Saltergate Infant School

Saltergate Infant School Newby Crescent, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 2TT

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils make good progress in writing and mathematics and outstanding progress in reading.  Teaching is good overall.  The strong focus on reading enables pupils to undertake exciting challenges and to read regularly at home.  The consistently high quality teaching of letters and sounds contributes significantly to pupils’ outstanding achievement in reading.  Children in the early years make good progress in all areas of their learning.  The outstanding curriculum and wide range of clubs provide memorable experiences and contribute extremely well to pupils’ outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. Pupils get on very well together both in lessons and at play.  The school takes outstanding care of its pupils. This, together with excellent relationships between adults and pupils, means that most pupils are confident and happy learners.  The leadership and management of the school are

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

good. All staff and governors work as a cohesive team. They display high expectations and a determined drive for improvement. This is leading to higher standards of attainment and acceleration in pupils’ progress over time.  The headteacher, a strong presence in the school, carries out detailed checks on pupils’ progress and ensures additional support is given to those who may be falling behind.  Pupils’ attendance has risen and is now consistently good.  Links with parents are outstanding. Parents have many opportunities to support their children’s learning at home, particularly in reading.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils’ attainment and progress in mathematics and writing are not as high as they are in reading.  Middle leaders are not playing a full enough part in improving the quality of teaching and learning in the subjects for which they are responsible.  Pupils do not make outstanding progress in all subjects because a few aspects of teaching require improvement. For example, teachers do not always use information about how well pupils have learned to help them plan future lessons.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work does not always tell pupils how to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching and learning in 14 lessons taught by eight teachers. Two observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. The inspectors considered a sample of pupils’ written work, mathematics and topic work. They also observed the teaching of speaking and listening skills and the teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) and listened to pupils reading during a Year 2 lesson.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, subject coordinators, a group of pupils, members of staff, four members of the governing body and a local authority officer.  The inspectors took account of 22 staff questionnaires, the results of a recent school survey of parents’ views, and the 71 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, Parent View.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents including information on pupils’ progress, the school’s evaluation of its current strengths and areas for development, documents

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Information about this inspection

relating to safeguarding and the school’s plans for future development.  The inspectors held discussions with staff about their systems for checking pupils’ progress and plans for future development.

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Inspection team

Brenda Clarke, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is smaller than the average-sized infant school. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. Approximately 10% of pupils are from service families.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is similar to that found nationally.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium, is below that seen nationally. Pupil premium funding is additional government funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority.  Children attend the Nursery class on a flexible part-time basis and the Reception class full-time.  The school shares its site with Saltergate Junior School, to which most pupils transfer, a children’s centre, a before- and after-school club and a pre-nursery provision, Gateways. These settings are subject to

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Information about this school

separate inspections. Their inspection reports may be viewed at www.gov.uk/ofsted.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress and raise standards further in writing and mathematics by:  broadening pupils’ choice of words and punctuation to add flair and precision to their writing  providing more opportunities to stretch and challenge the most able pupils in writing and mathematics  ensuring that staff in the early years have a systematic and consistent approach to children’s pencil control and the formation of letters and numerals.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise further the quality of teaching by:  ensuring that all teachers use their information about how well pupils have learnt to plan tasks that closely match pupils’ needs and help the most able pupils to make progress at a faster rate  ensuring that teachers’ marking explains what pupils must do to improve and that pupils follow this up in future work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve further the quality and impact of leadership and management by:  ensuring that close checks of teaching and learning by middle leaders identify the standards pupils reach and set specific targets for improvement in each of the subjects for which they are responsible.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher gives a strong steer to the school. She has developed a whole-school team approach whereby all staff strive to make the school’s provision even better.  Middle leaders are knowledgeable about their subjects and seek additional training to develop their skills. When checking the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, they sometimes give more emphasis to the activities that pupils undertake rather than evaluating closely the speed of learning in lessons and the quality and standards of work in pupils’ books. Inspectors found several examples of all pupils in the class being given the same work. This goes some way to explaining why fewer of the most able pupils reach the higher levels by the end of Year 2, particularly in mathematics.  The headteacher’s checks on teaching and learning in classrooms are frequent and give clear pointers for improvement. There is evidence that this has helped some teachers to improve their teaching skills.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher keeps a robust watch on pupils’ progress and quickly puts effective support in place for those who are falling behind. Support to develop pupils’ reading and phonic skills have been particularly successful, resulting in pupils attaining standards that are above average.  The school’s plans for future development are appropriate and based on a good understanding of current strengths and areas for improvement.  The school’s curriculum is outstanding and is enriched by an excellent range of additional experiences. These include swimming, singing in the community, visits to interesting places such as the Pinewoods, a local synagogue and whole-school happenings, such as an exciting Victorian day.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed extremely well. Pupils have many opportunities to work together and share ideas and resources, for example, building a strong brick wall

