Settrington All Saints’ Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Settrington All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Settrington All Saints' Church of England Primary is a small school with a big heart.

Kindness, care and happiness are evident throughout the school. Pupils are confident, happy, and proud to be part of the school family. They treat each other and all adults with respect and courtesy.

Families value the school. One parent accurately described it as a 'sanctuary of kindness, consideration and inclusivity.'

Pupils enjoy learning here.

They listen to teachers and behave well in lessons. Behaviour in the playgrou...nd can, at times, be boisterous. However, pupils are safe here.

They are clear about what behaviour is acceptable and what is not. They follow the rules well. Adults listen and support pupils to solve any disputes using the school's nurturing approach.

Pupils say there is no bullying in the school.

The school's personal development curriculum is used effectively to broaden pupils' understanding of the world beyond the school gates. Visits to cities in the United Kingdom, and abroad, are used effectively to help pupils understand different lives and cultures.

Pupils are encouraged to become 'courageous advocates' and speak up about things that are important to them. Through this work, pupils organise community events such as the harvest festival. The school's Christian values are reflected in the attitudes of the pupils.

They use them to become responsible, respectful and active citizens.

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

Pupils experience a broad and balanced curriculum offer. The school takes care to ensure that pupils in the mixed-aged classes access learning at an age-appropriate level.

In recent years, much has been done to improve the curriculum in all subjects. Curriculum overviews have been put in place to ensure teachers know how learning will build over time and what overarching topics will be taught, each term, in all classes.Improvements to the curriculum for mathematics can be seen.

The school has made important decisions about how this subject is taught from the early years and built on across the school. Pupils are taught mathematics in single year groups to ensure that they can access the learning and achieve success. The school engages the support of external experts to help them refine and improve the mathematics offer.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are carefully assessed, and bespoke learning programmes are put in place to support them to achieve. This is carefully planned to help these pupils move back onto the mainstream curriculum when they are ready.

However, in some subjects, there is still more to do to ensure learning builds well from the earliest years in school through to the end of Year 6.

The precise knowledge that the school wants pupils to know and remember is not clearly established in the school's curriculum. This development is important as, at times, ambition for pupils' learning is set at an achievable, rather than an aspirational, level. This means that, over time, some pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.

Pupils have not benefitted from a systematic approach to the teaching of reading in the past. Some pupils are still not secure readers because of this. Therefore, reading is now prioritised from the early years onwards.

All pupils read, in class or individually, every day. The school has carefully chosen ambitious texts for pupils to explore and analyse. An example of this can be seen in the choice of the Shakespearean text, Romeo and Juliet, for pupils in Years 3 and 4 to study.

This learning is built on in the subsequent years as the pupils studied Anthony and Cleopatra. These texts help pupils to understand how oral and written language can be used for effect.

In Reception, children are introduced to phonics from the first week in school.

This programme continues into key stage 1. The school's chosen phonics programme is followed rigidly. At times, this means that some pupils are repeating learning that is already secure and others find learning too difficult.

While staff are experienced and skilful with using the programme, they do not always adapt learning quickly enough to meet pupils' needs. Pupils who are finding reading difficult, including those with SEND, are given extra support to catch up. However, this is not planned consistently across all classes.

Governors are involved, committed and knowledgeable. They are confident to make strategic decisions to benefit the pupils in the school. They show determination to work with leaders, at all levels, to improve the school further.

Parents are supportive of the school. They value the wraparound care and after-school activities that their children can access. Many describe the school as 'fantastic', 'caring' and supportive'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) ? Some pupils do not secure early reading skills quickly enough. As a result, they are not as ready for the next stages of learning to read as they should be.

The school should ensure that the phonics programme is adapted to meet the needs of all pupils and any pupils who find reading challenging receive swift support. ? The school's curriculum, in some subjects, does not contain the precise knowledge that pupils should learn. This means that expected learning is not clear.

The school needs to refine the curriculum further from early years to Year 6 and include the precise knowledge to be taught in each subject and year group. The school must ensure that staff plan learning which meets the varying needs of all pupils and supports them to build their knowledge progressively over time in all subjects.

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.