Threshfield School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching to further raise pupils’ attainment by:
  • having high expectations of what the most able pupils can achieve
  • accelerating the progress of the disadvantaged pupils, particularly in mathematics
  • consistently applying the school’s marking policy to provide pupils with guidance to improve their writing
  • ensuring that pupils’ written work is tidy and well presented.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • developing the skills and expertise of new subject leaders
  • monitoring the school’s curriculum so that the skills and knowledge are developed across year groups
  • ensuring that the headteacher’s report provides governors with comprehensive information with which to hold the school to account.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has created a culture where staff are dedicated to improving their practice. There have been recent changes in staffing and subject leaders, and this has resulted in the headteacher spending a high percentage of his time teaching. Despite the challenges of recruitment in this small rural school, the headteacher has successfully held things together during a difficult time, relentlessly continuing the school’s successful journey to improvement.
• The school has been well supported by the local education authority, which has challenged the school on a regular and frequent basis. It has brokered support and professional development to improve the capacity of leaders. This has had a significant impact on improving the effectiveness of the governing body. This, in addition to partnership working with other schools, has improved the quality of teaching and learning.
• The headteacher has a sound understanding of the school’s effectiveness and provides information to various governor committees. However, recently, when the headteacher has had a significant teaching commitment, reports to the full governing body have been scant and lacking in detail to ensure that governors are fully holding the school to account.
• Regular monitoring and evaluation of teaching in English and mathematics have ensured that lessons are well planned and staff are skilled in teaching these subjects. Assessment in these subjects is used effectively to track pupils’ progress and ensure that they achieve well. Some leaders are still getting to grips with their new role and key stages of the school with which they are less familiar.
• Leaders have been less vigilant in ensuring that foundation subjects such as history and geography are monitored and evaluated with the same rigour. Assessment across the foundation subjects has not been formally introduced. There is yet to be an accurate match of what is being taught in lessons, what pupils need to learn and what needs to be assessed by teachers.
• The school has highly effective relationships with parents and the local community. All parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, would recommend the school to others.
• The leadership of SEN is highly effective, and leaders, as well as supporting pupils throughout the school, also support pupils in the enhanced provision with physical needs, many of whom have significant learning needs as well. The funding for this group of pupils is very well used and supplemented from the school’s budget to ensure that these pupils are well integrated into the school, and that their academic progress remains a high priority.
• The school has put in place a structure for teaching a broad range of topics to pupils in mixed-age classes. These are enhanced by visits, for example to the local village festival, as well as residential trips for the older pupils to Buckden House. Special days, such as Number day and Poetry day, and participation in a range of small business enterprises, for example preparing and selling fruit and vegetable boxes to parents, help ‘bring the curriculum alive’ for pupils.
• The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. The school is quick to respond to events and provide good guidance to pupils on current issues. During the inspection, Years 5 and 6 participated in a workshop addressing prejudice about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Pupils show respect for people from all backgrounds and faiths and have a good understanding of fundamental British values.
• A small number of pupils are eligible for support through the pupil premium and they are well supported by the school’s use of this grant to improve their rates of attendance. The school provides extra teaching and programmes of support for disadvantaged pupils to successfully accelerate their progress, particularly in reading and writing.
• The primary physical education and sports funding has been used effectively and monitored to ensure that teachers are well trained to deliver good-quality physical education lessons. Pupils of all ages can participate in sports and represent the school in competitions.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective.
• Following the school’s previous inspection, the local authority has provided support through a national leader for governance to develop the expertise of the governing body. Governors are enthusiastic about their role and have a strong commitment to the school, ensuring that it continues its road to further improvement. They hold senior leaders to account and effectively challenge the headteacher.
• Governors have a good understanding of the quality of teaching across the school and they monitor the school’s work through regular focused visits. They have restructured the way that they work so that they evaluate the effectiveness of the key issues in the school’s improvement plan.
• Governors scrutinise the use of the pupil premium funding effectively, to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve well.
• Governors understand that pupils’ achievement should be the focus when awarding pay increases for teachers and the headteacher. They ensure the process for reviewing the headteacher’s performance is adhered to.
• Governors are fully conversant with their statutory duties for safeguarding and ensuring that staff are recruited with careful consideration.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has created a safe culture to take care of its pupils and are vigilant in checking up that procedures are implemented to protect pupils. All staff understand their obligations for safeguarding, and this is emphasised throughout the school’s work, as well as in lessons.
• Pupils say that they feel safe and talk about how they trust the adults in school who look after them. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that the school looks after their children well and that this results in their child feeling safe in school. The school conducts a range of risk assessments to keep pupils and staff safe.
• All members of staff are checked for their suitability to work with children. Accurate and up-to-date records of these checks are maintained.
• Leaders, teachers and other staff are aware of the school’s procedures for safeguarding. They take appropriate action when necessary. They liaise with outside agencies when they have a concern and they work hard to support families in need.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. Teachers have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and conduct. They establish a productive working atmosphere and there are good relationships between staff and pupils and between pupils. This means that time in lessons is spent on learning, and this is reflected in pupils’ good attitudes in lessons.
• Teachers have developed good strategies for planning and teaching mixed-age classes. They use assessment well to pitch work at the right level, and this ensures that the learning needs of pupils are mostly well met.
• Sometimes teachers do not have sufficiently high expectations of what the most able pupils could achieve. For example, it is not always clear to pupils what they need to do to reach even higher levels, particularly in writing. Not all teachers adhere to the school’s marking policy or provide further guidance to pupils on how they might achieve a higher standard.
• The teaching of reading is good. The teaching of phonics is effective and young pupils quickly learn to decode words and develop the early skills of reading. Pupils have opportunities to choose a range of books from the classroom. They also enjoy their own reading books, some of which they bring from home. Older pupils review what they have read, and this is monitored by the class teacher to ensure that they read a range of genres and make good progress.
• The quality of teaching mathematics has ensured that pupils are proficient in using and applying the basic mathematical skills. They are expected to share their mathematical reasoning to explain their solutions to problems. The most able pupils are now benefiting from more challenging mathematics work, but there are still too few opportunities for them to investigate mathematical problems which would help them develop mastery of the subject.
• The improvements in the teaching of writing mean that pupils now enjoy writing, and this is evident from their lively use of language in their written work. Teachers’ styles and techniques are well suited to the way pupils learn skills in writing across a range of genres.
• Writing lessons are clearly structured to provide good building blocks for pupils to write well and apply these skills across other subjects in the curriculum. Towards the end of the year there has been a marked deterioration in the presentation of written work across the school, which has not been addressed by teachers.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge in English, mathematics and science is good. However, insufficient focus on the teaching of the foundation subjects means that teachers are not always well equipped to teach pupils the skills that they need to understand a subject in depth. As a result, pupils’ achievement in subjects such as geography and history is inconsistent across the school.
• The pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are sometimes supported by a teaching assistant and are well supported by an individual learning programme. This support enables them to access the curriculum and achieve well alongside their peers.

