Northenden Community School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Northenden Community School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to Northenden Community School.

They value the positive relationships that they have with staff and with each other. Pupils are taught why it is important to be kind and caring. They try their best to be considerate of each other.

This makes them feel happy.

The school has high expectations of pupils' learning and behaviour. The school values, 'determination, ambition and equality' encourage pupils to be confident and aspirational.

Pupils are keen to earn 'value of the week' cert...ificates in recognition of this. They know how to behave and do so very well in lessons and at social times. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), want to achieve well and most do.

Pupils appreciate the clubs that they can attend. For example, pupils take part in dance, gymnastics, and martial arts. They also enjoy residentials where they challenge themselves in canoeing, rock climbing and caving activities.

Pupils benefit from a range of visits, such as to the theatre and to farms. These experiences help them to develop interests and talents as well as their self-esteem.

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

The school has been through a period of considerable change since it was last inspected.

This includes successive interim leadership arrangements. Some aspects of the school's improvement work have been slowed due to the high number of these changes in a short period of time. Despite this, the school has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the time of the previous inspection.

Working closely with the local authority, the school has secured stability in leadership. It has focused on the most important aspects of school improvement. Governors have increased their skills and knowledge to be able to hold the school to account.

Their strategic oversight of the school has improved. As a result, they are increasingly providing appropriate challenge and support.

Staff recognise that the pace of change has increased the demands placed upon them.

That said, staff appreciate the school's actions to support their workload. They especially welcome the improved clarity of what pupils should learn and when they should learn it. The school has ensured that the curriculum is designed to help pupils build knowledge logically over time.

The school provides clear guidance in some subjects, helping teachers develop their subject knowledge, present information effectively, and check pupils' understanding when designing lessons. However, in other subjects, the recently revised curriculums, while ambitious, are not fully realised. The school has not consistently checked how well these changes are being implemented, leaving some teachers without the support that they need to deliver the curriculum as intended.

As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they could. Additionally, errors in spelling, punctuation and handwriting often go unchecked, leading to repeated mistakes over time.

The school has prioritised the teaching of reading.

It has recently introduced a new phonics programme. Children in the Nursery class join in with rhymes and songs to help develop their early language. This prepares them well for learning phonics as soon as they enter the Reception Year.

Staff ensure that pupils read books that match the sounds that they know. Trained staff provide additional support for those pupils who are not keeping up with the phonics programme. As a result, most pupils become confident and fluent readers.

Much work has been completed to ensure that pupils with SEND are identified at the earliest opportunity. However, the school has not fully ensured that all staff are confident in adapting their teaching to best meet the needs of pupils with SEND effectively.

The school's high expectations for pupils' positive behaviour start in the Nursery Year where children learn how to take turns and listen to each other.

This positive start is built on as they move through the school. A small number of pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should. The school works closely with parents and carers, and where necessary, external agencies to support these pupils to attend school more regularly.

The school ensures that opportunities for pupils to learn beyond the academic curriculum are prioritised. Pupils are well supported to understand how to look after their mental as well as their physical health. They learn that people have different families, backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs.

Pupils develop a mature understanding of the importance of equality and tolerance. They are well prepared for life in a diverse and modern Britain.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• For some pupils with SEND, the school is not effectively adapting the delivery of the curriculum to meet their needs. As a result, these pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff receive appropriate support to meet pupils' individual needs effectively.

• A few subjects are at an earlier stage of implementation. As a result, pupils are not building their knowledge logically over time. The school should ensure that staff receive appropriate training to deliver these curriculums effectively and that pupils securely understand and retain important concepts before moving on to new content, allowing them to deepen their knowledge over time.

• The school has not ensured that errors in pupils' spelling, punctuation and handwriting are consistently identified and addressed. As a result, some pupils continue to make the same mistakes over time. The school should ensure that systems are in place to identify and address these errors effectively, so pupils are supported to develop greater accuracy and expertise in their writing across the curriculum.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in October 2019.