Sharow Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Sharow Church of England Primary School Berrygate Lane, Sharow, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 5BJ

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In most classes and on corridors behaviour is good. However, the behaviour of some younger children is not managed well. Low-level disruption was evident during a focused teaching session. Pupils are rewarded with ‘golden time’ if they behave appropriately. Bullying concerns some pupils in Years 5 and 6. They do not feel that teachers or leaders are tackling instances quickly enough. Leaders keep logs of alleged bullying incidents. They are resolving them by ensuring pupils can nominate a trusted adult to talk to.

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What is it like to attend this school?

As a Church of England school, the spiritual development of pupils is embedded within the school curriculum. One collective worship session each week focuses on teaching British values. Pupils know how to stay safe outside the school gates and online.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There continue to be high levels of staff absence. These have affected the ability of leaders to check what is being taught in each class. Leaders had to take on extra workload to ensure that the wraparound care provision remained open. Teachers do not have any dedicated time to lead the curriculum areas they are responsible for. They are having to do this ‘in their own time’. Several parents raised concerns about the consistency and timeliness of communication from leaders.

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

Leaders started with the school’s vision statement, ‘We promise to flourish together’, when they developed the curriculum. This vision is woven into every curriculum area. Some curriculum leaders have only recently taken on the responsibility for a subject. While they are passionate about their curriculum area, they have not had a chance to develop their subject. Leaders have not ensured that curriculum leaders have had dedicated time to plan, check and develop their subject. Leaders have decided to block the teaching of most subjects. For example, rather than teaching music every week for a 2 December 2021

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fixed period, pupils have one week of music three times a year. The effect of this is that pupils are very excited when playing the instruments. The environment then appears noisy and chaotic.

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The scheme that teachers are using to teach phonics is not being applied consistently. Teachers are using a mixture of strategies, so pupils’ experiences vary. The phonics leader has chosen a new scheme to use from January 2022. However, staff have not yet had any training. As a result, the executive headteacher knows that this timescale is not possible and they will not be introducing it until later next year. Pupils who are struggling to recall their phonics knowledge receive extra time with a teaching assistant to ‘keep up’. All pupils who the inspectors heard reading to an adult used their phonics knowledge to sound out new words. However, the books were not always matched to the sounds the pupils know. Leaders should ensure that staff commit to delivering a phonics scheme with consistency so that all pupils practise phonics in the same way.

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In some pupils’ mathematics books there was little or no evidence of feedback when a task had been completed. The school’s marking and feedback policy specifies this to reduce the teachers’ workload. However, pupils were making mistakes and there was no sign of further practise to rectify matters. Pupils could not explain which calculations were right and which were wrong. Leaders should ensure that staff understand that clear, direct feedback to pupils is essential for them to achieve well.

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Children in the early years can access learning indoors and outdoors. Many children were playing cooperatively. However, a small group of children found it difficult to settle and play. Adults did not intervene and direct these children to suitable activities. As a result, opportunities were missed to extend some children’s learning.

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In lessons, teachers respond to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by adapting their teaching style, providing extra adult support or modified resources. Each pupil identified with SEND has a support plan. Parents and class teachers create the targets and review them at the end of each term. Some of these targets are too general. This means that it is difficult to measure accurately the progress the pupil has made.

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The local authority and the diocese are supporting the school with advice and guidance. They have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development.

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There are many new members on the school’s governing body. They are keen to plan purposefully to support the school. Governor link roles are not yet embedded. For example, the safeguarding and SEND link governors are new to their roles and will need training to challenge and support leaders effectively. This also applies to the link governors for other curriculum areas.

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In discussion with the headteacher, the inspectors agreed that science and personal, social and health education may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection. 2 December 2021

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are dealing with low numbers of pupils who are being supported by external agencies. Recently, leaders identified that pupils were sharing images on mobile devices. As a result, leaders are in contact with the police community support officer for guidance. Staff have had recent training on how to report harmful sexual behaviour. They have discussed what they would do in imaginary situations.

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Safeguarding

Pupils have different ways they can share information with adults. For example, they can write down their concerns and post them in the class worry box or message their teacher through a private channel on their remote learning platform. As a result, pupils say that they feel safe in school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Phonics teaching is currently inconsistent. Leaders have purchased a new phonics scheme to address this. However, they have not accessed any training to deliver it. Leaders should ensure that staff are trained to deliver the scheme with fidelity. This will ensure that pupils receive a structured, consistent approach to learning phonics.  Leaders have revised their marking and feedback policy to reduce staff workload. However, feedback to pupils is inconsistent. In some mathematics books there was no evidence of feedback. When questioned, pupils did not know if their calculations were right or wrong. Leaders should ensure that staff are applying the policy consistently and giving some feedback to pupils so they know how successful they have been and what they can do to improve further.  Many governors are new to their leadership role. Link governor roles to support curriculum leaders are not established. Governors have not accessed any training to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

support them in this link role. Governors should ensure that they access suitable training so they can challenge and support leaders at all levels.

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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 outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately. 2 December 2021

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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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.

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 2 December 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200021 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 14 and 15 September 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  It is a Church of England primary school.  The last section 48 inspection was in November 2019.  Since 2012 the school has been federated with Skelton Newby Hall Church of England Primary School.  The two schools share the executive headteacher and a governing body.  The school is not using any alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation. 2 December 2021

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 Inspectors met with the executive headteacher and other leaders. Meetings were also held with representatives of the governing body, the local authority and the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and music. For each deep dive, inspectors met with curriculum leaders, spoke to pupils and teachers, looked at their work and visited lessons. Inspectors heard pupils read.  Inspectors examined safeguarding records, attendance figures, curriculum plans and policies.  The views of parents were sought from the 35 responses to Ofsted’s parent survey.  The views of staff were considered from meeting with staff and from the responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.  The views of pupils were considered from meeting with them.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Dughall McCormick Ofsted Inspector 2 December 2021

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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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