Cracoe and Rylstone Voluntary Controlled Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that leaders’ and teachers’ high expectations – and greater resilience in pupils to meet academic challenges – result in more pupils attaining the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics at key stages 1 and 2.
• Further develop the accuracy and reliability of assessment by:
  • ensuring that leaders’ checks on pupils’ progress match the taught curriculum
  • extending opportunities to check assessments with teachers of single-age year groups.
• Strengthen the quality of monitoring and evaluation by federation leaders and the governing body by focusing more sharply on the evidence of the impact of actions on teaching and learning in this school.
• Develop and implement a strategic plan for the federation to secure the sustainability of the school and the quality of education within the available finances.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Interim leaders have acted effectively to bring about school improvement during a period of transition.
• Over the last term, the interim executive headteachers for the federation have improved financial planning and the management of resources. This has secured the sustainability of current staffing and resources. Leaders are using their expertise to develop a strategic plan for future sustainability.
• Interim executive headteachers have developed the role of subject leaders across the federation to the benefit of this school. They have strengthened the performance management of teachers and linked appraisal targets for teachers to the federation development plan. They are about to introduce the appraisal of support staff. Interim federation leaders do not always have a sharp enough evaluation of the impact of professional development on teaching and learning at this school.
• The new executive headteacher has an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and has planned relevant professional development activities for the coming term.
• The school-based leader provides continuity of day-to-day management and is a valued reference point for pupils, staff, parents and carers.
• Teachers have taken effective action to improve aspects of teaching and learning and pupils’ personal development. Staff are keen to do their best for pupils.
• Subject leaders for English and mathematics – based at other schools in the federation
  • have given effective guidance and professional development for staff at this school. Leaders have developed greater commonality in approaches to the curriculum and assessment across the federation. This has improved the teaching of writing and mathematics and the quality and consistency of the feedback that teachers give pupils.
• The federation’s special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) – based at this school
  • uses funding for SEND effectively. The SENCo assesses pupils with SEND carefully and each pupil has a well-documented plan of support and extra provision. Leaders evaluate the extra provision systematically and review the impact accurately. In some cases, pupils with SEND accelerate their progress. In other cases, progress is still limited.
• Subject leadership across the curriculum has not developed fully in some non-core subjects. Leaders are considering how to improve this.
• Leaders are not satisfied with the assessment tracking system they are using as it does not provide an accurate enough match with the taught curriculum. As a result, they lack confidence in the accuracy of some assessments. Leaders are exploring alternatives.
• Staff have helpful opportunities to check their assessments with teachers from other schools in the federation. Leaders are rightly looking for more frequent opportunities to carry out these checks with staff from schools outside the federation, including those with single-age year groups.
• The federation provides a common approach to the curriculum across the four schools. This supports teachers’ planning and use of resources effectively. The federation provides specialist expertise in sports and music, which gives pupils good opportunities for physical activities and for singing and playing instruments, including accordion, piano, flute and guitar. Pupils enjoy art and appreciate the links between their artwork and the curriculum themes they are following.
• Leaders use the sports premium well to support a good range of sporting activities in after-school clubs and at other venues within the local sports partnership. Pupils take part in a wide range of activities, including rugby, football, dance and athletics. The school places a high priority on swimming to ensure safety in the local rivers.
• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. As a result, pupils show high levels of respect for each other. The school culture successfully promotes Christian values and a strong sense of family and mutual responsibility between pupils. Parents value the family atmosphere and caring relationships between pupils. All parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire would recommend the school.
• The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn about democracy and British values by putting themselves forward to take part in working groups to improve aspects of the school and wider community. They learn about working life by planning and minuting meetings and communicating with outside bodies. Pupils learn about different religions in religious education and they spoke positively about what they gained from their links with an urban multicultural school.
• Leaders recognise that the small size of the school can limit the range of personal and academic challenges for pupils and the opportunities for child-initiated play and interaction in Reception. Leaders have developed federation sporting events and joint learning activities in English and mathematics for Year 6 pupils from different schools. Leaders are actively considering how to widen learning opportunities for pupils by making more links with other schools.

