Todwick Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and happy at Todwick Primary School.

They build positive relationships with each other and show enthusiasm for learning.Leaders have created a culture where pupils respect the simple and clear expectations for behaviour. In lessons, pupils are attentive, focused and enthusiastic.

They enjoy learning and show respect for their teachers and for one another. Leaders have ensured that pupils have a clear understanding of what bullying is and what it is not. Pupils talk articulately about how they recognise bullying by the acronym 'STOP' (several times on purpose).

This phrase is understood by pupils across school. Leaders deal quickly with the sm...all number of bullying incidents that do happen.Leaders prioritise pupils' personal development.

They ensure that the newly introduced school values of kindness, honesty, resilience and respect are well understood by pupils. The positive relationships formed between pupils and staff are based on these values. Pupils feel confident to share any worries with adults in school, or they put them into the 'worry boxes' in class.

They say that their concerns will be dealt with quickly.Leaders recognise the importance of showing pupils the diversity of the world. Teachers use a range of enrichment activities and purposeful book choices to promote pupils' understanding of other faiths and cultures.

Pupils talk with enthusiasm about what they learned through visits to mosques or the Houses of Parliament.

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

Since taking up post in September 2022, the new leadership team has made improvements to the curriculum. Leaders are ambitious for pupils' learning.

They have given careful thought to the content that has been included for each subject and how it will be organised to support learning. Across the curriculum, there is a focus on pupils acquiring and using high-quality and subject-specific vocabulary.In subjects such as geography and history, the important detail of what pupils will learn is clearly identified and builds progressively from the early years to Year 6.

This helps pupils remember what they have learned and build on it in subsequent lessons. Leaders recognise there is more to do in a small number of subjects to ensure that links between learning are clearly understood. An example of this could be seen in art, where pupils study a wide range of artists, such as Banksy and Andy Goldsworthy.

They talk with great confidence about how the work these artists produce makes them feel. However, there is more to do to identify how pupils can use the knowledge they gain from studying these artists in their own work.Subject leaders are knowledgeable about the curriculum.

They have regular opportunities to check on how well their subjects are being taught across school.Subject leaders work closely with staff in the early years to check how children's experiences prepare them for their learning in Year 1 and beyond. Leaders check on how pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are learning in their subjects.

They ensure that any support or refinements are in place to assist them.There is a clear love of reading in the school. Leaders have introduced a list of books for pupils in each year group that pupils read and have read to them.

These books have been chosen carefully to promote positive relationships and broader understanding of our diverse world. Reading areas are inviting and well used by pupils.Leaders have ensured that the phonics curriculum is carefully sequenced and begins as soon as children enter Reception.

In phonics lessons, pupils have opportunities to revise sounds they have previously been taught. Staff receive regular training about teaching early reading. The books that pupils read are matched to the sounds they know.

Pupils who need help with reading are quickly identified and supported. However, in a small number of phonics lessons and some catch-up sessions, strategies to help pupils read fluently are not always used consistently. This means that some pupils who need help with their reading are not catching up quickly enough.

Children in the early years benefit from a well-planned, ambitious curriculum that helps them to build the foundations for future learning in Year 1. Teachers plan activities, both inside and outside of the classroom, that give children opportunities to be independent. For example, they use maps they have drawn of the school grounds to explore the environment and use watercolour paints to recreate Monet's 'Waterlilies'.

Staff are kind and caring. They talk to pupils in ways that help pupils to explain their thoughts and learning.All pupils can access a broad range of extra-curricular clubs and activities.

They talk about cooking, dance, art and gardening clubs with enthusiasm. Pupils are proud to take on leadership roles, such as school councillors or play leaders. Leaders ensure that pupils learn about important issues, such as British values and discrimination, through the personal, health, social and economic education curriculum.

However, pupils do not always remember this learning. For example, some pupils struggle to link democracy with voting for a school councillor.Governors visit the school regularly.

However, they have not always ensured that they fully understand important safeguarding risks in the school. They are now working closely with the local authority to undertake further training. This is needed to ensure that they understand and fulfil their statutory duties and implement rigorous systems to challenge and support leaders with important issues such as safeguarding.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Pupils say that they feel safe in school. However, at the start of this inspection, leaders had not ensured that safeguarding procedures were robust enough to prevent pupils from being at potential risk of harm.

This has now been rectified. Leaders have introduced rigorous systems to safeguard pupils. They ensure that checks on staff suitability are implemented consistently.

The single central register, which records checks on adults' suitability to be in the school, is audited regularly. Leaders have introduced policies that outline the responsibilities and requirements for various roles within the school, such as volunteering to help in school.Staff receive regular safeguarding training.

This training keeps them alert and vigilant to potential safeguarding issues. New reporting systems have been introduced for staff to notify leaders about any concerns. With support from the local authority, leaders have introduced new systems to inform governors about any safeguarding issues that may occur in the school.

There is now a robust culture of safeguarding in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) ? The governing body does not have a sufficiently strong understanding of some of its statutory responsibilities. Governors do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding of their duty to challenge and support leaders within the school, especially in areas such as safeguarding.

As a result, some systems and processes have not been followed well enough, and this could have led to pupils being at risk of harm. While new systems have been introduced to ensure that pupils are safe, leaders must ensure that these systems are utilised consistently and effectively and that governors fully understood their role in ensuring they are used robustly. ? While leaders have introduced a structured approach to teaching pupils to read, this is not used consistently.

As a result, there are differences in the way that some elements of reading are modelled to pupils. This affects how quickly some pupils become fluent readers or catch up with their peers. Leaders should ensure that the school systems to support all pupils to become fluent readers are used consistently.

• In some subjects, leaders have not defined the important knowledge they want pupils to know. As a result, pupils do not always make links between their learning. Leaders should ensure that the most important knowledge pupils need to know and understand for each subject is clearly defined.

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