Bishop Wilton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and development is consistently good or better and enables pupils to make good or better progress across the curriculum by:
  • making sure that pupils receive a staple diet of effective teaching that consistently inspires, engages and challenges them
  • enabling pupils to flourish as they move through the school and to make up any lost ground caused by their prior slower learning
  • making sure that there is a focus on helping pupils to better understand and implement what they need to do to improve their learning and progress in all subjects
  • reinforcing the awareness among staff of the high expectations they should have of which all pupils are capable, given their favourable prior starting points
  • improving pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 2 in mathematics, reading and writing and other subjects, so that it is good when set against their starting points
  • raising attainment in mathematics by the end of key stage 1 and making sure that more pupils achieve a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Improve provision and increase the level of children’s outcomes in the early years by:
  • increasing the challenge provided for all pupils so that they are stretched and make good or better progress when set against their favourable starting points
  • eradicating the inconsistency in the quality of teaching so that pupils make rapid progress in their learning and development of wider key skills and dispositions
  • improving outdoor provision so that it matches that provided indoors and gives pupils more opportunity to develop their writing, mathematics and language skills
  • ensuring that more pupils are exceeding expectations across all learning goals by the end of the early years foundation stage, which none do at present.
• Increasing leaders’ effectiveness, and the impact of governors’ strategic support and challenge, in securing improvements in the quality of education the school provides by:
  • embedding the strategies that are working linked to: improving teaching, learning and assessment; accelerating pupils’ achievement; and developing curriculum breadth and balance, so their impact on pupils’ learning and development grows
  • embedding the more effective monitoring, evaluation and refining of improvement strategies recently introduced to improve the quality of education
  • continuing to use data to target, challenge and support staff, so that the impact of their work improves and they can better support pupils’ learning and progress
  • ensuring pupils’ wider cultural awareness is effectively developed by the curriculum
  • providing pupils with more opportunities to develop, more deeply, their knowledge, skills and understanding in subjects other than mathematics and English.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders, managers and other responsible stakeholders have not ensured that the school maintained the good quality of education it formerly provided. The short inspection in January 2018 identified several areas where the school’s performance had declined or required improvement. These were linked to the progress pupils made during their time in the school, the balance and breadth of the curriculum and the quality and consistency of teaching.
• The new headteacher, supported by much improved support from the diocese and the local authority, has begun to tackle, effectively, some of the deep-rooted issues afflicting the school. She is also being helped by effective support from a multi-academy trust. Recent increases in leaders’ impact indicate capacity for further improvements. The challenge for the school is to improve effectiveness sufficiently to secure a good or better rating when it is next inspected. Notwithstanding the obvious commitment of all concerned, time will tell if leaders can sustain and build upon their initial success.
• The new headteacher has an accurate picture of the school and a clear vision for its future. She accepts that the quality of education currently provided is not good enough. She is beginning to develop a culture of high expectations among staff, of which pupils are capable, and high aspirations among the pupils themselves. However, there is a recognition that more effective monitoring, evaluation and refining of the recently introduced improvement strategies are needed. In addition, a continuation of the more effective accountability, training and development of staff will help to ensure that the impact of the staff’s work improves and they can more effectively promote pupils’ learning.
• The curriculum has been too narrow over time and this has inhibited the opportunities pupils have had to study a wide range of subjects. For example, until recently, pupils were unable to routinely study a modern foreign language or develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of information and communication technology. While more subjects are being taught than before, pupils do not have enough time to really hone and deepen their subject-specific skills in aspects other than mathematics and English.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development is promoted well through the curriculum. However, pupils’ wider cultural awareness requires improvement. This is important given the school’s monocultural context which does not reflect life in modern Britain. British values are generally well promoted through a range of appropriate methods.
• Additional funding to support pupils who have special education needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is used appropriately, but its effectiveness over time has been variable.
• The impact over time of leaders’ use of pupil premium funding has been variable in reducing gaps in the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally. There are gaps in the school’s strategy for pupil premium spending, such as identifying barriers to learning experienced by disadvantaged pupils and how leaders plan to minimise the impact of these barriers on disadvantaged pupils’ achievement.
• The physical education (PE) and sport premium is used to give pupils more opportunities to engage in after-school clubs and competitions. Sports coaches also support the teaching of PE in school. Leaders have not evaluated the sustainability of this model.
• Collectively, the local authority, diocese and the multi-academy trust the school is working with have provided a range of effective support, advice and guidance which is demonstrating initial impact in supporting leadership and governance, improving the quality and impact of teaching and developing assessment practice.
• Most parents and carers feel that their children are happy and safe in school. All of those who completed the online questionnaire would recommend the school.