Governance of the school

• The governing body of the federation has a mission to increase the sustainability of a small school in a small federation of similarly small schools. The chair is leading the governing body strongly and effectively. The governing body is sensibly developing a strategic plan to manage the small and falling pupil numbers. The governing body is actively developing and communicating ideas to staff and parents about how the federation may maintain and improve the quality of education within the financial constraints.
• The local authority acted effectively to secure the interim leadership of the school. The local authority has given helpful strategic advice to the governing body about ideas and actions to bring about stronger financial viability and school sustainability.
• The governing body has necessarily focused on these important strategic priorities for the federation. However, it has not regularly interrogated leaders about this school’s development and the impact of leaders’ actions on raising standards and improving teaching and learning in this school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Records of checks meet requirements, and training for staff and safeguarding leaders is up to date. The school has not had to deal with any safeguarding concerns in recent years. Leaders liaise effectively with other agencies to assess and provide support for pupils with SEND. The caring culture, the good knowledge that staff have about pupils and the effective communication between staff and parents promote a positive culture for safeguarding.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers’ enthusiasm for the subject and their effective planning of activities engage pupils in learning. As a result, pupils work hard, concentrate well and enjoy learning.
• Teachers organise and manage the teaching of classes with different ages and abilities effectively. Teachers and support staff work together well to meet the wide range of needs and abilities in the mixed-age classes. As a result, pupils make good progress in lessons.
• Teachers’ good use of resources enables pupils to carry out tasks by themselves and develop their independence as learners. The guidance materials on desks, in the sacks on the back of their chairs and on the walls help pupils to know what to do and how to do it. On occasion, adults do not pick up misconceptions of pupils while they are working independently.
• The use of physical resources in mathematics enables pupils to grasp ideas and apply different mathematical methods for calculating numbers. Teachers make sure that mathematical tasks are at the right level to meet the needs of pupils.
• Teachers explain tasks well so that pupils understand what they are doing. Pupils get on with their work with purpose and enthusiasm. Teachers use their good subject knowledge well to develop pupils’ understanding. Well-chosen questions by teachers and support staff extend pupils’ thinking.
• The teaching of writing builds pupils’ ability to write accurately and at greater length through a well-planned sequence of lessons. In a stimulating lesson on Macbeth, pupils in all year groups at key stage 2 developed their understanding of poetic language. They expressed their understanding well in their own words.
• The teaching of phonics by teachers and support staff methodically develops pupils’ understanding of letters and the sounds they make. On occasion, adults do not introduce new learning quickly enough or do not intervene firmly enough to model the correct sounds.
• Teachers’ precise praise and feedback on how to improve support pupils’ learning well. Teachers identify pupils’ misconceptions and often give same-day support to help a pupil catch up on something they found difficult to learn.
• Staff assess the needs of pupils with SEND carefully. Additional resources and interventions by support staff provide effective guidance and support for pupils with SEND.
• In Reception, the recently improved outdoor environment provides a stimulating range of resources. Adults interact well with children. They were helping them develop their understanding of ‘less than’ by physically finding a number and jumping on it. Assessments provide clear evidence and evaluation of how children are developing. The very small number of Reception children limits the scope for child-initiated play and communication.
• On occasion, staff miss opportunities to give precise enough guidance and examples to ensure that all pupils know what to do to succeed in a task.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning contribute well to the conduct of lessons. Pupils work hard and concentrate well.
• Staff take effective action to help pupils with SEND to overcome their personal, social or academic difficulties.
• Pupils are aware of how to stay safe online and have made posters about e-safety. They undertake a termly fire drill. They have learned to swim and have practised life-saving. They understand what to do if there is a school lockdown due to an external threat.
• Pupils of different ages work together very well. They show great respect for each other and their ideas. All older pupils act as buddies for the younger ones, who look up to them. Older pupils take responsibility for supporting younger pupils in reading, in the playground and on trips. Parents praise the relationships between pupils and the way these have fostered their child’s development and welfare.
• Pupils take responsibility for organising collective worship, faith days, fundraising activities and energy saving. They develop employability skills by holding meetings, taking actions and communicating with outside organisations.
• Through links with a city school, pupils have good opportunities to develop understanding of life in a multi-ethnic urban environment and a larger school. Pupils talked about the letters they wrote and the friends they made.
• Because of the small size of the Reception group, children have limited scope for personal, social, emotional and development through play and communication with children of the same age.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils take a responsible attitude to learning and behave well in class. They work very cooperatively with other pupils. They respond quickly to teachers’ direction and move promptly from one task to the next. A few pupils – including the most able – occasionally lack resilience in dealing with academic challenges.
• Bullying is very rare. Occasionally, pupils fall out, but staff help pupils resolve these issues between themselves.
• There are very few incidents of misbehaviour. The strong family atmosphere and the buddy system contribute to high standards of behaviour and mutual respect.
• Attendance is high. Staff promote good attendance well and follow up any emerging attendance issues promptly and effectively.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Because of good teaching, effective learning and constructive feedback, current pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Weaker results at the end of key stage 2 in the last two years reflect the outcomes of only a very small number of pupils, some of whom had SEND which affected their progress. School information and the work in pupils’ books show that most current pupils are making good progress.
• The proportions of pupils attaining the expected standards in writing and mathematics at key stage 1 have been consistently above national averages. However, fewer pupils than average have achieved the higher standards in these subjects. Outcomes in reading have been in line with national averages at the expected and higher standards.
• Pupils receive strong encouragement in reading and many pupils enjoy reading. Teachers ensure that pupils’ reading books accurately match their reading ability and phonics knowledge.
• The proportion of pupils attaining the required standard in phonics has been consistently above national averages due to the methodical approach to teaching sounds and letters.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language and pupils with SEND receive effective extra support. Some make good progress, while others make more limited progress in academic subjects.
• In the early years, the aggregated results over the last three years show that the proportion that reached and exceeded a good level of development has been in line with the national average.
• Too few pupils reach the higher standards at the end of key stages 1 and 2.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121558 North Yorkshire 10053124 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary controlled 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 39 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Anne Vetch Ella Besharati 01756 730 259 www.cracoeprimaryschool.co.uk/ headteacher@cracoerylstone.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24 October 2012

