Cottingley Village Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Cottingley Village Primary School Cottingley Moor Road, Cottingley, Bingley, West Yorkshire BD16 1SY

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Inspection dates: 26 and 27 September 2023

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Outcome

Cottingley Village Primary School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Nichola Geale. This school is part of Exceed Academies Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Duncan Jacques, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Hearl Lenton.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Cottingley Village Primary School. They said that they feel happy and lucky to be part of the school community. Pupils particularly value making new friends and spending time together. They enjoy their learning across all subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of all pupils’ achievement. Typically, pupils try their best to realise these expectations. They are eager to receive rewards for their efforts, for example, with class points, certificates and raffle tickets. Pupils also enjoy opportunities for weekly baking sessions in recognition of improved levels of attendance. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils typically demonstrate positive behaviour. They are well mannered, courteous and polite towards each other and towards adults. Pupils understand that everyone is unique. They know why it is important to acknowledge and accept people’s differences.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a variety of extra-curricular activities. Pupils enjoy residential trips and visits to museums. They benefit from activities, including choir, drama club and specialist sports coaching. Pupils take part in gardening activities throughout the year. They learn how to grow and harvest their own produce to cook with and to eat.

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

During recent changes to staffing, the school and the trust have ensured that pupils continue to learn well. The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. As a result, most pupils achieve well across the school. This includes children in the early years. 26 and 27 September 2023

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In most lessons, teachers deliver the curriculum well. The school provides teachers with effective training. This helps them to understand which activities are most effective in enabling pupils to learn new content. Teachers use agreed assessment strategies to check how well pupils are learning. This helps them to identify and address any gaps in pupils’ knowledge. However, in one or two subjects, some staff do not deliver the curriculum consistently well. This hinders some pupils from learning all that they should.

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The school identifies pupils with SEND quickly. Staff work closely with external agencies and with parents and carers. Pupils with SEND follow the full curriculum and engage in all aspects of school life. The specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND is highly effective in helping pupils to regulate their feelings. This helps them to focus on their learning.

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Reading is a priority across the school. Pupils regularly visit the school’s inviting and well- stocked library. They read often from a wide range of texts. Older pupils enjoy writing book reviews. The school provides multiple workshops for parents to attend. This helps parents to understand how they can support their children’s reading at home.

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Children start to learn phonics from the beginning of Reception. The school makes sure that staff follow the phonics programme with fidelity. Most pupils develop into confident readers in readiness for key stage 2. The school has chosen the books that pupils should use to practise their reading. However, for some pupils, these books are not matched well to the sounds that they already know. This means that these pupils do not learn to read as quickly as they should.

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Pupils typically conduct themselves well during lessons and across the school. Pupils said that, on very rare occasions, some pupils interrupt their learning in class. When this happens, staff act quickly, so that there is minimal disruption. Children learn school routines from the beginning of Nursery. This helps them to settle quickly and to develop a strong sense of belonging.

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The school builds pupils’ wider development well. Pupils have opportunities to undertake leadership roles, including being school councillors, sports leaders and playground buddies. Pupils know that their views are important and that they can have a positive impact in the school and beyond. For example, they raise money for charities, and they have worked to improve the food served at lunchtime. Pupils are aspirational for their future careers. They have goals to become dentists, authors and politicians.

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Trustees work closely with the local advisory board and with the school to support and challenge the quality of education that pupils receive. Leaders at all levels proactively support staff to fulfil their roles well. The trust has assisted the school in reducing staff workload. It provides opportunities for staff to learn from each other. Staff value belonging to the school and the extended trust team.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 26 and 27 September 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In one or two subjects, the school has not made sure that some staff deliver the curriculum consistently well. This hinders how well some pupils learn. The school should support staff to implement the curriculum well across all subjects.  The books that some pupils read are not matched well to their current phonics knowledge. This means that these pupils do not learn to read with fluency and with accuracy as quickly as they should. The school should ensure that all pupils have books which closely align to the sounds that they already know.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Cottingley Village Primary School, to be good in November 2012.

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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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 26 and 27 September 2023

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School details

Website www.cottingleyvillageprimary.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Cottingley Village Primary School converted to become an academy school in February 2021. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school is part of Exceed Academies Trust.  The headteacher was not present at the time of this inspection. Two acting co- headteachers have taken up post to lead the school during the headteacher’s absence.  A significant number of new staff have been appointed since the predecessor school was last inspected.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for pupils.  The school has specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND. Seven pupils currently attend from Years 3 to 6. 26 and 27 September 2023

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken this into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons and spoke with teachers and with some pupils about their learning. He also looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read with a familiar adult. He discussed reading with a group of older pupils.  The inspector spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey to consider.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed how pupils behaved around the school, including during breaktime and at lunchtime.  The inspector met with the acting co-headteachers and other leaders of the school. He met with the chief executive officer of Exceed Academy Trust. The inspector also met with members of the local advisory board, including the chair.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff. He spoke with staff about their workload and their well-being.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text responses. He met with some parents at the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 September 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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