Crakehall Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the impact of leaders at all levels, by:
  • ensuring that plans for improvement include measurable targets by which governors can evaluate and challenge the rate of improvement robustly at specified times during the school year
  • strengthening the ability of subject leaders to evaluate the strengths and areas for further development in their subjects
  • improving the systems and procedures to track the attainment and progress made by pupils in science and non-core subjects
  • reviewing the coverage of the curriculum and assessment procedures for science and non-core subjects.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, particularly in key stages 1 and 2, and therefore pupils’ outcomes, by:
  • raising teachers’ and teaching assistants’ expectations of their pupils, especially the most able
  • ensuring that teachers and teaching assistants use questioning effectively to ascertain pupils’ understanding and move their learning forward appropriately
  • giving due attention to the development of pupils’ basic skills
  • making sure that the work set by teachers enables pupils to make rapid and sustained progress from their starting points. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The executive headteacher has an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. She worked effectively to prioritise the areas of the school which required immediate attention. However, the pace of change overall has not been rapid enough since she took up post in January 2016. Teaching, learning and assessment together with pupils’ outcomes in key stages 1 and 2 require improvement.
• Middle leadership, which is subject leadership at Crakehall Church of England Primary School, is not strong consistently. For example, during the inspection the subject leader for English found it difficult to identify the progress made by the most able pupils in writing from their written work. However, the subject leader for mathematics does have a firm grasp of standards and the progress pupils should be making. While undertaking a scrutiny of pupils’ work, she identified insufficient challenge for the most able pupils and too few opportunities for pupils to use and apply their mathematical skills to solve problems.
• The school’s development planning lacks rigour. It contains few numerical targets against which leaders, including governors, can measure progress and the impact of teaching precisely.
• Leaders have not ensured that the curriculum is broad and balanced. A check on pupils’ workbooks, especially in key stage 2, shows little development of knowledge, skills or understanding in science, history or geography. The executive headteacher, quite correctly, has identified the need to establish more robust systems to track pupils’ attainment and progress in science and non-core subjects. Although pupils and parents value highly the introduction of outdoor learning, leaders are aware that the focus of this aspect of the school’s curriculum requires clarification and further development.
• Leaders’ commitment to extra-curricular activities is strong. Pupils have a wide range of activities from which to choose. During the inspection, many pupils enjoyed watching a black and white Laurel and Hardy film at film club after school. Most found the fast-paced soundtrack and lack of spoken words interesting and amusing. In addition, pupils and their parents value highly the educational visits that are planned by staff and undertaken by pupils.
• Leaders, as befits a church school, ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural knowledge, skills and abilities are well developed. A strong sense of moral responsibility permeates the school. Pupils empathise with those less fortunate than themselves. Charitable endeavours are well supported.
• There are too few disadvantaged pupils for the impact of this funding stream to be reported on. However, leaders use other additional government funding well. The small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making stronger progress since the executive headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), took up post. The SENCo works hard to establish productive links with outside agencies. She ensures that these pupils receive appropriate support.
• The additional funding for the small number of pupils from service families is used effectively to identify and meet any gaps in their prior learning. The government’s primary school physical education (PE) and sports funding is used very well to increase the expertise of staff and pupils alike. PE is one of the school’s strengths. A parent reported, ‘Sport is encouraged and delivered well, and the improvement made by my children is immeasurable.’
• The school is classified as a ‘school causing concern’ by the local authority. As such, officers carried out a review of the school’s effectiveness during the autumn term 2016. The actions that leaders should take and the support that the local authority will provide, including brokering support from a national leader of education and a specialist leader of education, are outlined clearly in the resulting school partnership support plan. This is a highly effective and supportive document.

