Stanhope Primary School

Stanhope Primary School Inspection report

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108676 Unique Reference Number South Tyneside Local Authority 324813 Inspection number 12–13 November 2008 Inspection dates Margaret Shepherd Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 3–11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 232 School (total) 0 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the EYFS 0 Childcare provision for children aged 0 to 3 years The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Robert Carter Chair Mr John Vasey Headteacher 1 November 2005 Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous funded early education inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous childcare inspection Gresford Street School address South Shields Tyne and Wear NE33 4SZ 0191 4201710 Telephone number 0191 4202510 Fax number

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3–11 Age group 12–13 November 2008 Inspection dates 324813 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. 2 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

The school serves an area with low social and economic circumstances. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is much higher than average and is increasing. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is lower than average. The proportion of pupils with English as an additional language is broadly average and is increasing. There is more movement by pupils in and out of school during the year than is usual nationally. The school has several new members of staff and a new member of the senior leadership team. The school has an Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) comprising a Nursery and a Reception class.

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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: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory school. It has undergone budgetary and staffing difficulties since the previous inspection but has resolved these issues and now has a satisfactory capacity to improve its provision. Parents are very supportive of the school and are overwhelmingly positive about its work. A typical comment was: ‘My son really enjoys his time at Stanhope Primary. He loves both the education he receives and the school environment with his teachers and friends.’ Pupils progress well from entering the school to the end of Year 2. They build on the good start in the EYFS and achievement is good by the end of Key Stage 1. Although pupils enter this key stage with levels lower than expected for their age, staff ensure that the curriculum matches their needs well, which results in a smooth transition between EYFS and Key Stage 1. There are excellent features in the teaching in this key stage and a well balanced curriculum

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Grade: 3

that combines a focus on basic skills with interesting and stimulating activities. By the end of Year 2, standards are close to average. When standards drop in a particular year group, it is due to lower levels on entry to the school. Progress slows in Key Stage 2 and achievement is satisfactory. Staffing difficulties have had an adverse impact on standards in this key stage in the past. National tests show that standards have been well below average. The new teaching team is working hard to raise standards and it is succeeding. Standards are improving and are now below average. The quality of teaching and learning is now consistently satisfactory, as is the curriculum in this key stage, and there are several good features. The school has introduced effective strategies to support pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and these pupils make satisfactory progress. The needs of pupils with English as an additional language are met effectively and they make similar

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Grade: 3

progress to other pupils. Progress of more able pupils is inadequate. Planning and teaching are not challenging enough for these pupils. In contrast to the different rates of achievement in academic development in the school, personal development and well-being are consistently good. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school and appreciate their roles as part of the school and local community. Their preparation for their future lives is satisfactory. Their behaviour is very good, both in lessons and around the large building. They have a good understanding of keeping safe and healthy. Their cultural development is particularly good and there are high levels of racial harmony. Leadership and management are satisfactory. The new senior leadership team is settling in well. The school has been successful in reducing its large financial deficit to a balanced budget. It does not analyse data of pupils’ progress over time skilfully enough in order to raise standards

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Grade: 3

appreciably, especially of pupils who are underachieving. The school’s provision for community cohesion is satisfactory; the good links seen with community groups are not so apparent with the wider world. Governance is satisfactory. Despite the difficulties that the school has encountered in previous years, the current team is working hard to develop provision. Overall improvement since the previous inspection is satisfactory.

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Grade: 2

The EYFS is good. Children enter Nursery with standards well below those typical for their age and with particularly weak speaking and listening skills. Children make good progress so that by the end of Reception, standards are below the expected targets, especially in writing and 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008 calculating. An appropriate programme has recently been put in place to support language skills. Welfare requirements are well met, although the role of the key person is still developing. Children receive very good encouragement to develop healthy lifestyles; for example, fruit and vegetables are provided as a snack and ‘Wake up and Shake up’ is a daily feature in Reception. Staff encourage children to be as independent as possible. Induction procedures are good; they include home visits and the encouragement of parents to come into Nursery with their children.

