Hornsea Burton Primary School

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

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Mrs Carole Shiels Headteacher Hornsea Burton Primary School Hornsea Burton Road Hornsea HU18 1TG

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 11 October 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 December 2012.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have created a welcoming environment where everyone knows each other well. You celebrate the benefits of a small school and have created a family-like atmosphere. However, you also make sure that pupils are not disadvantaged in any way by the small number of pupils in some cohorts, by developing links across schools to widen pupils’ opportunities and experiences. Pupils display positive attitudes to learning. In lessons they are on task and interested in their work. Their books show that teachers have clear expectations in presentation and the amount of work pupils produce. Pupils are proud of their work. They enjoy working with others of all ages, for example in the house team activities. You plan events, such as celebration assemblies and workshops, to encourage parents and carers to get involved in their child’s learning.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Last year, the school experienced considerable changes in staffing and some in governance. You do not dwell on circumstances beyond your control and challenges you are faced with, or use them as an excuse. On the contrary, you look for the positive bonuses that changes can bring. You are very open to seeking advice and working with others. You implement strategies you have evaluated well to improve outcomes for the pupils. You say that the school’s federation with Skipsea Primary School brings many advantages, for pupils and staff, as do the partnerships with other schools in your local authority. These links provide opportunities for staff to share ideas and expertise. They enable teachers to compare and refine their assessments of pupils. Staff rightly feel that these links are particularly important in a small school. Leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching and learning have a clear purpose. The

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

direction given to teachers about further improvement is precise. Your checks include observations of teaching, looking at pupils’ work and matching findings to the information in your assessment systems. This work tells you that there is still more to be done to ensure that more pupils reach the expected and higher standards for their age.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Small numbers of pupils in some year groups can bring some distortion to the end- of-key-stage data and comparisons with national figures. Mindful of this, you have devised an assessment system that tracks each pupils’ progress in detail, across the year, and from the end of the last key stage. Your school assessments, information from the nursery settings and the work of current children in the early years, show that children enter school with wide-ranging abilities. Most pupils across school are making good progress from their starting points this year in reading, writing and mathematics. You agree that some pupils of middle and higher ability need further challenge to help them to reach higher standards.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

With several year groups in each class, teachers have to plan learning with great care to ensure that tasks are well matched to the national expectations and to each pupil’s needs. This is done particularly skilfully for the key stage 2 pupils. The adults carefully check each pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills before a task, so that they know exactly what each pupil needs to do to get better. High-quality teaching and direction, from the teacher and the teaching assistants, make sure that each child can access the support and challenge they need. Adults’ direction in the classroom means that not a moment of learning opportunity is lost and, consequently, most pupils make good progress.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Pupils’ books demonstrate where leaders have intervened to direct improvements. For example, pupils’ work across school shows teachers giving improved direction in expected outcomes, and highlighting where pupils are doing well and where they could improve further. Lead teachers are right in their judgement that now pupils in key stage 1 need to move on from correcting their work to improving their work.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

During the last inspection, you were asked to strengthen some aspects of the teaching of mathematics. Since then, the national expectations for mathematics have changed. You have made sure that teachers understand the demands of the new standards by putting training in place and encouraging work with teachers in other schools. Teachers are confident in the assessments they are making. Pupils’ work shows that they are developing their basic number skills well. Pupils of all abilities are given many opportunities to apply their skills to different problems and activities. Most pupils are confident in selecting the mathematics skills they need to solve problems and are making good progress.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Developing children’s early language and communication skills was also identified as an area for improvement at the last inspection. Your strong partnerships with Hornsea Nursery and Hornsea Primary School have enabled all the schools in this community to work together to improve. One aspect of this work has been looking at how you can best support the large number of pupils who enter Nursery and school with skills in early literacy, speech and communication that are lower than those typical for their age. Work in phonics has been particularly successful in helping children with their early reading and writing. Adults model sounds well and have established clear routines for the teaching of phonics. As a result, children are developing more confidence and skill in their reading and writing through Reception and Year 1.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Leaders have made sure that safeguarding arrangements are in place and understood by everyone. Leaders adapt policies and guidance from the local authority and make checks against the regular updates. There are clear procedures for the recruitment and induction of new staff.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Leaders and staff know each child very well. They are aware that a high number of pupils and their families need extra help for different reasons. Leaders readily seek external support and guidance to help pupils with the challenges they face. They carefully consider the needs of individuals and check that staff have the appropriate training to support the pupils as well as they can. Partnerships with other agencies are good. Records are detailed, and checks and actions are carried out in a timely way.

