St Andrew’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided

Primary School Following my visit to the school on 18 December 2018 with Cathy Morgan, Ofsted Inspector, 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 October 2013. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. From very early on in the inspection, it was clear that you and your staff have created an environment where all pupils are treated as individuals. Parents speak highly of t...he care and support all pupils receive at the school, and how this approach helps their children to develop their social skills and make the progress they are capable of in their lessons and in their personal development.

You have dealt with the recommendations made at the time of your previous inspection. Inconsistencies have been addressed so that now there are very few inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and learning. Where these do exist, you have made sure that the appropriate support is in place to make the necessary improvements.

You have also improved the quality of leadership at all levels, adopting a strong model of distributed responsibility. Senior and middle leadership teams are focused and effectively use the information which is routinely and regularly collected to inform their planning and actions. Teachers set high expectations in the classroom for all pupils.

In all lessons observed and all books scrutinised, teachers are careful to consider the different starting points and abilities of the pupils. In turn, pupils are clear about their targets, and respond well to the extensive and thorough guidance teachers provide to help them to improve their knowledge, skills and understanding further. Teaching assistants are used skilfully by teachers to support the learning of those pupils who require appropriate prompts and guidance to encourage them to engage in their own independent learning.

Leaders check regularly on the quality of teaching and learning, and they have an accurate view of strengths and areas where more development is required. Leaders' evaluations closely agree with the findings of inspectors. Pupils respond very well to the tasks that they are set.

In the lessons we observed, their attitudes to learning were exemplary. In the early years, staff work very effectively to engage the children's interest and ensure that they sustain concentration. The workbooks inspectors scrutinised were well presented.

Pupils told me that they appreciated the school's rewards for good work and behaviour. They said that during breaktimes they play happily together and are enthusiastic about the recently introduced guided-play sessions during the lunch break, which are supervised and structured by school staff. They talked confidently and proudly about the school's values of 'endurance, love and respect'.

Pupils enjoy coming to school and their attendance is in line with the national average. Provisional information indicates that attainment at the end of key stage 2 continued to be above average in 2018, particularly in reading. However, pupils' attainment in mathematics was less strong, and too few of those pupils who are most able have not achieved the greater depth of understanding which you are aiming for.

You have responded by ensuring that the teaching and learning approach in mathematics is very well structured, with a focus on problem-solving skills. The school's achievement information and our scrutiny of pupils' workbooks showed that, overall, current pupils make strong progress in English and are now making stronger progress in mathematics than they have previously. Pupils achieve well in other subjects too.

Assessment is a strength of the school. Leaders monitor pupils' achievement closely and frequently. They check on the progress of groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and boys and girls.

Leaders use the information to identify those pupils who are at risk of falling behind, and to plan further support and any interventions which are required. Pupils benefit from the detailed feedback that they receive from their teachers. You and your staff work very effectively with parents to engage their help in supporting their children's learning.

You talk enthusiastically about the accountability the school has to parents, and about the accountability parents have in supporting the school and their own children's learning. Pupils read well at your school, using their skills in phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) to access books that interest and engage them, at appropriate levels. You, and the school's staff, encourage parents to be active in supporting reading at home too.

The school's own records evidence that home-learning activities are regularly 100% completed by pupils. Leaders invite parents into school to explain how teachers approach a learning topic. Leaders have also given parents opportunities to experience the assessments that their children are given, so that they can provide support at home leading up to these assessments.

Safeguarding is effective. School leaders and governors fulfil their legal safeguarding duties well. They have ensured that staff are trained regularly.

All pupils, including the most vulnerable pupils, are well supported. Policies and procedures are fit for purpose and day-to-day routines are secure. Records, including the single central record of checks on adults' suitability to work and volunteer at the school, are diligently maintained.

You work successfully with local agencies to be sure that the needs of pupils and their families are addressed effectively. Pupils say that behaviour is good in the school and that they always feel safe. They say that if bullying were to happen, teachers and staff will help to resolve the problems.