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Grade: 2

This helps children to settle quickly and be confident in following routines. Relationships are very good and practitioners are skilled in working with children to move learning forward. There is a good balance between independent learning and adult-led activities, including well targeted, short, sharp group teaching sessions. Children enjoy their learning and make consistently good progress, for example, in learning rhymes and letter sounds throughout the EYFS. Short observations of learning take place regularly and feed well into individual records of progress. There is a good system in place to allow Reception children to use the whole area including outdoors. This provision is small but well managed to provide opportunities in all areas of learning. There are limited opportunities for activities that enable children to be creative or solve problems. Leadership of the EYFS is good and has a clear focus on improving provision

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Grade: 2

and working closely with the Children’s Centre and day care.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ raise standards and increase achievement, particularly of the more able pupils

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What the school should do to improve further

■ extend the proportion of good features in teaching, learning and curriculum.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve the analysis of the data on pupils’ progress and use it to provide work that matches pupils’ needs more closely. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Grade: 3

Achievement is satisfactory. Standards are below average in Year 6. Pupils enter Year 1 below the expected level. They progress well through the key stage due to good quality teaching and a well balanced curriculum with a clear emphasis on the basic skills. The national tests and school data show that standards are close to average by the time they reach the end of Year 2. When standards drop, it is due to the year group entering the school with lower standards than usual. The national tests show that standards have fallen at the end of Year 6 for the past two years. This was due to a range of staffing difficulties in Key Stage 2 together with the impact of moving to mixed age groupings in order to manage the deficit budget. These issues have now been resolved and achievement is now satisfactory; standards are beginning to improve but are still below average. The achievement of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities

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Grade: 3

is satisfactory. They make good progress when they work in groups with their teaching assistant and particularly good progress when they are withdrawn to concentrate on basic skills. Pupils with English as an additional language play a full part in lessons and their achievement matches that of the rest of the class. The achievement of more able pupils is unsatisfactory in this key stage. They do not receive a consistent level of challenge. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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Grade: 2

Personal development and well-being are good, as is spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There is a significant strength in cultural development and pupils show by their very positive relationships their understanding of the need to live in racial harmony. Parents really appreciate this aspect of their children’s development. One comment was, ‘The staff could not be more caring and respectful of our specific religious needs.’ Behaviour is very good and pupils move quickly and efficiently round school despite the many different stairs and corridors. Bullying is not seen as a problem by pupils. Pupils feel safe and cared for in school. They are very aware of the importance of Internet safety. The work of the Behaviour Improvement Project (BIP) team is very effective and enthusiastic, resulting in the successfully improved attendance rates. Pupils really enjoy school and know the importance of learning.

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Grade: 2

For example, an individual commented, ‘The best bit is about teaching and not just playtime’. Pupils have a good understanding of the need to be healthy and how diet and exercise contribute to this. Preparation for their future lives is satisfactory. Pupils develop strong social and personal skills but their basic literacy and numeracy skills are not as good. Pupils are proud to contribute to both the school community and to wider society. The Year 6 pupils really value their roles of buddies and contribute well to the smooth running of the school. Pupils have a good understanding of global issues in relation to their age.

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory. There are some good features throughout the school and some outstanding features in Key Stage 1, especially when teachers promote a fast pace, have high expectations of every pupil and make excellent use of adults to support group work. Overall, teachers work well with classroom assistants during group work, where the needs of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are met effectively. Support in whole class sessions for these pupils is inconsistent when some opportunities are missed for the teaching assistants to interact with individuals. All teachers manage behaviour very well, resulting in lessons that are calm and well ordered with pupils keen to do their best. In Key Stage 2, not all teachers ensure that there is different work to match varying pupils’ needs; this has a particularly negative impact on the progress of more able pupils. In some lessons, teachers

