Timothy Hackworth Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Timothy Hackworth Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Timothy Hackworth show high levels of respect towards each other and the staff who help them.

Leaders ensure that pupils benefit from a nurturing and inclusive environment. Pupils are positive about their learning. Lessons are calm and purposeful.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) learn well.

Leaders have changed the curriculum so that it is ambitious and helps pupils to understand future careers. Pupils benefit from the many planned opportunities to enhance their knowledge of mathematics and science, such as trips to the ...'Locomotion' science museum and experts who visit the school from the 'Bishop Auckland Astronomical Society'.

Behaviour is a strength of the school. Pupils understand the clear expectations for behaviour. Staff manage pupils' behaviour well using consistent strategies.

Pupils say that bullying is rare. If it happens, they know that staff will sort it out quickly. Pupils who are trained as 'restorative peer mediators' help other pupils to maintain friendships.

This helps pupils to feel safe in school.

Support for pupils' well-being is exceptional. Pupils say, 'there is always someone to talk to if you have a worry.'

Some staff have expert knowledge to support pupils' mental health.

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

Leaders make sure the school is inclusive. They are determined that all pupils should achieve well.

The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures staff have detailed information to best meet the individual needs of pupils. Some pupils with SEND access a specialised curriculum to meet the individual needs. Leaders ensure that advice from therapists and other professionals is understood and followed by staff.

This is enabling pupils to build knowledge and skills over time.Leaders have recently improved the quality of the curriculum. They have changed the content of all subject curriculums to ensure important knowledge and subject-specific vocabulary are clearly sequenced.

Learning is carefully planned so that pupils build their knowledge and skills over time. In most lessons, teachers use effective resources and strategies to help pupils remember subject content and concepts long term. Most staff have received training and support to help them teach subject content well.

Some aspects of the curriculum are at an early stage of development, such as working scientifically in science in key stage 1. There has not been enough time to embed the improvements to the curriculum in key stage 2 so that the outcomes for older pupils are as strong as they are for younger pupils.

Leaders prioritise reading.

In the early years, staff share stories and rhymes often, such as 'Guess How Much I Love You' by Sam McBratney. This is helping children to learn new words and phrases. Most staff are experts at teaching phonics.

This helps them to ensure children learn phonics every day from the start of Reception. Teachers regularly check children's phonic knowledge. Staff provide effective support for children who need to catch up.

They listen to children who are learning to read often. However, some of the strategies used to support some children's reading is not matched closely to the whole school approach to phonics and reading.

Older pupils read from a wide range of texts with fluency and confidence.

Teachers make sure they check pupils' understanding of what they read. This ensures pupils improve their understanding of different types of text such as 'Beowulf' by Sir Michael Morpurgo.

Children who start the early years at the age of two settle quickly.

They learn and play happily together because of the caring support they receive from staff. Children listen to stories daily. They enjoy taking part in finger rhymes, such as 'Five Little Ducks'.

This is helping them to learn numbers to 10. Pupils across the school are provided with plenty of opportunities to practise working with numbers. For example, older pupils practise multiplication tables to help them solve problems, including fractions and decimal place value.

Leaders ensure that pupils experience opportunities to prepare them well for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to 'be the best that they can be' by becoming junior road safety and mini police officers. Pupils value the importance of planting over 1,000 trees on the school field and gardening in the local community.

Pupils benefit from high levels of pastoral care such as drop-in sessions run by a professional counsellor. Leaders make sure that clubs build on pupils' talents. Strong links with a local secondary school help pupils to develop their performance skills.

Pupils are proud to support their local community through initiatives, such as the 'Food Waste Project'.

Governors support and challenge leaders to ensure that the actions taken by leaders is to the benefit of all pupils. Staff appreciate that leaders consider their views.

Leaders take action to support the well-being of staff.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a priority for all staff.

Leaders make sure that all staff receive regular training. This helps staff to identify any pupils who may be at risk of harm. The safeguarding team is highly supportive of pupils and their families.

Leaders challenge external agencies to ensure that pupils get the support they need quickly. Governors ensure safeguarding procedures are checked and reviewed regularly.

Safeguarding is taught through the curriculum.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves and others safe. This includes road and online safety.

Leaders carry out thorough recruitment checks for all who work in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's curriculum has been revised and recently implemented, including in the early years. Some teachers are in the early stages of developing new subject knowledge, including in mathematics and science. As a result, some teachers do not accurately model the vocabulary and subject matter pupils must learn.

This means that some pupils struggle to explain their understanding of subject knowledge and concepts. Leaders should ensure that all teachers continue to receive support to enable them to present subject-specific information clearly in lessons across the curriculum. ? The method for listening to pupils read is not consistently aligned with the school's approach to teaching phonics.

As a result, some pupils do not improve their reading as quickly as they could. Leaders need to ensure that the additional help provided to all pupils matches the chosen method for teaching phonics and reading.

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 September 2017.

Also at this postcode