Newburgh Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 16 July 2024

Newburgh Primary School is a friendly and nurturing school. Pupils are happy and settled here. They are keen to come to school and learn well. Pupils flourish because adults take great care of them. Staff know them and their families well. Parents and carers are very supportive of the school. Pupils are respectful, well-mannered, polite and courteous. They behave well in lessons and around school. The 'NEWBURGH' values sum up the behaviours and attitudes expected throughout the school. These include being nurturing, engaging, welcoming, considerate and resilient. During social times, pupils play together well and look after each other. Leaders have high expectations for all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Most achieve well. Pupils appreciate receiving recognition for their hard work. This includes being awarded house points and merit awards. The school provides pupils with a wide range of opportunities. This includes many leadership opportunities, such as school councillors, Shakespeare ambassadors and anti-bullying ambassadors. Pupils take part in clubs, including a variety of sports clubs, choir and cooking. They visit museums, an outdoor centre and places of interest in the local area and further afield. This enhances the academic curriculum well.

What the school should improve

• The implementation of the school's agreed teaching strategies is not consistently applied in all subjects. This does not help some pupils practise the knowledge they need to remember and slows their learning. The school should continue to develop staff's understanding of the agreed teaching methods to maximise pupils' learning across all subjects.
• In some cases, strategies for disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, do not allow some of these pupils to gain the most from the curriculum. This means that the school may not be using the most effective type of support to support these pupils. The school should evaluate the current provision for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND to ensure that all teachers are well equipped to adapt learning sufficiently well to meet all pupils' needs.
• Some subject leaders do not have an accurate picture of how well the curriculum is implemented. This means that pupils experience variability in the way learning is delivered across the school. The school must support all subject leaders to accurately evaluate the implementation of their subject so that they can identify ways in which this can be improved.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)