Gargrave Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Primary School

Address: Neville Road, Gargrave, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 3RE Unique reference number (URN): 121599

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils achieve well in the school. Most pupils progress through the curriculum and produce work that demonstrates a secure understanding of their learning. Leaders' recent refinements to ensure pupils revisit knowledge more regularly are helping pupils make better connections between prior and current learning. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged typically remember what they have been taught. This means they also progress well through the curriculum.

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Achievement Expected standard

Generally, outcomes in national curriculum tests reflect pupils’ achievement. Leaders' efforts and focus on reading have led to more pupils reaching the higher standards by the end of key stage 2. This includes disadvantaged pupils. Mathematics outcomes in national tests are also in line with national averages. Leaders' relentless focus on writing has ensured that pupils are achieving well in this subject. Pupils produce pieces of writing that are well structured and well presented. However, published outcomes in writing, including the number of pupils who are reaching the higher standard, do not yet reflect the quality of work that pupils produce in class.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils generally attend school well. Leaders track pupils' attendance and ensure they follow up when pupils are absent. A number of pupils join the school at different points of the year. Some of these pupils receive further support to develop positive habits to attend school more regularly. This improves their attendance overall. Despite this, a small number of pupils still miss school more frequently. The school engages positively with these families and involves wider agencies to provide more specialised support. Leaders are continuing to develop their systems to provide them with deeper oversight of pupil attendance. This is, however, in the earlier stages.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have established a warm, nurturing and respectful environment, where pupils can learn. Behaviour across the school is positive. Staff understand the school's approach to behaviour and implement this consistently. Pupils look after each other. They know that bullying or any form of discrimination is not tolerated. Leaders track minor instances of pupils not following the school’s expectations. Appropriate support is provided to pupils to ensure they can learn from their mistakes. In the classrooms, learning continues without disruption. Pupils maintain their positive ethos and show an interest in their learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have made significant progress since the last inspection in embedding a suitably ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. They know where this is working well and what needs further improvement. Leaders have made recent refinements, which ensure that pupils can more regularly revisit knowledge while learning in mixed-age classes.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have redesigned the writing curriculum in recent years. Staff have engaged in a number of training opportunities to understand how to teach skills, such as spelling and grammar more effectively. Learning to read is a priority. Phonics teaching ensures pupils develop the knowledge and skills to be able to read. Leaders have also redesigned the mathematics curriculum to ensure pupils develop a deeper understanding of the concepts they are being taught.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Generally, teachers deliver the curriculum with skill and precision. They are knowledgeable about the subjects that they teach. This helps staff break learning down into smaller parts to ensure pupils build important knowledge. Teachers provide pupils with opportunities to practise this learning before moving on to harder concepts. They ensure that work matches pupils' starting points and their stage of learning. This helps pupils to close any gaps that exist with their basic skills, such as counting and practising reading fluency.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders have recently expanded their early years provision to include a nursery. Children in the Nursery Year settle well into school life and play alongside their peers in Reception. Parents and carers appreciate this offer, and staff work well with them to ensure children are safe and happy.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum now identifies the knowledge that children in both Nursery and Reception will learn. This curriculum is sufficiently broken down across the different areas of learning, and leaders are continuing to make it even more precise. As a result, children move through the curriculum well and are ready for life in Year 1.

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Early years Expected standard

Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. Leaders have included reading provision for children in Nursery Year, where they learn to carefully listen to sounds in the environment. Children in Reception make good progress in their phonics and begin to read books and write simple words and phrases, for example independently writing Easter cards to their families.

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Early years Expected standard

