North Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

North Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning and appreciate the supportive environment at North Primary School.

Pupils behave well; they feel safe and are kept safe. For example, pupils make regular use of the 'listening post'. This allows them to raise any worries they might have and provides them with the opportunity to speak with the school therapist.

They know that adults take any concerns they raise seriously.

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to succeed. Pupils learn a broad and interesting curriculum.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabiliti...es (SEND), are typically well supported to develop a depth of knowledge in different subjects. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Pupils take part in a range of enrichment opportunities.

They enjoy visits, including to Kew Gardens and the British Museum, that support their learning in the classroom. Pupils take part in a range of additional activities, such as fencing, gymnastics, athletics and choir. Pupils are enthusiastic about these experiences, and they are keen to share with the inspector how they created a water wheel as part of the science club.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and well organised. The most important knowledge pupils need to know and remember has been identified and well sequenced from early years onwards. This helps pupils to deepen their learning over time.

For example, in physical education, pupils practise throwing and catching larger balls. Older pupils build on this when learning about different passes, such as the 'W' grip in rugby and chest and bounce passes. Similarly, in mathematics, children in Reception practise counting in different steps.

This supports older pupils in securing their understanding of multiplication tables. This knowledge is then applied when going on to solve more complex mathematical problems, such as working with factors and multiples.

In many subjects, teachers check pupils' understanding of what they have learned and identify and address any misconceptions they may have.

However, the approach to assessment in some other subjects is at an earlier stage of design. In these instances, teachers do not check pupils' understanding as consistently. As a result, some pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge in these subjects.

Leaders encourage pupils to develop a love of reading. For example, they have identified 23 books for each year group to read over the course of the year. Pupils have regular opportunities to read and be read to.

Staff have received appropriate training to implement the school's chosen phonics programme with fidelity. Leaders ensure that additional support is provided to all pupils who need it. Pupils practise reading books that match the sounds they know.

This means that pupils learn to read with increasing confidence and fluency.

Behaviour is calm and orderly. Pupils are respectful of each other.

They appreciate the certificates they receive when they model the school's values of 'imagine, believe and achieve'. Leaders have established appropriate routines to help ensure that pupils attend well.

Pupils enjoy the range of leadership opportunities provided.

For example, play leaders help younger pupils at break and lunchtime. Junior leaders help contribute to decisions in the school, such as the colour of the new toilets or interviewing potential staff. Pupils learn about different religions and visit places of worship.

They learn how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

Staff feel that their workload and well-being are typically well considered.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The school has established a culture of safeguarding, and pupils are kept safe. Staff have received appropriate training and know how to identify and report any concerns they may have. Swift action is taken in seeking advice and guidance from external agencies to ensure pupils and their families receive the help they need.

However, some aspects relating to the administration of safer recruitment have not been overseen carefully enough by those responsible for leadership, including governance. The school has not made sure that staff with responsibility for carrying out these checks have the knowledge needed to fulfil their roles effectively. Because of this, at the time of the inspection, the school had insufficient oversight about which statutory safer recruitment checks had been completed.

In addition, the school had not consistently followed guidance in relation to sharing relevant information with the local authority when a pupil of compulsory school age is removed from the admissions register. This increases the risk of pupils going missing in education. These administrative issues were resolved before the end of the inspection.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Although the culture of safeguarding means that pupils are kept safe, in a few instances, the administration of safeguarding arrangements lacks appropriate rigour and oversight. This means that the school has missed gaps in some of the procedures for keeping pupils safe in relation to the single central record and arrangements for reporting pupils leaving the school roll. The school needs to ensure that those responsible for carrying out and overseeing the administration of safeguarding understand and fulfil their roles effectively.

The school should establish suitably rigorous and systematic arrangements for checking that administrative processes fully support its work to maintain a culture of safeguarding. ? The approach to assessment in some subjects is at an earlier stage of design. In these instances, pupils' learning is not checked as consistently.

This means that some pupils develop gaps in their knowledge that persist over time. The school must ensure that staff use assessment across the curriculum effectively to identify and correct any misconceptions in pupils' understanding.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2018.