Governance of the school

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Pupils enter the school with skills and abilities that are at or above the levels typical for their age. They do not make the progress of which they are capable because teachers and teaching assistants do not have high enough expectations of them. The work that teachers plan for pupils to complete is not challenging enough, especially for the most able pupils.
• Teachers do not use assessment information consistently well to plan learning activities that address pupils’ needs precisely. All too often, in mixed-age classes, the pupils complete very similar work. The work is too easy for some and too hard for others. As a result, few make rapid progress.
• Teachers and teaching assistants do not exploit fully the opportunities that arise when asking questions of pupils. Too often, a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is accepted. Adults miss opportunities to extend learning by ascertaining the reasons behind pupils’ answers.
• Teachers do not ensure that pupils have strong basic skills. As a result, for example, the standard of spelling across all subjects throughout the school needs strengthening.
• Teachers’ planning for writing in key stage 2 requires further development. Pupils’ workbooks show that there are more opportunities for pupils to write at length in key stage 1 than in key stage 2. Pupils in key stage 2 have few opportunities to hone their writing skills in subjects such as science and history.
• Pupils’ progress in reading is beginning to improve, following the implementation of a programme of one-to-one reading. This programme is supported fully by members of the local community who give freely of their time for the good of the young people in their community. Occasionally, pupils are given reading scheme books to read by their teachers that are not sufficiently challenging. This slows their rate of progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils are happy in school. They are proud to represent the school in sporting events and cultural competitions.
• Pupils understand how to stay safe online. They have watched and discussed the child exploitation and online protection centre’s (CEOP) video materials about the dangers associated with sharing personal information too freely.
• There are very few incidents of bullying in this close-knit and supportive church school. Pupils are confident that adults would deal quickly with any incidents that may occur.
• The pupils like and are beginning to respond to the executive headteacher’s new ‘Crakehall Code’. They are starting to develop tenacity and resilience in their learning.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are polite, courteous and respectful to each other, adults and visitors to school. One parent told the inspector that pupils’ behaviour is a direct result of the school’s ‘amazing nurturing environment’.
• Pupils’ attendance is high and the overwhelming majority arrive on time. They like school, attend breakfast club and take part willingly in after-school activities. The number of pupils who are persistently absent from school, although small in number, has risen during the current academic year.
• Occasionally, unengaging lessons lead to off-task behaviours and low-level disruption from a small minority of pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Although children’s learning in the early years gets off to a good start, pupils in key stages 1 and 2 do not achieve well. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 check of phonics has decreased every year over a three-year period. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are now grouped by ability for phonics. As a result, they are making better progress.
• In 2016, the Year 2 cohort of pupils, especially the most able, did not make enough progress across key stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Currently, in Years 1 and 2, pupils are making better progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Their work is marked in accordance with the school’s marking policy. Teachers note pupils’ weaknesses and provide additional teaching for those pupils who have not mastered a concept.
• In 2016, the Year 6 cohort of pupils, especially the most able, did not make sufficient progress in reading. Pupils are making better progress in reading this year because those requiring more help have been identified and specific intervention activities have been provided.
• The Year 6 pupils in 2016 made better progress in writing and mathematics than they did in reading. Leaders identified, quite correctly, that the most able pupils did not make the progress of which they were capable.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those from service families, make good progress from their starting points. There are too few disadvantaged pupils to report on their progress.

Early years provision Good

• There are very effective transition arrangements for children entering the Reception Year. They spend six full days in the provision before the school year starts. This means that the class teacher has almost completed a baseline assessment of each child’s abilities and skills at the very beginning of the school year.
• Leaders were disappointed that the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development dipped to 50% in 2016, and that there were no children exceeding typical levels in the vast majority of the areas for learning. They, in collaboration with officers from the local authority, have made significant improvements to the provision for both indoor and outdoor learning. As a result, the current cohort of children are making much better progress from their starting points. For example, a child who was making marks with a pencil on paper in September is now forming, sizing and placing letters correctly. The children are being better prepared for the challenges of Year 1. The provision for the most able children continues to require further development.
• The quality of teaching and of teaching assistant support is strong and improving. Children who worked on number activities with the teaching assistant during the inspection made significant progress because their learning was supported at just the right level. They flourished in the calm and supportive environment for learning. The school’s assessment procedures in the early years are used effectively to plan children’s next steps in their learning.
• Leaders ensure that the welfare requirements of the early years are met.
• Children are very happy in the early years environment. They do not flit from one activity to another but show concentration and enjoyment over extended periods of time.
• The children are very polite to each other. For example, one child asked, ‘May I sit there?’ before stepping over a plethora of counting equipment most gingerly. Children are kind to each other and show care and compassion when one of their friends is sad or hurt.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121483 North Yorkshire 10023921 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 95 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Trevor Starkey Lindsay Evans 01677 422515 www.crakehallprimaryschool.co.uk headteacher@crakehall.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 27–28 March 2012

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum on its website.
• The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• A small proportion of the pupils are from service families.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those eligible for support through pupil premium funding, is significantly below average.
• All pupils are of White British heritage and speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receiving support is well below the national average. None of the pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
• Children in the early years attend full-time provision in the Reception class.
• The school has a breakfast club managed by the governing body.
• The school is part of the Swaledale Alliance which is a partnership of 60 schools based across North Yorkshire. The executive headteacher is a consultant headteacher in the Swaledale alliance.
• Governors work in collaboration with the governors of Spennithorne Church of England Primary School. The executive headteacher is executive headteacher of both schools. She spends part of the week at both schools.
• The executive headteacher took up post in January 2016 and works in school for two and a half days each week. A new deputy headteacher was appointed recently from within the existing teaching staff of the school.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited eight part-lessons, four of which were observed jointly with the headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher and four governors, including the chair and the vice-chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also met with an officer from North Yorkshire local authority and spoke by telephone to a representative of the Church of England diocese of Leeds.
• The inspector spoke informally to pupils in lessons and at various times during each day. She also spoke formally with a group of pupils from Years 2, 4 and 6.
• The inspector scrutinised a range of pupils’ workbooks and information about pupils’ current progress in lessons. She also reviewed a number of documents including the school’s improvement plan, attendance records, information relating to the work the school does to keep pupils safe, headteacher’s reports to governors, minutes of meetings of the governing body and the local authority’s monitoring reports and support planning.
• The school’s own recent surveys of parent, staff and pupil views were taken into consideration.
• The inspector took account of 21 parental responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector also spoke to parents at the end of the first day of the inspection.
• Pupils from Years 1, 2 and 6 read with the inspector.

Inspection team

Belita Scott, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector