East Ayton Community Primary School

East Ayton Community Primary School 3 Moor Lane, East Ayton, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO13 9EW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  In this improving school, pupils make good progress in all subjects and reach standards that are above those nationally expected by the time they leave the school.  The school takes very good care of those pupils who need the most support, which enables them to feel safe and secure.  In the majority of lessons, pupils enjoy their learning and are challenged well. Teaching assistants give excellent quality support to all pupils, not only those with special educational needs.  Pupils’ behaviour is good and often exemplary. They feel safe and secure from any threats of bullying.  Leaders and managers have improved teaching to the level where it is now good.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, leadership is outstanding, with rapid improvements in children’s achievement and the quality of teaching.  The governing body has checked on the quality of teaching and has ensured that this has

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There are remaining pockets of teaching where pupils are not as well challenged as they are in other classes.  In some classes, pupils have not made as much progress in writing as they have in reading and mathematics.  The feedback that pupils are given on their work varies in quality and sometimes does not give pupils precise information on how they should improve their work.  Pupils’ targets are sometimes too low which means that, while no pupils are underachieving, some could be making better progress.  While senior leaders frequently check the quality of teachers’ work, it sometimes lacks precision so that any remaining weaknesses are tackled quickly and decisively.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 10 lessons or part lessons of which two were joint observations with the headteacher. In addition, pupils were heard reading and small groups of pupils with special educational needs were observed in small groups.  Meetings were held with groups of staff, pupils, members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 31 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. The lead inspector received several letters from parents and also looked at letters from parents to the school.  Inspectors scrutinised a number of documents including school improvement plans, minutes of the governing body meetings and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Robert Jones, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Jan Lomas Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  A below average proportion of pupils is eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding provided for children in local authority care, children known to be eligible for free school meals, and children from armed service families).  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and supported through school action is average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  In 2012, the school met the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and pupils’ achievement further so they become outstanding by ensuring:  pupils’ progress in writing is at least good in every class and that every opportunity is given for pupils to practise their writing skills across all subjects  all teachers give very precise feedback on the work pupils do and that pupils are always given the chance to read, review and improve their work after reading teachers’ comments  pupils’ targets are reviewed more often and with greater rigour so that more pupils are pushed to make better than expected progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve how school leaders and the governing body check on the quality of teachers’ work by:  targeting known areas of remaining weakness very precisely and ensuring tangible, measurable success criteria are in place to speed up developments  improving the information that the headteacher gives the governing body on the progress pupils are currently making in the school so that its members can hold school leaders more closely to account.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children begin in Reception with skills and abilities that are expected for their age. However, previous weaknesses in children’s communication, language and literacy skills have been carefully analysed and measures have been put into place that have improved children’s skills in these areas rapidly.  These improvements have had a major effect on the quality of children’s literacy skills. Those who are currently in Reception confidently use full sentences when they talk and are able to read and write to a level which is ahead of their chronological age.  In Key Stage 1, pupils continue to make good progress. They use an outdoor area to enhance their learning well. Pupils develop their reading skills well and many develop a keen interest in a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.  In Key Stage 2, pupils continue to make good progress. Any pupils who fall behind are quickly identified and measures are put into place to ensure that by the time they reach the end of Year

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The achievement of pupils is good

6, they have not underachieved.  While this good system has been successful in ensuring very few pupils underachieve, the school’s tracking system shows that some pupils could make even more progress. This is because the targets for pupils who are making expected progress are not reviewed often enough or with sufficient rigour.  While overall pupils make good progress in writing, their progress in this subject varies between year groups. This is because there are better opportunities in some classes than in others for pupils to practise their writing skills across a range of subjects.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make at least good progress. This is because teaching assistants give high quality support and because any tailor-made learning programmes are checked regularly for their effect on pupils’ progress.  One well-taught reading programme is highly successful in boosting pupils’ reading abilities,

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The achievement of pupils is good

particularly in Key Stage 1.  Art is a particular strength in the school. Throughout the school, there are impressive displays of pupils’ art work. Moreover, pupils develop their writing skills well through such activities as appraising the art work of modern artists. These types of activity help to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness.  Pupils who are in receipt of the pupil premium make good progress and there is no gap in achievement between those who are and are not eligible for the funding.  In national tests at the end of Year 6 in 2012, the average points score overall in English and mathematics for pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium was 30 and for those who are not eligible for the funding it was 29.6.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In Reception, high quality teaching ensures that children thrive because they make good connections between areas of learning. In one lesson, children learned about tropical fruits by making a fruit salad, while looking at a globe finding out where they came from. Meanwhile, the teaching assistant told them stories about her recent visit to Africa.  Adults in the Reception help children to link sounds to their corresponding letters well. Their progress is meticulously tracked and parents are kept very well informed of their children’s progress.  Teachers question pupils well and make sure they answer in full sentences. This improves their speaking and reasoning skills well.  Teachers skilfully use information about how well pupils have learned to match work to pupils’ different abilities. This ensures that in most lessons work is sufficiently difficult for all pupils and so pupils enjoy their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 No opportunities are missed to develop pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding. For example, in a physical education lesson, pupils were walked between the hall and their classroom while they chanted the months of the year they had learned in a previous lesson.  Between Year 1 and Year 6, the quality of teaching is good overall. However, there are some remaining areas of weakness that are preventing the overall quality of teaching from rising to outstanding.  While the quality of feedback to pupils is good overall, in some classes the feedback is limited to simple, congratulatory comments or the work is simply ticked. Sometimes, there is no time set aside for pupils to read, review and improve their work after reading teachers’ comments.  At the time of the previous inspection, pupils’ writing was a weakness. It has now improved, although there are some year groups in the school where progress in writing still lags behind

