Cononley Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils in this school play and learn alongside each other with respect and kindness.

Pupils are taught to understand right and wrong and the importance of considering the feelings of others. They are enthusiastic about their learning and the opportunities provided to them at school. Pupils are encouraged to understand and exhibit the school's values and rules.

Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and caring. Pupils have a strong belief that adults will help them both with their learning and anything else that they are worried about. Pupils often talk about 'trusted adults' who can offer support.

Staff teach children from their earliest time in scho...ol the importance of positive learning behaviours. For example, children in Reception can explain and demonstrate what the school's approach of 'active listening' means.

Pupils move around school in a calm and considerate manner.

Adults instil and insist upon clear and consistent routines. At playtimes and lunchtimes, pupils play with each other enthusiastically. Staff skilfully support pupils who need help with their behaviour.

Leaders understand and promote the importance of good school attendance. They are alert to pupils whose attendance is not high. Leaders provide prompt and effective support for families, where needed, to improve attendance for children and pupils.

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

Since the last inspection, leaders have focused on ensuring that the curriculum is consistently implemented. Leaders are ambitious for all pupils. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are quickly identified and supported to access the same curriculum as their peers.

Staff skilfully adapt the curriculum and how it is taught to ensure that pupils with SEND learn well. In subjects such as history, pupils have regular opportunities to revisit what they have previously learned. Staff are increasingly teaching pupils to make links between what they are taught in subjects such as history, and to understand how to 'think and learn' like historians.

The phonics curriculum is comprehensive and well structured. Leaders want pupils to become fluent readers as quickly as possible. Staff feel well equipped to deliver the programme.

Leaders use assessment carefully to identify pupils who need support with reading. Most pupils have frequent opportunities to practise reading words and books containing sounds they are confident with. However, some pupils at the earliest stages of reading do not get sufficient opportunities to practise reading words with sounds they know.

The enjoyment of reading is obvious throughout school. Pupils' faces visibly light up when they are asked what their favourite books are or when they talk about their regular storytime sessions. For example, one group of pupils was effusive about how they 'love being read to'.

Pupils benefit from a personal development offer that prepares them well for the wider world. Pupils are taught about different world faiths and how it is important to show respect for groups of people in society. Pupils develop a strong sense of fairness and justice.

Pupils talk about enjoying supporting different charities during the school year. The personal, health, social and economic curriculum teaches pupils to be aware of local risks, such as road and rail safety. Pupils are taught to understand the importance of physical and mental health and how being healthy can help them with their learning and in life generally.

Pupils are given opportunities to read books that provide an awareness of diversity in society.

In the early years, there is a focus on promoting independence and developing children's vocabulary. Staff explicitly teach children positive learning behaviours.

This helps children to access and achieve in the curriculum. Some Year 1 children are also based in the Reception classroom. This is skilfully managed by leaders and staff so that all children and pupils benefit from the intended curriculum for their year group.

Most areas of the curriculum that children are taught is clearly defined from the start point of Reception to the end of their time in early years. Some of the smaller steps of knowledge, vocabulary and experiences in some areas of learning are not as clearly defined as they need to be. This has an impact on some children not being fully prepared for their learning in key stage 1.

Governors have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development. They offer robust challenge and considerate support to leaders. They have introduced thorough systems for checking that leaders' views of the school are accurate and backed up by evidence.

Senior leaders give subject leaders regular opportunities to check on how well their subjects are being taught. This valuable information is used to give all leaders a clear picture of how well the school is performing. Governors understand how they contribute to a culture of safeguarding in the school.

Staff feel well supported by leaders. They say that leaders listen to them and they are an integral part of the school's improvement journey.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• A small number of pupils are not given enough opportunities to practise reading words containing sounds that they are secure with. Those pupils, who need support with reading, become over-reliant on segmenting sounds, which hampers their ability to become fluent readers quickly. The school should ensure that those pupils in the earliest stages of learning to read have sufficient opportunity to practise applying their phonics knowledge to develop their reading fluency.

• Some of the smaller steps in the curriculum journey from the beginning to the end of Reception are not clearly defined. As a result, a small proportion of children do not receive the precise targeted help that they need to be ready for key stage 1. The school should ensure that the small steps of the curriculum journey from the beginning of Reception to the end of Reception are clearly defined to help staff identify children who need specific support, and to target support precisely, so that children are prepared fully for key stage 1.

Also at this postcode