Glusburn Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that pupils make at least good progress by ensuring that:
  • teachers use accurate information about pupils’ prior learning to provide work that is closely matched to pupils’ abilities
  • all adults quickly adapt teaching when pupils and groups of pupils are making insufficient progress, particularly for those who grasp learning quickly and who are capable of achieving more
  • learning maximises opportunities to reinforce key reading, writing and mathematical skills, as well as handwriting and spelling, consistently across all subjects
  • planned learning supports pupils to deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills in all subjects
  • teachers better manage the work of the many teaching assistants more effectively to enable them to support good learning.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • strengthening the school’s self-evaluation so that leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching, learning and outcomes across the school
  • ensuring that the monitoring of pupils’ progress is timely and shapes decisive and swift action to enable individual and groups of pupils to make consistently good or better progress
  • enabling all middle leaders to have greater accountability and responsibility for leading improvements in order to raise pupils’ achievement across the curriculum
  • continuing to develop the new curriculum to deepen and challenge all pupils across all subject areas
  • ensuring that all staff consistently apply procedures and policies for reporting and recording concerns about pupils’ accidents, behaviour, bullying, racial and other incidents and the use of these is robustly monitored for impact and effectiveness by leaders
  • providing governors with accurate information in order for them to be able to challenge leaders effectively and to have a clear understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement of the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• While senior and middle leaders undertake various monitoring activities, these are sometimes lacking in focus and over-generous in their evaluation. For example, visits to lessons, and the checking of pupils’ work, do not consider with enough precision the impact that teaching has on pupils’ gains in learning. Leaders’ analysis is inaccurate and planned actions, therefore, do not have a reliable impact on improvement.
• Following the introduction of the new leadership structure in September 2018, some leaders are new to their roles. As yet, they have not had enough time or opportunities to address the changes needed in order to rigorously monitor their areas of responsibility across the school. They are committed to their roles and keen to access further training to enable them to accurately measure the impact of their actions on raising pupils’ standards of attainment.
• Leaders and governors have ensured that the pupil premium funding is spent effectively. Despite this, the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, although only a small proportion of pupils at the school, still remains below that of other pupils nationally. Overall, disadvantaged pupils are not achieving as well as they could.
• Additional funding to support pupils who have SEND is spent effectively. Consequently, progress for these pupils is improving through the individualised support and plans for improvement they have. Leadership of this aspect of the school’s work is effective.
• The curriculum incorporates all of the subjects that it should, although it is being redesigned by leaders because they recognise it does not always provide the challenge and depth required for some children. Educational visits and the use of visiting groups and speakers add inspiration and engagement within the wider curriculum, for example the visiting scientists and the planetarium seen during the inspection. These help to capture pupils’ imagination and excitement, adding wonder to the curriculum.
• There is a strong emphasis within the curriculum on the principles of the Unicef ‘Rights Respecting School’. This is valued by pupils and parents, who recognise that this enriches the understanding their children have of being respectful and knowledgeable global citizens.
• Pupils speak positively about the wide range of extra-curricular activities available to them, such as drama, gymnastics, craft, film and chess. As a result, pupils develop a wide range of skills and interests after school.
• Leaders ensure the primary school PE and sports funding is used to provide a range of sporting activities, including football and fitness. Pupils understand the importance of being fit and healthy and enjoy regular physical activity. The work of the sports coach is valued by pupils, who all spoke about their enjoyment of sports and physical activities.
• All staff work to establish a caring and inclusive ethos. A happy atmosphere permeates the school. Assemblies, strong links with the local community, and visits further afield contribute well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Governance of the school

• Regular visits to the school are made by governors to check the school’s work. The evidence gathered then supports the work leaders and governors undertake to improve the school further. However, information provided by school leaders to governors has, at times, been overgenerous in its evaluation, so governors have not had an accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness.
• Following recent recruitment to the governing body, there is now a relevant range of skills, expertise and knowledge that helps to provide challenge and support to school leaders. Governors are eager to extend their skills and understanding further, attending training to support their development.
• Governors ensure leaders use funds effectively, including the primary PE and sports funding, to provide additional support to meet the needs of pupils. This includes the appointment of the PE coach to enhance the curriculum.
• Governors are ambitious for all pupils and families. They understand the local community well. They are passionate about the school and keen to offer support to school leaders in order to improve outcomes and opportunities for all pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff know that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and most have an understanding of what to do if they are concerned about a pupil or an adult in school.
• Systems and procedures for ensuring the safe recruitment of staff are in place. The requirement for staff to be trained in safeguarding procedures and first aid is met. Although pupils are safe, leaders’ management of records and logs is not always thorough, resulting in minor inconsistencies in the application of procedures.
• Leaders work with other agencies and parents well to help support the needs of those pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable.
• Pupils and parents agree that pupils feel safe and are safe. Staff have taken part in training to help them protect pupils from harm. The curriculum teaches pupils how to manage some of the risks they face in modern society, including raising the awareness of keeping safe online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is not consistently good. Not all adults have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can do and achieve, especially of the most able. Pupils’ rates of progress and learning across the curriculum, therefore, are variable over time.
• Teachers and other adults do not always take sufficient account of pupils’ existing skills and understanding. Work planned and presented, therefore, does not always match pupils’ needs with sufficient precision. This results in some of the most able pupils not being stretched and challenged enough and prevents them from reaching their potential.
• Most teachers have good subject knowledge. Teachers’ expectations about pupils’ handwriting, and the presentation and organisation of their work in books across all subjects, however, are not always high enough and so pupils do not take the care they should with their work. This is noticeable in, for example, history and geography.
• The teaching of reading has improved, as has the teaching of phonics. Across school, pupils say they enjoy reading, both individually and to one another. Adults make sure that pupils use their phonics skills at the early stage of reading. They expect older children to explain, in full, the assumptions they make when searching for clues about character and plot development in the texts they read.
• While the teaching of basic writing skills is secure, not all pupils, in all classes, take enough care to ensure that these are applied in every piece of work they do. Examples of work from older pupils working at the expected standard were seen where they were not consistently using full stops and capital letters within their work, especially in work other than English.
• The teaching of mathematics is variable. Across school, particularly in key stage 2, pupils state that they could do more and, from a scrutiny of pupils’ work, inspectors agree with them. Many pupils demonstrate competence in the skill or concept being taught, yet they are required to complete such work. This prevents these pupils from having the opportunity to tackle more challenging work and gain a deeper understanding.
• The teaching of PE and sport is led by the sports coach employed by the school. Pupils enjoy this area of the curriculum. They make good use of the sports facilities and grounds on site and older pupils are motivated to attend extra-curricular clubs such as samba and dodgeball. Some pupils represent the school in local and regional events.
• Generally good relationships exist between teachers, teaching assistants and pupils. Staff foster positive attitudes to learning and encourage many pupils to try their best. However, there are times when teachers do not check and manage the work of teaching assistants to make sure that individuals and groups of pupils are given good support for their learning.
• The ‘values and ethos’ aspects of the curriculum are a strength of the school. Glusburn is a Unicef Rights Respecting school and these principles guide much of the school’s work to ensure pupils leave the school as responsible, caring and globally aware citizens.

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’s welcoming and caring ethos is central to its work. Leaders, especially governors, are clear about the importance of being at the heart of the school community.
• Staff know the pupils well and pupils benefit from effective care and guidance. The pastoral support provided to individuals is well planned and enables them to be fully involved in the life of the school. Most parents value the support and care given to their children.
• The high priority placed on the ‘values and ethos’ education enables all pupils to understand the importance of living as responsible global citizens. The school is recognised as a School of Sanctuary. Pupils are proud of the fundraising they do for the many charities they support.
• Pupils understand the risks of using the internet and most have an age-appropriate understanding of the potential risks of social media, including the use of mobile phones.
• The school site is very well kept and maintained. Pupils generally respect the learning environment, which is clean, stimulating and attractive.

Behaviour

• Over the past year the school has worked hard to promote better attendance by working with families. Consequently, attendance has improved and is now in line with the national average. Few children arrive late to school. The number of pupils who are persistently absent has decreased over the past year and is below the national average.
• Pupils and parents all state that they like the interactive school behaviour system. They like the immediate communication it provides, giving parents opportunities to respond if they wish.
• Generally, pupils show positive attitudes to their learning and to one another. They cooperate well in lessons and at playtime. On the rare occasions that this is not the case, it is because work set for pupils is not sufficiently challenging or engaging and so they lose interest. Mostly pupils listen to each other’s points of view. They respect one another and help one another with their work.
• Pupils are proud when they are nominated into the many leadership roles the school offers such as digital leaders, Fairtrade team, behaviour ambassadors and school council representatives. Pupils represent their school well in these roles, but also at events within the community.
• Pupils say they feel safe in school yet they state that some instances of bullying take place. On the occasions bullying happens, inspection evidence shows that the school deals with it and pupils know they can trust adults to help to ‘get it sorted’.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Since the last inspection, standards of attainment by the end of Year 6 have improved to be in line with national averages by 2018 in reading, writing and mathematics. This represents average progress from pupils’ starting points.
• Inspection evidence shows that, currently in key stage 2, while some pupils are now making better progress than in the past, the rate of progress is variable across the year groups and subjects and is not consistently good. Inspection evidence and information seen suggest that the improvements in outcomes seen in Year 6 in 2018 are unlikely to be maintained in 2019.
• Older pupils spoken to by inspectors felt that the work they undertake is too easy and they would like harder work. Many pupils are ready for the next stage of education but some of the older pupils said they were ‘looking forward to secondary school so we can do more challenging work’.
• In 2018, at the end of Year 2, the standards pupils reached in reading, writing and mathematics were similar to those reached by pupils in 2017 and similar to outcomes nationally. Even so, the number of pupils attaining at greater depth by the end of key stage 1 remains below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics, a particularly sharp decline in writing from 2017.
• Pupils in key stage 1 are doing well in learning to read. The proportion of pupils in Year 1 meeting the expected standard in the national phonics screening check has increased over the past three years and, in 2018, was above the national average. Nearly all pupils reach the expected standard in phonics by the end of Year 2. This reflects the effective leadership and teaching of phonics.
• There are variations in the achievement of different groups of pupils. The most able pupils do not reach the highest standards they are capable of. Tasks sometimes lack challenge and do not demand enough of them.
• The achievement of disadvantaged pupils across the school is improving. The pupil premium funding is now used effectively to bring about improvement in their attainment and progress. Over time, their achievement has lagged behind that of other pupils in the school and other pupils nationally. Gaps, although now narrowing in reading and writing, still remain.
• Pupils who have SEND are supported sensitively by additional adults. The leader responsible evaluates this provision effectively. Support is now focused on improving their progress through individualised programmes of support. As a result, these pupils are now beginning to make good progress.
• The school’s own assessment information on pupils’ attainment and progress is not fully reliable. Inspection evidence, including that gleaned from scrutinising work in pupils’ books, indicates that leaders’ views of the extent of the improvement in pupils’ current achievement is overly generous. There have been few opportunities to look at the standards of pupils’ work with other staff or schools, for example, in order to check that the teachers’ views of pupil attainment and progress are accurate.

