Tadcaster East Community Primary School

Tadcaster East Community Primary School Grange Avenue, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire LS24 8AN

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The resolute and determined leadership of the headteacher and the assistant headteacher has transformed learning in Tadcaster East.  The school has rapidly improved because senior leaders, middle leaders and governors have rigorously and successfully tackled previous weaknesses.  Leaders’ and governors’ ambition to eradicate underperformance is translated into action and this means the school continues to improve.  Outcomes for pupils are now good and have improved since the last inspection. Pupils make good progress in their learning from their individual starting points, including the most able pupils and disadvantaged pupils.  Children in the early years make a fast start in their reading, writing and understanding of number. They play and learn happily together.  As a result of good teaching, pupils learn quickly and can apply their English and mathematical skills across a wide range of subjects. Pupils

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This is a good school

clearly enjoy their work, inspired by an initial ‘learning challenge’ question.  Teachers assess pupils’ work carefully and accurately, giving timely support and guidance.  The behaviour of pupils is good. They are polite, friendly and have good manners. Pupils’ consideration of others and their excellent relationships with their classmates and adults ensure that their personal development and welfare is good.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching requires further refinement if it is to lead to outstanding outcomes for pupils.  Some pupils do not use grammar and punctuation correctly when writing.  There are too few opportunities for pupils to use reasoning skills in mathematics.  Some pupils do not yet have a strong enough grasp of fundamental British values.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further develop the effectiveness of teaching, learning and assessment and its impact on outcomes for pupils, by: ensuring that pupils have regular opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in using grammar and punctuation correctly during writing activities making sure that pupils are able to justify and explain their reasoning when undertaking mathematical problem-solving challenges.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make certain that the school’s curriculum effectively promotes pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher and assistant headteacher have been unwavering in their determination to secure an excellent standard of education for pupils in the school. Alongside governors, they have worked tirelessly to eliminate underperformance, improve the quality of teaching and accelerate the pace of progress pupils make in their learning. They have been successful in transforming the school to become good.  The quality of teaching has improved significantly and is now consistently good. Teachers work extremely well together, and share leaders’ ambition to excel.  Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of what the school does well, and what it needs to do in order to become even more successful. Procedures to monitor and evaluate the quality of the school’s performance, including checking the quality of teaching, are incisive and detailed. A sense of drive and urgency to improve is evident in all that the school does.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The role of the English and mathematics subject leaders in checking both pupils’ performance and the quality of teaching across school has improved and is now good. This development has played a key role in the school’s recent success. Leaders are skilful in ensuring that their analysis of information about pupils’ progress leads to action to address areas of concern. They lead professional development well.  Leaders and managers know that there is more to do to further refine particular elements of teaching in order to secure outstanding outcomes for pupils.  Performance management for staff is challenging and reflects the high expectations of the school. Training and individual professional development is a key part of this process, and addresses whole-school needs and individuals’ roles in school.  The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. Pupils’ good personal development is in part due to a

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

curriculum that strongly contributes to their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As yet, leaders have not ensured that the curriculum promotes fundamental British values well enough for pupils to have a good understanding of key principles such as democracy and tolerance of other faiths.  Teachers work hard to ensure that pupils do not repeat areas of work as a result of mixed age-range classes. Pupils enjoy starting each new topic with a learning challenge question, and often a visit or visitor to raise enthusiasm and engagement. The curriculum is enriched by a wide range of after-school clubs delivering a breadth of activities such as art, gardening, drama, multi-sports, writing, rugby and football.  The physical education and sports funding for primary schools is used very well over a two-year rolling programme of activities. The school is proud of its ambassadorial role and involvement with the Leeds

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Rhinos Rugby League Club. The school has invested in high-quality specialist staff to work with teachers and pupils, and there has been a marked increase in the numbers of pupils taking part in after-school sports clubs. Productive links have been formed with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and York City Football Club. There is now a wide range of inter-school competitive sports events organised through the local secondary school.  Leaders have carefully and effectively managed pupil premium funding. Actions taken include providing targeted support for pupils through online educational support programmes, funding additional staff, after- school clubs and home-learning packs in the early years. The positive impact of these actions is seen through the good progress made by disadvantaged pupils across school.  Links with parents are positive and they are very supportive of the school, demonstrated by the fact that all

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

parents who completed the online questionnaire agreed they would recommend the school to another parent. Parents know that the school promotes equality of opportunity for all and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.  The school has benefited from good support from the local authority, and from other schools within the Star Learning Alliance.  The governance of the school Governance has been largely transformed since the last inspection, including the appointment of five new governors. Governors are passionate about school improvement and have appropriate professional skills that complement their role in school. They have an accurate and incisive understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses from first-hand experience in monitoring school performance alongside school leaders, and have links to subjects and classes. Governors provide rigorous challenge to leaders alongside effective support. They are adept at helping to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

set school priorities, and hold leaders to account for the quality of teaching and learning.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. School staff work hard to ensure that there is high-quality care for all pupils. Pupils benefit from the culture of safety and security that has been established in Tadcaster East, epitomised by the school’s core values of ‘Belong, believe, achieve.’

