Easingwold Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching further so that it is consistently good throughout the school by ensuring that teachers:
  • continue to plan work to help pupils make good progress in key stage 2 mathematics, both at the expected and the higher standard
  • set consistently high expectations of pupils’ accurate use of punctuation and grammar in written work across a range of subjects
  • routinely help pupils to identify spelling errors of common words so that these are not repeated.
• Improve pupils’ progress and attainment in mathematics by:
  • improving the consistency of mathematics teaching, including the clarity of teachers’ explanations
  • eliminating existing gaps in pupils’ mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding
  • ensuring that pupils’ misconceptions are quickly identified and rectified, before they move on to more challenging work
  • providing frequent opportunities for pupils to develop and explain their reasoning skills
  • developing the outdoor area in the early years, so that there is an increased focus on learning about and from numbers.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since taking up his appointment in September 2017, the new headteacher has focused relentlessly on improvements that make a difference to the pupils. Supported by governors, and working with all members of staff, he has successfully created a focus on excellence for all pupils. As a result of this work, pupils want to learn and to find success across a wide range of subjects and activities.
• Leaders’ self-evaluation of the school’s performance is accurate. Leaders have a clear understanding of the strengths and areas that require further work. The school’s action plans have been strengthened and are regularly updated. This has brought clarity for middle leaders and teachers. They work collaboratively with senior leaders in implementing each aspect of the school development plan and adapt it where and when necessary.
• Middle leaders now have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in their areas of responsibility. With the support of the headteacher they are growing into their roles and starting to exert increasing influence on the quality of teaching in their subject areas. They use information from checks and observations on pupils’ learning to make further improvements. Consequently, current pupils are making stronger progress in these subjects.
• The leadership of the provision for pupils with SEND is strong. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has an in-depth knowledge of the pupils’ needs and ensures that these are appropriately met. The SENCo provides support and training for teachers and teaching assistants so that they, in turn, can support pupils well. As a result, pupils with SEND make good progress towards their personalised targets.
• Leaders, including governors, ensure that additional funding is used effectively. They have a detailed knowledge of the barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils and use additional pupil premium funding to reduce these barriers. For example, leaders are developing an oracy project across the school to ensure that all pupils, but especially disadvantaged pupils, widen their vocabulary and speak more confidently.
• Additional sports funding is well used. Pupils now have a range of additional opportunities, including involvement in local ‘sports cluster’ events. Leaders consulted the school’s ‘mini leadership team’, who decided to order and look after a range of sporting equipment to support better access to physical education (PE) equipment during playtimes. Consequently, pupils now have access to more sports at lunchtime.
• The recently reviewed and refocused curriculum is both broad and balanced. It has a strong emphasis on reading, writing and mathematics. These key subjects are also woven into many other subjects and opportunities. Leaders are clear that the curriculum is designed to provide ‘learning experiences that last’.
• Leaders encourage parents to be involved in their children’s learning and pupils are regularly asked for their views about the curriculum. Additional or extra-curricular opportunities such as visits or residential trips are used to enrich learning experiences
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well. The British values of democracy, tolerance and respect are at the centre of the school’s work and promoted throughout the curriculum and through additional visits and visitor activities. As a result, pupils are being well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• The vast majority of parents who spoke with inspectors or responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were very positive about the school. In particular, they were overwhelmingly positive about the new leadership. One parent commented, ‘There has been a marked improvement in the school following the appointment of the new headteacher.’ Another parent captured the view of the majority who responded, saying, ‘This school is amazing.’

