Selby Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Selby Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 29 March 2017, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2011.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The previous inspection report asked you to make sure there are opportunities in the curriculum for pupils to use and extend their numeracy skills.

It also asked you to raise the confidence of older pupils so that they become more in...dependent. Finally, you were asked to refine action plans so that there are measurable milestones in place. At the time of the last inspection, attainment was high at the end of key stage 1 but remained low in key stage 2, resulting in low standards by the time pupils left in Year 6.

Attainment at key stage 2 has risen, particularly in writing and mathematics. In the case of mathematics, while there has been improvement, you agree that work still has to be done to ensure that pupils have secure skills to use different techniques to solve problems mathematically. School development plans are clear in how the school is improving this important aspect of mathematics.

You have ensured that there are now opportunities across the curriculum for pupils to use and apply their mathematics skills, for example in science. The pupils I spoke to in Year 6 enthusiastically explained to me the opportunities they have to be independent, confident and resilient learners. For example, 'working walls' are used so pupils can find information themselves without having to ask the teacher for help.

The work you have done on teaching philosophy to pupils is widening pupils' understanding about issues such as team working, perseverance and self-esteem. Since the last inspection, you have simplified and shortened the development plan so each member of your senior team has equal responsibility for its success. The milestones in the plan are now measurable, which enables your leadership team and governors to check the impact of actions thoroughly.

Pupils clearly enjoy school. 'I love going to school in the morning,' one pupil told me. In class, I was impressed by pupils' attitudes to their learning and teachers' love and enthusiasm for their subject, particularly literature.

Pupils' conduct as they made their way around the school at lunchtimes and breaktimes was good. My visits to the early years classes showed me that your new provision for two-year-olds is enabling children to settle quickly into routines. Consequently, children learn the essential social and behavioural skills which enable them to thrive in later years.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and of high quality. There were, however, some omissions to your systems for vetting new staff.

These were promptly rectified by the end of the inspection day. The records I saw showed me that all staff have a responsibility to report any concerns they may have and so there is a strong culture of safeguarding among all staff. The school works well with a range of external agencies in the protection of pupils.

Training is frequent and a regular weekly briefing on specific safeguarding cases ensures that all adults remain vigilant. However, there are gaps in staff's understanding of how to report any instances of female genital mutilation and how to recognise the signs and symptoms of child sexual exploitation. This is because : policies are unclear on these issues.

The pupils I spoke to had a particularly good understanding of how to stay safe online, and were able to explain to me in detail how to report any concerns they might have. Pupils are happy in the school and confident that any bullying that might happen is 'dealt with straightaway and quickly' as one pupil told me. Parents who responded to Ofsted's online questionnaire (Parent View) expressed few concerns about bullying or behaviour.

Inspection findings ? I was curious to find out why the outcomes of the 2016 tests in Year 6 showed that pupils' progress in reading was weak. I found this was largely because some pupils did not finish the reading test or had left those questions carrying high marks unanswered. You have taken action to make sure this does not happen again.

• My visits to classrooms showed that pupils engage well with literature and develop a love of reading for pleasure. As one pupil put it, 'reading fires your imagination'. Much has been done to make sure reading has a high profile.

Professional authors visit to inspire pupils. Reading corners in each classroom provide a comfortable area for pupils to lose themselves in books. Pupils participate in the Selby reading festival.

Pupils make good progress over time. This was clear in one lesson, where pupils discussed themes within John Boyne's 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. ? The 2016 test results showed that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities made less progress in their writing than other subjects.

I saw in lessons how your new approach to teaching writing, which now is closely linked to phonics, is enabling pupils to write confidently as soon as they join the school. Pupils' books showed that they are able to use a range of punctuation and different varieties of sentence structures. However, we agreed that the teaching of spelling could be better for all pupils so that they do not make repeated errors.

You have taken recent action to improve this. ? I was interested to find out if your early years provision continued to be of high quality and whether sufficient proportions of children not only met, but exceeded national expectations at the end of Reception. In 2016, fewer children exceeded the early learning goal in writing than they did in reading and numbers.

Children now have more opportunities to extend their vocabulary through talking. This, combined with daily writing as part of phonics, is improving writing in the early years. In the lessons I visited, children were confidently writing sentences using their knowledge of phonics; their handwriting was impressive for their age.

• Your improvement plans are clear in outlining how you will raise standards further in mathematics by helping pupils to use different techniques to solve problems. Some early impact of these plans is apparent in pupils' recently improved test results in mathematics. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? safeguarding policies and training are clear on how staff should report female genital mutilation and recognise the signs and symptoms of child sexual exploitation ? pupils' skills in mathematics continue to improve so that they can confidently use different techniques to solve problems ? the teaching of spelling improves so that pupils do not make repeated errors.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for North Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Robert Jones Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and your senior team, three members of the governing body, including the chair, and a representative from the local authority.

I spoke to six pupils from Year 6 over lunchtime and listened to two Year 3 pupils read. While in classrooms, I observed teaching and learning, spoke to pupils and looked through the work in their books. I considered a range of documentation, including the 32 responses to Parent View, the school development plan, the summary of self-evaluation and safeguarding documents.