Tintwistle CofE (Aided) Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Tintwistle C of E (Aided) Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Tintwistle C of E Primary School sits at the heart of its community. Pupils enjoy attending this friendly, caring school.

Staff and pupils welcome visitors and treat each other with respect and kindness. Pupils certainly 'learn and grow together, surrounded by encouragement and love'. There are warm and supportive relationships between staff and pupils.

This helps pupils to feel safe.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school.

They strive to earn 'gold cards' for trying t...heir best. Pupils say that bullying is rare, but if it happens, staff are quick to deal with it. Pupils enjoy the opportunities to be active during breaktime and lunchtime.

They engage in games that develop their teamwork skills.

Pupils appreciate the wide range of activities that leaders provide after school. They can develop their talents in cheerleading and sing in the school choir.

Pupils are proud of the many trophies that they have achieved in competitions.

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school. One parent, with comments that were typical of many, said, 'The school really values all the children who attend there.

There is a strong sense of community.'

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

Leaders have made improvements to the curriculum. Pupils learn from an exciting and ambitious curriculum that covers a broad range of subjects.

All pupils learn this curriculum from the early years to Year 6. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have identified the essential knowledge that they want pupils to learn by the time they leave the school.

This key knowledge has been broken down into smaller steps that pupils learn in a logical order. In a small number of subjects, this knowledge is not as precise, including in the early years. Some subject leaders have only recently developed their subject leadership roles.

They have not made checks on whether the curriculum is delivered as intended.

Leaders have made reading a top priority. Right from the start, children in the early years begin to learn to read.

They build up their knowledge of letters and sounds quickly. Phonics is taught well so that children in the early stages of learning to read become fluent and confident readers. Support is in place to ensure that pupils soon catch up if they fall behind.

Leaders make sure that pupils experience a wide range of texts that link to the topics they are learning. Teachers share their love of stories. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about the stories to which they have listened.

They can name their favourite authors and the books that they are currently reading in school. Pupils love to take home a story sack so that they can share a book and a hot chocolate with their parents.

Teachers know how to make learning engaging for pupils.

They provide a 'learning hook' to capture pupils' interests. This helps pupils to enjoy their lessons and stay focused. Pupils do not disturb each other in lessons.

Their positive attitudes contribute well to their learning. Staff are fair and consistent in the way that they manage behaviour. Pupils value earning marbles for a class treat.

Staff make regular checks in lessons to make sure that pupils' understanding is secure. They provide extra help if pupils find anything difficult. Pupils have opportunities to revisit earlier learning, so that they do not forget it over time.

Staff work together to make any necessary adjustments for pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND access the curriculum with their classmates. Leaders work well with a range of professionals.

This ensures that pupils receive expert support if it is needed. Pupils with SEND achieve well.

The pastoral support offered to pupils is a strength of the school.

Leaders know pupils well. Pupils can access nurture support which helps them to deal with their emotions. Pupils value the time that they can spend talking to adults about their feelings.

Throughout the curriculum, leaders have identified opportunities to promote pupils' broader development. In outdoor learning activities, pupils build their resilience and knowledge of the natural world. Pupils relish the opportunities to develop their leadership roles as part of the school council.

The council play an active part in looking after the school environment. They help to make decisions on how to improve the school.

Staff are proud to work at the school.

They appreciate the consideration leaders give to manage their workload and well-being. Governors share leaders' determination for all to succeed.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have established a culture of vigilance. Regular training ensures that all staff know how to identify and report any concerns about a pupil. Record-keeping is thorough and well organised.

Staff work well with other agencies to support pupils and families when necessary. Systems for checking that staff are suitable to work with children are effective. Governors make regular checks to ensure that safeguarding records are robust.

Through the curriculum, pupils learn how to keep themselves safe when they use the internet. Pupils know who to speak to if they encounter anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subject leaders are still developing some aspects of their leadership roles, particularly how well the curriculum is being implemented, including in the early years.

As a result, they are not yet identifying precisely what is going well and what actions are needed to improve the delivery of the curriculum further. Senior leaders should provide subject leaders with support and training to improve their skills in monitoring the implementation of the curriculum so they can identify how it could be 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2013.