Beckwithshaw Community Primary School has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.
The 75-pupil village school on Church Row had been consistently rated ‘good’ by inspectors since 2002 but its latest Ofsted report means the school has now been placed in special measures.
Inspectors found pupils enjoy coming to school, show good levels of concentration and listen to instructions.
They praised the school for its phonics programme and said pupils read with confidence and understanding.
But the report, which was published on Friday, criticised the learning curriculum at the school as “not fit for purpose” and “poorly planned”.
It said this has led to pupils not doing well in a range of subjects.
‘Leadership vacuum’
An interim executive headteacher and interim head of school took up their posts at Beckwithshaw in October 2021.
But the report said a “leadership vacuum” over a period of time has had a negative impact on the quality of teaching at the school. It said staff have suffered from excessive workloads and low morale.
It said that new subject leaders are aware of the “deep-rooted problems” with the school’s curriculum.
However, they “lack the training they need” to make the required changes to raise standards.
Here is how the inspectors came to the overall ‘inadequate’ rating:
- The quality of education: Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes: Good
- Personal development: Requires improvement
- Leadership and management: Inadequate
- Early years provision: Requires improvement
Read more:
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Special measures
The inspection took place over two days in December last year when inspectors observed lessons, spoke to pupils informally and had meetings with school leaders.
The report said the inspection took into account the covid pandemic and how it impacted the school.
Beckwithshaw has now been placed into special measures to drive up standards.
Special measures schools are given details on how they must improve and are regularly monitored to check that they are on track. Another inspection will take place within 12 months.
The report says:
“In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.”
The school was rated ‘good’ at its last full inspection in 2012. A short inspection took place in 2016 that said the school “continues to be good”.
Beckwithshaw is currently part of a federation of three schools, along with Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community Primary School and Ripley Endowed C of E Primary School.
The school’s response
Robert Ling, chair of the interim executive board at Beckwithshaw Community Primary School, said:
“There are clear areas identified by Ofsted where Beckwithshaw Primary School can be improved and we do have a strong team around the school driving improvements at pace including the interim executive board.
“Inspectors acknowledged that the school has strengths: that pupil’s behaviour and attitude is good; that they happily play together; that they behave well in lessons and understand the importance of tolerance and respect and that children are well safeguarded.
“The phonics programme is planned well; it enables staff to support pupils to develop their phonic knowledge and skills effectively. Pupils learn how to match letters to sounds and blend them in words. The books given to pupils to practise their reading are well matched to their phonics knowledge. They read them with confidence and understanding.
“Pupils’ with an education, health and care plan are supported more effectively because they receive individual one-to-one assistance.
“We are now taking swift action to secure good leadership and improve curriculum planning across all areas of school life.
“We are proud of our pupils at Beckwithshaw and inspectors praised their good behaviour and willingness to learn. They deserve the highest standards of teaching and learning and good quality leadership and we are taking firm steps to put these in place.”
