St George’s Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a warm and welcoming school. Leaders have ensured that all pupils feel valued, happy and safe.

Pupils accept that everybody is different. Everyone gets along with each other very well. Pupils respect that their friends may have different family situations, beliefs and routines to themselves.

Pupils have a very good understanding of things such as racism. They know how harmful it can be.

Pupils learn in a calm environment.

They enjoy coming to school and are very positive about their learning. Leaders and staff expect pupils to have the highest standards of behaviour. Pupils rise to these expectations and behave well.

Pupils do say th...at bullying can sometimes happen. However, adults are very good at dealing with any issues when they arise.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported.

Parents of pupils with SEND commented to inspectors on how happy and successful their children are at St George's.

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

Leaders have made sure that all pupils leave school ready for the next stage of their education. They make sure that pupils have opportunities to learn how to become good citizens with strong values.

Pupils with SEND do well. Staff identify the needs of these pupils extremely well.

Leaders place great importance on promoting pupils' personal development.

For example, pupils can go on residential trips, take part in theatre performances and compete in sporting events.

Pupils love to read. They talk enthusiastically about what they are reading and how they receive several books throughout the year as rewards for their hard work.

School leaders have made sure that pupils read a range of texts every day and that adults read aloud to pupils every day. By the time they leave the school, most pupils are fluent and confident readers.

Pupils are taught to read through a structured phonics programme.

Some teachers in the early years are not well trained in teaching phonics. This means that younger children are sometimes asked to read words that include sounds that they have not learned. This causes them unnecessary difficulty.

Some switch off because they see reading as too hard.

Pupils' learning in physical education (PE) is strong. They speak confidently about what they have learned to do, how they are practising skills so that they can improve and how teachers guide them to improve further.

Teachers plan lessons, from early years to Year 6, so that pupils build on what they have learned before. They also revisit their learning regularly so that they remember what they have been taught.Children in the early years learn to play and communicate with other children quickly.

Adults set a good example which children follow. Adults encourage children to become independent by encouraging them to go to the toilet independently and put on their own coats. Staff do not plan children's learning in phonics and mathematics with the same attention to detail.

Children do not get enough opportunities to practise their reading and mathematics regularly.

A very small number of parents expressed concern about how behaviour is managed. Inspectors found adults manage pupils' behaviour well.

They use a range of different techniques to help resolve any issues or worries pupils may have.

The governing body and the Yorkshire and Humber Co-Operative Learning Trust (YHCLT) support the school well. YHCLT ensures that staff receive regular training, including working with other schools in the trust to develop a strong curriculum.

Leaders are very aware that curriculum planning for some subjects does not support pupils' learning strongly enough. The YHCLT are already working on areas of the curriculum that need urgent development. Where YHCLT have been closely involved in developing the curriculum, for example in PE, mathematics and English, pupils learn well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that all appropriate checks are made on staff so that they are suitable to work with children. The trust supports the school to ensure that recruitment procedures are thorough.

Staff are confident that if they have any concerns about a pupil or their family, they are taken seriously. The records that are kept are detailed. Governors have a clear responsibility for safeguarding and pupil and staff well-being.

They employ a member of staff who deals with pupils' emotional well-being. This person is known by all the pupils as someone who is there to help them whenever they are worried.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Teachers follow a structured and sequential programme that teaches pupils to become fluent and confident readers.

Most adults follow this programme well so that learning builds step by step and takes account of what pupils have learned before. However, some teachers in early years are expecting children to know words and sounds that they have not been taught. Leaders need to ensure that all adults are well trained in the teaching of phonics to help these younger children make even faster progress.

The trust is not complacent. They have plans in place to work with an English hub school to improve the teaching of reading further. .

Children in the early years learn phonics and basic mathematics through adult-led learning sessions. Leaders need to make sure that there are more daily opportunities for children to practise and reinforce what they have learned in these directed sessions so that fundamental skills in reading and numbers are secure. .

Pupils study a broad curriculum. However, aspects of this curriculum are planned spontaneously around pupils' interests. This means that for some of the foundation subjects, for example history, geography and religious education, learning is not planned sequentially to develop pupils' knowledge and skills securely.

New learning does not link or build on previous learning. Pupils are not easily recalling what they have learned as too often it is covered within a lesson and then forgotten. School leaders need to ensure that the whole curriculum is more carefully planned to improve what pupils learn and remember in the long term.