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The leadership and management are good

together outdoors. The exceptionally well-organised lunchtimes allow children to meet socially, practise good table manners, and take responsibility for clearing away. Through opportunities such as visits to places of worship, pupils learn about life in modern Britain.  Partnerships are good and add well to the school’s work. For example, strong links with the Gateways Pre- Nursery result in children transferring smoothly into the Nursery class.  The school’s provision for pupils’ welfare and safeguarding is outstanding. All staff and governors ensure a very safe and secure learning environment. Statutory safeguarding requirements are met. All parents who completed the online questionnaire agree that their children are happy and feel safe in school.  Links with parents are outstanding. An informative interactive website enables parents to keep abreast of school developments. Parents welcome the many opportunities they have to be involved in their child’s

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The leadership and management are good

learning both at home and in school. All who completed the online Parent View survey would recommend the school to others.  Fostering good relations and promoting equal opportunity are at the heart of the school’s provision. Actions are in place to narrow the achievement gap in boys’ writing with that of other pupils in the class. For example, teachers have looked closely at the topics they choose and have included work on the Vikings and dinosaurs to excite and interest boys. This has been successful and inspection evidence indicates that this achievement gap is closing. Leaders recognise that the most able pupils are not always challenged well enough and action to address this is underway. The school successfully eliminates any discrimination, for example, pupils who do not have access to the internet at home are able to access their online activities at lunchtime.  The additional primary school sports funding has been spent wisely. Teachers have had training to

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The leadership and management are good

develop their skills in the teaching of gymnastics and dance. Specialist coaches work with pupils in aspects such as martial arts and competitive sports. Pupils’ well-being has been boosted by the wide range of clubs, such as running and basketball.  The local authority judges the school to require ‘light touch’ support only, but offers regular support and additional training as needs arise.  The governance of the school:  Governors bring a range of skills that complement the school’s provision. They monitor closely pupils’ standards and ask challenging questions where dips occur. They have a sound understanding of the quality of teaching in the school from spending time in classes. Governors keep a close eye on the pupil premium funding and check that this is used effectively to develop the skills and well-being of the pupils concerned. The governing body has effective arrangements in place to ensure that pay awards are

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The leadership and management are good

linked to teachers’ and leaders’ performance. There are systems in place to tackle underperformance should this occur. Governors keep a close eye on the school’s budget but do not always measure the impact of their spending decisions, for example, the success or otherwise of the Chatterbox initiative for developing pupils’ speaking and listening skills. Governors regularly seek parents’ views and have taken responsibility for developing the very informative school website.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Teachers’ skills in managing pupils’ behaviour are outstanding. As a result, pupils’ behaviour is exemplary and lessons run very smoothly and no time is wasted. Pupils behave impeccably at play time and around the school.  Pupils work extremely hard in lessons. They cooperate well and readily share ideas and resources. Pupils are very cooperative and collaborate well with others. They eagerly help each other to persevere and complete tricky tasks such as when using sticky tape to make a bag to hold magic beans.  In lessons, pupils try hard to complete tasks and concentrate for very long periods of time. They are highly enthusiastic and always willing to ‘have a go’.  Pupils have good attitudes to learning and so are well prepared for the next stage of education. They listen attentively to their teacher and others, respecting another’s point of view.  Staff support pupils very well and help them to develop high levels of confidence.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are clear about the golden rules and know exactly what is right and wrong. They understand the rewards system and show mature attitudes when explaining the Golden Bench award that celebrates those who have shown respect, responsibility and reliability.  Lunchtime is a very pleasant part of the day where pupils enjoy eating and chatting with their friends.  Attendance fell in 2013 but a range of effective measures has halted this trend and attendance is now above that seen nationally.  All parents who completed the Parent View survey agree that the school makes sure that pupils behave well.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Pupils have an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe and speak knowledgeably about aspects such as road safety and the risks attached to using the internet.  Pupils play safely at playtime and are mindful of each other when playing robust games.  Teachers follow safety regulations in classrooms ensuring a very orderly, supportive environment. Hence, pupils say they feel very safe and their parents agree.  Scrutiny of records since 2009 indicates that there are no incidences of bullying and name calling. There have been no exclusions over the last few years.  Pupils understand what is unkind and know how to get help at any time.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good overall. Lessons are planned to capture pupils’ interests, make learning fun and to help pupils to practise their skills in a variety of stimulating ways. For example, in a Year 1 literacy lesson, pupils discussed the characters in fairy tales, made sentences to describe them and constructed puppets of the Three Little Pigs. This made learning exciting and held the attention of all pupils.  There are warm relationships between adults and pupils. This develops pupils’ confidence and helps them to tackle new learning with enthusiasm.  Teaching assistants are trained well and are deployed very effectively to support groups of pupils both in the classroom and when learning outdoors.  Reading and phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) are taught consistently well. Pupils are given good opportunities to find information in books and by using the class computers. Additional support is