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Grade: 3

challenge these pupils well in whole class discussions but in others, there is not enough consideration given to extending their contributions and their thinking. There is a very successful innovation in one year group where more able pupils support less able pupils in developing their reading skills. Teachers do not consistently refer to pupils’ individual targets in lessons. This reduces pupils’ understanding of what they need to do to improve.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory. It is good in Key Stage 1. Staff work hard to make sure that the Year 1 curriculum builds systematically on the Reception provision. There is a very good balance between the development of basic skills of literacy and numeracy across this key stage and there is 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008 an interesting and relevant basis for learning. For example, in science, each pupil was captivated by observing a chocolate drop melt in their hands whilst they listened to a fascinating poem. In Key Stage 2, teachers are creating interesting topics to provide a more stimulating range of learning and to make more links across subjects. This is producing good opportunities for extending literacy, but opportunities are missed to develop numeracy in the same way. The curriculum for handwriting is not effective enough and the amount of time spent on extended

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Grade: 3

writing and on the full science curriculum is inconsistent. The curriculum for personal development is good, which results in confident and sociable pupils who work well across different racial and gender groups. The school provides a good variety of clubs that enrich the curriculum, which pupils really appreciate.

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Grade: 3

Care, guidance and support are satisfactory. The care and support aspects are good because all staff work well together to respond to individuals’ different personal needs. Parents are very positive about the school and feel it gives their children a good start, although a minority felt they could be better informed. The BIP team is working effectively to improve this through the development of the school’s website. Academic guidance is not as effective as personal guidance. Pupils understand what level they need to work towards but are not as clear about how to get there. The recent increase in the number of pupils with English as an additional language, particularly in the Nursery, has been managed well and these pupils receive good support. Child protection, risk assessments and safeguarding systems are in place.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The new senior leadership team is settling down effectively in taking up new roles. Coordinators are keen to develop their subjects and communicate well with the rest of the staff team. The headteacher has worked successfully to reduce the school’s budgetary deficit, which is now close to being balanced. There are effective systems to assess pupils’ performance as they move through the school, but there is not enough analysis of this data to target individual pupils closely. This is resulting in some inequalities of opportunities for more able pupils in Key Stage 2. Governance is satisfactory. Governors work regularly in the school, but they are not as effective in calling the senior leadership to account in relation to standards. Despite the difficulties that the school has encountered since the previous inspection, there has been satisfactory improvement. The positive attitudes of staff,

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Grade: 3

including new members of staff and those taking up new roles of responsibility in the school, ensure that there is a satisfactory capacity for future improvement. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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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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needs of learners?

Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well being? 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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EYFS?

2 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? How good are the overall personal development and well-being of the children in the EYFS? 2 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 2 How effectively is the welfare of children in the EYFS promoted? 2 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed?

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Achievement and standards

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 2 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 3 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

16 November 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Stanhope Primary School, South Tyneside, NE33 4SZ Thank you for being so very welcoming to us when we came to your school. You were all so friendly and helpful in answering our questions. We are writing to let you know what we found out. You go to a satisfactory school where all the staff take good care of you. Your parents let us know that they are very pleased with how the school supports you. Your personal development is good and we could see that you really enjoy coming to school. You know what to do to keep healthy and safe, particularly when you are working on the internet. Your behaviour is very good, even though you have to walk up all those stairs and along all those corridors. You try hard to do your best in lessons and listen carefully to your teachers. You are particularly good at working and playing together, with girls and boys and different racial groups cooperating

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

harmoniously. The teaching and the curriculum are satisfactory with some good features. We have asked the school to make these good features more typical of everyday learning. You make a really good start to your learning in Nursery, Reception and the Infant classes. Your school is going to make sure that the work for faster learning junior pupils is more challenging to help them to reach higher standards. You can do your best to work even harder in lessons. Your headteacher, senior leaders and governors are going to analyse the progress you are making each term to help each one of you to learn even faster. We wish you the very best for your future lives and we hope that you will continue to help to make your school a happy place where everyone is working together. Yours sincerely Maggi Shepherd and Nora Waugh Additional Inspectors 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Stanhope Primary School, 12–13 November 2008

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