Scarborough, Overdale Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Scarborough, Overdale Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Overdale embody the school's values of respect, responsibility and resilience.

They understand these values and are proud to uphold them. Pupils are confident, happy, polite and safe. They welcome visitors to school with big smiles.

Pupils and staff are glad to be part of the school family. The new two-year-old provision is attended by happy children who are cared for well. Parents and carers have positive attitudes towards the school, describing the staff as 'passionate and dedicated' and saying that they 'always go the extra mile'.

The s...chool offers highly effective pastoral support. Buddy, the school's therapy dog, contributes to this support well. Pupils know who to speak to if they have any concerns.

A new senior leadership team, appointed in September 2023, has quickly established high ambitions and high expectations for pupils' behaviour and achievement. The school is taking appropriate action to address the recent and disappointing academic outcomes. Leaders have put a rich and varied curriculum in place.

Pupils enjoy this curriculum. They talk with confidence about their learning.

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

Children in early years benefit from an explicit focus on communication and language.

Well-trained adults immerse children in stories, songs and rhymes. This prepares them well for phonics teaching in Reception. Children in early years develop respect and resilience through high-quality interactions with adults and a well-planned curriculum which responds to their emerging needs.

Skilled adults deliver the phonics programme in early years and key stage 1 with consistency. Adaptations to the curriculum enable all pupils to access the planned learning. This includes those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school puts additional support in place for those pupils who need it. However, the school's assessment procedures do not measure some pupils' ability closely enough. This means that some pupils read books that are not sufficiently well matched to their phonics knowledge.

Some struggle to develop confidence and fluency as a result. Pupils have positive attitudes towards reading. They often listen to adults reading high-quality texts.

Staff guide pupils to develop their own positive habits in reading for pleasure. Published outcomes for 2023 do not reflect the overall quality of the school's approach to phonics and reading currently.

Leaders have developed the curriculums across all subjects.

These curriculums are well planned and well sequenced. This allows pupils to build a secure base of knowledge. These curriculums have demonstrable and positive impact.

In history, for example, pupils in a range of year groups discuss their recent learning with deep understanding. In Year 1, pupils understand why the Great Fire of London spread so quickly. They know the factors that halted the spread.

In Year 3, pupils speak eloquently about the Tudors, knowing why Henry VIII formed the Church of England and the impact this had on the country. Effective use of assessment allows leaders to tailor the curriculums to pupils' emerging needs well.

Pupils' attendance is above the national average.

The school understands the reasons why some pupils are persistently absent. It is taking effective action to reduce persistent absenteeism further. Leaders check on pupils' behaviour closely.

Poor behaviour is addressed effectively. Leaders support well-trained staff to address pupils' challenging behaviour well. Overall, pupils' attitudes to learning are positive.

The school's work around pupils' wider development has a positive impact. A wide range of clubs are provided. Participation rates are high.

There is an effective support system in place for pupils' well-being, including the provision of a nurture club. The school's provision for pupils' social, emotional and mental health is comprehensive. The school organises a range of educational visits for pupils.

These help pupils put their learning into context. Pupils develop a sense of equality, tolerance and respect through the teaching of the school's wider curriculum. They develop an age-appropriate understanding of different faiths and cultures.

One pupil summed up the views of many by saying, 'It's 100% important to treat people the same.'

Governors in the school fulfil their legal obligations with commitment and dedication. They ask for and receive detailed information about the school.

This information allows them to offer strategic support and challenge where appropriate.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's assessment in phonics, for some pupils, is not sufficiently accurate.

These pupils struggle to read with accuracy and fluency. The school must ensure that the books that early readers are given match the sounds they have learned. ? Pupils did not achieve well at the end of key stages 1 and 2 in 2023.

They were not prepared sufficiently well for their next stage of education. The school must ensure that the recent improvement to teaching and learning in core subjects is developed further.

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 December 2018.