Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School

Inspection of Holy Trinity Church of England Junior School Church Lane, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 2ES

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 27 and 28 June 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Holy Trinity Junior School. There are warm and positive relationships between pupils and staff. The school’s Christian ethos and values are woven through everything they do. Pupils are polite and considerate members of the school community. They have many opportunities to take on responsibilities across the school, including the ‘Zone Rangers’ who are playtime helpers. Pupils feel safe. However, some parents and staff who responded to Ofsted surveys do not agree.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders establish high expectations for behaviour and achievement across the school. Most pupils meet these expectations. There is a small proportion of pupils whose behaviour is sometimes a concern for other pupils, parents and staff. Leaders act quickly and address this consistently through the application of the behaviour policy. Bullying is rare. Leaders take effective action to investigate allegations of bullying. Children feel that teachers deal with this well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have prioritised the teaching of reading, and this is a strength of the school. However, there are some aspects of the rest of the curriculum that are not well designed or established. The sequence of learning in some curriculum subjects does not identify the crucial knowledge that leaders want pupils to know and remember.

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better?

Some foundation curriculum subjects are not as well structured or sequenced as others. Leaders sometimes identify too much content to cover in a lesson or across a series of lessons. Sometimes teachers do not emphasise the crucial knowledge needed, and pupils do not remember the most important facts. This means that pupils’ knowledge is not building securely year on year.

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better?

Assessment does not sufficiently identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge or identify what pupils can already do. Pupils sometimes receive work that is not building on what they already know. As a result, work can be too easy for these pupils.

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better?

Leaders prioritise learning to read and promote a love of reading across the school. Pupils are keen to talk about their favourite books and authors. Teachers choose high-quality texts for their class novel. Pupils who need extra help to learn phonics get targeted support from skilled adults. The books they read match their phonic knowledge. This means that they are making swift progress to become more confident readers. As a result, pupils are well equipped to access the rest of the curriculum.

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better?

Leaders put appropriate support in place for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Most pupils access an age-appropriate curriculum, with support or adaptations if needed.

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better?

Leaders provide pupils with opportunities to take on responsibility. For example, the class ambassadors were very proud to talk about their learning. Pupils in the ‘Pupil 27 and 28 June 2023

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Governors’ group help staff plan events. For example, they help to organise the school funfair. Pupils understand the school’s Christian values and enjoy close links with both the parish church and Ripon Cathedral. They talk maturely about equality, respect for others and tolerance.

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Senior leaders in school, governors and the trust share an ambitious vision for the school. They are beginning to put this vision into action, but it is not fully established. Governors check how well leaders are developing the quality of education and the effectiveness of financial management. However, the systems to identify and track school improvement priorities are not clearly established for all staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in this school. Where safeguarding risks are identified, leaders take action to ensure prompt and effective support. Leaders carry out pre-employment safeguarding checks on staff to ensure pupils’ safety.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding training is included in induction for new staff, including governors. Regular professional development for all staff ensures they are kept up to date with developments around safeguarding. This means that people in school know how to keep themselves, and pupils, safe. Pupils have an appropriate understanding of how to stay safe.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are aware of local issues around safeguarding. They put support in place via youth mentors to address concerns around pupils who may be vulnerable in the wider community. They make effective use of safeguarding agencies, including within the local authority.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some aspects of the wider curriculum need redevelopment. Leaders have mapped out too much subject content that pupils need to learn. As a result, there are inconsistencies in what is being emphasised as important knowledge. Leaders should ensure that pupils are securing the right essential knowledge to build on and learn over time.  The work that teachers set for pupils does enable pupils to recall and display their depth of knowledge. This means that teachers cannot identify where there are gaps in learning. Pupils’ work can be too easy for some pupils. Leaders should ensure that teachers check that the work which is set for all pupils in all subjects is matched appropriately with what pupils need to know or be able to do next.  Although trustees, local academy council members and senior leaders have set a clear vision for improvement, this is not fully established with, and followed by, all 27 and 28 June 2023

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staff. This is reducing the timeliness and effectiveness of leaders’ actions to improve the school's performance. Senior leaders should ensure that all leaders and staff are clear about the current school improvement priorities and their role in taking action and measuring success.

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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. 27 and 28 June 2023

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School details

Headteacher Sue Sanderson (Executive Headteacher)

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school converted to an academy in September 2022, joining the Leeds Diocesan Learning Trust.  The senior leadership team has undergone extensive change over the past year. An interim senior leadership team was in place for the autumn term. A new executive headteacher was appointed in January 2023, with a permanent deputy headteacher appointment made in March 2023.  There have been a number of new staffing appointments across the wider school over the last 18 months, including teachers and teaching assistants  As the school is designated as having a religious character, it is inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. The last section 48 inspection of the school was in September 2022.  The school does not use any alternative provisions.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 27 and 28 June 2023

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 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.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, school leaders, representatives of the governing body, representatives of the trust and a representative from the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, geography and history. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of work.  An inspector listened to pupils in Years 3 and 4 reading to a familiar adult. The inspector also talked to a group of pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 about their experiences of reading.  Inspectors reviewed safeguarding records, including the single central record of

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recruitment checks on staff.  Inspectors considered the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Richard Beadnall, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson His Majesty’s Inspector 27 and 28 June 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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