Pickering Community Infant School

Inspection of Pickering Community Infant School Ruffa Lane, Pickering, North Yorkshire YO18 7AT

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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 Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 9 and 10 July 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe at this welcoming and inclusive school. Staff build nurturing relationships with pupils. Pupils benefit from opportunities to be leaders, including being part of the school’s ‘Eco-Council’. Pupils are active in planting vegetables and looking after the school grounds. Pupils appreciate the many clubs that they can attend. Staff help pupils to become resilient and confident learners. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils typically behave well in lessons and enjoy their learning. Breaktimes are a highlight for the pupils. Pupils love to talk about their play area. They enjoy the wealth of play equipment they use, which includes crates, a mud kitchen, and a digging area. These areas develop their interests and skills.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils experience lots of exciting visits as part of the curriculum. For example, some pupils visit Whitby to develop their understanding of the coast.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils. Most pupils in key stage 1 achieve well. However, the quality of education that children receive in the early years is not good enough. This means that some children are not as ready for the next stage of their education as they need to be.

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better?

The school is ambitious for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school has a cohesive, thematic curriculum. The curriculum is enhanced through a range of well-planned experiences. The school maps out the key knowledge that pupils need. In many subjects, pupils successfully recall what they have learned. For example, in physical education, pupils talk confidently about the skills they need in order to play different sports. However, in some subjects, the school does not sequence learning effectively. Where this is the case, pupils struggle to build knowledge securely over time. This means some pupils develop misconceptions and find it difficult to remember what they have been taught.

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better?

Previously, outcomes in early reading were significantly below those of pupils nationally. The school has addressed the issues it had with the teaching of early reading. Staff teach phonics with precision and consistency. Pupils read books that match the sounds they know. Children in the early years make rapid progress in reading. The school regularly checks pupils’ phonics knowledge. The school ensures pupils get the extra help they need to catch up quickly. Some aspects of the teaching of reading beyond phonics are not fully developed. This means that some pupils do not build their confidence and fluency as well as they could.

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better?

In the early years curriculum, the school has identified some of the knowledge they want children to know and remember. However, the school is not implementing the early years curriculum as effectively, or consistently, as it needs to. For example, the school misses opportunities to have high-quality discussions with children. Too often, 9 and 10 July 2024

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children do not learn to follow routines as well as they could Outcomes at the end of early years are too low. Some children are not as well prepared for key stage 1 as they should be.

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The personal development curriculum is a strength of the school. For example, pupils learn how to play safely with others and develop their independence. One pupil said, ‘I like it because you can play how you like with the equipment as long as you are sensible and safe.’ Pupils benefit from the leadership roles they take on. Pupils learn how to stay safe. They know what a safe relationship is and how to get help if they need it.

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The majority of pupils behave well. Pupils walk around school in a calm and orderly way. Pupils feel safe in school and they know they can talk to a trusted adult if they have any concerns. Pupils attend school well. In lessons, pupils generally work hard. They focus on their learning and enjoy coming to school.

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Leaders and governors are aspirational for pupils. They want the children to be the very best they can be. The school involves parents in their child’s learning. For example, the school runs reading workshops for parents. Governors fulfil their statutory duties effectively. They understand their responsibilities. Governors know the school well. They are involved with the life of the school. They have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and also the areas that need to develop. Staff describe the school as ‘a family’. Staff are proud to work at this school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum in the early years is inconsistently implemented. This means that children in the early years do not achieve as highly as they could and they are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they need to be. The school should ensure that children in early years benefit from a carefully implemented early years curriculum. As part of this work, the school should review the training it provides for staff to help staff understand how to implement the curriculum effectively and consistently.  Some aspects of the teaching of reading, beyond phonics, are not as developed as they could be. The school should further develop its sequenced approach to reading so that more pupils develop their fluency and a wider love of reading.  In some wider curriculum subjects, the curriculum is not as coherently sequenced as it needs to be. This means that pupils do not build their knowledge and skills

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

securely over time. The school needs to ensure that the curriculum is sequenced 9 and 10 July 2024

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and implemented effectively to ensure that, in all subjects, pupils learn the knowledge they need for their next stage of education.

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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). 9 and 10 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.pickering-inf.n-yorks.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 April 2019

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Information about this school

 The school does not use alternative provision.  The school runs a breakfast and after-school club.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, physical education and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 9 and 10 July 2024

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 Inspectors listened to pupils read to a familiar adult in early years and key stage 1.  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 considered responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for staff and pupils. They also met with parents on the school playground. Inspectors took into account the views of parents using Ofsted online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including comments received via the free-text facility.

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Inspection team

Kerry Partington, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Rowena Sykes Ofsted Inspector 9 and 10 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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