Kirkbride Primary School

Inspection of Kirkbride Primary School Kirkbride, Wigton, Cumbria CA7 5JR

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 7 and 8 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this school. Their behaviour is exemplary. Leaders have high expectations for how pupils treat each other. Pupils are kind and caring. They are respectful and polite to each other and to staff. Leaders manage the rare incidents of bullying well. Pupils have confidence that they will be listened to by adults. This helps them to feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand the six school values of trust, friendship, honesty, ambition, respect and kindness. They value the opportunities to demonstrate how they fulfil each value in their everyday lives and through the school celebration assemblies.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of pupils’ achievement. Recent improvements to the curriculum show that pupils are learning more than they did in the past. They know and remember more of what they have been taught.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thoroughly enjoy the wide range of trips and visits that they experience. These have been carefully organised by leaders to ensure that pupils find out about the world beyond their small rural village. This includes residential trips to London, taking part in a singing event in Manchester and visits to a range of religious buildings.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils appreciate the variety of clubs that are on offer. This includes a range of sports clubs, a cookery club and a singing group.

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better?

In recent years, leaders have made considerable and far-reaching improvements to the curriculum. It is ambitious. The curriculum matches the needs and interests of pupils well, and it prepares them for life beyond their own community.

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better?

Leaders have thought carefully about how knowledge should be ordered to help pupils build on their learning from the early years to Year 6. They have paid particular attention to how the curriculum supports pupils who are taught in mixed- aged classes. This ensures that pupils, regardless of their age, study all aspects of the subject content that they should. This helps pupils to achieve well.

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better?

Teachers have adapted well to the demands of the new curriculum. However, some teachers are further ahead in implementing the new approaches in some subjects than in others. This means that pupils’ learning is a little uneven in some areas of the curriculum. Leaders are at the early stages of checking how well the new curriculum is being delivered. They are not fully aware of this variation across subjects.

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better?

Teachers use assessment strategies effectively to find out where pupils have gaps in their knowledge or misconceptions. They reshape their teaching to help pupils to overcome missed or forgotten knowledge. 7 and 8 March 2023

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Leaders have prioritised reading across the school. There is a suitable phonics programme in place. All staff have been well trained so that they deliver the programme effectively. Pupils enjoy their phonics sessions. They can sound out and blend sounds well to read unfamiliar words. This helps them to become confident and fluent readers. Leaders check how well pupils are keeping up with the phonics programme. They provide timely support to make sure that pupils who find reading difficult catch up quickly.

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Leaders have ensured that there are clear and effective processes to identify pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children’s needs are identified early, starting in the Nursery Year. Appropriate specialist staff are involved in the assessment and support of pupils throughout their time in the school. Typically, teachers provide suitable support so that pupils with SEND learn well.

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Children in the early years experience a well-designed curriculum. Teachers are confident in organising activities in the classroom that support children to gain the knowledge that they need across all areas of learning. However, the same opportunities are not in place in the outdoor area. These do not help children to build on what they already know and can do.

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Pupils benefit from the regular visitors to school who help them gain a secure understanding of diversity in modern society. This helps pupils to understand the importance of respect for others, regardless of differences. Pupils contribute to their local area through a range of projects, including linking with the local parish council to support the community garden and performing a nativity play outdoors. Pupils are proud of the important role that their school plays in the local community.

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Pupils behave well. They listen to their teachers, and they work hard. Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils can learn without distractions.

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Leaders have carefully considered staff’s well-being and workload while making significant changes to the quality of education. Staff appreciate that they are considered when decisions are being made.

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Governors have restructured their approach to gathering information about what is working well at the school and what needs to improve further. They recognise that they have not provided enough challenge in the past. This has led them to seek support from external partners to shore up their expertise and insight. However, this is still a work in progress.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know their pupils and families well. There is a positive culture of safeguarding in this school. Leaders have made sure that all staff have appropriate training to spot any potential concerns quickly. There are effective systems in place to report 7 and 8 March 2023

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and record concerns. Leaders work with a wide range of appropriate organisations to support pupils and their families.

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Pupils can explain how to keep themselves and others safe. They know how to protect their identities online and how to behave appropriately to one another when using social media.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The implementation of the curriculum is further ahead in some subjects than in others. This mean that pupils’ progress through the curriculum is not as secure in a few areas. Leaders have not checked how well the curriculum is delivered in these areas to make sure that teachers receive the support that they may need with the new approaches. Leaders should ensure that they gain a stronger oversight of how the curriculum is being delivered so that they can be assured that pupils know and remember more across different subjects.  Early years staff have not provided a full breadth of activities in the outdoor area. These opportunities do not link to the curriculum as well as the indoor provision. This means that children are not able to deepen their learning when accessing this provision. Leaders should ensure that developments are made in the outdoor area for the early years curriculum so that children can consolidate their learning.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Governors are in the early stages of building their expertise and knowledge. This means that they are not fully equipped to hold leaders to account. Governors should ensure that they develop the skills that they need to gain a greater insight into the quality of education that pupils receive.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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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. 7 and 8 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22 February 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher and the chair of governing body have both been appointed to their roles since the last inspection.  Leaders do not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  As part of this inspection, the inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, and art and design. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited some lessons, spoke with pupils and teachers, and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 7 and 8 March 2023

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 The inspectors met with the headteacher, other senior leaders, the special educational needs team, subject leaders and teachers. The inspector also spoke with a representative from the local authority and the school improvement partner.  The inspectors met with governors, including the chair of governors.  The inspectors checked safeguarding procedures, including the recruitment checks made on staff. Inspectors met with the designated safeguarding lead, staff and pupils to discuss wider aspects of safeguarding. They scrutinised a range of documentation in relation to safeguarding.  The inspectors considered a range of documentation, including that relating to the curriculum, pupils’ behaviour, improvement plans and leaders’ self-evaluation.  The inspectors observed pupils reading to a familiar adult.  The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in a range of situations, including in corridors, at breaktimes, at lunchtimes and in lessons. They also spoke with pupils

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about behaviour and bullying.  The inspectors considered the responses from parents and carers to Ofsted Parent View. This included the comments submitted via the free-text facility.  The inspectors also considered the responses to Ofsted’s pupil and staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Elaine Mawson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lindy Griffiths Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 March 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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