Edale CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Edale CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This school sits at the heart of the village and community it serves. Pupils enjoy attending this school. Staff know the pupils extremely well.

Staff check the well-being of pupils every day using either the 'colour monster' or the 'zones'. This helps to ensure that pupils feel safe and happy.

Pupils behave well.

They get on well with each other and staff. The three simple rules, 'be kind, listen well and show respect', are well understood by all. This creates an environment in which pupils can spend all their time learning.

The curriculum here excites pupils. ...They know they will learn something new every day. The school embeds its curriculum within the local context.

The aim is to develop pupils to be stewards of their environment. Pupils talk positively about the forest school. This teaches pupils about the environment, sustainability and managing risk.

Many parents are highly positive about what the school provides for pupils. They know that pupils are well looked after and cared for. One parent summed up the views of many when they said, 'The school is such a supportive and caring environment.

When children struggle, the school very quickly puts in measures to help. It is amazing.'

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

The school has constructed a curriculum that enables all pupils to study the breadth of subjects stipulated in the national curriculum.

The school has broken down the aims of what pupils need to know and remember, and it has logically ordered this in all subjects. This helps pupils build on what they have learned before.

Teachers have planned curriculum cycles for mixed-age classes so that common themes that all pupils study have different levels of progression.

In core subjects, such as reading, science and mathematics, this is highly effective, as the knowledge pupils know is precisely broken down for each year group. This enables pupils to gain a depth of understanding. In some foundation subjects, this is not yet the case.

As a result, older pupils in mixed-age classes sometimes do not develop a depth of understanding.

Teachers have very strong subject knowledge. They use resources effectively.

This supports pupils to learn well. Pupils talk confidently about the skeletal structure, which they have studied in science. They can link this to oral hygiene and the digestive system.

The curriculum is successfully adapted for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They receive the support they need to access the full curriculum. Pupils with SEND achieve and learn in line with their peers.

In many subjects, teachers use assessment well to check that pupils understand and also to spot and address misconceptions. However, assessment is not consistently used well in all subjects. This leaves some pupils with gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

The school prioritises reading. Children start to learn to read as soon as they start in the Reception Year. Teachers are early reading experts.

Pupils who are at risk of falling behind in the reading programme receive effective intervention. Pupils read books that are closely matched to their phonics knowledge.

Pupils develop a love for reading.

Whole-class reading books match closely to the curriculum. For example, pupils can link what they have read in books such as the 'Viking Boy' and 'Secrets of the Sun King' to what they have learned in history. The school provides pupils with opportunities to borrow books from the visiting book bus, and it plans visits to the local library.

Children in the early years receive a strong start. The learning environment and activities are well planned so that children develop across all areas of learning. They sing songs and familiar rhymes to develop language and communication skills.

Pupils learn about how to stay safe. There are visits from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the local fire service to teach them about some of the risks they could encounter. The curriculum teaches pupils to be inclusive and value difference.

The school council has invited members of the local community who speak a second language to share their stories. The school offers a range of clubs to pupils. One that many pupils participate in is tai chi club.

These clubs help pupils to develop talents and new interests.

Staff are highly positive and enjoy working at the school. They feel that their workload and well-being are well considered.

Governors play an active role in the school and fulfil their statutory duties.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) ? The curriculum in some foundation subjects does not identify precisely enough the knowledge that pupils in different year groups need to learn.

As a result, when these subjects are delivered in mixed-age classes, some pupils do not get the depth of understanding they should. The school must ensure that knowledge in these subjects is more precisely identified so that pupils can build a depth of understanding as they progress. ? In a few foundation subjects, assessment is not consistently used well enough.

As a result, gaps in the knowledge of some pupils are not well known and are not addressed. The school should ensure that more effective assessment is planned and used to check that pupils have remembered important aspects of 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 June 2018.