Bay Primary School

Bay Primary School St Alban Road, Bridlington YO16 7SZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 New leadership is beginning to improve the school after a period of sharply declining performance. However, there is too much inconsistency in the quality of teaching and in pupils’ progress.  While some of the teaching is good, some of it is variable in its effectiveness. The most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged at times. Teachers do not systematically check that pupils have a good grasp of new learning before moving on, especially the least able pupils.  Leaders have taken effective action to improve the standard of teaching pupils how to read. However, at times, the pupils who are struggling the most with their reading are not as well supported as they need to be.  Rates of pupils’ attendance are below the national averages for similar schools. Although leaders are taking action, the importance of improving attendance is not as high a priority as it needs to be. Plans for improving attendance are not as thorough as for other

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

aspects of the school’s performance.  Over time, pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 has fallen well below the national averages in reading and mathematics. The progress of disadvantaged pupils in reading and writing has been weak.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The recently appointed headteacher is effectively improving the performance of the school. She is well supported by other leaders and governors. Confidence among staff, pupils, parents and carers is strong.  Although inconsistencies remain, there is some good teaching in the school. Pupils’ outcomes across a range of subjects are improving, including for disadvantaged pupils.  Pupils’ personal development and welfare are strengths of the school. Pupils’ attitudes to learning and their behaviour are good.  The early years is well led and prepares children effectively for the start of key stage 1.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that it is consistently good by: – ensuring that work is suitably challenging for pupils of different abilities, especially the most able – making sure that teachers consistently check pupils’ understanding of new knowledge before moving on, particularly the least able – ensuring that phonics teaching fully supports the weakest readers in not falling behind.  Improve pupils’ outcomes so that progress by the end of key stage 2 is at least in line with the national averages in reading and mathematics.  Increase pupils’ rates of attendance by: – making pupils’ attendance a priority in school plans – ensuring that the plans are carried out effectively.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Under the leadership of the recently appointed headteacher, supported by her senior team, a culture of high expectations has been established. The headteacher is passionate about improving the life chances of the pupils in her care. She leads by example. As a result of leaders’ actions, pupils’ progress is improving across year groups and subjects.  Staff morale is high. Parents’ views about the school are very positive the overwhelming majority of the time. Pupils are similarly very positive about the school. There is a palpable sense of a school which is on an upwards trajectory after a period of declining performance.  Leaders have made effective use of training to increase staff’s skills. For example, staff have received training about teaching pupils to read and a new approach to teaching mathematics. Leaders introduced a new system to monitor pupils’ progress so that effective support is put in place when pupils begin to fall behind, with training for staff.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

As a consequence, pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics and in phonics is improving quickly.  Leaders have placed the importance of fundamental British values at the heart of what they do. Pupils have a strong awareness of other cultures, faiths and religions, for example. In lessons, they have many opportunities to further develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. For instance, pupils learn about segregation and discrimination as part of their key stage 2 curriculum.  Leaders have got a firm grip on the use of additional funding for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), the pupil premium and the sport premium. System are in place to enable them to monitor the effectiveness of the uses of the funding. As a result of targeted actions, leaders can evidence improved outcomes brought about by their use of the funding. For example, a package of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

support to help a group of pupils with their reading has led to improved phonics ability.  Leaders have ensured that a broad and balanced curriculum is in place. This provides pupils with numerous opportunities to learn new knowledge, skills and understanding. Careful planning ensures that, where possible, pupils are enabled to make links between subjects. For instance, pupils were making ‘memory boxes’ during technology, with reference to their learning in history about the Egyptians’ burial traditions.

