Southgate Primary

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's values of 'aspiration, respect, resilience and co-operation' filter through everything at Southgate Primary.

Staff are ambitious for pupils, setting consistently high expectations for learning. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well academically.

Pastoral support is a strength at this school.

Pupils' physical and mental well-being are prioritised. Those who need extra care or support receive it quickly. The school is a friendly place, where pupils and staff respect each other.

As one parent noted: 'The teachers at this school are very approachable, which makes the environment warm ...and welcoming.' Pupils and staff are proud of their school.

The school's curriculum goes beyond the academic.

There is a sharp focus on developing the knowledge and skills that pupils need to stay safe, including when online. The school provides pupils with meaningful leadership opportunities. For example, play leaders facilitate some of the activities that their peers participate in at lunchtime.

Pupils are well behaved. They contribute positively to lessons. Pupils play well together at social times.

Classrooms are purposeful, and learning is rarely interrupted. Pupils rightly trust adults to deal with any issues effectively.

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

The school has an ambitious curriculum.

It makes clear, in each subject, what key knowledge is to be taught in each year group and how this knowledge builds on what pupils have learned before. This starts in the early years and has been designed so that it is equally accessible to all pupils, including those with SEND. In some subjects, the school's curriculum is new and is even more detailed.

In these subjects, pupils can clearly describe their current learning, but they are less clear about what they have learned previously.

Teachers have good subject knowledge. They use modelling to explain new learning clearly, and they regularly revisit important knowledge to help pupils to remember it long term.

To address the recent lower achievement of pupils in mathematics, the school has introduced regular multiplication table fluency sessions, which is helping pupils to embed their understanding of number. In the early years, teachers carefully plan opportunities for children to explore and learn, and they skilfully model spoken language. Where the curriculum is new in some subjects, the school knows that pupils have some gaps in their prior knowledge.

They are working hard to identify and address these to ensure that learning builds on what pupils already know.

The school has established a positive culture of reading. A selection of high-quality texts that reflect diversity and life in modern Britain has been carefully curated for pupils.

Pupils enjoy talking about their favourite books and authors and exhibit a real love for reading. Early reading is taught well. Teachers receive training that enables them to deliver the school's phonics programme with confidence.

However, books are not always precisely matched to the sounds that pupils know, which means pupils are not always supported to read as well as they should.

Staff know their pupils well. A well-thought-out induction programme helps teachers to get to know children's individual starting points in the early years.

This helps children in Reception get off to a flying start. There are also clear systems in place for identifying pupils with SEND. Staff receive the training they need and adapt activities so that pupils with SEND can follow the same curriculum as their peers.

The school continues to develop effective systems to involve, and communicate with, parents about all aspects of school life.

The school's personal, social and health education curriculum is well organised. Pupils have a good understanding of other faiths and cultures.

They recognise that it is important to learn about different world religions. They learn about what good relationships look like and the value of staying physically fit. The school has recently reintroduced trips and clubs, following a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are ambitious plans to further develop this important aspect of pupils' personal development.

Leaders at all levels in the school, and in the trust, are committed to an ambitious vision: to improve outcomes for pupils. They support and challenge each other effectively and are considerate of staff's well-being and workload.

Staff are very positive about the work of leaders. They feel listened to and enjoy working at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects where the curriculum has recently been improved, pupils have gaps in their prior knowledge. These gaps prevent them from learning as well as they could. The school should ensure that gaps in knowledge are identified and addressed swiftly so that pupils can achieve the ambition of the new curriculum.

• Reading books are not always precisely matched to pupils' phonics knowledge, and pupils are not always able to recall tricky words. This means that pupils do not learn to read fluently as quickly as they could. The school should ensure that the books pupils read are matched precisely to the sounds that they know so they can practise reading accurately and speedily.

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