Goodly Dale Primary School Ofsted Report

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Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase pupils’ progress and the proportion of pupils attaining the higher levels by:
  • ensuring that teachers’ expectations for pupils’ learning are closely matched to pupils’ abilities, so enabling them to provide work with sufficient challenge.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • further developing the roles of subject leaders so that they monitor progress in their subjects more closely
  • developing action planning to ensure that it includes targets which are specific and measurable.
• Work more closely with families to improve attendance and reduce levels of persistent absence.
• Develop the outdoor area in early years to provide a more stimulating environment in which to enhance children’s learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors share a passion and commitment to provide the best possible care and education for pupils. Since the previous inspection, they have brought about improvements to governance, the teaching of mathematics, attainment, pupils’ personal development and welfare, and safeguarding arrangements. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the leadership and its capacity to ensure that the school continues to improve.
• The headteacher provides determined leadership. She has worked well to create an environment where staff feel valued and supported to develop their skills. All who responded to the staff survey agreed that they were proud to work at the school and that they were supported to develop professionally. Staff training in the teaching of mathematics has brought about improvement to the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress in this subject.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Action planning identifies well-informed priorities for the school to address to improve further. However, in places, planning lacks clear success criteria with which to measure the impact of the school’s actions and enable governors to more firmly hold leaders to account.
• Leaders provide an interesting and varied curriculum for pupils. Pupils benefit from, for example, music lessons and philosophy lessons. All pupils have the opportunity to take part in activities in the forest school. These activities promote the development of a wide range of skills, including in risk-taking, resilience, problem solving and independence.
• Pupils benefit from a broad range of after-school clubs and visits which develop their experiences and enhance learning effectively. For example, pupils attend gym, cricket and dance clubs, and older pupils take part in sailing and climbing activities.
• The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils develop an understanding of right and wrong. They show a good understanding of different cultures and faiths. Pupils who spoke with the inspector showed a good understanding of diversity, commenting that ‘everyone is different’.
• Almost all parents who responded to Parent View or shared their views by text to Ofsted expressed extremely positive views of the school. Parents commented that their children are happy, safe and make good progress. Most parents felt well informed about their children’s progress and all who responded to Parent View would recommend the school to another parent.
• Leaders make effective use of the primary school sports funding to provide sports coaches and a broad range of sporting activities such as dance, swimming, and lacrosse. This funding is also used to promote pupils’ participation in inter-school sports competitions and to ensure the provision of after-school sports clubs. These measures have a positive impact on pupils’ interest in, and enjoyment of, sports and exercise.
• Leaders ensure that the funding for disadvantaged pupils and for those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is used well. Funding is used to provide additional staffing, training and resources to support these pupils in making good progress from their different starting points.
• Following a dip in results in 2015, the school received targeted support from the local authority to improve the quality of teaching and develop subject leadership. This has helped to strengthen teaching and leadership. Since September 2017, the level of support has been ‘light touch’, due to the local authority’s confidence in the leadership of the school to continue to bring about improvement.
• Subject leaders are clear about their roles and have plans for further improvement in their subject areas. However, for some leaders, the monitoring of progress in their subject area is in its early stages. This means that some subject leaders do not have a well-informed picture of progress in their subject area on which to base improvements.

