Dent CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this small and joyful school.

They form strong and trusting bonds with staff and with each other. Pupils treat each other, and staff, with kindness and respect. Children in the early years settle into school life well.

They are supported to learn the rules and routines. This helps them to learn and play cooperatively alongside each other.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement.

This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and try their best. They listen attentively and confidently answer questions in lessons.

Pupils typically achieve ...well and are ready for the next stage of their education.

Pupils enjoy the wide range of enrichment activities that the school provides for them beyond the academic curriculum. For example, they take part eagerly in photography, woodwork and computer coding clubs.

Pupils in key stage 2 organise lunchtime activities, such as football club, for other pupils. These experiences enable pupils to develop exciting new interests and find undiscovered talents.

Pupils flourish in their various roles and responsibilities.

These include acting as pupil parliament members and lunchtime helpers. Pupils are proud to care for their local and wider community. They welcome being involved in community projects, such as making soup, chutney and blankets for the elderly.

Pupils also learn that they can make a positive difference by raising money for charities.

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

The school has recently overhauled its curriculum. It has diligently considered the needs and interests of all its pupils and has developed an ambitious curriculum.

In most subjects, the school has carefully considered what it wants pupils to know and the order in which subject knowledge will be taught. This is similar in the early years, where the curriculum in many areas of learning identifies the key knowledge that children should learn in readiness for key stage 1.

In a few subjects, including some areas of learning in the early years, the school is still refining its work to ensure that teachers are clear about the key knowledge that pupils should gain.

In these subjects, teachers do not routinely place the right emphasis on the knowledge that the pupils need for future learning. This sometimes prevents pupils from developing detailed understanding and making connections with what they have learned before.

Teachers typically deliver the curriculum well.

They explain new concepts with clarity, and they use a range of strategies to check on pupils' understanding. In many subjects, teachers use effective strategies to check that pupils have retained important knowledge over time. However, in some subjects, the school is in the process of developing its approaches to assessment.

In these subjects, the approaches to assessment sometimes do not give teachers all the information that they need to check how well pupils have secured earlier learning. This prevents some pupils from achieving all that they could.

Pupils' individual needs, interests and talents are known well at this school.

The school quickly and effectively identifies pupils' additional needs, including pupils with SEND. These pupils benefit from well-tailored teaching so that they can thrive in all aspects of their development.

The school prioritises reading.

It invests in high-quality and engaging books that pupils love to read. Pupils look forward to the special time each day when adults read to them. Books are everywhere.

Pupils proudly and confidently showed inspectors the many books and resources that staff set out for them to use. Pupils throughout the school read books that match their reading knowledge. This helps them to be confident and fluent readers.

Staff have the expertise they need to identify if a pupil falls behind in their learning of phonics. If this happens, pupils receive the help that they need to catch up quickly.

Pupils, including children in the early years, are positive about their school and their learning.

They enjoy learning new things and take an active part in their own learning. Pupils play cooperatively with each other at playtimes. On the rare occasion when a pupil forgets to follow the school rules, staff quickly and sensitively remind them how to behave.

The school provides a wide range of opportunities to extend pupils' learning beyond their immediate environment. The school organises a range of trips and visits from speakers to help pupils to better understand the wider world. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe online and how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.

They learn about important values, such as democracy and tolerance. Pupils recognise that rules are there to keep them safe. These experiences prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.

Governors use their expertise to provide the school with effective support and challenge. They display a strong sense of purpose and passion to bring about the best possible outcomes for the pupils, parents, carers and staff of the school.

The school is considerate of staff's workload and well-being.

For example, it considers how best to implement new initiatives without overburdening staff. Staff told inspectors they feel the school is alert and mindful of their well-being. They feel valued and supported.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, including in the early years, the school has not identified clearly enough the most important knowledge that pupils should learn. This means that teachers do not emphasise and revisit some important ideas and concepts.

Consequently, in these subjects, pupils do not develop the detailed knowledge that they should. The school should finalise its curriculum thinking so that teachers know exactly what knowledge pupils must learn and when this should be taught. ? Approaches to assessment are underdeveloped in a few subjects.

This hinders how well some teachers check that pupils have retained earlier learning. The school should finalise its approaches to checking pupils' learning in these remaining subjects. This is to ensure that pupils have secure foundations on which to build new learning.