Governance of the school

• The impact of governance over time in strategically challenging and supporting the school to sustain a good or better quality of education has not been strong.
• Governors have not ensured that the website meets all the statutory requirements.
• Since September 2017, there has been a new chair, vice chair and several new parent, community and local authority governors. They have been appointed according to identified gaps in knowledge, skills and understanding on the governing body. This is intended to help ensure that governors can more effectively hold leaders and other staff to account for the effectiveness with which the school is run.
• Roles and responsibilities have been refined to ensure a sharper focus on the school’s key priorities for improvement. Scrutiny of the most recent minutes of governing body meetings demonstrates that governors are asking well-conceived, pertinent questions and challenging leaders to account for poor performance where it is identified.
• Governors have taken advantage of the various training, advice and guidance provided to them, including the assistance of a national leader for governance. They are a cohesive and ambitious group, with a realistic understanding of the challenges they face in strategically supporting the school’s improvement. These initial signs of greater effectiveness increase the school’s capacity to make the necessary improvements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is an unmistakable culture of vigilance and safety in the school. Staff embrace the role they play in keeping pupils safe and take their responsibilities seriously. Staff are rigorously checked to ensure that they are fit to work with children. Appropriate, regular training is delivered to ensure that staff are aware of, and can apply, the current guidance and thinking in their practice.
• Staff have recently improved their knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the ‘Prevent’ duty and recognise potential indicators of child abuse or neglect.
• There are clear systems and protocols to record and act upon any concerns about pupils. There are established links with a range of external agencies which support the work staff do to keep children safe. The positive feedback from parents and carers endorses the confidence they have in the effectiveness of the school’s strategy.
• Pupils say they feel safe in school. Pupils know about different forms of bullying and state, categorically, that it is rare in their school and that when it happens, it is resolved swiftly and effectively.
• Minor inconsistencies in the recording and reporting of accidents need sorting out.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Over time and currently, the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and progress is mediocre at best. Undeniable evidence from observations of pupils’ learning, evaluation of published data, scrutiny of pupils’ work and current assessment information, along with discussion with pupils about their knowledge, understanding and skills, confirms this. Interventions for pupils who need extra help to catch up vary in their effectiveness.
• The disparity in the success of teaching is apparent in classes and subjects throughout the school. The cumulative effective of this inconsistency is that pupils’ learning is being slowed and they are failing to reach their potential in the subjects they study.
• The challenge for the school going forward is to make sure that teaching is consistently good enough to ensure that all pupils make the progress they are capable of, and/or can make up any lost ground in their learning caused by their slower progress over time.
• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils are capable of are not consistently high enough and staff do not always focus on making certain that pupils are consistently stretched. It is apparent that pupils would benefit from more effective guidance, support and advice from staff to help ensure that they know what they need to do to improve their learning and progress, and do it consistently.
• In subjects other than English and mathematics, pupils are not taught in sufficient depth to enable them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of the subjects comprehensively. This is affecting their mastery of these other subjects. Teaching in English and mathematics does not ensure that pupils make good or better progress as they move through the school from their favourable starting points.
• Leaders know that they need a coherent and reliable assessment system which helps them to take an informed view of how well pupils are progressing towards the more challenging and realistic targets they are setting for pupils’ learning and progress.
• Pupils are encouraged to read widely and often. They enjoy reading and do so fluently and precisely. They show resilience and use effective strategies to help them decipher unfamiliar words and phrases. Pupils have profited from the more structured approach to systematically develop their reading and comprehension skills which is now in place.
• The teaching of writing is developing. Pupils produced some high-quality work when they used, as a stimulus, the memorable experiences the school organises. However, there are missed opportunities for pupils to further develop, consolidate or apply their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills in subjects other than English.
• Teachers are starting to benefit from, and apply to their teaching, the intensive training, mentoring and support they are receiving to improve the effectiveness of their work. This is paying dividends, with a very recent acceleration in pupils’ progress evident. Changes made to the learning environment, such as the displays and learning support materials exhibited, send powerful, explicit and subliminal messages to pupils and staff about high expectations and high aspirations in teaching and learning respectively.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school has created a welcoming and inclusive ethos. The consideration, respect and care pupils show for each other and staff creates a real sense of belonging to a community. Pupils feel safe and trust that staff will support and help them with any concerns they have. They love coming to school and like their teachers very much.
• Staff know every child well and their positive relationships with pupils, and the individualised approach they adopt, reinforce pupils’ sense of security. This approach is also promoting pupils’ increased self-assurance, resilience and creativity.
• Pupils throw themselves into the life of the school and local community. They serve as school councillors and monitors, and older pupils help and support younger pupils at social times and in lessons. Pupils are consulted on important changes to the school and give their opinions freely and sensibly. They enjoy the chances they get to learn the guitar, violin and ukulele, support community events and raise funds for charities. Pupils are acquiring some good workplace and enterprise skills. For example, Year 5 and Year 6 pupils took part in technology and stock market challenges, which they enjoyed immensely.