Governance of the school

• Governors are highly committed to ensuring that the school continues to improve. Since the last inspection, they have developed their own expertise and have become more involved in the life of the school. For example, governors now undertake learning walks, and named governors provide support for the safeguarding leaders and the special educational needs coordinator.
• Governors have an accurate picture of the school. They know the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. Minutes of governing body meetings show that they provide a good level of challenge and support to the headteacher.
• Governors manage finances well. They have a good awareness of how funding is spent.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding is at the heart of the school’s ethos. Staff work together to ensure that pupils are safe and well protected.
• Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding issues and are confident about the action to take should they have concerns about a pupil. Regular training and updates ensure that they are well informed about all aspects of safeguarding, including issues such as child sexual exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse.
• Safeguarding records are clear and detailed and demonstrate the school’s positive work with other agencies and with parents to meet pupils’ needs.
• Pupils show an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe online. Pupils say that they feel safe, and all parents who responded to Ofsted’s Parent View agreed that the school keeps their children safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is well organised and provides interesting activities which engage pupils in their learning effectively. This contributes positively to pupils’ good progress.
• Staff establish positive relationships with pupils. This means that pupils feel secure and develop confidence in their learning.
• Teachers ensure that activities are well planned and resourced. For example, a writing activity flowed smoothly for pupils in key stage 1, as they had ready access to the resources they needed to identify a well-known character and record questions for other pupils to guess ‘Who am I?’
• Staff question pupils well to encourage them to think and deepen their learning. For example, pupils in lower key stage 2 working on a mathematical problem-solving activity were asked questions such as ‘How do you know it is right?’
• Teachers are skilled in encouraging pupils to cooperate and share ideas to develop learning. For example, pupils in upper key stage 2 worked well together in pairs to discuss the features of a diary. Similarly, pupils worked effectively with a partner to solve mathematical problems as they worked out which numbers to multiply together to create a ‘target number’.
• Teachers provide a range of activities to promote pupils’ reading skills and love of books. Phonics is taught well. Pupils relish the opportunities to read in school and speak with enthusiasm about the book they are studying as a class.
• Teachers usually match activities well to pupils’ skills and interests. On occasion, however, activities are not closely enough matched to what pupils already know and can do. For example, expectations for pupils’ learning in a key stage 2 science activity looking at plants were not high enough to ensure that skills and knowledge were deepened.
• Teaching assistants are used effectively to provide support to groups and individuals to promote their learning. Teaching assistants have a good awareness of pupils’ capabilities and generally question them well to support their understanding and progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils show a strong sense of pride in their school. All pupils who spoke with the inspector said that they enjoyed school. Typical comments were that school is ‘fun’, and that ‘everyone’s a good friend’.
• Leaders have developed a strong ethos of care, nurture and respect for others, which is evident throughout the school. Pupils show extremely well-developed skills of cooperation and working with others in the classroom. They also develop positive relationships with pupils of different ages within school. Older pupils care for younger in the playground. In the classroom, they listen well to each other and show respect for each other’s views.
• Pupils show a mature understanding of the importance of listening to and respecting the views of others. For instance, during a whole-school assembly, pupils sat in their mixed-age teams to share their ideas and discuss questions about the importance of rules. As a result of discussions such as this, pupils are developing an understanding of British values such as individual liberty and the rule of law.
• Pupils are confident and show a love of learning. They are eager to engage in their learning and to do their best. This highly positive attitude has a beneficial impact on their progress in learning.
• All parents who responded to Parent View agreed that their child was happy at the school. A typical comment was, ‘the school provides a safe and nurturing environment for children to grow and thrive’.
• Pupils relish their roles and responsibilities as, for example, members of the school council, sports council and green team. They show an extremely good appreciation of the importance of exercise and participate well in the good range of after-school sports clubs available.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school and display an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe online. They have a very good awareness of the different types of bullying and are adamant that it rarely happens at Goodly Dale. They are confident in staff’s ability to sort out any problems that may arise.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils’ conduct in lessons and around school is good. They line up sensibly and move to different areas of the school building quietly. They are polite and welcoming to visitors.
• Pupils behave well in the breakfast club, which provides a positive start to the school day.
• Pupils listen well to teachers’ instructions and work hard in class. They respond well to staff’s clear expectations for their good behaviour. This positive behaviour helps to promote their good progress.