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Short inspection of Hornsea Burton Primary School

Pupils say that they are taught how to keep safe, through class lessons and in assemblies. They receive regular information about keeping safe online. They know exactly what to do if they have concerns about bullying and are able to point out where there are regular reminders about anti-bullying around school. They know that keeping safe is also linked to positive behaviour and attitudes.

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Inspection findings

 I was interested to find out about the school’s policies and provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. National information shows that the school has a much higher proportion of these pupils than many other schools. Some pupils have very specific needs. Staff have attended a wide range of training to make sure that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to support each pupil as well as possible. Consequently, pupils are well cared for and adults know the next steps they need to take in their learning. There are a large proportion of other pupils who are identified as having a special educational need. We spent some time discussing how you identify these pupils. We agreed that some of them do not have particular barriers to their learning, they simply have a lower starting point and need help to catch up. Well-planned programmes of support are clearly having a positive impact and should continue.

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Inspection findings

However, we agreed that the way leaders identify pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities needs refining. This will help leaders and staff more accurately address each pupil’s needs.  A key area of my work during the inspection was finding out about the quality of teaching, learning and provision in the early years. I was interested to find out why the proportion of pupils who reach a good level of development by the end of their time in Reception sits persistently below the national average. The Reception classroom is bright and welcoming, with a balance of children’s own work and displays to support their number and literacy skills. The recent work with the separate nursery providers, who have moved into the school building, has got off to a good start. You and the nursery staff agree that children leave Nursery and start Reception with skills that are generally lower than those that

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Inspection findings

are typical for their age. However, there is some variation within this, and a few pupils start school with skills that are much higher. The improved outdoor learning area brings the opportunity for Nursery and Reception children, and staff, to work together. You agree that there needs to be more focused planning of activities and provision to make sure that all children are challenged sufficiently in the next steps they need to take.  Historical data for the school shows that a lower proportion of pupils achieve higher standards than the national average. I have already mentioned that teachers address the needs of pupils and different year group expectations in each class effectively. Within this, teachers now need to ensure that pupils of higher ability are constantly challenged to deepen and extend their learning across the curriculum.  The school environment celebrates pupils’ work across a wide range of activities

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Inspection findings

and subjects. Pupils talk enthusiastically about their learning across the curriculum, particularly their enjoyment of reading. However, pupils are generally not as confident or positive about their learning in religious education. They do not all show an understanding of why it is important to learn about other people’s faiths, cultures and beliefs. Leaders say this aspect of learning has been stronger in the past. You agree that you would like to do further work in helping pupils develop a better understanding of different faiths and beliefs.  Governors speak with passion for and commitment to school improvement. Their different skills and backgrounds support them in asking focused and challenging questions about the information leaders present to them. They know when areas of the school need improvement and follow up this work fastidiously. For example, when attendance for the disadvantaged pupils and those who have

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Inspection findings

special educational needs and/or disabilities was not as good as it should be, governors made sure that it became an item for discussion and action at every full meeting. They checked the success of leaders’ work to improve punctuality and attendance. Attendance for these pupils has improved.

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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

 there are higher expectations of the progress all pupils can make so that more pupils are challenged and supported to reach higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics  in the early years, provision is planned more carefully to address children’s next steps in learning, so that a higher proportion of children reach a good level of development and beyond  there is a clearer understanding of which pupils are working below national expectations and need help to catch up, and which pupils have a particular special educational need that may be a barrier to their learning  learning across the curriculum supports pupils in developing a good understanding of, and respect for, different beliefs, faiths and cultures.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I looked at specific aspects of the school’s work, including leadership, the quality of teaching and learning throughout the school, and safeguarding arrangements.

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Information about the inspection

You and I worked closely together throughout the inspection, observing teaching and looking at pupils’ work. We spent time discussing the school’s strengths and your identified areas for improvement. I spoke to you, as the school’s safeguarding lead, about the systems and practices in place to keep everyone safe. I also spoke to governors and pupils about safeguarding. I met with school leaders, the early years staff, the business manager, representatives from the governing body, the local authority school improvement adviser and pupils. I considered the 12 staff responses and the six pupils’ responses to Ofsted’s questionnaires. I spoke to a few parents after school. No parents responded to Parent View.

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