Naburn Church of England Primary School

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

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Mr Jonathan Green Headteacher Naburn Church of England Primary School Naburn York North Yorkshire YO19 4PP

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School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection of your school that took place on 23 and 24 November 2022 on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require special measures following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in December 2021.

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School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other staff, governors and representatives from York local authority and the Diocese of York the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, looked at samples of pupils’ books and listened to some pupils read. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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special measures. Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but

more work is necessary for the category of concern to be removed.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Since the previous inspection, you have secured a more stable staffing structure. There is a new chair of the governing body. The school continues to face ongoing challenges regarding the number of pupils on roll, but you and the governors have managed this well. Parents and carers are universally positive about the changes that you have made and the impact that these are having.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You and the governing body recognised that the previous phonics programme was not working well enough for pupils. You and the governors therefore decided that a new phonics programme should be introduced. You have worked well with a local English hub to select a new programme that is already working well for pupils. You have made sure that staff have been well trained to teach it.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Because of this work, the new programme is already being used effectively by staff across the school. A particular success is the ability of staff to select books for pupils that they can read confidently as pupils know all the sounds or tricky words in them. Children start learning the sounds they need right from the start of Reception. Teachers show pupils how to blend sounds together to make words. However, some pupils do not get enough practice in reading some of these sounds, such as ‘igh’ or ‘ai’, and so struggle to read them with accuracy each time.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Leaders have continued to develop the mathematics curriculum. This is now very clearly planned out from Reception to Year 6. Teachers are clear about how to use this curriculum in classes with mixed-year groups. Teachers use resources well to help pupils secure the understanding that they need in aspects of mathematics, such as place value.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You and the governors are sensible and measured in what you want to achieve to improve the curriculum. Improving the teaching of English and mathematics has taken up considerable time and effort. You recognise that more needs to be done to develop the curriculum in other subjects, such as computing or design technology. In these subjects, teachers are not clear about what to teach and when, and so some pupils are given work that they cannot do or are not ready for. You know this and are creating a plan for how and when these subjects will be developed.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

The new personal, social, health and economic education curriculum is now being taught by all teachers. Teachers ensure that these sessions are taught using rules from the ‘class charter’ so that pupils take them seriously and can discuss what they think in a safe environment. You recognise that, in common with some other subjects, there is still work to do to develop the curriculum so that it is clear what pupils in different year groups should remember.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have continued to build relationships with all members of the Naburn wider community, including members of the Traveller community. This is helping to create a harmonious environment where pupils and parents feel a strong sense of belonging in the school. It is also helping to reduce the number of pupils who are persistently absent. You recognise that more could be done to demonstrate these improvements in attendance through more precise use of attendance information that can then be passed to governors. Staff are committed to making the improvements that are needed in the school. They feel well supported by you and are given time to help each other or to bring in new ideas. Staff have been energised by some of the changes, such as the new phonics programme and the new behaviour policy.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Governors take an active role in evaluating the progress that you and the staff are making. They check the school improvement plan regularly through the rapid improvement group and other committees. Governors ask suitable questions to help you keep the school action plan on track. They use information from regular visits to school from the local authority representative and other staff in the local authority to gauge how well objectives are being met. This is helping them to keep pace with improvements that are needed.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Safeguarding is now effective. You have made sure that all staff have received the training that they need in areas such as county lines or domestic abuse so that they know what to look out for. You have also trained staff on the electronic recording system, and they use this well to alert safeguarding leaders to any concerns. There are now four deputy designated safeguarding leads in school, so someone is always on site to deal with safeguarding referrals.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have continued to use the support from the local authority well. You have ensured that where you receive support from external partners, this is done alongside staff in school so that they can pick up the mantle of leading areas, such as attendance or mathematics, once this support is reduced. You have been careful to not try to do too much at once, and this has helped you build sustainable improvements. You have also started to work with the local authority to support staff in being able to use data effectively to track the attendance of pupils.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of York, the regional director for the Department for Education and the director of children’s services for York. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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