Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Heidi Price Headteacher Yealmpstone Farm Primary School Meadowfield Place Plymouth PL7 1XQ

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 8 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in June 2011.

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection.

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

You have developed successfully a culture of innovation and a love of teaching and learning. The enthusiasm of staff and pupils is palpable throughout the school. Key to your success are the many opportunities for teachers and teaching assistants to extend their expertise and to acquire leadership skills. Pupils also develop as leaders of learning. They are keen to explain their work as house captains, ‘bully busters’ and as ‘learning detectives’ where they observe lessons and suggest improvements.

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

The effective distribution of roles and responsibilities across the leadership team ensures that improvements in the school’s work are sustained. You hold leaders to account for developments in their areas of work and they in turn evaluate their impact on pupils’ progress. This results in all pupils making at least expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs or disability making as much progress as others in the school and nationally. You have rightly identified the need to stretch the most-able pupils and increase the proportion of pupils making more than expected progress. You and other leaders make an invaluable contribution to supporting other schools in the local authority. For example, you support the development of leadership on courses and in schools as a local leader of education, and the literacy leader supports others in her role as a specialist leader of education. The school regularly

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

hosts visits from other schools and works in partnership with higher education to train teachers.

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

You have ensured that the safeguarding policy is up to date with the latest government requirements and that it is reviewed annually. All staff are trained at appropriate levels in child protection, and in preventing radicalisation and extremism. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the processes. Any risks to children are reported and followed up to good effect. Staff and governors receive good-quality training in safer recruitment procedures. All the required checks on the suitability of adults to work with children are carried out and recorded well. Pupils say they feel safe in school and parents and staff agree. The pupils learn how to keep themselves safe from harm, including when using the internet and social media. There is little bullying in the school and pupils are confident that staff will address any concerns they raise. Parents value the positive relationships they and their children have with

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Short inspection of Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

the staff, and they would recommend the school to others.

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Inspection findings

 Children get off to a strong start in the early years and attain a good level of development that is above the expectations for their age. This is because teachers and teaching assistants observe and assess the progress of individuals during lessons and adapt the provision to meet the different learning needs, including making the curriculum more engaging for boys.

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Inspection findings

 The skilful checking of pupils’ understanding and addressing any misconceptions continues in Key Stage 1. Teachers demonstrate high expectations of the pupils and challenge them to explain their thinking. The effective teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) across the early years and Key Stage 1 leads to above-average results in the Year 1 phonics check, including for disadvantaged pupils.

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Inspection findings

 By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils are reading fluently and writing in complex sentences. They are keen to exceed their last ‘personal best’ piece of writing and to talk about their ideas before jotting them down. They can apply different strategies in solving mathematical problems. They make most progress when teachers ask probing questions and provide feedback on their work which encourages them to respond more thoughtfully. Not all teachers are challenging the potentially higher achievers in this way to enable them to make rapid progress.  The new curriculum has raised teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. It makes a strong contribution to pupils’ personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils demonstrate a good understanding of the British values of democracy, the rule of law, and of tolerance and respect for the views of other people. They attend school regularly and behave well.

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Inspection findings

 Your leadership team is skilled in monitoring and evaluating pupils’ progress through lesson observations and in examining pupils’ books and their progress information. Together, you ensure that your self-evaluation is accurate. You identify key priorities for the school improvement plan and governors monitor your progress in making the improvements. The impact is seen, for example, in recent improvements in the teaching and learning of mathematics, which were achieved through effective staff training and performance management.

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Inspection findings

 Governors have an in-depth knowledge of the school’s work through the reports they receive. They hold you and other leaders increasingly to account for the progress pupils make, including disadvantaged pupils who are supported by the pupil premium. The local authority officers also know the school well and check that your early years and Key Stage 1 assessments are accurate. You make effective use of training and support from the Plymouth Teaching School Alliance to develop your staff, for example in mathematics. The effect is that everyone in the school strives to beat their personal best.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teachers consistently check the progress of all pupils, especially the most able, and reshape lessons to ensure that the majority make more than expected progress.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, other leaders, members of the governing body and a group of pupils. I spoke to pupils around the school and examined the quality of their work, especially in English, mathematics and science. I held a telephone conversation with your local authority adviser. I visited all classes with you and saw the early morning work and breakfast club. We discussed our joint observations of teaching, learning, pupils’ attitudes and their progress.

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Information about the inspection

I examined a range of documents, including your self-evaluation statement, school improvement plan and records relating to safeguarding, pupils’ progress, attendance, behaviour and, in an anonymous form, the performance management of teachers. I took account of 23 responses to Ofsted’s online Parent View survey and 12 responses to the staff questionnaire. None of the pupils completed questionnaires.

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