Slingsby Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Slingsby Community Primary School The Green, Slingsby, York, North Yorkshire YO62 4AA

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Outcome

Slingsby Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Slingsby Community Primary School is a small school with a big heart. This is a school with a real sense of community spirit. All adults and pupils look out for one another. Pupils are polite and respectful. At its core lies the Slingsby values: respect, honesty, resilience, expectations and caring for others.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers chose Slingsby because they value the quality of education that their children receive. Parents say that communication is good. They are well informed about their child’s progress. Pupils are eager to attend school because they enjoy learning. They say that lessons are fun.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school takes full advantage of the local area. For example, Year 6 pupils enjoy the responsibility of being tour guides at a nearby stately home. Pupils learn about conservation on the moors. I observed a high quality entry for the local scarecrow festival.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils describe behaviour as excellent and they have no concerns about bullying. When minor fallings-out happen, they are taught to disagree well. Pupils feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers a varied menu of after-school clubs. Activities range from art and film to sports club. A ‘chill club’ provides wraparound childcare.

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

School leaders are passionate that learning occurs in an exciting and meaningful context. The curriculum is adapted to follow pupils’ interests. Knowledge and skills are planned through termly topics. School leaders have reviewed the curriculum to ensure that pupils build knowledge on what they already know.

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

A structured curriculum is securely in place for most subjects. Where subjects are less well developed, such as geography, school leaders have plans to address this. 10 March 2020

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Pupils quickly settle into the Reception class. Here, the foundations are securely laid for future learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils can select the same size cubes to accurately measure the length of a person. Pupils are secure in counting with accurate 1:1 correspondence. They can then apply these skills independently, measuring classroom objects using a ruler. Problem-solving skills are learned through play in the outside area. Focused questioning from the teacher helped a group of pupils design and strengthen a bridge they were building. Pupils could suggest different materials and structures which might help.

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School leaders rightly prioritise reading across the school. From the beginning of Reception, no time is lost in helping pupils learn to read. The teacher is well trained in teaching phonics. Pupils can identify initial sounds confidently and are learning to blend and segment words. Pupils who need help are swiftly identified to receive 1:1 or small group support. The school has recently purchased new reading books which closely match to the sounds pupils are learning.

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Pupils achieve well in the national Year 1 phonics check. Reading comprehension skills are developed as they progress throughout key stage 2. Year 6 pupils could discuss Cleopatra in a Shakespeare extract they were studying. They could infer from the text why the character was acting in a certain way. Pupils were keen to talk about other plays they have studied. They could accurately recount the plot from ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

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Pupils make good progress in mathematics. Workbooks show that lessons are carefully sequenced so that pupils build on prior learning. Pupils now have access to a wider range of resources to support their understanding. The mathematics leader has worked as part of a local schools’ alliance over the last two years to develop greater depth in mathematics. As a result, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in mathematics has risen at key stage 2 in 2019.

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The school meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively. The headteacher employs the services of an experienced SEND coordinator from the neighbouring secondary school. His role is to support staff and pupils and work with parents.

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The curriculum provides well for pupils’ broader development. For example, pupils have learned about different cultures by visiting the Gurdwara in Doncaster. They have taken part in drumming workshops and Bollywood dancing. At harvest time, the pupils raise money to support charitable work in Africa.

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Behaviour is a strength of the school. Pupils were observed playing well together. In the lessons that the inspectors observed, no learning time was lost due to misbehaviour.

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This is a school in which all staff are very loyal and proud to belong. Teachers appreciate a termly well-being day which the headteacher has introduced. Staff believe that their workload is manageable. 10 March 2020

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff are trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse. Clear procedures are in place for reporting concerns.

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Safeguarding

Leaders know how and when to make referrals for pupils. Records show that when a concern has been reported, appropriate action has been taken.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum helps pupils to stay safe. Pupils are knowledgeable about online safety. They benefit from visitors in school, such as the community police and fire service.

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Safeguarding

Appropriate recruitment checks have been carried out to ensure that all adults are suitable to work in school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is not yet sufficiently coherently planned and sequenced in some subjects. However, it is clear, from the actions that leaders have already taken to plan next year’s curriculum and train staff in how to deliver it, that they are in the process of bringing this about.

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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 or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence 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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 26–27 March 2012.

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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. 10 March 2020

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

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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.

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Further information

Ofsted is aware of the challenges that Covid-19 is currently posing to those we inspect. During this visit, the inspectors took into consideration the impact of any measures being taken to slow the spread of Coronavirus by the school. This has included the effect these measures have had on the current attendance of the pupils and staffing arrangements. 10 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10131471 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Acting chair of governing body Vicky Wilson

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School details

Website www.slingsbyschool.n-yorks.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 17 November 2015, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school offers wraparound childcare three days per week.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection, we met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, early years leader, SEND coordinator and literacy leader. I met with a representative from the local authority and chair of governors. Discussions were also held with a number of teachers and support staff. I considered eight responses to the staff survey.  The quality of education was inspected by visiting lessons, meeting with a range of pupils and staff, looking at pupils’ work and examining documentation. We looked closely at reading, mathematics and geography.  I considered the views of parents through face-to-face discussions and via the 35 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, that were received.  I listened to six pupils read. We observed pupils’ behaviour in classrooms, moving around the school and on the playground. We met with pupils formally to gather their opinions and held informal discussions.

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Inspection team

Andy Jones, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jane Nolan Ofsted Inspector 10 March 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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