Cherry Burton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

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

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Mrs Dawn Joy Headteacher Cherry Burton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Prismary School Cherry Burton Beverley HU17 7RF

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Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 7 February 2017, 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 May 2012.

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Primary School

You are the fourth headteacher to lead this school since its last inspection, and at the time of this inspection you had been in post for five weeks. Prior to your arrival, the governors, local authority and staff worked skilfully and hard to ensure that pupils continued to receive a good education. Governors kept a tight grip on the tiller as they dealt with the unforeseeable, difficult events that led to the turbulence in senior roles in the school. Parents and staff value the governors’ commitment and visibility within the school. The interim headteacher, in post from January 2016, ensured stability for staff and pupils. As a result, in 2016 more pupils attained the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6 than in most other schools nationally.

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Primary School

Governors and the local authority recognised that there were some dips in the standards reached by some pupils in other areas of the school. The local authority brokered support from a local leader in education (LLE), the headteacher at Driffield Infant School, to ensure the school quickly addressed these dips during the period leading up to your appointment. This leadership support was further enhanced by the appointment of a new deputy headteacher in September 2016. In between your appointment and taking up the reins in January of this year, you got to know the school and worked with the deputy headteacher, interim headteacher and LLE. Consequently, you were able to ‘hit the ground running’.

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Primary School

Since January, you have impressed governors, staff, pupils and parents. The overwhelming majority are excited by the developments you have already put in place. Crucially, you have quickly improved the flow of information to parents about their children’s work in school and are listening to everyone, so they feel respected and included in this new phase of the school’s life.

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Primary School

A striking feature of the school is pupils’ love of writing. Work displayed on the walls and the work in pupils’ books is of high quality. Pupils talked keenly about writing in different styles. For example, Year 5 pupils read the openings to their suspense stories with enthusiasm and a sense of drama. They used the teacher’s clear and helpful guidance to improve the content of their writing and their grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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Primary School

Over a third of parents took the time to give their views about the school on Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, during the inspection. The overwhelming majority were extremely positive about all aspects of the school. The parents I spoke to on the playground were also keen to describe the effectiveness of the support their children receive, particularly those who have additional learning or emotional needs.

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Primary School

You and the deputy headteacher have ensured that the small number of vulnerable pupils have not been overlooked in the transition between different leaders. You both made time to understand their situations and ensure that staff training was up to date, understood and implemented. Safeguarding records are secure and show that staff know how to report their concerns and that appropriate action is taken as a result.

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Primary School

Pupils say they feel safe in school, there is minimal bullying and pupils know to ask for help when needed. You have listened to a small number of parents who are concerned about their children’s anxiety leading up to national tests. As a result, you are developing a specific role in school to give further emphasis to pupils’ emotional health and to develop their resilience.

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Inspection findings

 I was keen to explore how you are ensuring that more pupils than in 2016 are on track to achieve the expected standard in the phonics check by the end of Year 1. You worked with the interim headteacher and deputy headteacher over the autumn term to ensure clarity about teaching phonics systematically. The approach, combined with regular checks on pupils’ progress and ensuring teaching reflects the different needs of the pupils, is reaping rewards. The information about pupils’ progress indicates that a healthy proportion are on track to achieve the expected standard by the end of the year. Pupils who master phonics and early reading skills quickly, develop a love of reading. Year 1 pupils read their beautifully written love letters with fluency and meaning.  We also considered the provision made for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Over time, information about the progress that these

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Inspection findings

pupils make indicates that it has not always been as strong as for other pupils in the school. You recognised this in your initial evaluation of the school’s work. Very shortly, the new leadership team will be complete and the middle leader overseeing the progress of this group will be in place. She has previously held the role of special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). However, you are aware that changes in legislation mean that she will need support to help her get quickly up to speed to make sure these pupils get the best possible outcomes. The work in these pupils’ books shows they are making reasonable progress, conversations with pupils confirm they feel they get the help they need and parents who spoke to me were pleased with their child’s progress.  Last year, fewer than the expected number of children in the Reception class reached a good level of development. You are clear about what needs to be done

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Inspection findings

to ensure the provision in this class meets all the early development needs of all the children. Information about the current progress children are making indicates that more children will reach the expected level of development than in most schools in 2016. However, you also recognise that more children could make faster progress to exceed this expected level of development. Your particular skills in this area have given governors an understandable level of confidence about your capacity to drive up standards in the early years.  The personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils remains a strength of the school. Pupils have very positive attitudes to learning and this is clearly maintained over time, as seen in their pride in the presentation of their work in their books and displays around school. Equally, pupils play well together, enjoy letting off steam and know how to manage their behaviour in robust games.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils learn about, and respect, different faiths and cultures as well as celebrating the Christian values that underpin their school. However, some pupils do not understand about different sexual orientations or gender identity. The deputy headteacher has recognised this and has been successful in securing the school’s place in an exciting project with Stonewall that will take place in the near future.  Governors have been key to the continued success of the school. Prior to your appointment, they did what was needed to ensure that standards were maintained through a potentially difficult time. While they are understandably pleased with the 2016 Year 6 results, they are not complacent. Evidence in the minutes of their meetings and visits to school, before your appointment and since, show that they challenge staff to ensure pupils make faster progress so more reach higher standards.  Governors have worked tirelessly to ensure staff feel valued but have maintained

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Inspection findings

a robust approach to linking pay awards to the impact teachers have on the progress pupils make. They have also ensured, with the staff, that the small number of disadvantaged pupils make good progress across a range of subjects.  Over the last five weeks, you have worked with governors to update their evaluation of the school’s work. The result is accurate and you have identified key priorities to improve the progress all pupils make. Both you and the governors recognise that the developing school improvement plan needs to include more defined criteria against which they can hold you to account.  Unfortunately, in and among the action the governors have taken to keep the school on track, they have not kept entirely up to date with some policies and the requirement to publish information on the school website.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 governors keep up to date with guidance about policies relating to all aspects of the school’s work and meet the requirement to publish information on the school’s website  the new SENCo has the support and guidance needed to ensure that statutory requirements for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully met.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the diocese of York, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for the East Riding of Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, the deputy headteacher and middle leaders to discuss key aspects of the school’s work. We visited lessons together with a particular eye on phonics, writing and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the inspection

I spoke with pupils and parents. I also considered 18 responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey and 56 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, Parent View, including 39 written responses.

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Information about the inspection

I met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and a parent governor, and a representative of the local authority. I also had a telephone conversation with a representative of the director of education for the diocese of York.

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Information about the inspection

I reviewed a selection of pupils’ workbooks, assessment records and a range of other documents relating to all aspects of the school’s work.

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