Goldthorpe Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at Goldthorpe Primary Academy.

They live up to the very high expectations that the school has for them. Pupils live and breathe the school's values of respect, kindness and courage. They enjoy coming to school.

Relationships between adults and pupils are strong and caring. Pupils are happy and feel safe.

Pupils behave well throughout the school.

They are calm, respectful and polite. In lessons, pupils are attentive to their teachers and engage positively with learning.

There is a wide range of extra-curricular clubs that help pupils to explore new skills and interests.

Pupils participate in sports clubs, such as rugby ...and football. There are also creative clubs for art, craft and writing. Leaders track attendance at these clubs.

Nearly half of all pupils attend. The school's ambition is that a greater proportion of disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), will access these opportunities.

Older pupils are deeply committed to the leadership roles they take on.

In these roles, they provide support for other pupils, for example, in the dinner hall and playground. They take their responsibilities very seriously. Pupils learn to be responsible citizens through half-termly curriculum pledges.

These pledges include opportunities for pupils to contribute to the community. For example, by collecting for food banks, picking up litter or engaging with a local care home.

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

The school is highly ambitious for all pupils, including those with SEND.

In many subjects, the carefully planned sequence of learning helps pupils to learn well. For example, in mathematics and history, lessons are well structured and sequenced to ensure that pupils re-visit previous learning. This helps them to remember important curriculum knowledge.

Children in the early years have plentiful opportunities to develop their mathematical knowledge. Teachers make regular checks on pupils' knowledge. They provide support for pupils who need it.

In other subjects, such as religious education and languages, pupils' knowledge is much less secure.

The school identifies pupils with SEND promptly. These pupils receive dedicated and focused support.

Leaders and staff understand how to support these pupils' individual learning needs. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well.

Reading is a very high priority in this school.

The phonics programme is taught consistently by staff who are experts in the teaching of reading. Children in the early years get off to a promising start in learning to read. In Nursery, children begin to identify the sounds in the indoor and outdoor environment.

This helps prepare them for learning phonics in Reception. Staff quickly identify and support pupils who struggle with reading to help them keep up.

Children in the early years settle into school life very well.

They cooperate together and enjoy strong relationships with each other and with adults. The children respond well to adults' high expectations and clear routines. The curriculum in the early years prepares children well for the next stage of their education in key stage 1 and beyond.

Leaders have an unshakeable commitment to all pupils' personal development. They plan for pupils to develop their strengths, talents and aspirations. Local sporting and cultural heroes are celebrated.

These local role models help to develop high aspirations in the pupils.

Pupils are very well prepared for life in a multicultural and diverse society. They discuss and debate important issues, such as whether it is time to call a general election, knowledgeably and confidently.

Pupils learn to keep themselves safe, including when using technology.

The school provides exceptional nurture and pastoral support to its pupils. This helps pupils to build their confidence and manage their feelings.

Pupils benefit from this support which is founded on their excellent relationships with adults.

Typically, pupils behave well. Pupils learn to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

Adults have established clear routines and the school's expectations of pupils' behaviour are applied consistently. The school is committed to ensuring pupils attend school regularly. The school works closely with families, where attendance is an issue.

Indicators suggest that the school's strategies are leading to improvements.

The school benefits significantly through its membership of the trust. The trust and the school share the same high ambitions for all pupils.

Everyone believes that all pupils deserve the best from their time at school. The recent excellent work of the trust and the school is ensuring that current pupils are achieving more highly than historic outcomes for the school would suggest. Staff feel well supported.

They say that leaders in the school and in the trust invest in them. They receive regular professional development opportunities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subjects in the curriculum are not as well developed as others. As a result, in these subjects, pupils do not build their knowledge well enough. The school must ensure that they continue to develop the curriculum across all subjects, so that pupils build their knowledge equally securely over time.