Reeth Community Infant School

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

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Mr Gordon Stainsby Headteacher Reeth Community Primary School Healaugh Road Reeth Richmond North Yorkshire DL11 6SP

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 8 November 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 Reeth Community Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your clear vision, strive for excellence and ethos of care and compassion ensure that pupils are given every opportunity to be the best they can be. All staff buy into your ambitious vision for further improvement. Staff show the utmost commitment and dedication towards pupils and the school community.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

The strong collaborative culture you have created means that staff share ideas to enable high-quality learning. You value your staff. As a result, you ensure that they have access to meaningful professional development. Consequently, there continues to be strength in teaching and learning. Your meticulous analysis and tracking of pupils’ progress means you and your staff quickly identify pupils who need additional support. This, together with high-quality teaching, ensures that pupils continue to make good progress from their different starting points.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Governors bring a wide range of skills and expertise. They share your drive for excellence. Governors, leaders and staff work together to develop sharp and robust development plans. These plans identify key priorities to make the school outstanding in all areas. As a result, you are making good progress on that journey.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

The school remains a hub of the community. The Federation, with Gunnerside Primary School, enables pupils to access a wider range of opportunities. Parents wholeheartedly support the school. One parent commented that the school is ‘such an amazing, welcoming school’. Another parent commented positively on the range of opportunities and activities to ‘stimulate pupils and maintain their interests’. Staff and governors are committed to ensuring that that no pupil is left behind. Consequently, this is an extremely happy school where pupils feel well supported and nurtured. The environment is stimulating, with high-quality classroom displays. As a result, pupils respect the school environment and they demonstrate excellent attitudes towards their learning. They are polite and extremely well-mannered.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development remains a strength of the school. You are passionate about ensuring that pupils not only excel academically, but also develop wider skills through access to a broad range of activities. You have ensured that the money received by the school to develop physical education and sporting activities is extremely well used. As a result, there is a strong outdoor and physical education programme. This includes activities such as a weekly mountain biking club. Residential trips, such the recent visit to York, help to develop pupils’ confidence and their skills beyond the classroom.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Since the previous inspection, you, your staff and governors have worked tirelessly to address the areas for improvement. A review of the curriculum has led to a topic- based approach. This provides pupils with a meaningful context in which to study other subjects. This topic-based approach also includes literacy and numeracy activities across the curriculum. A good example of this is the recent lead mining project, where pupils worked with an author. They contributed their writing and poetry to a book called ‘Lead from Swaledale’. Pupils work well independently, finding things out for themselves.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

An area for improvement in the previous inspection was to ensure that work is well matched to pupils’ needs. In most cases, work is well matched to pupils’ needs in English and mathematics. However, you do recognise that there is further work to do to ensure greater stretch and challenge, especially for the most able pupils, across the wider curriculum.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff training is up to date. Staff know the important role they play in keeping pupils safe. Pupils say they feel safe. Parents feel their children are safe. Pupils report that bullying is very rare and when it does happen it is quickly dealt with.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Governors and leaders have recently completed a comprehensive safeguarding audit to ensure that safeguarding procedures remain robust. Referrals are made to other agencies in a timely manner. Safer recruitment procedures are followed and checks on staff are appropriate.

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Short inspection of Reeth Community Primary School

Pupils feel well cared for. They know they can go to a member of staff if they have any concerns. As a result, relationships between staff and pupils are strong. There is a supportive and caring environment, which permeates all aspects of school life.

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Inspection findings

 Improving outcomes in mathematics has been one of your priorities since your appointment as headteacher. You team-teach mathematics with another member of staff. This has strengthened mathematics teaching, including the development of effective learning plans. You are sharing this practice with other schools. As a result, a greater proportion of pupils are on track to achieve at a higher standard. However, you continue to focus on ensuring that work is challenging enough for all pupils.  A focus of the inspection was to find out why results had dipped in phonics in 2017. Previously, results had been above the national averages. You have appropriate plans in place to ensure that all pupils achieve well in their phonics test this summer.  A further focus of the inspection was to establish if writing remains strong across the curriculum. Staff have worked hard to provide increasing opportunities for

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Inspection findings

pupils to develop their writing skills, particularly children’s early writing skills. You place high priority on good handwriting from an early age. As a result, pupils take pride in their writing and presentation. However, you recognise that pupils need increasing opportunities to adapt and extend their written work, so that higher proportions of pupils achieve at a higher standard.  Attendance has remained above the national average for several years. Pupils adhere to the behaviour policy and follow the ‘golden rules’ well. As a result, there is a calm and purposeful environment, where pupils can thrive.  Since your appointment, one of your key aims has been to develop leadership roles across the school. You have done this successfully and distributed key priorities to other staff. This has meant shared responsibility, which has led to more innovative approaches to learning. Staff also work closely with other

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Inspection findings

schools to ensure moderation of work and sharing of ideas. As a result, pupils continue to experience high-quality teaching and learning.  Aspirations are high across the school. Since your appointment, you have established rigorous target setting and robust tracking of pupils’ progress. You, and your staff, know the key strengths and areas for development of every pupil. As a result, pupils continue to make good progress across the curriculum.  In the early years, children learn in a stimulating environment. The newly built early years area has enhanced provision further since the previous inspection. Strong and effective relationships between staff and children mean that children make good progress from their different starting points.  Governors hold leaders to account. They are extremely dedicated to the school and have high expectations. The governors’ development plan ties in closely with whole-school priorities. Governors are highly ambitious and share your high

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Inspection findings

aspirations, and uncompromising commitment, to providing the best education possible for all pupils.

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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

 phonics test results are at least in line with national averages this year  there are greater opportunities for pupils to engage in activities that stretch and challenge them across the wider curriculum  pupils are given more opportunities to refine and improve their written work.

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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 North Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection you and I jointly visited lessons in all year groups. We also looked at the work in pupils’ books. I met with you, a number of staff, three governors and a representative from the local authority.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of 18 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, 12 responses from the staff survey and 33 responses from the pupil survey. I met with pupils and talked to some parents at the start of the school day.

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Information about the inspection

I examined a range of documents, including the school’s development plan, the school’s self-evaluation, assessment information, governors’ minutes and reports, attendance and behaviour logs, exclusion and attendance data and safeguarding records.

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