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching is now consistently good, and its quality has improved since the last inspection. The impact of teaching on learning, including in reading, writing and mathematics, is reflected in the good rates of progress pupils now make. Rates of progress are continuing to accelerate.  Lessons are interesting and lively. Teachers use good subject knowledge and interesting resources to structure learning effectively and to engage pupils’ interest. For example, pupils in the Year 5 and 6 class were engrossed in a short film called ‘Alma’ as a basis for a piece of writing. Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve.  Work is usually pitched correctly according to pupils’ skills and abilities, providing the right amount of challenge, including for the most able pupils. This was seen in the Year 5 and 6 class where they were challenged to devise and cost a menu to make a profit as part of an online ‘maths apprenticeship’

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

programme. All pupils make good progress in lessons.  The feedback provided to pupils is good, although it is better in some classes than others. Pupils sometimes respond to marking, and are developing in their ability to assess their own work and judge whether or not they have been successful. This supports their next steps in learning well.  In mathematics, basic skills are taught well and consolidated regularly. Work in books shows that a range of areas across the mathematics curriculum such as measurement, shape and space and fractions are taught regularly, in addition to number and calculation. In a Year 2 and 3 mathematics activity, pupils were able to find the perimeter of irregular shapes successfully, and in Year 4 and 5 pupils confidently found fractions of larger amounts.  Although pupils regularly use and practise their number and calculation skills, they do not yet have regular opportunities to justify and explain their reasoning, or prove their theories when taking part in mathematical

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

challenges.  Pupils write enthusiastically and with imagination, often because they are inspired by the topic or resource devised by the teacher. In the Year 2 and 3 class, pupils worked happily together to write a play script for an ‘Angry Birds’ play, and in the Year 4 and 5 class pupils recounted their shared story involving the character ‘Bing Bong’ as a precursor to structuring a piece of writing of their own. However, teachers do not provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to develop their skills in using punctuation and grammar correctly which impacts on the accuracy of their writing.  The quality of pupils’ handwriting and presentation of their work is greatly improved and is now neat and legible, despite some teachers’ writing in pupils’ books usually being extremely untidy and not following the agreed school script.  Reading and the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) are carefully developed from

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

the early years into key stage 1, and as a result most pupils get off to a fast start in their reading. The pupils from Year 1 who read to the inspector were fluent and expressive. Skills are deepened as pupils move through school, with many reading widely and often at home, but other pupils less so.  Teaching assistants are deployed well across school, and the quality of support they now give to individuals and groups of pupils is very good.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils show respect and care for others. They value their classmates’ opinions, and work happily, cooperatively and enthusiastically in lessons. Attitudes to learning are good, although occasionally a few pupils can lose concentration and become distracted.  Pupils work hard in class, know their own personal targets and understand how to be successful in their learning.  Pupils thrive in the positive and caring school environment. Excellent sporting and artistic opportunities mean that pupils’ physical and emotional well-being are very well promoted.  Pupils report that they feel very safe at all times. They are aware of different types of bullying that may occur, but state categorically that it does not happen in Tadcaster East. Their awareness of cyber bullying is strong as a result of excellent work undertaken on e-safety.

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Personal development and welfare

 In their responses to the online questionnaire, all parents reported that they felt that their children were safe at school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Staff set high standards to which pupils respond well. Most pupils’ behaviour in the playground, in the dining hall and as they move around school is very good.  Pupils are polite, courteous and display excellent manners, holding open doors for staff and visitors.  Occasionally, there can be small disagreements at breaktime although they are quickly resolved, and there can be a little unnecessary chatter in some lessons and in assembly.  Pupils are happy at school and attend regularly, with levels of attendance remaining above average. The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent is very low.  Pupils are proud of their school and its environment, typified by the gardening club who have weeded large planters around school, and planted an impressive display of colourful bedding plants.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Progress and attainment have improved since the last inspection. Assessment information, the school’s information tracking system and the quality of work in current pupils’ books clearly indicate that pupils are now making consistently good progress in English and mathematics.  Pupils start Year 1 with skills that are broadly in line with those which can be expected for their age. Achievement has improved since the last inspection, and pupils are making good progress in Years 1 and 2. Pupils have achieved well in the national phonics check in Year 1, with the proportion meeting the expected standard being above average. The school is ambitious to raise the proportion even higher and is looking for ways to achieve this.  Progress is accelerating across key stage 2. Current pupils are now making at least good progress in their learning from their individual starting points. A few pupils are not yet reaching the highest standards of

