Inspection Summary Report - Whitehead Primary School and Nursery Unit

Whitehead Primary School and Nursery Unit

DE Ref No 301-0874

Inspection Summary Report - June 2026

The school’s vision, articulated in the acronym SHINE (Share, Help, Include, Nurture and Excel), and its core values are understood well by all within the wider school community.
The school development and action‑planning processes are informed by extensive consultation, first-hand evidence of learning and teaching, and thorough analysis of assessment data. The evaluations are robust and show demonstrable progress.
The children are confident, articulate and courteous. They understand fully that they all support one another to be the best they can be and to ‘shine’.
The planning for learning across the school, including the nursery, is comprehensive and of high quality. The development of the children’s creativity, problem-solving and investigative skills, alongside the connections made across the curriculum, is a strength of the provision.
Digital technologies are integrated effectively across the school, enhancing the children’s learning and engagement. The staff have identified appropriately the need to strengthen progression in the development of the children’s digital skills.
The school has an inclusive ethos in which the health and wellbeing of all are promoted effectively.
The staff have identified appropriately that a small number of safeguarding-related policies require review, to ensure that they reflect accurately the school’s practice.
Personal learning plans are high quality, with clear, measurable targets, meaningful contributions from children, parents and classroom assistants, and well-evidenced progress. It will be important for staff to prioritise SEN in the next cycle of school development planning, empowering all of the staff to enhance their expertise in meeting the increasingly complex needs of children.
There is a deeply embedded culture of praise and affirmation across the school, in which the children’s achievements in all areas of the curriculum are celebrated.
The school’s internal data indicates that most of the children are making good progress in their learning. In the children’s books across the year groups, there is strong evidence of progression, engagement and broad curriculum coverage.
Learner participation is a key strength of the school, with children actively shaping their learning, contributing to decision-making, and developing leadership skills through meaningful roles and responsibilities.
Well-planned staff professional learning is closely aligned to the school’s priorities for improvement and supports consistency in classroom practice.
Collaborative partnerships with other schools and the wider community have a highly positive impact on the quality and extent of the children’s learning across the curriculum.
At the time of the inspection, the evidence provided by the school demonstrates that the arrangements for child protection align to the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

Whitehead Primary School and Nursery Unit has a clearly defined vision, articulated concisely as SHINE, which is deeply embedded in the whole school community. The children understand clearly the three core values and how they live them out practically. The processes for self‑evaluation and action-planning are firmly based on first-hand evidence of the quality of learning and teaching, and on extensive, meaningful consultation.

As planned and set out in the school’s current priorities for development, the next steps for the school are to take forward the following area for action: to strengthen the expertise of the staff to meet the increasingly complex needs of the children.

The District Inspector will monitor the school’s progress in addressing the area for action, as part of ETI’s routine monitoring processes.

Inspectors identified aspects of highly effective practice from which others may learn. The aspects of practice which should be shared more widely are:

the comprehensive planning in all subject areas which supports very effectively the development of the children’s creativity, problem-solving and investigative skills; and;
the children’s participation in actively shaping their learning, contributing to decision-making, and developing leadership skills through meaningful roles and opportunities.