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Governance of the school

 Governors share the headteacher’s vision for the achievement, welfare and development of pupils. They are ambitious for what their pupils should experience while at the school and for pupils’ future role as useful citizens.  Their self-evaluation of the school identifies inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They know that pupils’ outcomes in recent years have not been good enough. They know that pupils’ attendance needs to improve. As such, they have an honest understanding that the school’s recent performance has not been good enough.  Governors receive appropriately detailed information from leaders about the school’s performance. They use this information to ask leaders about performance, but typically do not probe or push leaders as hard as they might. This means that, although they know the school’s weaknesses, they have an overgenerous view of the extent to which

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Arrangements for checking the suitability of staff to work in the school are robust and meet legal requirements. Leaders with specific responsibility for safeguarding ensure that staff receive the necessary training, including the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty around radicalisation and extremism. Leaders keep staff updated about safeguarding matters through regular ‘refresher’ briefings and online training. Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. As a result, a strong safeguarding culture runs through the school.  Leaders are effective in identifying when pupils are at risk and take the necessary actions to safeguard them. They have established appropriate links with relevant external agencies so that help is secured when required. Records of actions are detailed and diligently maintained.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 There is some very strong and effective teaching across the school. Leaders’ use of continuing professional development is beginning to strengthen the quality of teaching further. However, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is variable in its consistency, both within year groups and in both key stages 1 and 2.  Teachers often set work which is not pitched at the right level for pupils of different abilities. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils, who are not consistently challenged across a range of subjects. At other times, all pupils do the same work, with the result that some find it too hard and others too easy. The least able pupils, across a range of subjects, sometimes find it hard to improve their work because they are not as clear about what they need to do as are the most able pupils.  Teachers’ identification and correction of pupils’ mistakes and misconceptions are not

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

consistent. At times, for example, pupils’ spelling errors are marked as correct. At other times, teachers do not take the necessary time to ensure that challenging topics and tricky concepts are fully understood. While teachers are deserving of credit for introducing pupils to demanding subject knowledge, they are not consistently effective in ensuring that pupils have grasped the essential learning before moving on.  There is some very effective use of questions by teachers to push pupils’ understanding of new knowledge and skills further. Teachers also make some effective use of questions to check on pupils’ prior knowledge before moving on. At times, teachers’ questioning does not probe pupils’ understanding deeply enough. As a result, at times, pupils’ grasp of the more subtle, nuanced aspects of new knowledge is shallow. Occasionally, teachers accept answers which are partially correct, or superficial,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

without probing more deeply. Consequently, at these times, pupils’ understanding is fragile and simplistic.  Pupils’ presentation of work is often inconsistent. When work is not up to the required standard, teachers do not challenge pupils systematically about improving the presentational quality.  The teaching of reading has undergone a recent review and has been overhauled. As a result, teachers have been re-energised in their approaches to pupils’ reading. Teachers follow a consistent approach to teaching an agreed set of essential reading skills. Across year groups, teachers provide common opportunities for pupils to acquire these skills. Teachers approach the teaching of reading with a collective sense of enthusiasm. As a result, pupils told inspectors how much they enjoy reading at school. Teachers carefully monitor pupils’ reading development and ensure that they choose ‘home readers’ at the right level of difficulty. Once pupils become ‘free readers’,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

however, the level of monitoring of book suitability is not as rigorous.  In the Reception Year and key stage 1, a single phonics scheme is in place. Teachers apply the same approaches to delivering this scheme, so that pupils’ experience of reading as they move between year groups and staff is consistent. Pupils’ reading books are typically well matched to their level of phonics ability. While the weakest readers in key stage 1 are supported to catch up by individual attention, at times, whole-class phonics teaching does not support the least able enough in acquiring the sounds and letter ‘blends’ in the first place.  The work of teaching assistants is typically effective in supporting pupils with additional resources. Particularly strong practice is evident in the support of pupils with SEND. Teaching assistants are also effective in helping pupils who need extra help with their reading.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident and self-assured. They are proud of their school. Pupils spoke positively about how they have been encouraged by leaders to contribute ideas about how to improve the school. This led, for example, to new games and play markings on the playground. Inspectors saw pupils playing on these newly marked areas enthusiastically, cooperatively and considerately.  In lessons across the school, pupils work well with each other. They can explain what they are doing and how to improve. For instance, pupils told inspectors about using a dictionary and thesaurus to help them with their spellings and word choices. Pupils are encouraged to be resilient and independent as learners. When necessary, for example, they use the prompts on the ‘working walls’ to help them, before calling the teacher or teaching assistant.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school. They said that bullying is not a problem in school. All of the pupils who spoke to inspectors said that they knew an adult in school who they could talk to if worried about anything. Leaders have ensured that pupils are taught about keeping safe, especially when online. Other local risks to pupils’ safety, such as being in open water, have also been addressed.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  In lessons, around school and at social times, pupils demonstrate a high standard of behaviour. Throughout the inspection, pupils were unfailingly polite and courteous in their conduct. Instances of low-level disruption are rare and handled efficiently by staff when any do occur. At the heart of pupils’ good behaviour is the strength of the relationships between staff and pupils. Leaders and staff in all roles across the school have worked tirelessly to build positive, respectful relationships. Pupils feel valued and worthy as a result.  Rates of fixed-term exclusions, prior to the current headteacher becoming acting headteacher at the start of 2017/18, were high. In 2017/18, however, the rate of exclusion fell markedly. In the first two terms of the current academic year, there was a spike in the use of fixed-term exclusion. However, the headteacher’s use of exclusion

