Quality of education at primary school in Bedlington 'not good enough' according to Ofsted

St Bede’s Catholic Primary School received the rating following its first visit from the government regulator since it became an academy and joined the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust.

Inspectors found the quality of education at the Bedlington school was “not good enough” and that “pupils do not systematically build their knowledge and skills over time.”

Their report praised how reading was taught, but said: “Some staff do not make the best use of opportunities to consolidate and extend young children’s spoken language.

“The school has not provided staff with the training that they need to do this well.”

The report added that “inconsistencies” were found in the teaching of some elements of the personal, social, and health education curriculum.

Inspectors found that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities receive the help they need, but that more consideration of how the curriculum could be adapted to support their progress was needed.

Pupils get on well with each other and enjoy coming to school, but rules are not always followed during classes, which means lessons can be disrupted “when pupils are demotivated.”

Inspectors added: “Usually, this is because the planned learning activity has not been considered carefully by the adults in school.

“Pupils sometimes miss vital new learning because they do not listen to staff. On occasion, they talk over staff.

“The school has not ensured that all staff have the same expectations of pupils’ behaviour in lessons. Also, the school has not ensured that low-level disruption is dealt with consistently.”

However, inspectors also said: “There is a warm, nurturing ethos at St Bede’s. Staff know the pupils well. They have created an environment in which pupils feel safe and secure.”

As a result of the findings, inspectors told the school that it needed to have a more “clear and ambitious vision” for its curriculum that better set out the knowledge pupils needed, and that staff should be better trained to develop their subject and teaching knowledge.

They added that the school’s behaviour policies should be implemented more universally.

The trust has been approached for comment.