Governance of the school

• Working closely with the new headteacher, the governing body has improved the quality of its work significantly, following a period of self-review. Members of the governing body now work well as a team to provide appropriate support and challenge to school leaders. Governors are focused, skilled and reflective in checking on school performance.
• Governors receive detailed information about pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching in the school. This empowers and enables them to ask pertinent and challenging questions of leaders about outcomes for current pupils. Moreover, conscious of the need to ensure that they verify the information they receive, they also regularly visit school to speak with middle leaders, teachers and pupils.
• Governors use information from meetings, visits and reports to challenge leaders appropriately about the quality of teaching and the progress that pupils are making. This has helped to improve their understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. As a result, they are now considerably more effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. When the new headteacher took up his appointment, he organised an independent audit of safeguarding policies and procedures. Leaders have effectively implemented the recommendations of this report and taken actions to ensure that a strong culture of safeguarding exists within the school.
• As designated safeguarding leader, the headteacher has ensured that all staff are appropriately trained and kept up to date with the latest guidance on keeping children safe. Leaders take timely and appropriate action where concerns about pupils’ welfare and well-being are raised. They use a detailed vulnerability checklist to ensure that all members of staff have an in-depth understanding of the various signs and symptoms of abuse.
• Keeping pupils safe is at the heart of the school’s work. Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and carry these out diligently, acting in the best interest of the pupils at all times. Leaders, including governors, are committed to ensuring that safeguarding training and updates are a feature of all staff meetings.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• As a result of the swift and decisive actions taken by leaders, the school now has a stable and effective teaching team. Teachers are well supported and have been provided with focused opportunities for their continuing professional development. There is a tangible team spirit and an open culture of sharing best practice. This has led to significant improvements in the quality of teaching across the school, which is now good.
• There is an evident rapport and strong relationships between teachers, teaching assistants and pupils. Classrooms are happy places, with a positive atmosphere for learning, in which pupils are not afraid to make mistakes. Staff encourage pupils to feel more confident so that they are willing to attempt the ‘Trickiest’ or even the ‘Mind Boggling’ work on their ‘Children’s Choice’ sheets. Consequently, levels of engagement in learning are high.
• Phonics is taught systematically from the early years. Many pupils apply their phonics knowledge to their reading and become increasingly fluent and confident readers, who thirst to read even more widely and regularly. During the inspection, pupils of all ages were keen to share with inspectors the work they had recently completed for World Book Day and to talk about the books that they are reading.
• Teachers are becoming better at asking pertinent and challenging questions of pupils, to ensure that they understand the texts that they are reading. Older pupils who read to inspectors did so with confidence, fluency and expression. They were also able to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words such as ‘quaint’ and ‘quagmire’. It is no surprise, therefore, that pupils now enjoy reading and are making stronger progress.
• The clear and purposeful links that teachers make between the recently introduced spelling, punctuation and grammar lessons and pupils’ writing are leading to higher-quality and more accurate work. Consequently, pupils are beginning to build up their skills and then to apply them to extended pieces of writing across a range of subjects, often editing and redrafting their work.
• The way in which writing is used across the curriculum is noteworthy. Using carefully chosen topics, teachers weave writing into science, history, design technology and many other subjects. As a result, current pupils are becoming more adept at writing in a variety of styles and are making stronger progress. However, a legacy of weaker teaching over time means that many pupils still make basic grammatical or spelling mistakes. More work is needed to ensure that pupils’ accuracy in English grammar, punctuation and spelling increases, so that a greater proportion achieve the expected standard at the end of key stage 2.
• The teaching of mathematics has improved considerably across the school and pupils have an improving mathematical understanding. Teachers and teaching assistants are focused on ensuring that pupils are fluent in number skills and have frequent opportunities to develop their reasoning and problem-solving strategies. However, these changes are not yet fully consistent across the school, and at times teachers’ explanations of mathematical concepts lack clarity. As a result, a few pupils have not yet developed their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving well enough.
• Occasionally, teachers do not deal with pupils’ misunderstandings and errors in their learning swiftly enough. This means that some pupils repeat errors or make less progress because they are not able to effectively learn from their mistakes. Some pupils, especially in mathematics, move on to more challenging work too quickly and make basic errors because their prior knowledge is not secure.
• Teachers plan appropriately for pupils with SEND. They also adapt their teaching and use additional teaching sessions for pupils where necessary and appropriate. Essential and effective support is provided by teaching assistants. This support enables pupils with SEND to make good progress while learning alongside their classmates.
• The vast majority of parents who spoke with inspectors are firmly of the view that their children are well taught and make good progress at the school.

