Hunmanby Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Hunmanby Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 November 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in June 2014. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school has expanded in this time and, as the school roll has increased, so has leadership capacity. You are resolute in your determination to create a school where every child can 'be inspired, enjoy and achieve'.

Leaders confirmed that ...together, you are 'a big team that shares a vision for every child'. You work closely with staff, pupils and parents and carers to ensure that the school is at the heart of the village community that it serves. Hunmanby Primary School is a happy, caring and inclusive school.

Leaders have created an open and welcoming culture. Staff are proud to work at the school and feel very well supported by leaders. Pupils are attentive, confident and enthusiastic.

Parents value how visible you and other leaders are around school and how well staff get to know their children as individuals. Parents spoken to during the inspection and those who responded to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, were very positive about the school. One parent said, 'I have nothing but praise for the school – both my children have felt valued and cherished there.'

Another parent wrote, 'A wonderful school – my daughter has been very happy here and has very happy memories of her time at this school… thanks to the amazing staff she will be ready and well equipped for the adventures ahead.' Your effective leadership has been a key part of the developments in the school. You empower and enable other leaders to bring about successful improvements in their areas of responsibility.

In response to the last inspection, you have moved towards a model where leadership responsibility is distributed. Leaders provide you with an appropriate balance of challenge and support. Middle leaders are strong, and their actions are beginning to have an impact on pupils' outcomes.

At the previous inspection, you were also asked to continue the focus on improving boys' skills, particularly in writing. Published data shows that pupils' attainment and progress have been variable historically. The progress and attainment of boys are better in mathematics.

However, in reading and writing, boys do not achieve as highly as girls. Leaders are aware of this and have put in place clear actions to improve the teaching of reading and writing, especially for boys. However, these actions have not had the desired impact on boys' progress.

Consequently, in Year 6 in 2018, standards for boys were lower than in previous years. Teaching is effective and is continuing to improve. Teachers inspire pupils to learn and encourage them to achieve.

Pupils want to show what they can do and are keen to talk about their learning. For example, in Year 5, pupils were keen to explain how they were readily able to spot the deliberate mistakes in the teacher's spelling. In Year 6, pupils were captivated by the range of diverse facts that they were discovering about the Amazon rainforest.

Pupils demonstrated their ability to work productively in small teams as they searched for the answers to the questions that they had written. As a result of well-delivered and engaging teaching, outcomes for current pupils are rising across the school. Leaders have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and those areas that require further work.

Your self-evaluation is accurate and detailed. It identifies the impact that leaders continue to have on school improvement. Governors share your high expectations for the achievement of pupils.

They are committed to helping the school to improve. However, governors recognise that they need to sharpen their understanding of the school's key priorities for improvement, so that they can hold leaders more rigorously to account. Pupils enjoy school and speak very positively about their learning.

They are happy, friendly and courteous. They are proud of their school. Pupils are confident, and behave well and enjoy a range of subjects.

Staff know the pupils well and tailor learning to meet the needs of individual pupils. Safeguarding is effective. As designated safeguarding leader, you ensure that all safeguarding arrangements meet requirements and are fit for purpose.

You make sure that staff are well aware of their duty and follow systems and procedures for logging concerns. Leaders have ensured that all necessary checks are made on the suitability of staff to work with children. You have established and maintain close links with families and external agencies to ensure that all pupils, especially the most vulnerable, are supported.

The open culture in the school ensures that pupils know whom to go to if they have worries or concerns. Pupils told me that they could confidently approach any teacher and they would help. Pupils were keen to stress that if there were to be a 'big problem' they could approach you as headteacher and that you would, in their words, 'sort it out'.

Clear systems and procedures for any referrals to the local authority are in place. Your records are accurate and thorough. Pupils say that they feel safe in school.

Staff and parents confirm this view. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep safe in different situations. You ensure that through your curriculum, pupils get good information to help them keep safe.

Pupils have a good awareness of the different types of bullying and the hurt that it can cause. They accept that pupils can be unkind, but do not feel that there is a problem with bullying at their school. They are appreciative of the recent work that they did with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Inspection findings ? The leadership of early years is impressive. Leaders have an accurate view of the provision and are keen to improve it further. Your provision for two-year-old children offers exciting and interesting activities that capture and retain children's interest.

In the Nursery and the Reception class, staff model good language, so that children develop their communication and literacy skills well. I visited a physical education lesson in the hall. We also visited the Reception class during their 'dough disco'.

During these activities, children were able to demonstrate good control, coordination and balance. They are attentive and listen well to the instructions of adults. As a result of strong teaching, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development in 2018 was above the provisional national average.

• Leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), have an unwavering commitment to the best possible outcomes for every pupil. Teachers and leaders use your 'inclusion passports' to provide detailed information about the help that pupils need in order to make progress. There is a shared understanding among all staff that the progress of pupils, including those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, is everyone's responsibility.

Consequently, pupils are making good progress towards their individual targets. ? The teaching of reading and writing has been a focus for improvement. The recent concentration on 'reading for inference' has ensured that current pupils are making good progress.

However, pupils' inference and deduction skills need further development. Pupils' books show that current pupils are making good progress in writing across key stage 2. Although standards of writing are rising overall, the standard of boys' writing is well below that of girls.

Leaders have taken steps to improve boys' reading and writing. However, published provisional data shows that in 2018, these actions have not been successful. ? Teaching in mathematics is improving.

The subject leader is clear about what needs to be done to continue to raise pupils' achievement. Teachers have been supported to improve their teaching. They are now more able to help pupils to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills.

As a result of this, pupils are making good progress in mathematics. However, leaders recognise that more work is needed to ensure that the most able pupils achieve the higher standard in mathematics at the end of key stage 2. ? Leaders regularly monitor the absence of individual pupils.

You work with families to overcome identified barriers to good attendance. This has led to improved attendance for several pupils. Even so, work is already well under way to ensure that the number of pupils who are persistently absent from school reduces even further.

• There are clear strengths in specific subjects across the school. Your commitment to sport is notable. Teachers and pupils are rightly proud of the School Games Gold Award that you have achieved.

Pupils benefit from a wide range of sporting opportunities, including football, netball, cross country and athletics. Pupils in every year group are taught to swim. Your well-structured and novel approach to pupils' personal, social and health education is impressive.

The 'Big Buzz' gives pupils the opportunity to learn about a wide range of topics in mixed-aged groups with different teachers. As a result, the pupils are learning what you call 'The Magnificent Seven', including resilience, risk, communication and teamwork. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the variability in progress between groups of pupils, especially between boys and girls, is reduced ? the teaching of reading and writing is improved, so that key stage 2 pupils can infer, deduce and interrogate texts with confidence and write in a wide variety of forms and styles across a range of subjects ? governors' challenge to school leaders is sharpened, so that they check promptly that actions to improve performance towards key priorities are effective ? teachers provide a higher level of challenge for the most able pupils in mathematics, so they develop their knowledge, deepen their thinking and extend their skills, and so that they make good progress.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for North Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Daniel Murray Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you, your deputy headteacher and three governors, including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body.

I also met with your SENCo and your leaders of mathematics, English and early years. Together, you and I visited classrooms to observe teaching and to look at pupils' work. I also looked in depth at pupils' books and other work.

I met with a representative of the local authority. I met with a group of pupils from Years 3 to 6 with the exception of Year 4, who were at their swimming lesson. I listened to eight pupils read.

I also listened informally to pupils reading aloud during my visits to lessons. Consideration was given to the 25 free-text responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 29 questionnaire responses from staff. Consideration was also given to the seven responses to Ofsted's pupil questionnaire.

I spoke to several parents at the start of the school day. I evaluated recent information in relation to pupils' progress throughout the school, the school's self-evaluation document and the school improvement plan. I also met with you as designated safeguarding leader and reviewed documentation and records about how you keep your pupils safe.