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The quality of teaching is good

that of reading and mathematics. This is the case where pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to practise their literacy skills across all subjects.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils behave courteously towards each other and to adults at all times. They have good manners and are polite.  In the Reception class, behaviour is outstanding. Children play together, taking turns and listening to each other’s contributions in role-play games. In a café area that had been set up following a real visit to a local café, children impressively took on roles of customers and waiters, addressing each other very politely in full sentences.  Pupils say that bullying is very rare and demonstrate a good understanding of what they should do if they feel threatened by bullying.  They have a good understanding of the potential dangers of the internet, social networking and what they should do if they receive any malicious text messages.  Attendance is above average compared to other schools around the country.  Many pupils willingly take on responsibilities and enjoy them. During the inspection, pupils talked

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

to inspectors about the jobs they did around the school, such as helping younger pupils to read and helping with the audio-visual equipment for assembly.  Such activities help pupils to enjoy school and develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness.  The overall behaviour and safety of pupils are not yet outstanding because, very occasionally, where teaching does not fully engage pupils or where tasks may lack some challenge, pupils become passive in lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 Since the previous inspection, the headteacher has been very successful in ensuring the deputy headteacher, leaders and subject leaders have a far greater role in running the school both on a day-to-day basis as well as leading longer term developments in the school.  Teachers have been trained well in how they can use assessment data to plan lessons that match pupils’ different abilities. Moreover, teaching assistants have been well trained to lead high-quality learning programmes that enable pupils with special educational needs to make good and sometimes outstanding progress.  Improvements in the Early Years Foundation Stage since the previous inspection have been impressive. Weaknesses are identified and thoughtful systems are very quickly put into place and checked so staff are sure they are working to help children to do the best they can.  For example, children’s weak writing and letter recognition were rapidly improved as a result of

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The leadership and management are good

the introduction of writing sessions where pupils wrote captions to drawings in a special book. Staff write impressively detailed feedback on their writing which is then relayed orally to children.  The curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage is first-rate. Visits and visitors to the unit enhance learning considerably making learning relevant and stimulating for the children. One child described the things they do as ‘loads of fun every single day, and you get to shout out the alphabet’.  In the main school, the curriculum is good. Pupils generally make good links between subjects but this can vary between year groups; particularly in ensuring there are good opportunities to develop writing skills within subjects such as science, history and geography.  The management of teachers’ performance has recently been improved and is managed rigorously. This has helped to improve the overall quality of teaching in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 Equal opportunities are promoted well and any discrimination is tackled decisively. Funding provided by the pupil premium is used to fund courses and tailor-made packages to boost pupils’ reading skills. Therefore, the pupil premium benefits those for whom it is intended and ensures their achievement equals that of others in the school.  School leaders are aware of the remaining areas of weakness that are preventing achievement and teaching from rising to outstanding. However, their plans to improve these areas lack precision and tangible, measurable success criteria. This means that progress in tackling these weaknesses has been slower than the school would have hoped.  Safeguarding meets all current government requirements.  The local authority gives the school high quality support. It has been instrumental in helping the school to develop systems to track pupils’ progress and has supported the school in devising

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The leadership and management are good

policies to ensure the quality of assessment is good.  The governance of the school:  The governing body holds school leaders to account well, particularly on ensuring that teachers’ pay reflects the quality of their teaching. Any teachers who fail to meet exacting standards do not receive a pay rise. Members of the governing body regularly check on the school’s spending of the pupil premium and the effect it is having on raising achievement. They regularly attend training events organised by the local authority to ensure they are kept well up to date with developments in governance. Its members have good knowledge of pupils’ past achievement and how this compares with other similar schools. However, the quality of information that they receive from the headteacher lacks precision on the progress pupils are currently making. This is a key factor which is preventing members from asking very precise questions to hold school leaders very closely to account on matters relating to

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 121377 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 402020

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 174 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Tomlinson Headteacher Ian Fleming Date of previous school inspection 25 November 2009 Telephone number 01723 862132 Fax number 01723 865533 Email address admin@eastayton.n-yorks.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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