Ofsted Report
We are pleased to share that Ofsted visited Longton Primary School and recognised the brilliant talents of our pupils. (21 and 22nd January 2025)
Our school has been graded outstanding in Personal Development and good in all other areas – Quality of Education, EYFS, Behaviour and Leadership. The outcomes are consistent with our self-assessment that we presented to the inspection team. Please note, in light of the passing of headteacher, Ruth Perry, there is no longer one overarching grade assigned.
The lead inspector commended our school, stating to our governors and senior leaders, “This is a strong profile. Personal development stood out. Everybody should be proud!”. She also pointed out that this is a very different framework from our previous inspection.
The inspectors in a team meeting summarised by stating (in their words) -
At least good | To consistently develop to be outstanding | |
Quality of Education | -Ambitious for all. -SEND breadth of curriculum. -All supported well. -Teacher knowledge is strong. -Subject knowledge for pupils is strong in most subjects including reading and maths. -Prepared well for secondary school. -Parents supportive. | - For a few pupils, achievement in the broader curriculum is not as consistent. While these pupils possess some knowledge, it can lack depth. It is important to refine expectations regarding what you want them to learn. -Some inconsistency was seen in how effectively some teachers make use of assessments to plan the next steps in a small number of wider curriculum subjects. (Does not apply to English and maths) |
Behaviour | -Attendance high -Pupils are Safe -Engagement in lessons is typically high. -High and consistent expectations for behaviour. -Missed learning effectively managed. -No low level behaviours disrupting learning - pupils can work and learn. -Pupils said bullying not tolerated and adults listen. -Staff and parents positive about behaviour. -Pupils have pride in work and show resilience. | -Adults to ensure policy and agreed systems to be adhered to for the playground e.g. where adults stand to observe play. This is because two pupils were playing cops and robbers and had a playfight, the inspector stated with no intention to hurt but it could have. -In one class a two pupils not as committed to do their best. This has not been seen in the rest of the school. They did not disrupt the learning for others but at times appear passive. -Two pupils used the word ‘Sus’ to describe another pupils behaviour which appeared to not be inclusive and respectful. -A group of 6 pupils spoke over each other when meeting with an inspector. When asked not to they stopped. This did not happen in other meetings with pupils. |
Personal Development | -Clear rationale and carefully planned. -Character development very strong -Cohesive curriculum in place. -Prepared highly effectively for adulthood. | N/A |
Early Years | -Appropriate and meaningful activity choices to ensure ready for Year 1. -All care practices in place. -High expectations of behaviour. -Relationships strong. | -Levels of curiosity – children could be encouraged to ask more questions. -Strengthen Knowledge and the use of assessment to do this. |
Leadership and Management | -Strong clear vision for all pupils -Statutory Duties – met really well. -Strong shared policies. -Leadership of SEND a strength. -Governors very robust. -Strong sense of school – what it means to be a pupil here. -Engage well in the community -Parents have an accurate view of the school -Engagement with stakeholders – purposeful. -Staff overwhelmingly positive of workload and wellbeing. -strong sense of school - implementation as leaders expected | -Make sure all adults adhere to systems at break time. -The minutes of the governing body meetings, taken by an external clerk, did not always accurately capture the information presented to governors or their understanding of it. This left it unclear if the information provided was accurate. Leadership is linked to Quality of education outcomes. |
Safeguarding | Systems for safeguarding are meticulous. Safeguarding is effective. |
We acknowledge the areas highlighted for development.
Ofsted next steps state that we need to develop –
-Some subjects are not taught as effectively as reading and maths, so some pupils are not building their deeper knowledge evenly across some of the wider curriculum subjects.
- The school needs to look more closely at how well it monitors pupils learning and identify what is working well and what needs improvement to enable more pupils to gain a deeper knowledge.
Here is how we plan to respond:
- Further strengthening the curriculum: We are dedicated to enhancing our curriculum so that all pupils develop a deeper understanding across all subjects, not just in reading and maths. As suggested by Ofsted, we will streamline the knowledge content to enable pupils to concentrate on and thoroughly understand the essential material, leading to deeper learning.
- Subject Leadership and Monitoring: This point aligns with the schools action plan for the year. The plan was shared with inspectors. This can be seen on the school website. We will establish clearer systems to ensure all leaders (subject leaders, senior leaders, Governors) track how effectively we are following our agreed practices, so we can be fully assured how our pupils are learning in all of the wider curriculum subjects. We will ensure that subject leaders are thorough in their monitoring and that nobody could be easily assured by having the strong systems in place. This will help us identify our strengths and areas for improvement. We were already implementing a new monitoring schedule to assess our effectiveness, which was already included in this year’s action plan and shared with the inspectors.
- Agreed policy adherence: We will implement a system to ensure that all staff routinely apply the agreed behaviour procedures. It is important to note that this is about an adult not being in their assigned area at playtime during the inspection, and it does not relate to classroom behaviour.
- Balanced Focus on Strengths and Areas for Improvement: While we will always strive to improve, we take on board that we also need to celebrate our successes and understand what works well in our school and not just focus on constant improvement. That being said we will now be creating another improvement plan to address these points.
-We had already appointed a new clerk to governors to ensure that the minutes reflect the robust meetings and challenge presented by our strong Governing Board.
This is an initial overview and will undoubtedly develop over time.
Our goal remains to ensure that every pupil receives the best education possible – both academic and in character so that they are fully prepared for their next stage in life.
As the inspector stated - we are proud of the progress our school and pupils have made and look forward to building on this success in the future. We look forward to all of us continuing to work together to achieve even greater things.
Below, you will find a link to three documents: the inspection report, the Ofsted handbook grading document and parent view. This provides an understanding of the grading system. It highlights what we do well and areas for development. The second area for development was part of our whole school development plan from September 2024. This was shared with the inspection team and can be seen on the website under 'Year Focus'.
Longton Primary School | Ofsted Parent View
If you would like to meet to discuss this information or have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Warmest regards
The Governors of the School.
Year Focus
Mrs J Brown