Staff in the early years build nurturing relationships with children. They interact positively with children and regularly celebrate their achievements. Generally, adult interactions in the provision ensure that children acquire appropriate language and vocabulary. However, some of these interactions do not extend children’s language well enough, particularly for children who already have a wide vocabulary.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders are proactive in ensuring that pupils' needs are met. They quickly identify any gaps in pupils' learning and/or development. Staff provide pupils with the precise support they need at their current level of learning. Leaders frequently review the impact this support is having on pupils. When needed, leaders seek additional support from other agencies and respond positively to any advice they receive.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders know that support starts in the classroom. They use pupil premium funding well to ensure that teachers deliver the curriculum effectively. This includes ensuring that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who are disadvantaged benefit from appropriate adaptations to their learning. These adaptations are effective in reducing the barriers that pupils face to their learning and/or wellbeing. Staff benefit from the additional training opportunities they receive, for example how to support pupils with dyslexia. This helps staff to understand how to adapt the curriculum to precisely meet pupils' needs. Leaders use an ‘assess, plan, do, review’ approach to check how well strategies to support pupils are working. For some pupils, more specialist support is then sought. As a result, pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils progress well from their individual starting points.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders at Gargrave have a clear vision to ensure that pupils who attend get the very best education. They act in pupils' best interests. Leaders know the school’s strengths and any areas in need of further improvement. They check that actions are working well and provide staff with the relevant training and support to ensure everyone can continue to develop these areas collaboratively.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors understand their statutory roles. They hold leaders to account well to ensure the positive offer the school provides continues. They generally manage resources well. Governors know the school, the community and the pupils well. They are continuing to strengthen their understanding of certain areas of their work, such as attendance.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff are overwhelmingly proud to work at the school. They value the support they receive from leaders. This includes the many opportunities they have to develop their skills and knowledge even further. Many staff members refer to each other as ‘family’ because they always support one another. Leaders also ensure that workload is manageable and wellbeing is considered before any decisions are made. This is a happy place to work.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders engage well with parents and carers. Many parents are very positive about their relationship with the school. They value the inclusive ethos and support for pupils.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders ensure that pupils are well prepared for their next steps by equipping them with the knowledge to engage effectively in modern Britain. Pupils develop a secure understanding of other faiths. They make links between their own faith and others and consider how these are similar and different. Leaders enhance this work by taking pupils to different places of worship. This helps pupils develop a deeper understanding of religion and generates interesting discussion among pupils.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils understand the importance of fundamental British values. For example, Year 6 pupils learn about the democratic system and visit the Houses of Parliament to further develop their understanding. Pupils regularly learn about the importance of tolerance and demonstrate this through their behaviour towards others.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders have improved the school’s curriculum for personal, social and health education over recent years. The curriculum contains important knowledge and skills to ensure pupils know how to stay safe. Pupils learn to stay safe near the local canal and railway. The school has also embedded additional units of learning to discuss the negative impact of anti-social behaviour. As a result, pupils develop an understanding of right and wrong. The relationships and sex education and health education curriculum teaches pupils how to build healthy relationships, including online. Pupils regularly speak about the positives of the online world, while also considering where this might pose risks to their wellbeing.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The wider personal development programme enables pupils to take part in a wide range of visits. For example, younger pupils visit the farm while older pupils attend an exhilarating residential visit. Some pupils have participated in the local art exhibition and visited it to see their own artwork. Regular visits to the library are also enjoyed by all pupils at the school.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils and staff live out the school’s values of love, peace and hope. Pupils are friendly and polite to each other. They play well together across the year groups. Older pupils are mindful of the youngest children, who benefit from socialising with pupils of different ages.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils have confidence to speak to their trusted adults if they have any worries. As a result, pupils feel safe at this school. Bullying is rare, but if it does happen, staff deal with it quickly and effectively. Pupils behave well in lessons. They show respect to each other and listen carefully to the teacher's instructions. Pupils generally attend well.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils enjoy their learning. They take pride in their work and challenge themselves to be even better. Typically, pupils achieve well. They learn the knowledge required to understand what is being taught. This enables them to present what they have learned clearly.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged are well supported. Staff know these pupils well. They understand the challenges that pupils face in their learning. Leaders diligently ensure that vulnerable pupils access the same opportunities as their peers. Staff remove any barriers that exist by adapting learning activities. Pupils make positive progress through the curriculum because of this.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils value the additional opportunities the school provides them. They regularly make use of the facilities in the local community. For example, the school’s Christmas performance is held at the local village hall, and younger pupils visit the Cenotaph to explore their understanding of World War 1. Pupils also visit places beyond Gargrave to develop their understanding of life outside of the local area. This enables them to be well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Next steps

Leaders, including governors, should continue to strengthen their oversight and promotion of school attendance to ensure that pupils attend consistently well. Leaders should strengthen pupils’ achievement in writing by ensuring that teaching consistently secures and deepens pupils' knowledge by the end of key stage 2. Leaders should ensure that children in the early years benefit from consistently high- quality interactions with adults so that the opportunities they get to practise and learn new

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Claire Davey.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other senior leaders during the inspection. They also spoke to the chair of the governing body, governors and representatives from the local authority and the diocese.

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About this inspection

This school is registered as having a Church of England religious character. The last section 48 inspection was in December 2025.

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About this inspection

The school does not use any alternative provision.

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About this inspection

The school has undergone a significant change since the last inspection. The school now has Nursery provision.

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About this inspection

At the time of the inspection, there were 94 pupils on roll.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 64% 62% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2022/23 (final) 68% 73% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

‘S’ in the table above indicates the data has been suppressed, which is usually due to small cohorts. The suppression rules applied by the DfE when publishing the data have been mirrored and applied in the report card.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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average

‘S’ in the table above indicates the data has been suppressed, which is usually due to small cohorts. The suppression rules applied by the DfE when publishing the data have been mirrored and applied in the report card.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (2 term) 4.5% 5.2% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 5.2% 5.5% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (3 term) 5.4% 5.9% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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national average

2022/23 (3 term) 12.6% 16.2% Close to average

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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