Lockington 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 Julie Cattle Headteacher Lockington Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Front Street Lockington Driffield YO25 9SH

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Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2018, 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 2013.

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Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Pupils’ outcomes over time are good and have improved. As a teaching headteacher, you are hands-on with learning in the classroom; you know the pupils and their individual backgrounds and needs well. You value the team you work with and said that they go above and beyond to create a positive environment where pupils feel safe and happy and are successful. Staff work closely together across classes to share pupils’ work and progress. Consequently, you and your team know what is working well in the school, and which aspects need developing further.

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Primary School

Parents and carers are extremely positive about the school. Many said that their child talks enthusiastically about their learning when they come home. One parent’s comment, ‘The school has a good blend of academic, extra-curricular, spiritual and sports activities’, is supported by many. The before- and after-school club is mentioned positively by parents, and I can see why. Pupils take part in a number of different activities, and staff ensure that this is a relaxed, calm and positive start and end to the day. The Friends Association forms an important part of the school community and is focused on making improvements for the pupils. Pupils thrive in their small school, which one pupil described as, ‘like a huge family where no one gets left out’. A culture of nurture, care and celebration of learning is quickly apparent as one walks around the building. The high expectations in the beautifully presented learning environment and the positive relationships make the school,

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Primary School

pupils and staff say that this is ‘a great place to be’. At the last inspection, you were asked to accelerate the progress of pupils further by developing opportunities to deepen their understanding of mathematical reasoning and apply their mathematical skills. The direction leaders have given to pupils in developing greater fluency in mathematics and then applying their skills to problems and reasoning activities has had a positive effect on pupils’ confidence and outcomes.

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Primary School

Learning in mathematics is high profile around the school, with displays that celebrate and support learning. In classes consisting of several year groups, teachers give pupils direction that is well matched to the national age-related expectations. Adults support pupils of lower ability well in making good progress. Pupils use practical resources that enable them to use their skills to solve problems and discuss reasons for their answers. Adults make sure that pupils have opportunities to test out their skills to deepen their understanding. For example, during my visit, one of the key stage 2 groups was fully engaged in trying to solve a problem involving graphs, because their teacher had ‘misplaced’ some of the information they needed. They were delighted as more information was gradually uncovered to support the task, and they gave good explanations of the methods they had chosen and their reasons for these choices. A significant proportion of

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Primary School

pupils have strong starting points in mathematics. Teachers skilfully plan work across the mixed-age classes. However, the most able pupils are not always fully challenged in deepening their understanding and selecting the skills they use and apply to tasks.

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Primary School

Governors, like the headteacher, are proud to say that they are leaders of Lockington Church of England Primary School. They have a variety of different skills and backgrounds and are committed to extending their own knowledge and skills to improve their work to support and challenge the school. They use a variety of sources to gather information about the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They use this information to accurately inform their questions to leaders. For example, they have a good understanding of the reasons for dips in attendance for a minority of pupils and know what leaders are doing to improve this.

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Primary School

In the previous inspection, leaders were also tasked with ensuring that systems for reporting and evaluating the school’s work are clear, including providing overviews of the progress that pupils are making and sharpening school improvement plans. The school’s evaluation document draws together a wide range of information and relates directly to the action for improvement. The school improvement plan is accurately drawn from external evaluations, statutory assessments and the school’s own checks and assessments of pupils’ progress. You provide regular summaries to staff and governors of the progress of the priorities on this plan. Although you usually update governors regularly about the progress groups of pupils are making throughout the year, pupils’ progress this academic year has not been shared with governors. Therefore, governors have not been equipped with all the information they need to challenge leaders about any gaps in pupils’ progress or attainment. In

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Primary School

addition, although pupils are tracked carefully as individuals, there has not been an emphasis on checking that higher-ability pupils, as a group, are maintaining their high standards. You have plans in place for this information to be shared with governors by the end of this term.

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Primary School

The part-time school business manager and office staff work together with you to ensure that robust recruitment procedures are in place and fit for purpose. Leaders use the local authority guidance and checks to support their work in safeguarding pupils.

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Primary School

Regular staff training and updates take place to ensure that everyone knows what to do if they have a concern. Records contain relevant information and details of individual cases, as well as an overview of concerns that are regularly checked by you, as the designated safeguarding leader. These records include information about involvement with external agencies and demonstrate the school’s quick and thorough response to concerns.

