Yorkswood Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

At Yorkswood Primary School, pupils are happy and enjoy their learning. This shows in how calm, confident and engaged they are in class.

Pupils and their parents speak highly of the help and support staff provide. This included when remote learning was in place because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Pupils are proud of their new school building and said that it helps them to learn and stay safe.

Pupils are proud to be 'A.I.C.

E' (achieving, inclusive, committed and enjoying).

Pupils are safe and well cared for by a dedicated staff team. Pupils, including those in the early years, behave well and treat one another with kindness, respect and unders...tanding.

Bullying is rare, but adults deal with it quickly if it happens. Pupils know that adults will always help them with any problems. However, too many pupils do not come to school as often as they should and so miss learning.

In some subjects, the curriculum is well planned, but in other subjects this is not the case. As a result, pupils achieve well in some subjects, such as English and Science, but they achieve less well in others.

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

Curriculum leaders are ambitious for the curriculum at Yorkswood but are at an early stage of implementing it.

In some subjects, leaders have not yet secured the necessary order in which knowledge is taught. This results in children remembering less about their lessons than they should. In subjects where the order of learning is clear, pupils learn and remember more.

In these instances, pupils talk confidently about the knowledge and skills they have gained. For instance, the pupils in Year 6 were able to tell inspectors lots of information about their science topics.

In some mathematics lessons, teachers do not make the key knowledge clear enough to pupils, so they do not always know what they are learning.

Children get off to a good start in the early years at Yorkswood. Children are well cared for and supported. The curriculum is well ordered.

Teachers plan activities that prepare children well for Year 1.

The teaching of reading has a high priority across the school. Children learn phonics daily from the start of the early years.

The school has an embedded and consistent approach to teaching phonics. Teachers track which letter sounds children and pupils know and so know what to teach next. When pupils fall behind, staff provide extra support to help them catch up.

Teachers ensure that the books pupils read are well matched to the letter sounds pupils know. This means that pupils make a good start with reading. Pupils enjoy reading and listening to the books that teachers read to them.

Teachers provide high-quality books and encourage pupils to read often.Staff work hard to include and support all pupils in all learning. There is a high number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) at the school.

Staff provide them with lots of support. However, at times, the support that pupils get is not well matched to their needs. For example, staff are not using resources as well as they could to support pupils with SEND.

Pupils get the chance to attend sporting clubs and a range of school trips. They enjoy and appreciate these. Pupils make a positive contribution to the school by joining school councils or becoming sports leaders.

Pupils are confident that adults listen to their ideas and make changes because of them. Pupils treat one another with respect and understand the types of discrimination that can occur in society. They were keen to tell inspectors that everybody is important and welcome at their school.

However, at playtimes, pupils do not have enough to do and the playground does not offer shade or seating for them.

Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to their learning. Nevertheless, levels of absence are too high, and pupils are missing important chunks of learning.

Leaders and staff work hard to encourage pupils to attend school more often. This is working to some extent, but attendance still needs to improve further.

All staff are passionate about their school and want the best for all pupils.

Leaders have clear plans for improving the school and have already made lots of positive changes. However, they do not always check the impact of the changes they make well enough. This means they do not always know how successful the changes have been.

Governors support the school well and share the staff's passion for the pupils and the community.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Governors, leaders and staff take safeguarding seriously.

Leaders have made sure that effective systems are in place to safeguard pupils. Staff are trained regularly and know the procedures to follow if they have a concern about anyone in the school. Leaders follow up concerns rigorously and maintain effective records.

School staff work closely with external agencies when required.

Pupils learn how to stay safe online and when they are outside of school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe, and that school staff help to keep them safe.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Curriculum planning in some subjects, such as English, is structured well, but in other subjects, such as design and technology, it is at an early stage of development. This means the knowledge and skills that pupils acquire in some subjects is variable and limited. Leaders need to continue to develop the curriculum so that all subjects are well designed and sequenced.

• Leaders at all levels are not using the information they collect to evaluate the school curriculum well enough. This means they do not always know how well the curriculum is being delivered in different classes and in different subjects. Leaders are also unclear about how well pupils, including pupils with SEND or those who are disadvantaged, are remembering what they have been taught.

Leaders need to check how effectively the curriculum is being developed and implemented across the school and how well pupils are learning what has been taught. ? Despite the hard work of leaders and staff, levels of pupil absence and persistent absence remain too high. Some pupils miss too much learning and do not achieve as well as they should.

Leaders need to work with children and their families to develop and use a range of strategies to monitor and improve pupils' attendance. ? In some instances, support for pupils with SEND is variable. Not enough thought is given to matching the support to pupils' needs.

At times, some pupils do not get the support they need at the right time, or they get more support than is necessary at other times. Leaders need to evaluate the effectiveness of some interventions so they know what works well for pupils with SEND. This will enable leaders to deploy additional resources to pupils who need them at the right time and in the right way.

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