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The quality of teaching is good

used very well to help those who require it. This, together with the good opportunities that teachers provide for pupils to practise their reading and letter sounds at home, explains why pupils make outstanding progress in reading.  Writing and mathematics are taught well but pupils do not make as speedy progress in these subjects as they do in reading. This is because teachers do not always use information about pupils’ progress well enough to ensure that the most able pupils receive work that stretches them in writing and mathematics.  While teachers remind pupils to use punctuation and correct letter formation, they do not always insist that pupils carry this out in their work. Similarly, while teachers encourage the most able pupils to use interesting vocabulary when talking together before they start writing, they do not always check that pupils are using these words to add flair in their writing tasks.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils are taught how to add and subtract but opportunities are missed for them to use these skills in practical situations and in other subjects. This goes some way to explaining why fewer pupils attain the higher levels in writing and mathematics than in reading.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is an important part of lessons. Pupils are taught to work together and share tasks and resources. They enjoy opportunities to learn about other cultures and religions and even the youngest children show respect for others.  Pupils’ work is marked regularly but some pupils do not always adapt their work in response to the advice given and continue to make the same mistakes in future pieces of work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Many children start in the early years with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age in language and in their personal and social development. Children make good progress so that by the time they leave the Reception Year, a similar proportion reach a good level of development to that seen across the country. Progress in reading is particularly strong.  Attainment at the end of Year 2 is above average in reading and broadly average in writing and mathematics. Standards in reading have risen consistently year-on-year since 2010. They have also risen consistently in writing and mathematics but dipped at the end of Year 2 in 2014. Effective extra support provided by well-trained adults is the key reason why many pupils are making better progress than expected.  Pupils’ progress in writing, while good, is not as rapid as it is in reading. Scrutiny of pupils’ work in books indicates that many pupils do not consistently use capital letters and full stops to add precision to their

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The achievement of pupils is good

writing. The most able pupils write at length but do not always include descriptive words to add flair and interest to their work.  In 2014, teacher assessment data at the end of Year 2 showed boys’ attainment in writing lagged behind that of girls. In response, the school has already adapted its curriculum to include some topics that interest boys, for example, dinosaurs. This has been successful and the gap between boys’ and girls’ standards in writing is closing.  Pupils’ progress in mathematics is good overall. Pupils use a developing range of mathematical words to describe their learning, for example, using words such as ‘more than’, ‘balances’ or ‘equals’. Scrutiny of work in pupils’ books indicates that all pupils, despite differing abilities, are sometimes given the same work and this gives fewer opportunities for the most able pupils to work at a higher level, for example solving calculations with more than one part.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most able pupils achieve well in reading to attain standards above those expected nationally by the end of Year 2 but similar to those seen across the country in writing and mathematics.  In 2014, results of the Year 1 screening check in phonics were above those nationally. This indicates at least good progress in this aspect, building carefully on children’s learning in the Reception classes.  Disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium make good progress overall. They attain similarly to their classmates in reading and mathematics, but do slightly less well in writing. They achieve well against similar pupils nationally. The in-school gap between their attainment and their classmates is closing but remains widest in writing, where it is nearly two terms.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well overall. Good support in lessons from well-trained teaching assistants addresses their differing needs.

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The early years provision is good

 Most children enter the Nursery class with skills and knowledge below those typical for their age in most areas of learning and especially in their personal and social development, and speaking and listening skills. By the time they leave the Reception classes, a similar proportion to that seen nationally reach a good level of development. This represents good progress overall from children’s individual starting points. From below typical skills on entry to the Nursery classes, many children develop skills above those expected in reading by the end of the Reception Year. This represents outstanding progress in this area. Highly effective teaching of the sounds that letters make together with many opportunities to read in school and at home are the key reasons for children’s outstanding achievement in reading.  Throughout the early years, the learning environment is organised well. Children have good opportunities

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The early years provision is good

to learn both in the classroom and outdoors. They receive a good mix of teacher-led and child-chosen activities. This teaches children to be independent learners. Children are taught to sit appropriately, listen carefully and behave well. By the end of the Reception Year they are well prepared for their next stage of education.  Teaching is well planned and effective overall. Children are regularly encouraged to learn and practise their early reading, writing, and number skills. While children are taught a correct pencil grip, and to form numbers and letters correctly, adults do not always check that children are doing this correctly at all times.  Since the last inspection, much has been done to develop children’s speaking skills. Throughout the early years, children practise these skills, for example, performing a puppet show in nursery, or acting out fairy tales outdoors. As a result, most children speak confidently and willingly explain their thinking in class

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The early years provision is good

sessions.  All staff act as excellent role models. They provide a very safe environment for children to learn and thrive. Children are happy and enthusiastic learners who take a full and active part in classroom activities.  The early years coordinator plays a key role in ensuring that all staff from the Gateways Pre-Nursery through to the Reception classes work as a strong team to plan and support children’s learning. This enables children to learn in a consistent way. Adults regularly check and record children’s learning and use this information to identify the next steps to take in their learning.  Staff plan good opportunities for parents to visit the early years as children move between classes and also to learn new ways of helping their children at home. These very strong home-school links mean that children settle easily and have good opportunities to reinforce their learning at home.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 121464 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 449653

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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 3–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 208 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Walker Headteacher Linda Mortimer Date of previous school inspection 21 October 2009 Telephone number 01423 508552 Email address admin@saltergate-inf.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 and 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

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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