Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Julie Newby Headteacher South Cave Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Church Street South Cave Brough HU15 2EP

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 26 May 2021, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received four successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. I discussed the impact of the pandemic with you and have taken that into account in my evaluation.

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Having considered the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action

in order for the school to become a good school.

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Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action

The school should take further action to:

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Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action

 ensure that all subject leaders have the knowledge, skills and understanding to implement and monitor the impact of their curriculum plans  develop assessment in the wider curriculum so that leaders and teachers can accurately capture what pupils know and can do.

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Context

You have recently reorganised the leadership of some curriculum areas. For example, history and geography have been combined and are now led by a humanities leader. The science leader has been in post since January 2020.

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Context

Leaders’ work to develop the curriculum has been hindered due to COVID-19. It has limited leaders’ access to the training that they needed. Despite this, leaders have been resolute to push ahead with their plans to develop the curriculum.

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Context

The regular visits that governors make to the school have been restricted due to COVID-19. While governors continue to meet with leaders remotely, they have not been able to fully check the impact of leaders’ actions. Governors are keen to visit the school as soon as possible.

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Main findings

Leaders have done all that can reasonably be expected to develop their curriculum plans when access to support has been restricted. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, leaders are developing an ambitious curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils.

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Main findings

Leaders now have a new, whole-school curriculum. However, leaders are aware that their curriculum is not complete. Leaders are now drawing on support from the local authority and teaching school alliance to help them to develop their curriculum further. Leaders are prioritising training so that subject leaders have the knowledge and skills they need to revise and adapt the curriculum. This work is very new but subject leaders speak convincingly of their commitment to curriculum improvement.

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Main findings

Curriculum developments are further forward in some areas. In subjects such as science, leaders have linked the curriculum to ‘five big ideas’ or scientific themes. ‘Big ideas’, for example evolution, provide the basis on which learning is developed across the school. The knowledge leaders intend pupils to learn is more logically sequenced. Leaders have been developing their assessment of pupils’ learning in subjects other than English and mathematics. However, this work is also very new and has not had time to embed.

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Main findings

Leaders provide opportunities for pupils to revisit learning that they have been taught before. Curriculum plans, for example in history, identify the geographical knowledge that teachers must revisit. Leaders describe this as keeping learning alive in all subjects. The time spent revisiting learning in this way is helping pupils to know and remember more. Pupils in Year 4 were able to talk about their learning in geography with confidence. They were able to describe how and where tsunamis are formed. They know that Britain is not at risk of tsunamis because of its location in the world. Pupils demonstrated an accurate use of geographical vocabulary. They speak with enthusiasm about their learning.

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Main findings

Since the last inspection, leaders have reorganised reading leadership. One reading leader now oversees the subject and holds responsibility for reading in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. Leaders have worked with an English hub to carry out an audit of their phonics teaching. This, very recent piece of work, has been used as a catalyst to review phonics training so that all staff have the skills required to support pupils. This training is now scheduled for September 2021.

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Main findings

Leaders have prioritised their work to develop early reading and phonics. Pupils now follow a single coherent phonics programme. Leaders and teachers use assessments to identify the sounds that pupils know. As a result, reading books are well matched to the sounds pupils have learned and so pupils read with increased fluency. Leaders have reviewed the reading books that pupils read. Pupils in key stage 2 read texts from a variety of publishers that have been organised into bands according to their reading difficulty. However, teachers have identified that there is some variation in the level of challenge within book bands.

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Main findings

Leaders have created a positive learning culture in school. Staff feel well supported and valued. They say that they get the opportunities to access the training they need to improve. Leaders take the necessary steps to manage the workload of staff. Morale is high.

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Main findings

Governors know their school well. Regular meetings with leaders give them the information they need. Governors’ usual systems of monitoring have been postponed due to COVID-19. As a result, governors now meet remotely with subject leaders to challenge and support them with their improvement plans. Governors acknowledge that this makes it more difficult to determine the impact of the actions that leaders are taking. They are determined to return to their usual systems of monitoring at the earliest opportunity.

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Additional support

Leaders are accessing support through the local authority and teaching school alliance. These partnerships are providing the training that leaders need to further develop the curriculum. Leaders also work closely with a cluster of local schools to share ideas, practice and training. Governance has been strengthened by training that has been brokered through this group of schools.

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Evidence

To gather the evidence for this inspection, I held meetings with you and both assistant headteachers. I met with subject leaders for reading and science. I checked on the single central register. I met the administration officer to discuss the checks that leaders make to see if pupils are safe in school. I listened to three pupils read to an adult.

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Evidence

I met representatives of the local authority and the Diocese of York to gather their views on the progress the school has made since the last inspection. I met five governors, including the chair of governors. I spoke with six pupils from Year 4. I also looked at some of their work in history and geography.

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Evidence

I reviewed 16 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and 85 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, including 20 free-text responses.

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Evidence

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 reports website.

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