Early years provision Good

• Most children join the Nursery class with knowledge and skills broadly typical for their age. More children than in the past, including boys, are now making good progress through Nursery and Reception from their starting points.
• Over the last four years the proportion of children reaching a good level of development in each area of learning has steadily increased. This proportion is now in line with the national average, so most children are sufficiently well prepared for learning in Year 1.
• There are many opportunities to read, write and develop number skills in different areas of the setting, and children, including boys, choose to participate for sustained periods of time in these activities.
• The progress made by disadvantaged children in the early years has improved steadily over recent years. Consequently, the gap between the progress and attainment of disadvantaged children and that of their peers has diminished each year.
• Teaching in the early years is good; a wide range of carefully planned activities ensures that children have many opportunities to develop curiosity and a love of learning. Children enjoy making choices about what they would like to learn. Adults encourage this and consequently the curriculum is adapted well to reflect children’s interests.
• Adults are skilled in choosing when to intervene and move learning forward. The encouragement they give to all children to become independent and resilient learners is highly effective and can be seen in how even the youngest children persevere well, making good gains in their learning.
• Expectations of children are high and adults model the behaviour they wish children to display. As a result, behaviour is good, and children share resources and cooperate well. The positive relationships children form with staff and their peers help them gain confidence and independence. They engage in activities calmly and safely.
• Parents are encouraged to support their child’s learning and are actively encouraged to provide evidence in their child’s record of achievement, known as their ‘learning journey’. Children were proud to show inspectors their ‘learning journey’, speaking with excitement about their achievements.
• The learning environment is calm, stimulating and welcoming and there is a range of areas in which children can develop skills and play purposefully. It caters well for the wide needs and interests of the children. The outdoor area, an area for improvement from the last inspection, is carefully planned, large and utilised very well to allow a wide and varied choice of activities that support learning well.
• Safeguarding and the welfare of children are a priority and all procedures are implemented well, including regular risk assessments. Children are safe and understand how to keep themselves safe.
• The early years leader is determined to improve provision in the early years. She leads a team of dedicated staff well. They work with her to plan and deliver the best for the children they work with. The leader has an accurate understanding of the strengths of the early years and the areas for further development.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121447 North Yorkshire 10082027 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 406 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mark Wheeler Richard Hunt 01535 632145 http://www.glusburn.n-yorks.sch.uk/ headteacher@glusburn.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 March 2015

Information about this school

• Glusburn Community Primary School is a larger than average community primary school in North Yorkshire.
• The school shares the same site as the local children’s centre, which is under separate management.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average. A smaller number of pupils than the national average has an education, health and care plan.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding is well below the national average.
• The school provides part-time places for children in the Nursery class and full-time places for children in the Reception class.
• Inspectors were aware during this inspection that an incident which occurred at the school since the previous inspection is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions by the school in response to the incident were considered, alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited 18 lessons or part-lessons across the school to observe teaching and learning. Some observations were conducted jointly with members of the leadership team.
• Formal and informal discussions took place with senior leaders, including governors, subject leaders, staff, pupils, parents, two representatives from the local authority and the headteacher who was absent from school during the inspection.
• Documentation relating to the school’s website and safeguarding, including the records and information of recruitment checks, was scrutinised.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents including the school’s self-evaluation, governing body minutes, monitoring of teaching, plans for improvement, external reports, training logs and analyses of pupils’ attainment, progress and attendance.
• Pupils’ work in different subjects was scrutinised, some alongside senior leaders.
• Inspectors listened to some pupils from Year 1, Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6 read.
• Pupils’ behaviour was observed by inspectors in lessons, during break and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils about their work informally during lessons, and met with groups of pupils to discuss their learning and listen to their views about their school. There were 50 responses to Ofsted’s online pupil survey.
• Inspectors talked to a number of parents at the start and end of the school day. They also took account of the 60 free-text online responses to the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also took account of the 34 staff responses to Ofsted’s online survey.

Inspection team

Nicola Shipman, lead inspector Adrian Fearn Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Mary Lanovy-Taylor Ofsted Inspector