Dacre Braithwaite Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Dacre Braithwaite Church of England Primary is a warm and welcoming haven set in the Yorkshire Dales. It is a friendly, caring school. Pupils enjoy being part of the Dacre Braithwaite 'family'.

They say they are proud to attend here.

The school's Christian ethos underpins school life. Pupils are taught to show respect and kindness to others in all that they do.

They behave well, both in lessons and during social times of the school day. Pupils feel safe. If they have any worries, or concerns, they are confident that adults will listen and help them.

Responsibility is taken seriously here. Older pupils value the roles they can apply for. They are prou...d to be part of the school council or eco-team.

They enjoy the wide range of extra-curricular clubs they can attend.

The school is ambitious for pupils' achievement. It recognises strengths in some areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics, and knows some other subjects need further development.

The school is determined to support pupils to develop a love of learning. Pupils enjoy talking about their learning experiences. Overall, pupils achieve well and are well prepared for secondary school.

Leaders seek to broaden pupils' horizons and develop pupils' understanding of the wider world. Pupils value the opportunities they are given to learn about diversity and difference. They talk with enthusiasm about visits to different places of worship and trips to cities, such as Leeds and London.

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

Since joining Leeds Diocesan Learning Trust, the school has started to improve the curriculum. Leaders, at all levels, have ensured that there is a broad and balanced curriculum in place. This is planned to include learning about the local area and successfully build on pupils' interests.

The school is ambitious to ensure that learning is interesting, engaging and challenging. Their efforts are paying off and pupils engage well with learning.

New approaches to the way early reading and mathematics are taught are supporting all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn well.

The school recognises the challenges of mixed-age-group teaching. It uses flexible groupings to good effect to ensure that all pupils can make progress. In mathematics, pupils are provided with good opportunities to practise and revisit what they have learned, though approaches such as 'flashback five'.

Pupils benefit from recalling five previously learned facts at the start of each lesson.

In the wider curriculum, there are a small number of subjects, such as design and technology and history, which are at an earlier stage of development. In these subjects, learning does not build progressively from the early years.

Key knowledge and vocabulary that pupils are to learn have not yet been identified. This means, in some subjects, teachers are not able to effectively plan learning that builds over time and check if pupils are remembering learning.

The school identifies the needs of pupils with SEND accurately.

Support plans are swiftly created to support pupils to make progress. However, some of the targets on these plans are not always focused enough. Where this is the case, staff are not clear in how they can best support these pupils.

This results in a few pupils losing focus and not learning as well as they could.

Reading is given high priority in Dacre Braithwaite School. Recent changes to the way phonics is taught are well embedded.

Staff are well trained. They use resources consistently. This helps pupils to learn new sounds quickly.

Staff and pupils talk about phonics with confidence. Any pupils who are finding reading difficult are quickly spotted and given daily support to catch up. In key stage 2, pupils have extended opportunities to read class novels in daily guided reading sessions.

These are aimed at supporting pupils to develop a love of reading. Teachers want pupils to read widely and chose challenging texts for these sessions. However, leaders are aware that teachers need more support to ensure that lessons are planned to ensure that all pupils make effective progress with reading.

Children in the early years start school in a mixed-age class with Year 1 pupils. Staff are kind and attentive to all children's needs. They provide care and guidance to ensure children settle into school quickly.

However, the early years curriculum is still being developed and lacks clarity about how learning is organised. As a result, the activities that staff plan for children sometimes lack purpose, or do not provide sufficient challenge. Staff do not have enough guidance to extend children's knowledge and vocabulary across the curriculum.

This means that children in this class do not acquire the knowledge and skills they need to be well prepared for the next stage of learning.

The school has thought carefully about pupils' wider personal development. It ensures that important learning about areas such as equality, relationships, online safety, and British values are taught regularly.

Pupils show maturity as they discuss their learning. Pupils enjoy the range of opportunities they are given to develop their talents and interests. They take on responsibilities such as choosing charities for the school to support, eco-team roles, or being part of the sports crew at playtimes.

The wide range of clubs which the school offers are well attended.

Members of the trust have worked with the diocese, and local academy council, to support the school to identify where improvement is needed. Through visits to the school, improvements are monitored and reviewed.

However, leaders are not always clear about where further support is needed in the classroom to ensure the curriculum is implemented as leaders intend. Further support from all stakeholders is required to ensure that improvement continues in the future.

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 small number of subjects, the school has not identified the important knowledge it intends for pupils to know and remember from the early years to Year 6. This means teachers are not clear enough about how to plan small steps in learning to help all pupils, including those with SEND, to build knowledge over time. The school should ensure that the curriculum identifies the important knowledge it wants pupils to remember to support pupils to learn successfully in all subjects.

• The school does not monitor how the curriculum is enacted in the classroom closely enough. Therefore, it is not aware that some of the activities and approaches that teachers choose to support learning are not effective and pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that it monitors how the intended curriculum is being presented in the classroom.

• The school has not yet identified the knowledge that children must know and remember in the early years curriculum. Children are not as well prepared for the next stage in their education as they might be. The school should identify the important learning for all children at this stage to ensure that they can learn successfully and be prepared for subsequent year groups.