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Behaviour

during this period was appropriate. It was one aspect of a wider provision of support put in place by leaders to reduce the need for exclusion. Since the implementation of the additional support, there have been no further exclusions.  The rate of pupils’ attendance is slightly below the national average for similar schools. However, it is an improving picture as a result of leaders’ actions. Pupils’ attendance is better than it was at the same point last year. Leaders are not helped in their efforts by the large number of term-time holidays taken by parents. However, while leaders do take appropriate action to improve attendance, they currently lack a sharply focused strategic plan to improve attendance further.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Over time, pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 in reading and mathematics has declined. In 2017/18, pupils’ progress was well below the national averages in these subjects. Disadvantaged pupils’ progress was similarly well below the national averages in reading and mathematics in 2017/18.  Unvalidated results from the 2018/19 key stage 2 national tests, for the current Year 6, suggest an improving picture, however. Leaders’ and the local authority’s calculations suggest that pupils’ progress has improved by a substantial margin in each of reading, writing and mathematics. While their data indicates that progress across subjects has improved, however, it is still likely to be below last year’s national average.  Unvalidated data for the end of key stage 2 tests in 2018/19 also indicates that disadvantaged pupils’ attainment has improved strongly. Leaders’ calculations suggest that the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

pupils in school in reading has closed entirely. Their data indicates that disadvantaged pupils out-performed non-disadvantaged pupils in school in writing. A gap in mathematics persists, but unvalidated data suggests that the gap has diminished by a notable margin.  In phonics at the end of Year 1, the proportion of pupils who passed the screening check was below the national average for the three years up to and including 2017/18. However, unvalidated data from the 2018/19 phonics screening check for current Year 1 pupils, suggests that pupils’ attainment has risen markedly and is in line with last year’s national average.  Pupils’ progress within and across year groups is variable. This is the case in English, mathematics and the broader ‘topic’ subjects of history and geography. Progress in science is less variable, but there are still some pockets of inconsistency.  In English, there are inconsistencies in progress between classes and year groups. This

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

is because the levels of challenge in tasks set, especially for the most able, do not consistently match pupils’ starting points. Pupils’ writing progress is sometimes limited because errors in letter formation are not corrected.  In mathematics, there are clear improvements in pupils’ progress since leaders’ decision to change the mathematics scheme in January 2019. However, there is inconsistency around the extent to which teachers set tasks which are appropriately challenging for learners of different abilities. Consequently, current pupils’ progress in mathematics is not as strong as it could be.  As a result of leaders’ actions to comprehensively review and change the strategy for teaching reading, pupils read widely across the week and throughout the school. There has been a focus on pupils’ fluency and comprehension in reading, which is consistently applied across year groups.  Pupils are well prepared for moving on to the next stage of their education at the end

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

of key stage 2. For example, they learn about different career paths through the Children’s University, visits to a ferry company, the local chocolate factory and the local college.