They have great faith that any adult in the school will listen to them and act on any worries that they may have. Inspection findings ? During the inspection, we agreed that we would focus on: how well leaders ensure that pupils' progress in mathematics is strengthened, including that of the most able pupils; how well teaching ensures strong progress of disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND; how leaders ensure that those pupils who do not attend school regularly improve their attendance; and how leaders and governors ensure that the school continues to improve. ? Provisional performance information for the end of key stage 2 in 2018 indicates that pupils' progress in mathematics was not as strong as in reading and writing.

Over the past two years, you have introduced a structured approach to the teaching of mathematics, which, in both key stage 1 and key stage 2, ensures that in all lessons pupils practise mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills. During visits to lessons, and while looking at pupils' books, inspectors saw clear evidence that pupils are using these skills effectively and making stronger progress. Through the school's approach to differentiation, which ensures that tasks are matched to pupils' abilities and starting points, it is also clear that the most able pupils are being stretched and challenged appropriately too.

You agree that a priority is now to ensure that pupils benefit from opportunities to further develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics, so that a greater proportion of pupils reach the higher standards at the end of key stage 2. ? Leaders are skilled at checking on the impact of their actions to improve the school. They have, for example, used lesson observation, work sampling and the analysis of pupils' achievement to judge the effectiveness of the new approaches to teaching mathematics and to improve the quality of boys' writing.

You have identified priorities based on your analysis of pupils' outcomes. You have informed governors of both outcomes and priorities and they are challenging in their expectations that 'there is no room at the school for requires improvement'. ? Through your own evaluation of the strengths and areas for improvement in the school, you have identified the few inconsistencies which still exist in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment at the younger end of key stage 2.

You have quickly acted to provide support in this area using teaching and learning strength from other areas of the school, adopting a coaching and mentoring approach to develop practice and make the necessary improvements. You acknowledge that there remains more work to do in this area. ? Leaders ensure that the additional funding the school receives to support pupils who are disadvantaged and those with SEND is used wisely and effectively.

Additional support and interventions for these pupils is only one strategy used. In a wider sense, you and leaders have been determined to develop these pupils through sporting activity and structured play, so that they come into school with positive attitudes to their school experience and their learning. Through high-quality teaching, disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND are making the progress they are capable of.

The school's own information evidences that gaps have either closed or are closing between these pupils' progress and that of others who have similar starting points. The evidence inspectors collected through lesson observations and looking at pupils' books confirms this. ? Leaders have identified the pupils who are persistently absent from the school and they are taking the appropriate actions to encourage pupils, parents and carers to more positively engage in learning.

Every pupil in the school now has an assigned well-being mentor, who is an important point of contact for those parents who need to discuss important issues and need extra support to help improve attendance, for example. Although the level of persistent absenteeism remains stubbornly above the national average, and there is more work to do, inspectors are confident that the school is doing everything possible to make the necessary improvements. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? pupils continue to benefit from opportunities to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics, so that a higher proportion of pupils reach the higher standards at the end of key stage 2 ? any inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment which remain are removed ? the small number of pupils who do not attend school as regularly as they should do are encouraged to improve their attendance.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of York, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Kingston Upon Hull City Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Barry Found Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with the headteacher and a range of other school leaders to discuss the school's effectiveness.

Inspectors visited classrooms to observe pupils' learning with senior leaders, talk to pupils and look at their work. We heard pupils read, and we also looked at the quality of work in a wide range of pupils' books. I considered the 167 responses from parents to the online questionnaire, Parent View, including free-text comments.

Inspectors had meetings with groups of pupils to discuss their views about the school and spoke to pupils informally during the lunch break. I met with three governors and received a letter from the chair of the governing body. In addition, I met with the middle leaders for mathematics and science.

Inspectors evaluated the school's safeguarding arrangements. A wide range of documents was examined, including: the school's self-evaluation; school improvement planning; information about pupils' progress; and various policies. I also examined the school's website.

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