Cottingley Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Cottingley Primary Academy continues to be a good school.

The principal of this school is Kelly Bentley.

This school is part of Academies Enterprise Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Rebecca Boomer-Clark, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by David Hall.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils in this school are surrounded by caring adults.

The respect and care shown by adults to pupils is mirrored in how pupils treat each other. As one pupil said, 'Teachers are kind, they speak to you nicely all the time.' The school is highly ambitious for... what they want pupils to achieve academically, but also the type of people they want them to become.

Pupils speak about feeling safe. They understand the importance of being considerate and mindful of the feelings and opinions of others.

Staff make sure that pupils follow clear routines around school.

Even the youngest pupils in school move calmly and purposefully around the school building. Pupils behave well and work hard. Pupils learn strategies to help them concentrate in lessons.

For example, when an adult reads to the class, pupils track this in their books. Pupils are proud of their work. They speak with enthusiasm about their learning in different subjects across the curriculum.

Pupils and staff consistently speak of the importance of school attendance. The school works closely with families, where pupil attendance is too low.

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

The school has created an ambitious curriculum for all pupils.

At each stage, the knowledge and vocabulary that pupils learn is carefully mapped out. The curriculum is well designed. Pupils build up in-depth knowledge over time.

For example, in geography, pupils learn about the climates in different continents. They apply this knowledge to their learning about the Amazon rainforest. The school is ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school has recently increased the amount of staff training and support around pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND benefit from the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

In lessons, staff regularly check what pupils have understood.

However, the school does not use this information as well as it could. Sometimes, the school does not address some pupils' misunderstandings or take some pupils' learning further.

The phonics curriculum is well-defined and consistently taught.

Pupils read books that match the sounds they know. In phonics lessons, staff are quick to address any letter sounds that pupils find difficult. The school promptly identifies pupils who need more help with reading.

These pupils get extra support to catch up with their peers. The school ensures older pupils, who are still at the early stage of reading, get the help they need to become fluent readers. For example, pupils who are new arrivals to the country are assessed to see if they need help with phonics or becoming fluent readers.

A love of reading is promoted across school. The school has thought carefully about which books pupils should have read to them and when. Pupils enjoy a range of different genres.

Books are seen as important in this school.

Leaders place a clear focus on giving pupils a wide range of experiences and opportunities beyond the curriculum. Pupils benefit from their regular personal, social health and economic lessons.

Pupils learn about the similarities and differences between different groups of people in society. Pupils enjoy learning about different world faiths. Pupils understand important issues, like how to stay safe online and what makes a healthy relationship.

Pupils are keen to make a difference to others in their school and beyond. For example, in response to the question, 'Would you rather make your own dream come true or someone else's?', pupils all agreed that other people should come first. One pupil said, 'I would make someone else's dream come true because at school I have everything I need.'



Staff feel supported with their workload and well-being. Staff speak about recent curriculum developments helping to reduce their workload and increase their effectiveness. The school understands the importance of working closely with parents.

The school regularly reviews the effectiveness of its home to school communication. The trust has robust governance systems in place within the trust. Leaders at all levels have a clear picture of what the school is doing well and how it can improve.

Some pupils do not attend school as well as they need to. The school has recently made improvements to its systems for identifying and supporting pupils and families where attendance is low. The impact of this work is beginning to be seen.

A culture of high attendance is beginning to develop in school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The information that teachers get when they check pupils' learning in lessons is sometimes not used as well as it could be to support all pupils' learning.

This means that some opportunities are missed to take pupils' learning further or to identify and address misconceptions. The school should ensure that teachers use the assessment information they get in lessons from pupils to adapt tasks or activities for pupils to be as successful as possible in the curriculum.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2019.