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Early years provision Good

 Leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and have focused on the necessary priorities. They have an accurate understanding of where their energies need to be focused, particularly in the ‘prime area’ of communication and language.  There is a focus on the early identification of children with additional needs and support is put into place quickly. This is particularly focused on developing children’s speech and language. As a result, children are well supported in their development as confident talkers in a range of situations.  The curriculum covers all of the areas of learning and development as set out in the Department for Education’s Early Years Statutory Framework. The curriculum enables children to apply and develop their skills in early literacy and mathematics. The learning environment is attractive and well resourced. Teachers make effective use of the learning environment to challenge children to develop their thinking further. For

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Early years provision Good

instance, in the outdoor provision, adults actively exploit opportunities to teach children about number as part of play activities.  The quality of teaching is good. Adults use effective questioning to develop children’s thinking and their social and communication skills. Group times are focused and teach basic skills such as writing and early mathematical concepts.  All adults contribute to observations and assessments in ‘learning journeys’. These document clearly the progress that children are making and allow for the next steps in their learning to be planned.  There are strong links with parents. They contribute to the children’s learning journeys and are invited to a range of ‘stay and play’ and workshop sessions on reading, phonics and crafts. These strong links with parents are effective in building children’s confidence and supporting their progress.  Children are keen to learn and are engaged. They work together positively and are able

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Early years provision Good

to share and cooperate well. They learn about how to stay safe and how to be considerate of differences and diversity. They behave well and have respect for each other and the resources they use.  Leaders have ensured that there is effective support in place to help the children who are finding reading to be a challenge. The weakest readers, for example, are provided with the support they need to help them to use the phonics strategies they have learned so that they learn letter sounds and how they correspond to letters effectively.  Current children in the early years have made substantial progress from some very low starting points. In 2017/18, the proportion of children attaining a good level of development was above the national average. In reading, it was also above the national average.  The necessary welfare requirements are in place. Safeguarding arrangements mirror those in place in the main school.

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School details

Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address bay.primary@eastriding.gov.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 7–8 May 2015

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Information about this school

 The school has been through a substantial amount of change in its leadership since the previous inspection. The headteacher and deputy headteacher at the time of the previous inspection left the school. The current headteacher was appointed as interim headteacher in January 2018, then substantive headteacher in September 2018. The deputy headteacher was appointed in January 2019, after a period of time in other leadership roles at the school. The assistant headteacher was appointed in January 2019.  The local authority has supported the school in its leadership changes with the provision of advice and guidance from an experienced headteacher. This is set to cease at the end of the autumn term 2019.  The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who receive support for their special educational needs and/or

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Information about this school

disabilities is above the national average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited a range of lessons across subjects and year groups, sometimes accompanied by the school’s senior leaders. During these visits, inspectors talked to pupils and looked at work in their books.  Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work across several subjects, with different year groups and pupil abilities represented.  Meetings were held with the headteacher. An inspector met with a representative of the local authority. A meeting with governors was held.  Inspectors met with senior leaders with responsibility for: the early years; attendance; behaviour; provision for pupils with SEND; the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; pupils’ personal development and welfare; the pupil premium and sports premium funding; literacy and reading; pupils’ progress information and safeguarding.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, drawn from across year groups. Inspectors also spoke informally with pupils at breaktime and lunchtime.

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Information about this inspection

 Meetings were held with several members of staff, including middle leaders, teaching assistants, teachers at different career points and support staff.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, on corridors, in social spaces, such as the dining room and the yard, and at the start of the day when pupils were arriving at school.  A wide range of documentation was examined. This included: leaders’ self-evaluation and plans; minutes of governors’ meetings; attendance, behaviour and exclusion information; records of the monitoring of the quality of teaching; records of contact with parents in the early years; logs and analysis of incidents of bullying; and pupils’ progress information. Leaders’ processes for vetting adults’ suitability to work in school were checked, along with safeguarding files.  Inspectors considered the 19 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Parent View, together with 19 free-text parental comments. They took into account the

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Information about this inspection

28 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire. Inspectors spoke with parents at ‘drop-off’ time at the start of the day.

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Inspection team

Steve Shaw, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Richard Crane 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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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.gov.uk/ofsted

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