New Pastures Primary School

Inspection of New Pastures Primary School Pitt Street, Mexborough, South Yorkshire S64 0LT

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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

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Tom Purdy. This school is part of Venn Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Simon Witham, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Terry Johnson. 10 and 11 July 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn in an environment where they feel safe, cared for and respected. They have faith in adults to help them with concerns or worries. As one pupil said about staff in school, ‘We trust them.’ The school has raised expectations around how pupils should behave and how they should treat each other. Staff understand these expectations and ensure that they are consistently followed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave calmly around school. They quickly follow instructions from adults. Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning. They begin their work quickly. Pupils are keen to ask and answer questions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy playing with and alongside each other at playtimes and lunchtimes. They are eager to look for other pupils who need someone to play with. Pupils are enthusiastic about the increasing range of educational visits. These visits link well to their learning in different subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The quality of education provided by the school has improved recently. Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ achievement. Currently, pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 2 do not meet the school’s ambitions. Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

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better?

Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum. This curriculum is well sequenced. For example, in Reception, children develop an understanding of sorting animals based on their different characteristics. This means that they are prepared thoroughly for the classification topic in Year 1. The school has considered the vocabulary, knowledge and skills it wishes pupils to learn at each stage of their education. Leaders have significantly increased the range of extra-curricular clubs and activities available to pupils. These opportunities are open to all. However, disadvantaged pupils do not access the extra-curricular activities as a matter of course.

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better?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the same curriculum as their peers. Staff are increasingly adapting their teaching to give these pupils the best chance of success in their learning. Staff are alert to identifying pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND receive targeted support to help them to achieve.

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better?

The school ensures that subject leaders have regular opportunities to see how well the curriculum is being taught. Some of this monitoring is not focused enough on how well pupils are learning.

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better?

The school has developed systems to identify and support pupils with poor attendance. More pupils are now attending school more often. These pupils are benefiting from the ambitious curriculum on offer. The school is refining its approach 10 and 11 July 2024

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to identifying and supporting families when pupils’ attendance continues to be lower than it should be.

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The school has ensured that the phonics programme is taught with focus and precision. Staff receive regular training to deliver the phonics curriculum well. In lessons, they skilfully check which pupils need more help and which pupils have understood. Pupils develop their fluency through reading books that are expertly matched to the sounds they have been taught. Pupils who need more support with reading benefit from focused intervention.

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The early years curriculum gives children a solid start to their education. Leaders build positive relationships with parents and carers at the earliest opportunity. Staff have the highest expectations around behaviour. Children follow clear routines willingly. They learn how to care for each other and themselves. For example, in Nursery, children are taught how to brush their teeth. They learn why this is important for them as they get older. The curriculum children learn focuses on developing their vocabulary. Children have opportunities to build strong foundations for future learning. For example, in Reception, children learn different ways of making 10 within a ‘tens frame’. This prepares them well for more formal mathematics in Year 1.

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The personal development offer for pupils enables them to develop a strong moral compass. Pupils learn about other world faiths. They understand that discrimination and prejudice are wrong. Through the personal, social, health and economic curriculum, they learn about healthy relationships and how to manage their own physical and mental health. Educational visits are increasingly linked to pupils’ learning across the curriculum. For example, Year 4 pupils explain how a visit to a coal mining museum helped them to learn more in their mining history topic.

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This is a school that has gone through a period of rapid development and improvement. Leaders at all levels share the highest expectations for what pupils can achieve. Staff share this ambition. Staff are united and focused on continuing to improve the school. Recent changes to the local governing board have resulted in leaders being held to account more robustly. Governors understand their roles and responsibilities. Staff’s workload and well-being are considered by leaders. Staff are positive about the work of the school and the improvements made recently. Staff benefit from regular opportunities to work with colleagues from other schools within the trust.

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Safeguarding

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

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The checks the school makes on some areas of teaching and learning are not sharply focused. As a result, teaching and learning are not consistent. This affects how well pupils build their knowledge over time. The school should ensure that its checks focus on the consistency and precision of pedagogy, and its impact on pupils’ learning.  The school’s wide offer of clubs and activities is not consistently targeted to the most disadvantaged pupils. As a result, the take-up of activities from this group of pupils is not high enough. The school should ensure that these valuable experiences are consistently taken up by disadvantaged pupils.

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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). 10 and 11 July 2024

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CEO of the trust

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 New Pastures Primary School converted to become an academy in September 2021. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to require improvement.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school is one of 14 schools in the Venn Academy Trust.  The current headteacher took up post in January 2023.  The school became part of the Venn Academy Trust in September 2022. From September 2021 to August 2022, the school was a standalone academy.  The school has an executive headteacher, Caroline Knight. 10 and 11 July 2024

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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.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  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’ interests first.  Inspectors spoke to members of the local governing board, and the CEO and other executive leaders of the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, early reading, history and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers,

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Information about this inspection

spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors evaluated responses from parents, staff and pupils to Ofsted’s online surveys, including Ofsted Parent View. They spoke with some parents dropping their children off at school.

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Inspection team

Liam Colclough, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Michael Watson Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 July 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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