Dinnington Community Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Nikki O’Loughlin Interim headteacher Dinnington Community Primary School School Street Dinnington Sheffield South Yorkshire S25 2RE

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Community Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 16 September 2025, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Community Primary School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Community Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other senior leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust and the chair of the board of trustees the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, spoke to pupils and met with some members of staff. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the most recent graded inspection, the school has experienced a significant period of turbulence in staffing. Several teachers are new to the school, including yourself as the interim headteacher. A new headteacher has been recruited and will start their role in October 2025. You, along with trust leaders, have considered carefully the transition to new leadership arrangements in order to support future school improvement.

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Main findings

School and trust leaders are highly ambitious for pupils. They intend that the curriculum will provide pupils with a high-quality education. However, leaders recognise that there is more to do to ensure that teachers provide work that accurately meets the needs of pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The curriculum clearly sets out the knowledge and skills that pupils must learn over time. You have identified that it is important that staff benefit from training to help them to break learning down more clearly. This will enable pupils to achieve the aims of the curriculum more easily. This development has been hampered over the last year. In part, this is due to the significant change of staffing, including subject leadership, that has taken place. The school has identified the ways in which it intends to develop leadership of the curriculum further. Leaders hope that the anticipated, and much needed, stability of

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Main findings

staffing will support further refinement and development of the curriculum moving forward. This will require teachers to know precisely what pupils are expected to learn and how this builds over time. The teaching of early reading is established in the school. You acknowledge that pupils, particularly in key stage 2, struggle to transpose their thoughts into writing. This was noted at the previous inspection and remains a focus for the school’s development.

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Main findings

You and your team have quickly identified the immediate areas of improvement that are required to develop the school. Leaders, including those with responsibility for governance, have an accurate view of the school. At this early stage in the academic year, the school has prioritised the need for staff, many of whom are new to the school, to establish clear routines and expectations. The impact of these actions was seen during this inspection. Pupils know what is expected of them in class and in their movement around school. Transitions to new activities in class, and when moving to or from the playground, are calm and settled. Pupils respond positively to staff.

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Main findings

The leadership of SEND is in a period of transition. The school is being supported by an experienced practitioner from a school within the trust. The academy improvement plan sets out the immediate actions that are required to support this aspect of the school’s work. We discussed how it would be of benefit to leaders to provide greater clarity about how actions to improve SEND provision, and other aspects of the school’s work, will positively contribute to pupils’ learning.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, and the CEO of the White Woods Primary Academy Trust, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Rotherham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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