Information about this school

• The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The number of children in the early years is very small.
• A high proportion of pupils arrive or leave the school at times other than the normal times and have not been at the school for the whole of the key stage.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is very low.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is average.
• The school is one of four schools in the Upper Wharfedale Primary School Federation. The federation has one governing body and one executive headteacher for the four schools. Each school has a school-based leader who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school.
• Following the retirement of the executive headteacher in April 2018, the school was led by two interim executive co-headteachers who each worked half-time. The new executive headteacher started in January 2019. Until Easter 2019, the governing body has a transitional arrangement in which the executive headteacher is working three days a week and the interim executive co-headteachers are working one day a week.
• The school has a religious character. The last section 48 inspection of the denominational education given to pupils and the content of the school’s collective worship took place in November 2013.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed teaching and learning in both classes with the executive headteacher and the interim executive headteachers.
• The inspector looked at pupils’ work in lessons and reviewed samples of pupils’ books with subject leaders and teachers.
• He met with pupils, heard pupils read and observed pupils around the school.
• The inspector met with the executive headteacher, the interim executive headteachers and subject leaders for the federation. He met members of the governing body, representatives of the local authority and a representative from the diocese.
• The inspector evaluated a wide range of school and governing body documents, including minutes of meetings, information about pupils’ progress, the school’s monitoring and evaluation, and records of behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.
• The inspector spoke to several parents before school. The inspection took account of 18 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

Inspection team

Bernard Campbell, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector