Our latest OFSTED report is available to download here Newlands Primary School 116080 Final PDF

“Passionate teachers deliver exciting lessons that keep pupils interested in what they are learning.” Ofsted Report 2022

April 2022 saw the publication of our OFSTED report following their inspection on 15th and 16^th February. Having had to keep the outcome confidential for over a month, it is a real privilege to share with you all the excellent things that the OFSTED inspector saw in our truly unique and wonderful school. I really enjoyed being able to talk to an external expert about all the superb things we do and all the changes we have made at Newlands since the last inspection. I would like to put on record my thanks to Shaun Jarvis who was the inspector. He was thorough, challenging, open minded and ready to listen to myself and the entire team here in Newlands. My only gripe was that our inspection was a ‘Section 8’ inspection which means we had just one inspector for two days and as a result, the inspector is confirming that the school is still ‘good’ rather than re-assessing the school completely.

As you read the report, I’m sure you will, like me, have a big smile on your face. For me, the report best sums up the school with the two quotes;

“Passionate teachers deliver exciting lessons that keep pupils interested in what they are learning.”

“Staff working at Newlands are passionate about their work. This means that they are really invested in what they do. Their focus is on ensuring that pupils are happy, safe and learn well.”

Other things that the inspections highlighted and should be celebrated are:

• the family feel of the school
• the way all children are treated as individuals
• the quality of the curriculum
• the confidence of the children
• the high expectations of the children
• the provision for children with special educational needs
• the way that we know our families
• the fact that we always put pupil safety and well-being as being paramount

The limited time available in the inspection meant that only three curriculum areas (reading, art and geography) were looked at in-depth. The inspector was very impressed with what he saw in our curriculum leadership, even verbally commenting that our subject leaders are some of the best that he’d ever come across. This came as no surprise, as the local authority have already asked us to support other local schools in developing their leaders and curriculum. While I believe that all of our subjects are taught to at least a ‘good’ standard to use an OFSTED description, we were limited by time to present more evidence that all of our subjects are taught as well as reading, art and geography. It is for this reason that we have been given the target of ensuring that subject leadership is consistent in every subject.

The other target that we have been set is in regards to the systematic nature of our recordkeeping around safeguarding. The inspector was very clear that child safety is paramount and that we know and follow all appropriate procedures and at no point has any child been exposed to any additional risk as a result of our recordkeeping. The target comes about from the fact that we maintain a paper record of all safeguarding concerns but we conduct our analysis using a spreadsheet. This means there is a duplication of some records and there is the need to read both the paper and digital copies at the same time to understand the full picture. As a result of this target, we have already carried out a complete audit of our records and adjusted our procedures to ensure that it is clear there is one master copy of records that these can be read in isolation and which gives us a complete picture.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current staff and our previous colleagues for all of their hard work since the last inspection. When I was appointed as headteacher five years ago, whilst the school was considered to be ‘good’ officially by OFSTED, the local authority thought it was at high risk of being rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. Our recent inspection by Hampshire and our OFSTED inspection clearly demonstrate the progress of the school and what a fantastic school Newlands is.

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