Yardley Hastings Primary School

Inspection of Yardley Hastings Primary School Castle Ashby Road, Yardley Hastings, Northampton, Northamptonshire NN7 1EL

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Early years provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

Until November 2020, the school was exempt from routine inspection because it was judged as outstanding at its previous inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The school has not been inspected under section 5 of the Act since September 2011. The school received an ungraded inspection under section 8 of the Act on 28 January 2020. 7 and 8 November 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish at Yardley Hastings Primary School. Each morning, they arrive excited to start the day. Stimulating and engaging learning activities spark their curiosity. Staff have the highest aspirations for pupils. Pupils consistently achieve highly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils live and breathe the school’s SMART (self-confidence, motivation, aspirational thinking, resilience and teamwork) values. Pupils strive to be positive members of their school community. They wear the school’s SMART badges with pride. Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils told inspectors that everyone is made to feel welcome and that ‘everyone looks out for everyone else’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high standards and expectations of behaviour and learning for all pupils. Pupils know that all the adults in the school will treat them with kindness and positivity. Pupils feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value the school’s array of opportunities to take on responsibilities, such as being school council members, librarians, friendship finders, house captains or being a ‘buddy’ for a younger child.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers praise the education and care their children receive. A typical comment was: ‘The teachers blend care with ambition for each and every pupil. They know them all and work hard to ensure their needs are met. My daughter loves being part of a school community that has given her the joy of learning and confidence to succeed.’

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better?

Leaders have constructed a broad and highly ambitious curriculum. There is clear intent to provide pupils with the knowledge and skills they will need to be resilient, lifelong learners. The school’s curriculum clearly sets out the most important knowledge that pupils should learn at every stage. The school’s curriculum is exceptional.

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better?

Teachers consistently deliver lessons of great quality. During lessons, teachers check pupils’ understanding regularly, and they skilfully address misconceptions. Teachers are ambitious for all pupils to achieve well.

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better?

In mathematics, pupils approach their learning with confidence. They are fluent when using number. They often use mathematical language with ease. Children in Reception could explain their learning. For example, one child demonstrated her ability to count accurately and to identify sequences, saying, ‘I have four buttons and I have made a repeating pattern.’ 7 and 8 November 2023

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Pupils’ high levels of engagement in lessons are reflected in their ability to remember, in depth, what they have learned. They are eager to share this knowledge with others. For example, pupils in Years 1 and 2 could talk about the artists they have studied. Pupils recalled Picasso’s blue period and spoke about ‘van Gogh’s use of bright colours and lines and swirls’.

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The school ensures that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are included in all aspects of school life. Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers through well-considered adaptations. As a result, all pupils produce work of a high standard across the curriculum.

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Pupils speak enthusiastically about books and develop a love of reading. They enjoy recommending books to their class and listening to teachers enthusiastically read to them. Teachers ensure that pupils read and share texts that explore diversity and different groups in society through the school’s ‘global reading spine’. This helps pupils to broaden their understanding of the wider world. Teachers and other adults have received training to ensure that they deliver the phonics programme well. Pupils who struggle to learn to read get extra support and practice.

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Children get off to an exceptionally strong start in the Nursery Year and Reception class. They learn in an environment that inspires their curiosity. There are stimulating, precisely planned activities so that children can understand and practise new skills and vocabulary. Teachers provide a multitude of opportunities for children to practise what they learn.

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Promoting pupils’ personal development is at the heart of the school’s curriculum. The school has devised a ‘global curriculum’ that teaches pupils about the wider world. The school wants to make sure that its pupils experience the world beyond Yardley Hastings. They receive a rich set of experiences that help them to understand the wider world and their place within it, guided by the school motto: ‘learn, think, act’. For example, pupils spoke with clarity about their ‘water week’, where they learned about water and poverty. The children undertook a six kilometre walk to represent the ‘act’ part of the school’s motto, and pupils make pledges, raise money and become active citizens.

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For such a small school, there is an ambitious range of extra-curricular and enrichment activities available. For example, in Years 5 and 6, there is a residential trip to Cornwall that includes a museum visit and surfing lessons, incorporating a broad range of curriculum content.

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Leaders, governors and staff work together as a highly effective team. The school puts pupils at the centre of everything it does. Staff feel very well supported and are extremely proud and happy to work at a school where they are part of a close-knit team, dedicated to supporting the development of every pupil. 7 and 8 November 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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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’ 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). 7 and 8 November 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Anthony Williamson

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School details

Website www.yardleyhastingsprimary.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 January 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of 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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, other school leaders and members of the governing body.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, art and history. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to groups of pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector listened to pupils in Years 1 and 2 read to a member of staff. The lead inspector also met with the subject leaders and looked at samples of pupils’ work for science and geography.  Inspectors also considered the curriculum plans for design and technology. 7 and 8 November 2023

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 The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site during playtime.  The inspectors spoke with groups of pupils and staff. An inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey for parents, as well as the staff and pupil survey.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: 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’ interest first.

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Inspection team

Dawn Ashbolt, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Katie Towers Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 November 2023

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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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