• Despite pupils’ and parents’ extremely positive view of the school, some pupils do not attend school as often as they should. Leaders work hard to encourage regular attendance and to resolve any barriers to this. However, although the number of absences for reasons such as term-time holidays is reducing, this remains an area for the school to improve.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• From their varied starting points, pupils make good progress across a range of subjects. Most attain expected standards at the end of key stage 2 and, along with their excellent progress in personal development, this means that they are well prepared for the transfer to secondary school.
• Published data for the end-of-key-stage tests should be treated with caution. The small number of pupils in each year group means that one pupil represents a bigger percentage of the whole year group than would be the case in a larger school. Published data for 2016 and 2017 shows that in key stage 2 pupils make progress in line with the national average. In 2017 pupils made progress in reading which was significantly above the national average.
• Pupils make good progress in key stage 1. In 2017, the proportion of pupils attaining the higher standards showed improvement.
• Work in pupils’ books, observations of learning and the school’s own tracking information show that pupils currently in the school are making good progress in all year groups. In the current year, improvements are evident in pupils’ progress in mathematics, which is accelerating due to improvements in the quality of teaching.
• Most pupils acquire good phonic knowledge and make good progress in reading skills. The results of the Year 1 phonics check show that pupils achieve high standards in phonics.
• The most able pupils are making better progress than in the past. In 2017, the proportion of pupils attaining the higher standards at the end of key stage 2 was low. The number of pupils currently on track to attain the higher standards at the end of key stage 2 in writing and mathematics shows an improvement on previous years. Leaders acknowledge that this is an area for the school to improve further.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress, due to the effective support they receive to promote their learning.
• Disadvantaged pupils make similar, and in some cases better, progress than their peers.
• Effective use of teachers’ specialist skills and knowledge helps pupils to make strong progress in a range of subjects. For example, specialist teaching in physical education and music promotes pupils’ good progress in these subjects.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter early years with a range of skills and abilities which, for most, are below those typical for their age. As a result of good teaching, they make strong progress and achieve well by the end of Reception Year. This means they are well prepared for the transfer to Year 1.
• Staff establish clear expectations and positive relationships with children. As a result, children settle quickly into Nursery and Reception classes. Children show familiarity with routines and a strong sense of security in their surroundings.
• Staff provide a broad range of experiences for children which engage their interest well. For example, children enjoy joining in imaginative play as they act out a familiar ‘Bear Hunt’ story. They are questioned well to develop their understanding of the story.
• Children relish their time in the school’s forest school environment. They have weekly opportunities to explore the environment and develop learning through investigation and, for example, making bird feeders.
• Children show growing independence as they confidently choose their own activities. They show a keen interest in early writing as they select clipboards to make lists. They show curiosity as they explore water play, using different containers and tubes in the outdoor area.
• The early years is well led. Leaders ensure that children’s progress is carefully tracked, and support put in place to make sure that children who may be lagging behind catch up quickly. Leaders have a good awareness of the strengths of the provision and areas to develop further.
• Staff establish positive relationships with parents. Parents’ views are valued and they are encouraged to share information about their child’s experiences. Parents are invited to a forest school session. Weekly newsletters give parents helpful information about children’s activities and learning. Leaders plan to further develop links with parents in sharing observations of their children’s learning.
• The immediate outdoor play space provides an appropriate range of resources and equipment for children. However, the area looks ‘tired’ and does not provide a stimulating environment in which to further enhance children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 112191 Cumbria 10037790 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 87 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Kathryn Ritchie Cheryl Johnston 01539446946 www.goodlydaleprimaryschool.co.uk admin@goodlydale.cumbria.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 28–29 January 2014

Information about this school

• This is a much-smaller-than-average primary school.
• The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average. The proportion of pupils who have statements of special educational needs or education, health and care plans is above the national average.
• The school has a special resourced provision for pupils with medical needs. There are no pupils currently attending this provision.
• The school operates a breakfast club each morning.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of key stage 2.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning throughout the school. All observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector scrutinised pupils’ workbooks and listened to pupils read.
• Meetings were held with pupils, three governors, the headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspector also held telephone meetings with the chair of governors and with a representative from the local authority.
• The inspector looked at a range of information produced by the school, including information on pupils’ progress and attainment, behaviour and attendance, procedures for safeguarding and the school’s own evaluation of its work. She considered reports to the governing body, minutes of their meetings and the school’s plans for further improvement.
• The inspector considered the 40 responses to the online questionnaire Parent view, and the views of the 41 parents who expressed their views to Ofsted via text message.
• The inspector also took account of the 10 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and the 11 responses to the online pupil questionnaire.

Inspection team

Elaine White, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector