Sledmere Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Sledmere Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders in this small school have high aspirations for what pupils can achieve at school and in the future.

Pupils talk about feeling cared for and feeling safe. Pupils at the school understand its strong Christian values. They live out these values every day.

For example, when talking about forgiveness, one pupil said, 'Forgiveness is about accepting that people make mistakes and moving on.' Staff build highly positive relationships with pupils. Pupils listen well and work with enthusiasm in lessons.

Pupils are supportive and respec...tful of each other. They show care and compassion towards others in lessons and at social times. Pupils speak confidently about their trust in adults in school to help them if they have worries or concerns.

Leaders promote the importance of high attendance. They ensure that support is put in place when attendance is lower than it should be. Leaders work with families to ensure that pupils whose attendance is low improves.

As a result, pupils attend well and benefit from the curriculum on offer at the school. The curriculum that pupils are taught is ambitious and carefully constructed to give pupils the best chance of deepening their learning over time.

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

Pupils access a curriculum that has been carefully designed by leaders.

Pupils have opportunities to re-visit what they have been taught before and build on their prior knowledge. For example, the mathematics curriculum supports pupils to re-visit important number facts that help with their wider mathematical understanding. Pupils have opportunities to acquire subject-specific vocabulary.

They use this vocabulary with confidence. For example, pupils speak enthusiastically about their learning in design and technology and how they use different types of materials for different purposes. Leaders ensure that children in the early years benefit from a well-designed curriculum.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the same curriculum as their peers. Staff quickly identify pupils with SEND. This identification of pupils who need support begins in the early years.

Teachers use assessment to identify which parts of the curriculum pupils have, and have not, understood. However, the support that some pupils then receive to help them fill gaps in learning is not as effective as it could be. Some pupils are not learning the intended curriculum as well as they might.

Teaching pupils to read is given the highest priority. The phonics curriculum is well understood and taught. Phonics teaching begins as soon as children enter Reception.

Leaders ensure that staff receive regular training to teach reading. Pupils benefit from having frequent opportunities to read books that are closely matched to sounds they know. When pupils need help with reading, this is swiftly put in place and they catch-up quickly to their peers.

Pupils talk with confidence about the importance of reading and how they enjoy regular storytimes. Pupils enjoy taking roles such as class librarians and contributing to a strong culture of reading.

Pupils benefit from a broad range of experiences beyond the classrooms.

Leaders have thought carefully about educational visits and visitors that enhance and enrich pupils' learning. For example, pupils speak about their upcoming visit to the Jorvik Centre and how it linked to their learning about Vikings. Pupils benefit from opportunities to support a range of charities.

These opportunities develop their understanding of the importance of contributing to society and making a difference. Inspectors, on several occasions, saw older pupils role modelling care and kindness to younger pupils. Pupils understand wider world issues beyond the small village in which they attend school.

Pupils develop a clear understanding of fundamental British values and what these mean for them in the wider world.

Governors undertake their roles well. They are aware of their duties around safeguarding.

Governors are proactive in ensuring there is a rounded skill set within the governing body. Governors ensure that the workload and well-being of staff is considered. Staff feel well supported by leaders.

Parents speak positively about the work of the school and its leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some parts of the curriculum, the school does not carefully evaluate the impact of the support that it has put in place to help pupils fill gaps in their knowledge.

As a result, the school is not clear on the impact of this support and whether it is making a difference. The school should ensure that there is frequent evaluation of the support pupils receive and the impact it is having.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 12–13 March 2019.