School Improvement Plan - Nettlesworth Primary School

At Nettlesworth Primary School, we are always striving for excellence and to ensure we are delivering the best possible education and life experiences to the children. In order to continue to grow as a school, we constantly evaluate and reflect upon all the work we do in school. Each academic year we will as a school create our own School Improvement Plan. This Improvement plan outlines exactly what we intend to do over the coming year to improve our school in all areas. Our current School improvement Priorities are shown below.

The school improvement priorities have been selected following extensive discussions and consultation with our teachers, governors, parents and pupils as well as representatives from the Local Authority and the wider community. Our next priorities have been grouped under the New Ofsted Common Inspection Framework Heading.

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2024 – 2025 academic year are listed below:

Quality of Education

1. Continued opportunities to extend pupils’ thinking or deepen pupils’ understanding can be variable. This can limit pupils’ depth of learning. Subject Leaders need to strengthen this aspect of curriculum planning, so that more pupils receive increasing opportunities to extend their thinking and gain a deeper understanding of the subjects they study.

2. Sometimes, assessment approaches do not focus on checking how well pupils understand knowledge from the taught curriculum. This means that opportunities to extend and consolidate pupils’ learning can be missed. Leaders need to continue to ensure that assessments focus on how well pupils have secured their subject specific knowledge and skills from the taught curriculum.

Behaviour and Attitudes

3. Attendance in all phases of the school is further improved in line with new regulations for schools in next stage of attendance drive

Personal Development

4. School accreditation for the Rights Respecting School Award (RRS) Gold expires in Nov 2024.We are seeking to be reaccredited in order for us to further continue our work with children, parents and the wider community in this area of the curriculum.

Leadership and Management

5.Exceptional leadership and management ensures that staff are well-supported so that high expectations of all pupils are realised

To ensure that all staff in new roles are effectively supported so that T&L remains strong throughout the school.
To continue to further well-being for all parts of the school community, including consideration of workload

Quality of Education in Early Years

6. Pupils develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and as a result achieve well, this is reflected in the work that the pupils produce.

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2023 – 2024 academic year are listed below:

Quality of Education

1.Opportunities to extend pupils’ thinking or deepen pupils’ understanding can be variable. This can limit pupils’ depth of learning. Subject Leaders need to strengthen this aspect of curriculum planning, so that more pupils receive increasing opportunities to extend their thinking and gain a deeper understanding of the subjects they study.

2.Sometimes, assessment approaches do not focus on checking how well pupils understand knowledge from the taught curriculum. This means that opportunities to extend and consolidate pupils’ learning can be missed. Leaders need to ensure that assessments focus on how well pupils have secured their subject specific knowledge and skills from the taught curriculum.

Behaviour and Attitudes

3.Continue to develop a strong focus on attendance and punctuality and create a culture where children show they have the skills to face difficulties with confidence

Personal Development

4.To take part in a pilot programme partnership with North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) to strengthen careers guidance for pupils and help open their eyes to the range of possibilities their futures hold

Leadership and Management

5.Exceptional leadership and management ensures that staff are well-supported so that high expectations of all pupils are realised

To continue to provide more opportunities for access to formal qualification an accreditation routes across all staff groups
To further well-being for all parts of the school community, including consideration of workload

Quality of Education in Early Years

6.The work given to the pupils continues to be demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2022 – 2023 academic year are listed below:

Quality of Education

1.Children are equipped with the knowledge and cultural capital to succeed as learners

a)The work given to pupils is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge

b) Assessment in all forms is used purposefully to close gaps and accelerate progress

Behaviour and Attitudes

2.Difference is valued and nurtured whilst commonalities are identified and celebrated

a)The curriculum provides children with experiences of the wider world to help them to understand their village, the world they in and their place within it

b)Teaching promotes independence and creativity which empowers children to take greater control of their learning.

3.Continue to develop a strong focus on attendance and punctuality and create a culture where children show they have the skills to face difficulties with confidence

Personal Development

4.To further embed the work already undertaken via NACE and RRSA on inclusion we would like to seek re-accreditation for Inclusion Quality Mark.

5.To further increase the range of enrichment opportunities (physical activity, creative and nature based opportunities), which enhance children’s wellbeing

Leadership and Management

6.Exceptional leadership and management ensures that staff are well-supported so that high expectations of all pupils are realised

a.To provide more opportunities for access to formal qualification an accreditation routes across all staff groups

b.To further well-being for all parts of the school community, including consideration of workload

Quality of Education in Early Years

7a. The work given to the pupils is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge

7b. Continue to strengthen EYFS curriculum, assessment and practice to improve outcomes for all children and close the gap for disadvantaged children.

