Toll Bar Primary School

Inspection of Toll Bar Primary School Askern Road, Toll Bar, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN5 0QR

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 1 and 2 July 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are strong relationships between staff and pupils at this caring school. If pupils are worried about something, they know that staff will support them. Parents and carers appreciate the way in which staff go the extra mile to make sure that their children are happy. Pupils are safe and they enjoy attending school. They are polite and friendly. Behaviour around the school is calm and respectful. Bullying happens rarely. If it does, it is addressed and resolved quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

While leaders have high expectations for pupils’ achievement, these are not consistently realised. Too many pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school recognises this and there are clearly identified priority areas for rapid improvement. However, many improvement strategies are in their infancy, and the impact of these is limited at this stage.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a wide range of enrichment opportunities. These include sports clubs, music clubs, a cooking club and residential trips. A number of pupils also volunteer to work with the ‘One O’Clock Club’, a group of residents who work with the school to improve the local community. This includes opportunities for pupils to plant flowers in the local area and to organise litter picking.

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

The school has raised its expectations and ambition for pupils’ achievement, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The curriculum has been revised. It is now well sequenced and well organised in most subjects. The curriculum in the early years supports children’s development well. However, some changes to the curriculum are relatively new. In subjects where the curriculum is more embedded, pupils’ knowledge builds more strongly over time.

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

The way the curriculum is implemented is not consistently effective. At times, staff do not check that pupils have understood the most important information before moving on to the next activity. This means there are gaps in pupils’ learning, which can lead to them falling behind.

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

Teachers have secure subject knowledge. This is supported by the school’s professional development programme. However, the activities that staff use are sometimes not well matched to the learning aims of the curriculum. This means that pupils do not consistently secure and deepen their knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.

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

In the early years, the school considered what children need to learn in readiness for key stage 1. There is a stimulating environment in Nursery and Reception where children enjoy learning. Adults ask questions which help children think carefully about their learning.

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

The school promotes and prioritises reading. This is done through ‘the three Ps’ of reading for productivity, purpose and pleasure. Children start to learn phonics straight away. 1 and 2 July 2025

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Books are well matched to the sounds that children learn in their phonics lessons. Most pupils become fluent and confident readers. Staff use assessment to identify gaps in pupils’ reading knowledge accurately. There is additional support in place to address these gaps. The school encourages pupils to read for pleasure through a range of strategies, including daily ‘drop everything and read’ sessions and ‘first chapter Friday’, where they hear only the first section of a book. This is in the early stage of implementation.

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The school identifies and meets the needs of pupils accurately. This includes pupils with SEND. These pupils receive additional help when they need it. This enables them to learn the curriculum alongside their peers. Pupils who struggle with their emotions can use the ‘Beech’ provision room in the school. This helps pupils regulate their emotions quickly before rejoining their class.

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The behaviour system promotes good conduct well. Pupils value the rewards that they receive for showing positive attitudes. The school has established strong systems to reduce pupils’ absence over recent years, and pupils’ attendance has improved significantly as a result.

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Pupils’ understanding of how to keep themselves healthy and safe is strong. For example, they can explain what makes a healthy relationship. Pupils have a well-developed understanding of equality and show respect for people who are different. The school has taught pupils about world faiths and religions and fundamental British values. However, pupils’ understanding of these areas is less well developed. This means that they are not as well prepared for life in modern Britain as they could be.

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The school engages effectively with support from the local authority and external partners. Governors understand the school’s strengths and areas for further development. Despite the recent improvements, leaders at all levels understand that there is still work to do to ensure that pupils achieve more strongly across the curriculum. There is a clear sense of positive unity across the staff. They recognise that they are ‘on a journey’. Leaders consider staff workload and well-being. Most parents are very positive about the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some activities in lessons are not well matched to the intended learning of the curriculum. This means that pupils do not develop and deepen their learning as well as they should. The school should ensure that staff use lesson activities which fully support pupils’ learning.  Staff do not check that pupils have understood the most important learning before 1 and 2 July 2025

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moving on to new content consistently. This means that there are gaps in some pupils’ knowledge, and they are not able to learn the curriculum effectively. The school should ensure that the curriculum is implemented consistently well and that pupils build their knowledge strongly over time.  As a result of inconsistent implementation of the curriculum, pupils’ knowledge of British values, world faiths and beliefs is not fully developed. This means that they are not as prepared for life in modern Britain as they could be. The school should ensure that its teaching of these areas is effective and that pupils understand thoroughly what they have been taught.  Some changes that the school has implemented, including those relating to the curriculum, are relatively recent and are still becoming established. This means that the impact of these changes in some areas is limited and not fully realised. The school

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should ensure that improvement strategies are timely and effective in realising the ambition of providing high-quality education to all pupils.

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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). 1 and 2 July 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 March 2024, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 There have been several staffing changes since the last inspection.  The school uses one registered alternative provision and one unregistered 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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 1 and 2 July 2025

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher and other school leaders. The lead inspector met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. He also spoke with a representative from the local authority.  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 put pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. 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 also discussed the curriculum in history and physical education.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation regarding the support pupils with SEND

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receive. They looked at the quality of the provision for pupils with SEND in lessons.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including minutes from governing board meetings as well as the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans.  Inspectors looked at a range of information regarding behaviour and attendance. They observed the behaviour of pupils in classrooms and at social times.  An inspector spoke to leaders at one of the alternative provisions used by the school.  The views of pupils and staff who responded to Ofsted’s surveys were considered. Inspectors also spoke with groups of staff and pupils to gain their views about the school.  Inspectors considered the views of parents through the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. An inspector also spoke to some parents at the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

Tim Johnson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Richard Beadnall His Majesty’s Inspector 1 and 2 July 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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