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Outcomes for pupils are good

which they are capable as a legacy of school underperformance remains for a small number, despite their rapid progress.  By the end of Year 6, pupils are well prepared for secondary school, both academically and in their knowledge of how to be a successful learner.  The progress of the most able pupils in every year group matches that of their classmates and is at least good or better. Activities are carefully planned to extend their thinking and provide appropriate challenge.  The school is quick to identify any pupils who are at risk of falling behind. Staff make effective provision for these pupils either in class, in small groups or individually. This includes pupils who have special educational needs or disability. These pupils all make good progress because teachers provide them with activities that are well matched to their needs and abilities, and they are well supported.  As a result of effective use of the pupil premium funding, the very small number of disadvantaged pupils in

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Outcomes for pupils are good

each class make good progress in both English and mathematics. Their progress matches that of their classmates, and in some classes it is better than their peers.  The quality of pupils’ extended writing has much improved and is now good, although there are too few regular opportunities for pupils to focus on developing accurate writing skills. Consequently, some pupils lack the skills and knowledge to use grammar and punctuation correctly when writing independently.

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Early years provision is good

 Children are eager to learn and explore. They enjoy the opportunities given to investigate and learn happily together. Reception and Nursery children’s play is lively and imaginative.  Children start the early years with skills and knowledge which are just below those typical for their age. As a result of good teaching and provision, careful observation and good questioning, children make good progress and are well prepared to start Year 1. The proportion of children who leave Reception with a good level of development is improving and is broadly average. Although children’s progress is good, not all children are yet making consistently high rates of progress across the early years.  Children’s behaviour is consistently good as a result of adults’ high expectations. Children quickly learn essential social and emotional skills, and are generally able to take turns, share and apply themselves to

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Early years provision is good

tasks. A few children do still find it difficult to maintain concentration and engagement for an extended period of time.  Adults observe children carefully and build on their interests, using questions well to stimulate their imagination and curiosity. For example, children were initially fascinated by learning about the environment and growing plants, which turned into finding out about beanstalks, and then learning about giants in fairy stories. This involved building castles, and measuring bean stalks that had been drawn by the giants outside.  Adults lead activities and tasks extremely well, and ably support and work alongside children during imaginative and creative play sessions. They carefully facilitate their learning through prompts, skilful questioning and by modelling rich language.  Accurate assessment of children’s learning is used well to design and plan lessons to capture children’s

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Early years provision is good

interests and build on existing knowledge and skills. Adults have an awareness of the unique learning needs of each child, and use this knowledge to capitalise on every opportunity to both check and further each child’s development.  Basic skills in reading writing and mathematics are promoted effectively, and children get off to a good start in their learning. Every opportunity is taken to provide children with opportunities to write, make marks and count. For example, children were keen to write thought and speech bubbles as part of the role play activity to retell the story of ‘Jack and the beanstalk’.  Leaders are vigilant in all aspects of safety and safeguarding children’s welfare. Judging by the confidence and fun with which the children play and learn, they clearly feel very safe and secure.  The experienced and skilful leader of the early years has accurately identified key areas for improvement.

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Early years provision is good

The early years team constantly refine their practice in order to drive forward the highest standards of teaching. There are very well-thought-through plans to make further improvements, and there is a discernible sense of drive and urgency to offer the best possible provision for the children, and to see them thrive.

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School details

Unique reference number 121446 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 10012056

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School details

This inspection 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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 121 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Vicki Marsden Headteacher Mrs Donna Bedford Telephone number 01937 833795 Website www.tadeast.com Email address admin@tadcastereast.n-yorks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 2–3 July 2014

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Information about this school

 Tadcaster East Primary School is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is average.  The proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium funding is well below average. (This is additional government funding to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and children looked after.)  The early years provision is full time in the Reception class and part time in Nursery.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed learning in lessons, including one session in the Year 5 and 6 class jointly observed with the headteacher. In addition, he listened to some pupils from Year 1 read, and reviewed a sample of pupils’ work alongside the headteacher.  The inspector held meetings with governors, the headteacher and assistant headteacher, other members of the teaching staff and a representative of the local authority. He also held meetings with some pupils from the school council.  The inspector viewed a range of documents, including information on pupils’ achievements over time, the school’s data on current and recent progress of pupils, and the school’s own view on how well it is doing. The inspector also reviewed the school improvement plan, documents relating to safeguarding and records of behaviour and attendance.  The inspector took account of the 50 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and

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Information about this inspection

comments made by parents online. There were no responses to the inspection questionnaire for staff, and no responses to the online pupils’ questionnaire. The school’s website was also scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Philip Scott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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