• Pupils say bullying is rare and, when it happens, it is resolved quickly. Pupils understand the dangers of chatrooms, cyber bullying and online gaming. They know that bullying can take many other forms. The visits of the police and fire brigade and the personal, health and social education sessions they receive are helping to keep them safe.
• Parents really value the close-knit nurturing setting the school has established.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils’ conduct and self-discipline are exemplary. They are a credit to themselves, the school and their families. Consequently, the school is calm, orderly and harmonious, with little or no disruption to learning because of poor behaviour. There have been no exclusions in living memory and few instances of behaviour which breach the school’s rules.
• Staff implement the behaviour policy consistently and this helps to ensure that pupils do not receive mixed messages about what is, and what is not, acceptable.
• Pupils generally display positive attitudes to learning, are well-mannered and polite. They know the difference between right and wrong and self-regulate their behaviour to maintain a positive climate for learning.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school, which is reflected in their good attendance. Persistent absence is rare and, where this occurs, it is challenged robustly.
• Occasionally, pupils’ behaviour for learning in class is not as positive as it should be. Leaders accept more can be done to ensure that pupils know how to be effective learners.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes for pupils have been highly variable over time and have not reflected pupils’ true capabilities. Pupils’ attainments, on the face of it, have compared favourably with basic national benchmarks in phonics, reading and writing at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2. However, the progress this represents, when set against their favourable starting points on entry to the school and key stage 1, is mediocre at best. Pupils’ progress in other curriculum subjects is inconsistent.
• By the end of key stage 1, too few pupils are working at the greater depth they are capable of in mathematics, reading and writing.
• Similarly, pupils’ attainments by the end of key stage 2 in mathematics are much lower than the national averages for the proportions of pupils reaching expected standards and for those working at the high standard. This situation needs addressing urgently as pupils invariably start key stage 1 with favourable outcomes.
• Too few pupils reach the high standard in the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test compared with pupils with similar starting points nationally.
• Leaders acknowledge these shortcomings. They have implemented several improvement strategies designed to boost the extent of the progress that current pupils are making. These include a new approach to mastering mathematics and a more systematic approach to enhancing pupils’ reading and writing skills. In addition, staff are becoming more adept at spotting and intervening to support, more effectively, pupils who are at risk of falling behind or have already fallen behind.
• Inspection evidence, corroborated by the work seen in pupils’ books, discussions with pupils about their learning and progress and school tracking information, indicates that leaders’ actions have halted the decline. More pupils are on target to progress more rapidly in reading, writing and mathematics, and more pupils are on track to attain the expected and higher standards. While this is encouraging, leaders accept that weaker teaching in the past has left key gaps in pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills which need filling urgently.
• Pupils’ attainment of the phonics standard by the end of Year 1 has increased over time from below to above the national average.
• Pupils’ attainment in science by the end of key stage 2 compares favourably with the national average.
• There is recent evidence that pupils are starting to make accelerated progress in reading, writing and mathematics as a result of improving interventions and teaching. However, this is far from the norm and these initial gains need consolidating and building upon.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The majority of children enter Nursery with skills and dispositions that are at least typical for their age and level of development and are often more advanced.
• From these favourable starting positions, too few children go on to exceed expectations across all learning goals by the end of the early years foundation stage, which they are more than capable of doing.
• Currently, the quality and breadth of the outdoor provision does not match what is available indoors. This limits the opportunities children have to effectively develop their language, writing and mathematics skills.
• The quality of teaching varies and does not always ensure that children make the rapid progress of which they are capable in acquiring wider key skills and dispositions. This is most apparent in Reception.
• The effectiveness of leadership has varied over time. Currently, there is a more strategic approach to implementing a range of improved curriculum, teaching and assessment approaches, to help ensure that children consistently reach their potentials.
• Assessments of children are regular and accurate. Teachers use this information to plan adult-led activities that build children’s skills progressively. However, there can be a disparity between learning intentions and the actual outcomes. This is linked to imprecise execution or a failure by staff to sufficiently inspire, engage or challenge the children.
• Children behave well. They are happy, curious and confident. They follow rules, take turns and share resources. They enjoy their learning, and they trust and respect the adults they work with. Staff offer children a high degree of care and support which meets their social and emotional needs well.
• A wide-ranging curriculum, some skilful teaching and good levels of support and guidance helps to ensure that children get off to a strong start in the Nursery.
• Assessment information for children currently in the school indicates that there has been a recent acceleration in the children’s acquisition of key knowledge and skills.
• The number of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception has consistently been higher than the national average over time.
• Child protection and safeguarding arrangements are effective and there are no breaches in welfare arrangements. Staff ensure that children are kept safe.
• Parents actively support their children’s learning and some act as helpers in class.

