Long Preston Endowed Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Long Preston Endowed Voluntary Aided Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Long Preston is a small, rural school. The pupils and staff make up a close and caring community. Pupils are kind to each other and younger pupils say that older pupils look out for them.

Parents and pupils describe the school as having a 'family feel'. Parents also spoke positively about the school's communication.

Leaders and teachers emphasise the importance of kindness.

Pupils place a high value on being kind and the school celebrates acts of kindness. Bullying is rare and if it occurs, it is dealt with very effectively. Pupils trust staff ...to deal with any issues they have.

Parents told us that the school is very quick to deal with any issues.

Pupils enjoy learning and behave very well in lessons and around the school. Teachers have high expectations of all pupils.

Pupils are taught in mixed-age classes. Teachers ensure that all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are supported and achieve well. This is an inclusive school where all pupils feel part of the community.

Pupils enjoy the outdoor space at the school. They particularly like the recent improvements to outside play equipment and new opportunities to learn outdoors.

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

Curriculum plans in all subjects are ambitious.

They build up pupils' knowledge and skills from the early years and look forward to what pupils need to know and be able to do ready for the next stage of their education.

Leaders have prioritised improving the quality of education in early reading and mathematics. In these subjects, curriculum plans are very clear about what pupils need to know and be able to do at each stage of their learning.

Teachers focus carefully on securing this knowledge for all pupils. They check whether pupils have learned what they need to and address any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge quickly. This ensures that all pupils achieve well.

Pupils who are at the early stages of learning to read, or who have fallen behind, quickly gain the knowledge and skills they need to become fluent readers.

In some subjects, such as history and geography, plans are less clear about what pupils need to know and be able to do. As a result, teachers do not focus their teaching and assessment as precisely on the most important knowledge and skills which pupils need.

Leaders have begun to develop curriculum plans in these areas.

Leaders provide regular training and high-quality resources to support teachers, including training in how to teach specific subjects. Teachers value this support and feel confident teaching across the range of subjects.

Leaders have focused on pupils securing their knowledge in the long term. Teachers regularly revisit knowledge and skills, and this helps pupils to remember what they have learned.

Staff know how to support pupils with SEND in their classes.

They understand the support individual pupils need in order to achieve well. They ensure that these pupils are fully included in lessons, at social times and in other activities.

Pupils take part in a wide range of activities, such as after-school clubs in art and multisports.

Educational visits include attending an outdoor education centre and a trip to a local abbey. Pupils enjoy these opportunities and are very positive about how these have helped them to learn. Pupils are also closely involved in the life of the school.

There is an active school council and pupils are very proud to take part in this. Some pupils also help to plan collective worship.

The school has focused on helping pupils to understand the wider world.

Pupils enjoy learning about other places and connecting with pupils in other countries. The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum is carefully planned to broaden pupils' knowledge and to support them to be safe.

Teachers are proud to work at this school.

They feel that the school has improved since the last inspection. Leaders have managed a period of change to the curriculum structure well. They ensure that staff workload is manageable, and they prioritise staff well-being.

Relationships between staff are positive and supportive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding where every member of staff takes responsibility for keeping pupils safe.

Staff know how to identify pupils who might be at risk. Leaders act quickly and effectively if they have a concern, working with external agencies when appropriate.

Leaders ensure that pupils know about safeguarding risks.

Pupils are confident about how to keep themselves safe and what to do if they feel uncomfortable or unsafe. They are confident that staff would help them if they had a concern.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, curriculum plans do not identify precisely what pupils need to know and be able to do at each stage of their learning.

As a result, teachers do not always focus teaching and assessment on what it is most important for pupils to learn. Leaders should ensure that curriculum plans in all subjects clearly identify what pupils need to know and be able to do.

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

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2012.