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 courteous, considerate and confident. They are very proud of their school and most welcoming to visitors.
• Pupils benefit from a range of assemblies, lessons and workshops about how to stay safe. During the inspection key stage 1 pupils were learning about the different ways in which adults help to keep children safe and how they can keep themselves safe.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school. Parents agree. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, having a good understanding of how to stay safe, including when using the internet.
• Pupils say that bullying is rare. They accept that pupils fall out and can sometimes be unkind. However, they were unanimous in their view that bullying rarely takes place at their school and, when it does, teachers sort it out very quickly.
• Pupils also benefit from a wide range of additional activities and educational visits. They speak positively about the visits to a local outdoor education centre and the team-building skills they learn there. Numerous other educational visits, from trips to local theatres and museums to workshops and visiting speakers in school, enrich the broad education that the pupils receive.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They are polite, courteous and friendly. During the inspection, pupils of all ages made the inspectors feel very welcome in school, holding doors open for them, helping with direction around the building and asking if they were enjoying their visit to the school.
• Well-established routines help pupils to move around the school in an orderly manner. They walk between lessons and activities without fuss. As a result, pupils settle back down to learn quickly so that no lesson time is wasted. The vast majority of pupils are highly engaged in their learning and support each other well.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school. Good attendance is celebrated, and leaders are clear with both parents and pupils about its importance. They rightly challenge parents and carers who choose to take holidays during term time. Procedures for monitoring attendance are detailed and focused. Consequently, attendance is very good and the proportion of pupils who are frequently absent from school is well below average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The headteacher has brought about considerable improvement in the quality of teaching and this in turn has led to good pupil progress, clearly evident in pupils’ books. This applies to pupils of all abilities, including disadvantaged pupils. Inspection findings support leaders’ view that pupils’ attainment and progress continue to improve.
• Following the previous inspection, pupils’ progress and attainment significantly declined. Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics, at the end of key stage 2, has been variable over the last three years. Progress has been particularly weak in reading and in mathematics. However, in 2018 pupils’ attainment in reading at the end of key stage 2 was above the national average at both the expected and the higher standard.
• In 2018, overall pupils’ attainment in writing was below the national average at the expected standard though above at greater depth. Girls attained very highly. Despite lower levels of attainment overall, pupils made strong progress in writing. This was a significant improvement on previous years and shows that the quality of pupils’ writing is improving rapidly.
• Pupils’ attainment at key stage 1 is rising. The proportions of pupils achieving the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics improved in 2018. The most able pupils also achieved well, with a greater proportion than that seen nationally achieving at a greater depth of understanding in writing and mathematics.
• In science, pupils can explain their understanding. They work systematically through investigative tasks. As a result, pupils’ scientific knowledge and understanding are improving across the school. In history, pupils gain a good understanding of chronology and form considered views about the historical events they are studying, such as the First World War. This work is then linked to subjects like design technology, where Year 6 pupils made models of the trenches.
• Good teaching ensures that pupils achieve well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard has matched, and often exceeded, national averages since the last inspection. Younger pupils who read with the inspector said they enjoyed reading and showed that they are developing their reading skills well.
• Disadvantaged pupils are making progress similar to that of their classmates in most year groups. Although the attainment of disadvantaged pupils at the end of key stage 2 was well below average last year, in reading and writing, the quality of work in books shows that disadvantaged pupils currently in the school are making strong progress. Leaders’ secure assessments show a picture of rapid and sustained improvements across the school.
• Most pupils currently in the school with SEND make consistently good progress. Individual barriers to learning have been identified and are being addressed through the provision of appropriate resources and the adaptations that teachers make to learning activities. Detailed information and support through training have enabled teachers and teaching assistants to ensure that these pupils receive appropriate, personalised support.
• Overall, current pupils’ progress is stronger in reading and writing than it is in mathematics. Improved teaching approaches are enabling most pupils to make better progress in this subject. However, some older pupils still have gaps in their mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding because of weak teaching in the past.

Early years provision Good

• The provision in the early years is well led and managed. Leaders have ensured that the statutory welfare requirements are met and safeguarding lies at the heart of the school’s work. Leaders have a clear vision and a detailed understanding of the strengths and the areas where early years needs to improve.
• Leaders have established strong links with parents. However, they are far from complacent, and arrange regular opportunities for parents to be involved in their children’s education. For example, during the inspection a phonics workshop for parents took place. Initiatives such as this help parents to take a more active role in the education of their children.
• Staff form excellent relationships with the children and this ensures that children settle quickly into school life and are familiar with routines and expectations. Children make strong progress in their learning. Adults in the early years are effective in developing children’s personal, social and emotional skills and effectively focus on the prime areas of learning.
• The proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of their Reception Year has been consistently in line with or above the national average for several years.
• Children play and learn together well. They are confident in explaining their learning and listen attentively to adults and each other. When visiting the Reception class children told inspectors about their story books and showed how they could write different letters and some basic words on the ground in the outdoor area.
• Leaders and teachers use activities to target the expansion of children’s vocabulary and improve their communication skills. The teaching of phonics in the Reception class is strong.
• There are good opportunities for children to develop a wide range of skills. They work closely together indoors and outdoors. In the classroom, there is a good focus on developing children’s reading, writing and mathematical skills. However, this is not mirrored in the outdoor area, where support for developing pupils’ learning about number is not as well developed.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121331 North Yorkshire 10059086 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 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 249 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Jason Lynam Christopher Pearce Telephone number 01347 821282 Website Email address www.easingwoldprimary.co.uk admin@easingwold-pri.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 2–3 December 2014

Information about this school

• The school is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• There have been a significant number of changes in staffing since the previous inspection, including the appointment of a new headteacher.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is average.

Information about this inspection

• The lead inspector met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also spoke with the local authority improvement adviser.
• Inspectors met with a range of subject and phase leaders. Inspectors also met with senior leaders, including the headteacher and the deputy headteacher.
• Inspectors visited classrooms to observe teaching and learning and to look at pupils’ work. Inspectors also looked in depth at current pupils’ English books, mathematics books and other work across a range of subjects.
• Inspectors met with a group of pupils from key stage 1 and key stage 2 and listened to those pupils read.
• Inspectors considered the 29 free-text responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 17 questionnaire responses from staff. Inspectors also considered the 53 responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.
• Inspectors spoke with several parents at the start of the school day on each day of the inspection.
• Inspectors evaluated recent information in relation to pupils’ progress throughout the school.
• Inspectors scrutinised the school’s self-evaluation document, the school improvement plan, a sample of monitoring records and additional documentation about leaders’ work and plans.
• The lead inspector met with the headteacher as the designated safeguarding leader and reviewed documentation and records about how the school keeps pupils safe.

Inspection team

Daniel Murray, lead inspector Gillian Nimer Andrew Soutar

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector