Scholes (Holmfirth) Junior & Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn and achieve well in some subjects, such as mathematics. However, in other subjects, leaders and teachers do not check pupils' knowledge and skills accurately. Pupils have gaps in their understanding.

Although leaders have high ambitions for pupils, these are not being realised. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve as well as they should.

Pupils feel safe and happy at this caring school.

They are proud of their 'KIND' values and keen to share these with visitors. Pupils enjoy being given the different roles and responsibilities they have in school. Some pupils have been elected as head p...upil, while others are trained playground leaders.

Their kindness and thoughtfulness shine through when they talk about their cancer fundraising campaign that has inspired the whole community.

Pupils enjoy learning and like that their teachers have a good sense of humour. They say that teachers make lessons 'enjoyable and fun!'

The school is calm, but hums with a buzz of busy work chatter in classrooms.

Pupils describe bullying as incredibly rare. Inspectors agree. When it does happen, pupils are confident that any member of staff will deal with it.

Pupils who need extra help with their emotional and mental health get to speak to adults in 'The Den'. Pupils say that this really helps them. Relationships between pupils and teachers are respectful.

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

All staff, leaders and governors want the very best for all their pupils and have high ambitions for what they can achieve. They work in positive and thoughtful ways with families and the wider community to support pupils. However, their high ambitions are not being reached.

Leaders have not acted quickly enough to take the important decisions and actions needed to improve the school.

Leaders have very recently introduced a new phonics programme, which teachers are following with consistency. Children start to learn to read as soon as they begin school.

Pupils who fall behind are identified and supported to catch up with additional reading sessions. However, teachers do not consistently use assessment with enough precision. Some of the books that pupils are given to read do not match the sounds that they know.

This hinders their progress towards becoming fluent readers.

Some aspects of the curriculum are well planned and taught effectively. In mathematics, for example, staff use 'quick recaps' at the start of lessons.

This helps pupils to remember what they have learned before. Assessments are used well to identify pupils who need extra support. Extra sessions with teachers focus sharply on helping pupils to recover any gaps that they have in their learning.

Leaders have clear curriculum plans for wider curriculum subjects, such as geography and art. However, these are very recent. The checks that teachers make on pupils' understanding are not well developed in subjects other than English and mathematics.

Teachers do not have a clear picture of what pupils can and cannot do in these subjects. Gaps in pupils' knowledge are not being addressed and so misunderstandings persist.

Teachers work effectively in early years to develop pupils' language and communication skills.

Pupils' personal, social and emotional needs are well met. As a result of this, children are happy and engaged in their learning. However, some aspects of the early years curriculum are not planned carefully enough.

Leaders have not clearly defined what they intend children to learn throughout the year in some areas of the curriculum. The curriculum lacks structure. This makes it hard for leaders to ensure that children are making the progress needed to be ready for the next stage of their education in Year 1.

There have been recent changes to the leadership of some subject areas. Senior leaders have not provided some leaders with enough opportunity to monitor the delivery of the curriculum in the subjects they lead. The lack of rigour around subject monitoring means that the subject leaders have not identified where the curriculum is not taught consistently well.

The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are quickly identified, and support is put in place to help them. In some subjects, adults successfully adapt their teaching for pupils with SEND. This helps them to access the same ambitious curriculum as everyone else.

However, this is not consistently the case across the curriculum. In some subjects, teachers are not meeting the needs of pupils with SEND and this hinders the progress that pupils make.

Leaders give pupils the opportunity to attend a range of sporting and creative clubs.

Pupils' sporting talents are nurtured through participation in local and regional competitions. Residential visits help to develop pupils' independence and resilience.Pupils know about a range of faiths and religions.

However, the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum has not helped pupils to understand the many different types of relationships and families that exist in Britain today. The KIND values that the pupils are taught do not cover the full breadth of modern British values. As a result, pupils do not have a clear understanding of the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff receive regular training on safeguarding. They know how to identify and report concerns about a pupil's safety or well-being.

Leaders act swiftly to help pupils who may be at risk. Leaders draw on the support of other agencies such as emotional well-being workers when required. The high level of care the school has for its pupils and families is appreciated by parents and carers.

Pupils feel safe in school. They know whom to go to if they need help or are worried. The school continues to develop its computing curriculum, which gives pupils a growing understanding of how to stay safe when online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment in subjects other than English and mathematics is not well developed. Teachers do not have an accurate picture of pupils' understanding in these subjects and so gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills are allowed to persist. Leaders should develop systems of assessment so that teaching can build accurately on what pupils already know and can do in all subjects across the curriculum.

• Leaders do not provide opportunities for all subject leaders to monitor their subjects. Subject leaders do not have the skills needed to do this effectively. As a result, inconsistencies in the teaching of the curriculum are not being addressed quickly.

Senior leaders need to ensure that subject leaders have the time and training required to effectively monitor their curriculum subject, and provide effective support to staff so that the curriculum is consistently well taught. ? Leaders have not developed a coherently planned and well-sequenced curriculum for early years that sets out what children will learn and by when. Children are not well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Leaders should develop and implement a curriculum that sets out the knowledge that children will learn across the different areas of learning. ? Pupils' understanding of the many different types of relationships and those with protected characteristics in modern Britain is underdeveloped. Pupils are not clear about the different forms a modern family could take.

They do not remember what they have been taught about healthy relationships. As a result, pupils leave school unprepared for life in modern Britain. Leaders should review the PSHE curriculum to ensure that pupils have an appropriate understanding of the protected characteristics and the diverse nature of British society.