Melbourne Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Melbourne Community Primary School Main Street, Melbourne, York, North Yorkshire YO42 4QE

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Inspection dates: 17 and 18 January 2023

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Outcome

Melbourne Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Melbourne Community School are well cared for. Staff build positive relationships with pupils. Pupils describe adults as helpful and caring. Parents agree. Bullying is rare. Pupils know who they can go to if they have any concerns. This helps pupils to feel safe and happy in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils live up to the school’s values of care, imagine, believe, strive and achieve. Staff have high expectations of pupils and pupils work hard to do well. Pupils are respectful of people’s differences. They recognise that it is fine to be different. They are highly respectful when talking about protected characteristics, such as disability.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious for pupils. They have high expectations of pupils’ achievement, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils take pride in their work. Leaders have reviewed the school’s curriculum. They have considered what pupils must know in each subject. However, leaders recognise that there is still work to do to develop the curriculum in a small number of subjects. There is not a consistent approach to ensuring that new knowledge takes account of what pupils have learned before. Leaders are working hard to address this.

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

Leaders and staff ensure that pupils read widely and often. Leaders celebrate the school’s ‘word millionaires’. Children start to learn to read as soon as they enter the Reception Year. Staff make sure that children and pupils practise their reading using books that match the sounds that they know. This helps pupils to gain the phonic knowledge that they need to be successful readers. Teachers make regular checks to ensure that pupils keep up. Pupils are supported well if they fall behind. As a result, pupils achieve well in reading.

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

Teachers ensure pupils benefit from a well-taught mathematics curriculum. Teachers have good subject knowledge. They provide pupils with clear explanations and the resources they need to understand tricky concepts. Teachers give pupils regular opportunities to 17 and 18 January 2023

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revisit things they have learned before. Pupils say that this helps them to remember key facts. Pupils have frequent opportunities to develop their problem-solving skills. Pupils concentrate well in lessons. They listen carefully to their teachers.

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Leaders have identified the important knowledge that they want pupils to learn in most subjects. However, on occasions, leaders have not ensured that subject knowledge builds on what pupils have previously learned. This limits pupils’ progression through the curriculum when this occurs.

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While leaders have identified what they want pupils to know, their aims are not fully achieved in practice. There is variance in how well teachers set work to enable pupils to learn the intended curriculum. This contributes to gaps in pupils’ knowledge in some areas.

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Leaders provide effective guidance for staff to identify and meet the needs of pupils with SEND. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with external agencies to provide pupils with the help that they need. Teachers adapt the curriculum well to support pupils with SEND. This enables pupils with SEND to learn the same curriculum as their classmates.

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Leaders have thought carefully about the opportunities that all pupils should experience. Pupils enjoy a broad range of experiences to deepen their learning in subjects, such as history and geography. Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities around the school. For example, the school librarians take pride in ensuring that the library is kept tidy. Extra- curricular clubs are well attended. Staff provide a broad range of activities for pupils to enjoy. Pupils are helpful to one another in classrooms. Staff ensure pupils move around the school sensibly and establish good manners from an early age.

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Staff feel valued and supported by leaders. Staff are proud to work at the school. Trustees and members of the local governing committee know the school well. They provide leaders with appropriate support and challenge. Governors and trustees check carefully that the decisions made by leaders are in the best interests of pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders provide staff with regular safeguarding training. Staff know how to identify safeguarding concerns and report them appropriately. Safeguarding records are detailed and the actions taken to keep pupils safe are timely. Leaders work well with other professional agencies to get pupils and families the support that they need.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make the necessary checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work at the school. New staff receive detailed information to ensure they know what to do should they have any concerns over pupils’ welfare. 17 and 18 January 2023

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Pupils know how to recognise risks when they use online technology and when out in the community. They benefit from the support of experts, such as the local canal and river team, who keep them informed of the risks posed by water, such as the nearby canal.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the curriculum does not consistently take account of what pupils have previously learned. This makes it difficult for some pupils to build on their prior knowledge and remember more of the curriculum. Leaders should review the curriculum, so that subject knowledge is consistently organised in a way which enables pupils to build on their prior learning.  Leaders have not ensured that staff teach all aspects of the intended curriculum in each subject. This contributes to gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Leaders should work with teachers to improve their implementation of the curriculum, so that pupils learn well across all subjects.

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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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Melbourne Community Primary School, to be good in November 2017.

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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. 17 and 18 January 2023

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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. 17 and 18 January 2023

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School details

Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire

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School details

Inspection number 10255784 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is the first inspection since the predecessor school, Melbourne Community Primary School, joined the Wolds Learning Partnership Multi-Academy Trust in September 2018. When the predecessor school was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision for pupils.  The school provides a before- and after-school club for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with senior leaders, including school leaders and representatives of both the local governing body and the trust. The inspector spoke with teaching and support staff. 17 and 18 January 2023

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 The inspector undertook deep dives in reading, mathematics, and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects. The inspector listened to some pupils read.  The inspector scrutinised important safeguarding documents, including the single central record. The inspector spoke to pupils about what they learn to keep themselves safe.  The inspector met with staff to discuss the training they have received, how leaders support them and how workload is managed.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s Parent View survey as well as responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil questionnaire.

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Jaimie Holbrook, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 17 and 18 January 2023

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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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