Morecambe and Heysham Grosvenor Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Morecambe and Heysham Grosvenor Park Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Grosvenor Park Primary School enjoy coming to school each day.

Parents and carers were overwhelmingly positive about their children's experiences at school. Parents said that the staff go the extra mile for pupils. Staff build strong, positive and supportive relationships with pupils and their families.

During lessons, pupils try their best. They feel safe in school because they know that teachers will help them to sort out any minor problems that they may have. Pupils behave well at social times.

They are eager to earn credits for po...sitive behaviour. For example, they are proud when teachers nominate them to be a 'VIP' for the week.

The school has high expectations for all pupils, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Most pupils achieve well. Added to this, they are highly motivated by the mathematics and spelling challenges that staff organise.

Pupils enjoy playing together in the school's well-equipped playground.

Older pupils take care of the younger ones. Pupils, including children in the early years, learn to take turns and share equipment with each other.

Pupils enjoy the wide variety of extra-curricular experiences available to them.

These range from rock climbing and beach walks to stop-motion photography and golf. They are proud to take on leadership roles such as being elected as a member of the school's parliament or by working as an eco-warrior.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has prioritised the teaching of reading.

From the start of the Reception Year, children enjoy listening to a broad range of stories. In the early years, teachers skilfully incorporate a variety of interesting and appropriate books into children's learning.As pupils move into key stage 1, they read regularly and they apply their phonic knowledge with increasing confidence.

Staff understand how to support pupils to develop their fluency in reading. The school ensures that pupils read books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. If pupils struggle with reading, teachers provide appropriate support to ensure that these pupils catch up quickly with their peers.

Older pupils enjoy the many reading opportunities that they have. For example, they felt particularly inspired by recent poetry workshops.

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum designed to meet pupils' needs and interests.

From the early years, adults encourage children to join in and be curious about their learning. Effective conversations with adults help to develop children's vocabulary. In the main, teachers are clear about the knowledge and vocabulary that pupils will learn as they progress through the curriculum.

In a small number of subjects, however, the school has not finalised the knowledge that pupils should know and when this content should be delivered. This means that, in these subjects, teachers are less clear about how to design activities that support pupils to build their knowledge over time.

For the most part, teachers check that pupils understand earlier learning before they move on to new ideas.

If pupils struggle, teachers make sure that effective extra support is in place. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and they explain concepts clearly. This helps most pupils to learn well.

Pupils with SEND learn the same curriculum as their peers. The school has suitable systems in place to identify pupils' additional needs quickly and accurately. Staff work closely with a range of external specialists.

This helps teachers to understand how to adapt the delivery of the curriculum and to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

Children in the early years settle into school quickly and they learn to follow routines. Across the school, pupils are polite and courteous to each other and adults.

On the rare occasions that pupils misbehave, teachers apply the school's behaviour policy consistently well. This prevents disruption to learning.

Pupils learn about their rights and responsibilities.

They understand the importance of making everyone feel welcome. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. For instance, they talked about the importance of eating a balanced diet and how physical activity can help them to look after their mental health.

Nevertheless, some pupils' understanding of other faiths and cultures is not as developed as it could be.

The school works diligently to ensure that parents are kept fully informed about how well their children are learning the curriculum.

While some governors have recently changed their roles, they have an accurate view of the quality of education for pupils.

They provide effective support and challenge to the school.

Staff are extremely proud to work at this school. They said that they feel highly valued and appreciate how the school makes every effort to keep their workload manageable.

Staff commented that this positively impacts on their well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school is still in the process of finalising the knowledge that pupils should learn and when this content should be delivered and assessed in a small number of subjects.

This means that, in these subjects, teachers are not as confident to design activities that support pupils to build their knowledge securely. The school should ensure that, in these subjects, teachers are clear about what pupils should learn and the order in which this content should be delivered. ? The school has not ensured that some pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of some different faiths and cultures.

This prevents these pupils from having sufficient knowledge about the diversity of modern Britain. The school should ensure that pupils develop a secure understanding of a range of faiths and cultures that are different to their own.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2014.