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Primary School

The school’s ethos and culture of well-being, nurture, friendship and kindness helps to create an environment in which pupils said they feel safe. They enjoy being at school and emerge as confident learners who can talk about their learning. They have a positive view of their primary school years. They said that the adults in school help them to learn about keeping safe, such as when they are using the internet. The pupils I spoke to said that they do not know of any instances of bullying occurring. However, they said that, if bullying did occur, they would know exactly what to do because all the adults in the school are always there to help them to sort out any problems.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, I was interested to see how well teachers match learning to pupils’ needs. Overall, teaching is strong. Teachers plan carefully, aiming to meet the needs of pupils across a wide variety of ages, skills and starting points. They are determined that the small size of the school will only be an advantage to the pupils, not a hindrance. For the older pupils, strong guidance is given in how to edit and improve their own work, and how to accurately and sensitively critique that of their peers. Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities are well-supported in their learning by nurturing adults, who have high expectations of what the pupils can achieve. Disadvantaged pupils make similarly good progress to that of others in the school. Expectations of the quality and presentation of all pupils’ work are high across classes. Pupils have pride in their work, recording their work neatly in all subjects. This enables

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Inspection findings

teachers to spot any misconceptions quickly and support pupils in making improvements.  To improve outcomes in phonics, leaders have ensured that all the staff teaching phonics have received training. They have made sure that appropriate resources are in place, such as reading books that are matched to the pupils’ work in phonics. Most pupils make steady progress. However, the direction and demonstration given to the lower-ability pupils are not always precise enough to help them apply their phonics skills when they write.  Leaders have made sure that they are outward looking, which they know is essential as a small school. They seek out further validation and support when it is needed. For example, noting their high assessments of pupils’ writing at the end of Year 6 last year, they wanted to have these verified externally. They asked the local authority to confirm their judgements, which it did, before the

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Inspection findings

moderation check that took place later in the term. Leaders are open to the support and challenge given by the local authority, in particular through their positive partnerships with the school improvement partner. They value their regular conversations with partners from the diocese. Leaders work collaboratively with other schools, sharing best practice, and have also accessed training through the Riding Forwards Teaching Alliance. For example, leaders said that the training for teaching assistants has helped staff use high-quality questioning to support pupils’ learning and check the progress that pupils are making.  Pupils absorb the positive ethos around them and enjoy school life. They are taught strong values, such as thoughtfulness, trust and kindness and show respect towards each other and adults. The school council consults successfully with other pupils in school about ideas for school improvement. It meets with the

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Inspection findings

governors to ensure that everyone’s role in improvement is understood and that school self-evaluation includes a wide range of views and evidence. In their aim to make sure that pupils leave school with the confidence and skills needed to be successful at secondary school, leaders provide opportunities and extra-curricular activities across a range of subjects. School trips and visiting experts and speakers support this learning. As well as developing skills across different curriculum subjects, much of this work is focused on developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning. For example, during my visit, pupils had a visit from a local, retired judge as part of their work about justice. Pupils were eager to report back that they had learned that ‘honesty is the best policy’. They had listened carefully to the talk, and, using the judge’s examples, were discussing together why it is important to be good, honest people.

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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

 lower-ability pupils in phonics are supported in applying their knowledge of phonics in reading to their written work  the strong focus on developing pupils’ investigative work in mathematics continues, with a particular focus on deepening the learning of the higher-ability pupils  leaders give governors clear information about where they have highlighted any gaps in pupils’ learning, so that governors can direct their work more accurately in checking how well leaders are ensuring that these gaps are being addressed.

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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 East Riding of Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, we spent time together in classrooms and looking at the quality of pupils’ work. We discussed leaders’ evaluations of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. We looked at the success of the actions being taken. I held discussions with members of your governing body and spoke on the telephone with the local authority school improvement partner. I met with leaders to discuss mathematics, English and safeguarding. I spoke to pupils about their learning and looked through their work with them. I heard pupils read in class. I spoke to parents at the end of the day and took into account the 15 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. The responses from staff and pupils to the Ofsted questionnaires were also considered. I reviewed a number of school documents, including the written evaluation of the school’s work, documents relating to checks on the quality of teaching and learning, school assessment

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Information about the inspection

information, a range of policies, and safeguarding information.

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