 April 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Bedlington West End First School, Northumberland, NE22 6EB Thank you so much for the very friendly welcome you gave us when we visited your school recently. We really enjoyed our visit because you helped us find out so many interesting things about your school. We were fascinated by your amazing thinking skills and your skilful way of explaining your ideas to each other. This makes a great contribution to all of your learning. We also were impressed by how hard you all work and by your excellent behaviour. No wonder so many of you appear in the Golden Book. It’s lovely that you make your teachers and parents so proud of you. We thought that you got along with each other very well and that you have helped the school council to come up with some great ideas for the playground. The idea of a games rota is very good because it is fair that everyone gets the chance to play with the different toys.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

You are becoming very good citizens by solving problems like these. You told us that you feel safe in school because your teachers and other adults take such good care of you. You also told us that you love learning because it is fun and your teachers tell you how you can improve. We could see that these things help you to be happy in school and to reach very high standards in your work. Nearly all of you have very good attendance because you love school so much, but we think that a few of you could be at school more often so your learning is as good as it can be. We are delighted to tell you that your school is outstanding - which means it is in the highest group of schools in the country. This is because your headteacher is determined you will all do well, because your teachers work very hard and plan excellent lessons for you and because you are such hard working, caring children who make your school a happy place to be. Do keep up

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

the good work all of you! Finally, we would like to congratulate the choir and Year 3 and 4 pupils on their lovely singing in assembly. That was an extra treat for us. Our very best wishes to you all for the future, Yours sincerely, Mrs Lesley Richardson, Mr Geoffrey Cooper and Mrs Moira Fitzpatrick Inspectors 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Bedlington West End First School, 26 °27 April 2007

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