Saltaire Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Saltaire Primary School Albert Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire BD18 4NR

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Outcome

Saltaire Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Saltaire Primary School serves its community proudly. Pupils value the kind and nurturing environment. They are central to bringing this to life in the school. Pupils warmly welcome newcomers and visitors to their school. This caring ethos provides the foundations on which the school is built.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has very high expectations for pupils. Pupils achieve well in national assessments. They also rise to the high expectations for their behaviour. They focus well in lessons and are quick to settle to learning activities. Pupils enjoy their learning opportunities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in the school. They have trusted adults they can turn to. Pupils know that bullying sometimes happens. They are clear that the school takes this seriously and deals with it effectively. Older pupils support Reception children when they join the school. They take their role as a buddy very seriously.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and parents value the wide range of exciting extra-curricular clubs on offer. These include skateboarding, gymnastics and art club. Many pupils attend these. The Saltaire Primary School University ensures that all pupils access enrichment activities every week. Pupils value this time. They enjoy the range of new experiences, such as learning British Sign Language and first aid.

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

The well-designed curriculum ensures that pupils achieve high standards from the earliest stage. Skilled teachers provide frequent opportunities to revisit prior learning. Pupils remember previous topics very well. For example, Year 3 pupils confidently recall learning about fractions. They explain terms such as numerators, denominators and relevant fractions. 10 and 11 April 2024

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Pupils enjoy learning. Their positive attitudes support a purposeful learning environment. The school ensures that all pupils experience the same ambitious curriculum. Appropriate adaptations mean that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well. For example, adapted resources in history help pupils to evaluate different sources when studying the Great Fire of London. On some occasions, activities are not precisely matched to the intended learning. This means that pupils do not learn as much as they could, despite their high levels of engagement.

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Pupils who are in the early stages of reading receive expert adult help. The school swiftly identifies pupils who need extra support. As a result, these pupils keep up with their peers. Pupils enjoy reading and they keenly share their favourite books and authors. They enjoy choosing books from the school library. The school’s promotion of reading supports pupils to develop a love of reading for pleasure.

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Children in the early years benefit from a highly stimulating environment. The new location places children at the heart of the school and in a safe environment. Children enjoy meaningful learning opportunities. For example, they cut herbs with scissors. They also make faces out of dough. Staff skilfully ensure that there are lots of opportunities to learn. Children’s physical and communication skills develop alongside their understanding of the world.

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The school provides rich and thoughtful opportunities to support pupils’ personal development. Pupils meet in small groups, as a crew, with an adult crew leader. This dedicated time allows pupils to explore wider topics. Year 6 pupils confidently debate whether sharing a secret is right or wrong. They skilfully link this to their knowledge of safeguarding and how to keep themselves safe online.

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The wider opportunities that pupils receive are exceptional. The school provides a wide range of trips, visits and activities. Pupils learn to swim in the pop-up swimming pool on the school site. Reception children learn about their local history when visiting Saltaire. Year 4 pupils extend their knowledge of history in their residential trip to York. The whole school enjoys its visit to Filey beach.

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The school and the governing body are relentless in their focus on providing pupils in the school with the very best experiences. They ensure pupils have a very positive start to their school life. One parent represented the views of many, saying, ‘I am confident that the school always has the children’s well-being at the heart of everything they do.’ The school takes every opportunity to explore the rich history of Saltaire so that pupils develop a pride in their local area. Teachers are proud to work at the school. They know that their workload and well-being are at the forefront of leaders’ minds. As a result, staff feel highly valued.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 10 and 11 April 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 On some occasions, the activities in lessons are not well matched to intended learning outcomes. This means that some learning time is not utilised as well as it could be. The school should continue to refine the curriculum to ensure that all learning opportunities are meaningful.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2018.

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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). 10 and 11 April 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 20 and 21 November 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher and the chair of governors have changed since the last inspection.  The school does not use alternative provision.

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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 the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and three assistant headteachers.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspector 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. 10 and 11 April 2024

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 The inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair.  The inspector reviewed a range of school documents, including the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans.  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 considered the views of parents through the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View. The inspector considered the views of pupils through meetings held with them.  The inspector considered the views of staff through meetings and through their responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.

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Inspection team

Andrew Gibbins, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 10 and 11 April 2024

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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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