Ramshaw Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Ramshaw Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where staff show high levels of care to all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are given a warm welcome into school every morning.

Staff are ambitious for all pupils to achieve highly. Typically, this support ensures that pupils achieve well in the school.

Most pupils attend school often.

This helps pupils to benefit from the broad and ambitious curriculum. They enjoy the exciting activities in lessons and socialising with friends at breaktimes. Older pupils love being playground 'buddies'.

T...hey understand the importance of helping others to maintain friendships. Pupils know that staff will support them with any problems. This helps pupils to feel safe and happy in school.

Pupils' wider development is a strength. Pupils enjoy learning about a range of careers through frequent visitors to the school, including former pupils. Many pupils aspire to be architects, engineers and palaeontologists.

Assemblies and story times help pupils to learn about cultures different to their own and about what is happening in the world. The school ensures that pupils experience a range of visits, such as Beamish Museum, a local mining art gallery and Durham Cathedral. These opportunities help pupils' cultural development.

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

The curriculum is well established in most subjects, including mathematics. The school ensures that the well-sequenced mathematics curriculum is appropriately adapted to meet the needs of all pupils in each class. From children's earliest starting points in Reception, staff ensure that they learn to recognise numbers.

Children quickly learn to count to 20. They recognise quantities without counting. This helps to prepare children for mathematics in Year 1.

Older pupils regularly revisit prior learning in lessons. Pupils rapidly recall number facts. Teachers make frequent checks on what pupils remember.

Teachers address any misconceptions during lessons. End of topic assessments help teachers to identify gaps in pupils' mathematical knowledge. The school ensures pupils receive extra support and appropriate practice.

This helps pupils to keep up in lessons. As they progress through the school, pupils develop confidence in reasoning and problem-solving. At the end of key stage 2, pupils achieve extremely well in mathematics.

The recently revised art and design curriculum is helping pupils to develop a love of art. The impact on pupils' knowledge and skills can already be seen. For example, pupils in Year 1 produce detailed pencil drawings of local birds.

Pupils talk knowledgeably about the artists that they study, such as Norman Cornish. Pupils receive suitable support to achieve success in lessons. Despite this, a few pupils do not gain the depth of understanding they need to improve their mastery of art and design techniques.

This is because assessment is not used precisely enough to check what pupils know and remember to inform future learning.

When children start school in Reception, staff quickly make sure that they are prepared for phonics teaching. The phonics programme is expertly taught.

Staff check pupils' knowledge often. Pupils learn to spell and decode unfamiliar words as they progress through the programme. The school ensures that pupils receive extra help if they need it.

Pupils achieve well in reading. Pupils enjoy discussing their favourite books. Reading areas in each classroom encourage pupils to choose from a wide range of texts.

Pupils enjoy listening to stories about significant historical figures, such as Emmeline Pankhurst. Stories stimulate discussions about topics such as equality.

Pupils' behaviour in lessons and at breaktimes is calm and purposeful.

Pupils show respect for each other and staff who care for them. The school has recently introduced a system to help pupils identify and understand different emotions. This new approach is helping pupils to better focus on learning.

The school ensures that pupils' wider development is catered for exceptionally well. Pupils enjoy clubs such as football and art. Assemblies link to a range of current news topics, including the upcoming general election.

This helps pupils to understand the importance of parliamentary democracy. The school ensures pupils' moral development helps to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. For example, pupils learn about healthy relationships by listening to stories such as 'And Tango Makes 3,' by Justin Richardson, which helps them to understand tolerance and acceptance.

Staff are proud to work in the school. They appreciate the collaborative approach that leaders take before implementing changes to the curriculum. They feel their workload and well-being are supported effectively.

Many governors are new to the governing body. They already know the school well through regular visits to the school. This helps governors to provide support and challenge to leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment is not used precisely in all foundation subjects. Some pupils do not consistently recall prior learning.

This means that learning is not always sufficiently adapted to deepen pupils' knowledge. The school should ensure that assessment is used to precisely target and deepen pupils' understanding across all subjects.

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 January 2019.