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2021 – 2022 academic year are listed below:

Quality of education

All Staff to have a good understanding of how to teach explicit and systematic phonics.
Implementation of the new Durham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Continue progress within maths by providing more extended tasks that require investigation and reflection on learning and resilience (NACE Report July 21)
Use success criteria and toolkits to sharpen what is needed to achieve greater depth to compliment verbal feedback in this area (NACE Report July 21)

Behaviour and Attitudes

Continue to develop a strong focus on attendance and punctuality and create a culture where children show they have the skills to face difficulties with confidence
To use our school ethos, values and routines to support children in their recovery and development post-pandemic.

Personal Development

School accreditation for the Rights Respecting School Award (RRS) Gold expires in Nov 2021.We are seeking to be reaccredited in order for us to further continue our work with children, parents and the wider community in this area of the curriculum.

Leadership and Management

Subject Leadership is not yet outstanding and work to ensure this is the best it can possibly be is a priority
Provide opportunities for staff to carry out action research to have a direct impact on teaching and learning.
The school continues to provide a safe environment in line with COVID-19 Government Advice.

Quality of education in early years

Ensure that the new EYFS Reforms 2021 are embedded and utilised effectively.
To strengthen EYFS curriculum, assessment and practice to improve outcomes for all children and close the gap for disadvantaged children.

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2020 – 2021 academic year are listed below:

Quality of Education

Ensure the implementation of the Cornerstones Curriculum is effective.
There continues to be a disparity in percentage attainment between Maths and other subject areas in 2019 KS2 SAT tests. We need to continue to close the gap in percentage attainment with other subjects via involvement in Great North Maths Hub Mastery Maths Workgroup and improved arithmetic techniques.
Improve outcomes in all areas, whatever the starting points, so that pupils are ready for the next stage in their education.

Behaviour and attitudes

Reinforce learning attitudes with pupils as they return to school especially those who are most vulnerable
Create a culture where children show that they are resilient in the face of difficulties
Continue to improve the persistent absenteeism of a small minority of our pupils, who are in receipt of free school meals

Personal development

A continuation of the move towards improvement in quality of teaching (This links to SIP 1) This will link directly to NACE reaccreditation.
To focus on wellbeing and a recovery curriculum following COVID 19 lockdown. Pupils to have access to high quality UNCRC/SEAL/PSHCE, outdoor learning and a tailored therapy yoga programme to aid and support pupils well being
Implement Relationships and Sex Education Framework through our current PSHCE/UNCRC/SEAL and Science Curriculum

Leadership and management

Continue to ensure governors and senior leaders have a full and realistic picture of the impact of the school improvement priorities using an increased range of monitoring processes.
Continue to further develop the expertise and skills of our senior and middle leaders to secure effective succession planning, ensuring checks on the quality of teaching and learning look more comprehensively across the curriculum and continue to more objectively identify the strengths and weaknesses in teachers’ practice.
The school continues to provide a safe environment in line with COVID-19 Government Advice.

Quality of education in early years

Effective transition into school for new starters
To ensure children acquire a wide vocabulary and can communicate effectively in a range of contexts
Support parents/carers to understand the Early Learning Goals and ensure that they know how to support their child effectively. 4. Effective transition into Year 1 and analysis of learning gaps with effective planning to address these.

Overall Effectiveness

As a NACE research school, continue to focus on the drive of outstanding teaching.

Our School Improvement Plan Priorities for the 2019 – 2020 academic year are listed below:

Quality of education

To use Cornerstones to develop the content of our curriculum. The quality of the wider curriculum continues to be improved, so that topics are covered in more depth and detail.
There continues to be a disparity in percentage attainment between Maths and other subject areas in 2019 KS2 SAT tests. We need to continue to close the gap in percentage attainment with other subjects via involvement in Great North Maths Hub Mastery Maths Workgroup and improved arithmetic techniques.

Behaviour and attitudes

Children continue to make links between UNCRC articles and other curriculum topics being studied.
Improve the attendance of a small minority of our pupils

Personal development

To further embed the work already undertaken via NACE and RRSA on inclusion we would like to seek re-accreditation for Inclusion Quality Mark.

Leadership and management

Ensure governors and senior leaders have a full and realistic picture of the impact of the school improvement priorities using an increased range of monitoring processes.
Further develop the expertise and skills of our senior and middle leaders to secure effective succession planning, ensuring checks on the quality of teaching and learning look more comprehensively across the curriculum and continue to more objectively identify the strengths and weaknesses in teachers’ practice.

Quality of education in early years

To strengthen work with external partners and the wider community to broaden the curriculum and experiences for all children. Explore the scope for improved links with pre-school providers to increase proportion of pupils joining school.

Overall effectiveness

As a NACE research school, continue to focus on the drive of outstanding teaching.

Please view our Pupil Improvement Plans

Our Pupil Improvement Plans 2019-2020 continued for 2020-2021 due to COVID pandemic