School details

Unique reference number 117972 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 10048453 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 Voluntary controlled 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 41 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kate Johnson Executive headteacher Elizabeth Harros Telephone number 01759 368313 Website Email address www.bishopwiltonprimary school.co.uk bishop.wilton@eastriding.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 23 January 2018

Information about this school

• Bishop Wilton Church of England Primary School is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. There are only handfuls of pupils in each year group. This makes references to the relative performance of different groups of pupils meaningless.
• There has been a number of changes in staffing since the previous section 5 inspection. A new executive headteacher was appointed in September 2017. A new chair and vice chair of the governing body, alongside several other new governors, have also been appointed since September 2017. An assistant headteacher has been appointed and will take up post in February 2019. An additional member of the leadership team has been appointed on secondment for a year.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is in line with the national average. However, a higher proportion of pupils than that found nationally have an education, health and care plan or statement of special educational needs. This should be set alongside the fact that pupil numbers are small, which can exaggerate the significance of proportions.
• The school is part of a federation with Beswick and Watton Church of England Voluntary Controlled and Middleton-on-the-Wold Church of England Voluntary Controlled primary schools. The executive headteacher is responsible for all three schools. There is one governing body which serves all three schools.
• The school operates a demand-led breakfast club and an after-school club on an ad hoc basis. There are plans to formalise this arrangement in the next academic year. The breakfast and after-school clubs were not utilised during the inspection.
• The government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum performance expectations for primary schools, do not apply to this school because, over time, too few pupils have taken the national key stage 2 assessment tests.

Information about this inspection

• The school received a short inspection in January 2018 which identified several priorities for this, formerly good, school to address. Because of this, the school was notified that the next inspection would be a full section 5 rather than a short inspection. Because of statutory regulations, this section 5 had to take place within five years of the previous section 5, which was in 2013.
• During the inspection, I jointly observed teaching, learning and assessment in all classes on several occasions with the executive headteacher. I triangulated this evidence with an extensive scrutiny of pupils’ work and conversations with pupils about their learning and progress.
• I held meetings with the executive headteacher, several governors, including the chair and vice chair, two representatives from the local authority and a representative from the diocese. I spoke to pupils formally and informally, listened to pupils read and observed an assembly. I also spoke to parents at the start of the school day and met with the business manager and the designated safeguarding lead. I also met newly qualified staff to assess the impact of the support and professional development put in place for them. I also observed parents visiting with their children in the early years.
• I considered a range of documentation, including: the school’s evaluation of its own performance; school improvement planning; monitoring records of the effectiveness of teaching and learning; minutes of governing body meetings; the school’s policies and documentation relating to safeguarding, behaviour, attendance, assessment procedures and curriculum. Safeguarding policies and procedures were also reviewed.
• The inspector took account of the 43 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 12 free-text commentaries, as well as the three responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online pupil questionnaire.
• During this inspection, Year 6 pupils were not present due to their attendance at secondary school transition days.

Inspection team

John Young, lead inspector Senior Her Majesty’s Inspector