Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School School Road, Scapegoat Hill, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD7 4NU

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Outcome

Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Scapegoat Hill is a friendly family school. One parent commented that ‘there’s a real sense of a community at the school.’ All staff know the pupils well and have high expectations for them. Pupils enjoy their friendships and say that their teachers help them to do well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is in a federation with another local school. Pupils and staff value the chance to learn and work together. The new headteacher has a clear vision about the improvements needed. Recent changes to leadership have strengthened the curriculum across the federation. Staff told us that this closer working was helping their workload. ‘Confident and Creative Learners’ (CCL) sessions are at the heart of the new vision and already an established part of the school’s curriculum. The sessions are loved by staff, parents and pupils alike.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and like to take part. They enjoy coming to school. Pupils feel safe. Bullying is rare. Pupils say that there is always someone to talk to if they have any worries or concerns. Staff quickly sort out any concerns. Pupils appreciate the school’s ‘learning festivals’. They enjoy the chance to learn together with older and younger children. The strong sense of community goes beyond the school, with a range of local partnerships and events, such as the Peace Festival.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The newly appointed headteacher knows the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Leaders are ambitious for pupils. They have ensured that there is a strong curriculum in place. It is planned over a two-year cycle. Creating confident and creative learners is at the heart of these plans. Teachers use the CCL sessions to check that pupils know and remember more. However, leaders are evaluating all subjects to check that they are well sequenced. New curriculum leaders have not had the opportunity to check how well pupils are learning across all age groups. Leaders know they need to review the school’s assessment procedures so that they have a clearer understanding of how well pupils are doing. 28 January 2020

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In some subjects, pupils use what they have already learned well. In physical education (PE) pupils make links across a range of subjects. For example, the dance teacher linked their learning back to the class text – ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. The mathematics curriculum is helping pupils to remember more. Teachers organise lessons so that pupils build on what they know. They find out what pupils already know and remember by making links to previous learning. Staff plan learning using this information. Older pupils told us that teachers use different ways to help them remember more. For example, pupils said that the CCL sessions gave them a chance to challenge their thinking in a ‘hands-on’ way. They told us that they had a chance to revisit their learning of shapes. They did this through practical activities and used problem-solving and reasoning skills.

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Leaders encourage pupils’ love of reading. Teachers choose a wide variety of books for pupils to read at home. Staff make recommendations and introduce pupils to a range of authors. Pupils can talk confidently about authors, stories and poems. The school council visit a local bookshop to buy new books. Together with the owner, they make careful choices so that pupils have a wide range of books to read. Pupils love reading for pleasure. During the indoor lunchtime session, older pupils shared stories with younger children. Younger children listened well and enjoyed reading together.

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Children get off to a great start in the early years. They learn to listen alongside key stage 1 pupils and take turns. They work well together. Being part of the Scapegoat Hill family is clear in the classroom displays and in the strong relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils achieve well in phonics. Leaders have recently reorganised the reading books. Pupils now read books that contain the sounds they know. Staff are clear about what pupils should be able to read by the end of each term. They use assessment information well to help pupils who need extra help with reading. A small number of pupils who are weaker at reading struggle with their confidence. They know their sounds, but they need lots of help to read fluently.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. This is because leaders have created a culture that includes everyone. Leaders want every child to have the same curriculum entitlement. The special needs coordinator supports staff to provide work that is well matched to pupils’ individual needs. All pupils have opportunities to develop their talents and interests. Clubs are available for everyone. Pupils told us how they love the chance to represent their school at the local dance festival.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The headteacher and governors ensure that staff are well trained in safeguarding. Governors receive appropriate training for their role, including training for the recruitment of staff. Governors and leaders make sure that appropriate checks are carried out on new members of staff.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have thought about particular risks in the local area. They take their responsibilities to keep children safe seriously. Regular assemblies make sure that pupils 28 January 2020

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know about these risks. For example, pupils understand how to stay safe, both online and at home.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders know that not all curriculum subjects are coherently planned and sequenced. However, it is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken that they are in the process of bringing this about. New curriculum leaders have not had the opportunity to check how well pupils are learning in their subjects. They must systematically monitor and evaluate the sequencing across the entire subject in all year groups and whether these changes are helping pupils to know and remember more. Leaders must ensure that curriculum plans are carefully considered and well sequenced. Leaders should check that the content of each subject builds upon what pupils have learned previously.  The books that pupils read match the sounds that pupils know. However, the weakest readers lack confidence, which means that they do not find it easy to become fluent readers. This means that they are not catching up quickly enough. Leaders need to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

make sure that pupils have enough practice to read and that the extra practice is effective in helping them to become fluent readers.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School to be good on 26–27 April 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 28 January 2020

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If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 28 January 2020

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.scapegoat-hill.kirklees.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26–27 April 2016

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the school has introduced a new leadership structure, with the current headteacher taking up post in September 2019.  The school is a smaller-than-average primary school.  Pupils are taught in one of three mixed-age classes.  The school is part of a federation with another school, Linthwaite Clough Junior, Infant and Early Years Unit. There is a single governing body that has oversight of both schools.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders and other members of staff. We also met with a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body, and spoke with a representative from the local authority. We took account of the six responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  We undertook deep dives into reading, mathematics and PE. This involved a meeting with subject leaders, visits to a sample of lessons in these subjects and listening to pupils read. The deep dives also included scrutiny of pupils’ books and other kinds of 28 January 2020

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work produced by pupils who were part of the classes we visited. In addition, we had discussions with teachers and a group of pupils from the lessons observed.  We observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school, including at playtimes and lunchtimes. We gathered pupils’ views about the school through formal and informal discussion. I also considered the 29 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  We scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans and curriculum information.  We looked at the checks that the school makes on adults who work in the school. We talked to senior leaders responsible for safeguarding and looked at records of the actions they have taken to protect pupils at risk. We spoke to pupils to gauge how safe they felt and to what extent they know how to keep themselves safe. We also checked whether members of staff understand and abide by the school’s safeguarding policy.

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 We took account of the views of 19 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 18 free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Ian Clennan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Pritiben Patel Ofsted Inspector 28 January 2020

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regulates and inspects to 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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