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 is an integral part of the local community, and the needs of pupils and families are well known and support is provided where necessary.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. Pupils understand how to manage risk. They understand the risks of using the internet and social media.
• Pupils have a good understanding of bullying, including bullying related to race and gender. All parents who responded to Parent View are confident that their children are well looked after and that bullying is dealt with well by the school. Pupils respect the school rules and know there are consequences to bad behaviour.
• The school’s ethos promotes tolerance and understanding of differences. Pupils have a good understanding of British values, which prepares them well for life in modern Britain.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• All parents who responded to the inspection survey agree that pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning, they work independently and are keen to do well. They embrace responsibility, for example on the school council or through mini enterprises working with local businesses.
• Pupils are proud of their school. They are courteous, well mannered and confident to engage in conversation. They listen well to adults and their peers and show respect for the views of others. They play cooperatively in the playground and move around the school in an orderly way.
• Pupils arrive in school promptly and their attendance is broadly in line with the national average. The school’s support for those pupils who had previously been persistently absent has improved their attendance.

Outcomes for pupils

• Throughout the school, the rate of pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics has improved and is now good. The small number of pupils in each year group means that each pupil’s performance has a marked impact on the school’s overall figures.
• The proportion of pupils achieving expected levels at the end of key stage 1 is above the national average, but too few exceed this. Pupils make good progress from key stage 1 to the end of key stage 2 and attain above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, achievement of the most able pupils has been more variable.
• Pupils’ writing in English shows that they are confident writers who can apply the use of adventurous vocabulary and write appropriately for an audience. They are now applying the skills that they have learned in these lessons when they write in other subjects.
• Spelling is usually accurate and where it is not pupils apply their phonics skills. Pupils have a good understanding of grammatical conventions and apply these appropriately for the genre that they are writing. Handwriting is legible and pupils are joining their letters in key stage 1. However, much of pupils’ most recent written work is untidy.
• Improvements in the teaching of mathematics now mean that the majority of pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 are achieving well in this subject. They can apply their understanding of number to a range of mathematical word problems and explain their reasoning both verbally and in writing. However, provision for the most able pupils does not always sufficiently challenge them to develop their mastery of the subject.
• The teaching of phonics in the early years and Year 1 is good. Over the last two years, all pupils who had started in Year 1 reached the expected standard by the end of the year in the phonics screening check. Pupils of all ages clearly enjoy reading. The youngest pupils read with enthusiasm, tackling words using their phonics skills and anticipating what is coming next in a story.
• Older pupils read with confidence, sharing their opinion about the text and expressing preferences for authors or genres. They talk confidently about an author’s style and can explain how they use some of these techniques in their own writing.
• The disadvantaged pupils make good progress in reading and writing. They express less enthusiasm for mathematics, and this is reflected in their weaker achievement in this subject.
• The achievement of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is good because of the well-planned provision, quality of teaching and support from teaching assistants.
• As a result of specialist teaching in science, pupils’ achievement in this subject is good. However, pupils’ knowledge and skills in some of the foundation subjects such as geography and history are patchy. Many of the subjects are linked together so that they are more relevant to the experiences of the primary-aged pupil. While pupils enjoy the subjects that they learn, they do not always develop the skills that they need to study these subjects in sufficient depth.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the early years with skills and knowledge which are broadly typical for their age. They quickly adapt to a mixed-age class and are happy, motivated and ready to learn. Children have good relationships with adults, as well as with each other. By the time they leave the Reception Year, a large majority reach a good level of development, and are well equipped for key stage 1.
• The teaching of phonics is good. Children learn the basic skills of reading and apply the sounds that they have learned to their spelling. During the inspection they made their own mini books based on the text ‘Suddenly’, which they had thoroughly enjoyed reading with the class teacher. They show good early writing skills when, for example, making menus for the café or writing simple poems.
• The teaching of mathematics is focused on acquiring early number skills, and children reliably count out articles, partitioning them into equal groups and accurately recording their results and, mostly, forming their numbers correctly.
• Children’s behaviour is good, both in the classroom and the outside area. Learning from the classroom is taken outside, whenever possible, and pupils enjoy riding on the trikes and bikes, as well as checking up on the vegetables and flowers that they have planted in colours of the rainbow.
• Staff record children’s achievements to plan next steps in learning. Parents contribute to their child’s ‘learning journey’ before they start school by recording their children’s achievements at home.
• The leader of the early years has only just taken up post and is developing her role and reviewing the transition arrangements for children. She ensures the welfare and safety of children. The school liaises with external agencies and specialists to support children with specific needs so that they are well integrated and able to participate fully in school life.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121594 North Yorkshire 10048220 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 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 54 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Peter Cannings Richard Cook 01756 752 348

www.threshfieldprimary.co.uk admin@threshfield.n-yorks.sch.uk

Date of previous inspection 17–18 May 2016

Information about this school

• Threshfield Primary School is a much smaller-than-average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is equivalent to the national average.
• The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage, and there are very few pupils for whom English is an additional language.
• The proportion of disabled pupils, or those who have SEN and also have statements of need or education, health and care plans is above average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector visited lessons in all classrooms, and some lessons together with the headteacher. In addition, the inspector observed small groups of pupils being taught.
• The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work and listened to pupils read. She spoke with pupils about their enjoyment of school and their opinions of behaviour and safety.
• Inspectors held discussions with staff and governors and took into account the seven responses from the staff survey.
• Inspectors considered a wide range of school documents. These included the school’s self-evaluation report, development plan, behaviour and attendance records, governing body documents and documents relating to safeguarding and the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning.
• Inspectors took into account the responses of those parents who submitted their views to the inspection team, as well as the 41 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

Inspection team

Karen Heath, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector