Ralph Butterfield Primary School

Inspection of Ralph Butterfield Primary School Station Road, Haxby, York, North Yorkshire YO32 3LS

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Inspection dates: 20 and 21 February 2024

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

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 November 2011. 20 and 21 February 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s motto of ‘Imagine, Believe, Strive and Achieve’ defines the vision of those who are part of the Ralph Butterfield family. Leaders have the highest ambition for pupils both in their learning and behaviour. Pupils rise to meet these expectations. Pupils are safe, happy and enjoy coming to school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Classrooms are calm and purposeful places. There is clear respect and trust between adults and pupils. Pupils know that if they have a worry, there is always a trusted adult they can talk to.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In lessons, pupils are eager to participate. They listen carefully to their teachers and display a high degree of self-control. Children in early years show an enthusiasm for learning from the outset. This allows them to thrive, flourish and succeed. Pupils are supportive of one another. They display positive attitudes to learning and, through the school’s ambitious curriculum, they achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have developed positive relationships with parents and carers. One parent stated, ‘The staff make a difference. They look after our children.’

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better?

Children get off to a flying start in the early years. The well-thought-out provision promotes effective learning through a hive of activity. The environment is welcoming. Adults create rich and varied learning opportunities that enable children to learn about the world around them. Open-ended activities promote discussion. Adults challenge pupils to extend their learning. The curriculum in early years prepares children well for year 1.

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better?

Leaders have created a culture where reading is a priority and celebrated. From the early years, children are introduced to nursery rhymes, songs and stories. The prevalence of books stimulates a love of reading. From Reception, pupils learn letter sounds and words in a structured and planned sequence through the school’s phonics programme. As pupils develop their phonics knowledge, they are provided with books that carefully match the sounds that they know. Pupils quickly gain the knowledge and skills to become confident, fluent readers. Extra support is put in place from highly trained staff to enable them to catch-up quickly. Pupils talk confidently about books they enjoy.

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better?

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum starting from early years. The curriculum ensures that children are ready for the next stage of their learning. The school’s values of respect, ambition, determination and integrity weave throughout it. The curriculum sets out the essential knowledge and key vocabulary pupils need. Where the intended curriculum is taught well, pupils build on prior knowledge and apply this to new learning. In some subjects such as history and mathematics, pupils’ misconceptions are not consistently addressed. 20 and 21 February 2024

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The school is an inclusive place to learn. The school supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) extremely well. Staff provide one-to- one support where required and appropriate adaptations to the curriculum are made. Staff have high expectations for pupils with SEND. The curriculum is not narrowed or unnecessarily simplified. Pupils with SEND are challenged and expected to access the same curriculum as their peers. As a result, these pupils thrive and achieve well.

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Pupils’ personal development is at the forefront of the curriculum. Pupils access a range of opportunities and experiences to develop their confidence, character and resilience. Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe. There is a strong sense of equality across the school. The school offers a range of clubs for pupils to attend, with further enhancement through school visits and residential trips. Pupils have a secure understanding of fundamental British values and protected characteristics. They embrace leadership opportunities, such as being on the school council or well- being ambassadors. This is a role that is taken very seriously by those involved.

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Leadership and the continued drive for improvement go hand-in-hand at Ralph Butterfield. Governors are a strength of the school. They hold school leaders to account for school performance through support and challenge. The determination for all pupils to be successful is a priority shared at all levels of leadership. There are extensive training opportunities on offer for staff. The consideration given to staff’s well-being and workload is far-reaching. Staff enjoy working at the school and feel valued. They describe the school as a caring, encouraging and happy place to work in. One staff member stated, ‘We’re called the Ralph Butterfield family for a reason.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, such as mathematics and history, some teachers are not quick enough to identify and address pupils’ errors and misunderstandings as they arise. At times, this means that some pupils make mistakes that go unchecked. The school should support teachers to use assessment in lessons consistently well to help pupils to learn as effectively as they should.

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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. 20 and 21 February 2024

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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 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). 20 and 21 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 21 and 22 November 2011, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does 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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors looked at curriculum documents from a range of subjects. 20 and 21 February 2024

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 Inspectors listened to a range of pupils read from different year groups.  Inspectors met with the special educational needs coordinator, members of the governing body and local authority representatives.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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’ interests first.  Inspectors spoke to parents and observed pupils at breaktime and lunchtime.  Inspectors considered the responses made by parents to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, including any free-text responses. Inspectors also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Lynn Chambers, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Helen Stout Ofsted Inspector 20 and 21 February 2024

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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