Riddlesden St Mary's CofE Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Riddlesden St Mary’s CofE Primary School Grange Road, Riddlesden, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD20 5AB

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Outcome

Riddlesden St Mary’s CofE Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel part of a family in this warm and welcoming school. They feel safe and enjoy excellent relationships with staff. They willingly embrace opportunities to contribute to school life and develop their leadership skills. Pupils learn about their responsibilities for the environment while feeding the birds, growing vegetables or planting trees in their woodland.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They show kindness and consideration for each other. Older pupils take turns to help younger ones at lunchtimes. Their kind and thoughtful attitudes reflect the ethos of the school. Staff act as excellent role models. Expectations are consistent throughout the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils often work together to help those less fortunate than themselves such as baking cookies for the homeless. Pupils are clear that they are all equal and that it is okay to be different. Pupils are taught to understand different emotions. They are shown ways to help themselves feel calm and be ready to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for all pupils’ achievement. The curriculum interests and challenges pupils. Most pupils focus on their learning and work with determination. Children in the early years are particularly engaged and enthused. They have settled well into school. Pupils achieve well overall.

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

The school’s curriculum is broad and ambitious. Pupils typically learn well and are interested to learn more. The school’s 2024 Year 6 published outcomes do not reflect the 25 and 26 March 2025

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current strength of pupils’ achievement.

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In most subjects, the school has defined the most important knowledge pupils should learn. However, in a small number of subjects, this has not been identified clearly enough. Where this is the case, teachers have difficulty identifying and emphasising the important knowledge for pupils to learn and remember. Pupils struggle to recall and connect this learning over time.

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Staff’s subject knowledge is secure. They benefit from professional development, which supports them to deliver the curriculum well. Staff use a well-chosen range of resources such as artefacts to help bring learning to life. Staff check pupils’ learning systematically and address misconceptions.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly and given the support they need to achieve well. The school makes adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum to enable pupils with SEND to learn successfully alongside their peers.

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Staff in the early years provide a calm and well-resourced environment. This enables children to enjoy their learning indoors and outdoors. Adults develop children’s language and understanding through high-quality interactions and skilled questioning. From the time children start school, they begin to build a love of reading. Children in Reception get off to a strong start learning to read. Pupils who need extra help with phonics promptly receive this.

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The youngest children use the letters that they are learning to write frequently. For example, they regularly write their names. However, some pupils have not always secured this important early knowledge to write accurately and fluently. This is because they do not always get enough opportunities to revisit and practise letter formation, spellings, and sentence formation. Sometimes, pupils are given more complex activities such as writing a diary entry or story before they have all the knowledge they need.

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The school has been successful in improving the level of attendance and reducing persistent absence. Attendance for all pupils is now close to the national average.

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Promoting pupils’ wider development is at the heart of the school’s ethos. There is an exceptionally strong focus on promoting pupils’ aspirations. Pupils learn about a wide range of career possibilities from visitors to school. Pupils learn how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay safe online, at home and in the community.

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Pupils relish the high-quality enrichment activities that the school offers. This enables pupils to develop their talents and interests far beyond the academic curriculum. For example, pupils learn to cycle safely and confidently, cook nutritious meals, play chess, play a range of musical instruments, and perform on stage at prestigious events. The school carefully tailors its programme to suit the needs and interests of all pupils.

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The school is well led and managed at all levels. Governors have an effective understanding of what is working well and the next steps for the school. Staff enjoy working here and feel well supported. 25 and 26 March 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils do not get enough opportunities to practise elements of the early writing curriculum, such as letter formation or using the sounds they know to spell words accurately and form sentences. They make many errors in their writing, which are not addressed swiftly or consistently. These errors become embedded over time. The school should ensure that all pupils get enough opportunities to secure important foundational knowledge before they are given more complex tasks.  In a small number of subjects, the school has not identified the essential knowledge pupils need to learn. This means pupils struggle to remember important facts and connect new key learning to what they already know. This means they do not learn the curriculum as well as they could. The school should clearly define the essential knowledge pupils need to know across all subjects.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in June 2016.

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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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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). 25 and 26 March 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 13 and 14 February 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school has Nursery provision for two-year-olds.  The school uses two registered alternative provisions.  The school is a voluntary-aided Church of England school in the Diocese of Leeds. It received its last section 48 inspection in June 2024.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 spoke with the headteacher and other school leaders.  The inspector spoke with representatives from the local authority and the Diocese of Leeds. 25 and 26 March 2025

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 The inspector spoke with the chair of the governing body.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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.

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Inspection team

Tracy Duffy, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 25 and 26 March 2025

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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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