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Mar 2023

Last Updated: 14/03/2023

Education

'Decisive plans' improving village school near Harrogate, says Ofsted

by Vicky Carr

| 14 Mar, 2023

Ofsted inspectors have praised the measures put in place to improve education at a village primary school near Harrogate.

Beckwithshaw Primary School was rated 'inadequate' after an inspection in December 2021.

Last year, Victoria Kirkman became interim executive headteacher of the school, along with its federated partner primary schools, Ripley Endowed C of E – which had also been rated inadequate in late 2021 – and Kettlesing Felliscliffe, which was rated 'good'.

An interim executive board (IEB) was appointed to oversee the schools' progress under its new leadership.

Inspectors returned to Beckwithshaw for a monitoring visit in January this year and published their report last night. While there is no new rating for the school, Ofsted wrote to interim executive headteacher Victoria Kirkman about their findings.

The report said:

"Since joining the school, you have taken swift and effective action to make improvements. You have a strong understanding of the benefits and challenges facing small schools.

"You have put clear, decisive plans in place, which set out ambitious and realistic targets for future improvement. One parent commented, ‘It certainly feels that there is a more robust leadership team in place, underpinned by the IEB and the new headteachers.’

"You have rightly prioritised the development of the curriculum and staff professional development. However, you are also acutely aware of the importance of supporting staff well-being and workload. This has ensured that staff are positive about changes that are being made.

"The atmosphere in the school is purposeful, happy and focused."

The letter, which has also been sent to the IEB, North Yorkshire County Council and the Department for Education, praises the school's focus on improving pupils' reading skills.

Inspector Andrea Batley found teachers "quickly identify and give extra support" to pupils who are struggling with reading. They use the school's approach to phonics consistently and recognise the need to adapt lessons to support all pupils.

'Warm, caring and welcoming'

Ms Batley said Ms Kirkman has made a strong curriculum her priority across areas including personal, social, health and economic education. The inspector said changes to the curriculum were still "in the early stages" and continuing work was needed to deliver more improvements.

She wrote:

"Much has been done to improve the early years provision in the school. You have worked with staff and with local authority support to create an environment that is warm, caring and welcoming.

"Staff recognise the importance of developing children’s communication skills. They support children to use newly taught vocabulary well.

"However, it is not always clear what the intended learning is across the classroom, both indoors and outdoors. This means that some pupils are not sufficiently engaged and interested with learning.

"Leaders know that this is an area that needs more development in the future."

Ms Kirkman has welcomed the inspector's findings, which followed a similar monitoring visit to Ripley Primary School in December.

While Beckwithshaw remains 'inadequate', in line with its previous inspection, she said its recent monitoring visit was reassuring that the school is going in the right direction. She said:

"We are delighted with the outcome of the recent Ofsted monitoring visit at Beckwithshaw which recognises the significant and rapid school transformation since the previous inspection. This, coupled with the success of the Ripley monitoring visit in November, evidences that these previously 'Inadequate' schools are now moving forward positively.

"This is due to the hard work of all stakeholders in working together to ensure future success of the school and the life chances of children in the federation. We now continue focus on the next visit and continue our relentless drive for further school improvement."

Ripley school praised for 'swift and effective action' to address inadequate rating

Primary schools near Harrogate face uncertain future after academy plans fall through

Along with her work at Beckwithshaw, Ripley and Kettlesing Felliscliffe, Ms Kirkman is executive headteacher at Birstwith Primary School and Admiral Long Primary School in Burnt Yates, both rated 'good'.

Last year, the three federated primary schools were preparing to join Elevate multi-academy trust, as part of an Ofsted requirement after Ripley and Beckwithshaw were rated 'inadequate'.

However, those plans fell through when Elevate pulled out shortly before the planned conversion date of November 1.

Addressing this in the latest letter, inspector Ms Batley said:

"The IEB is very clear about their desire to bring about future stability in leadership. They know the school well and provide both challenge to leaders, and scrutiny of improvement plans. They are working closely with the local authority to identify how recent improvements can be sustained in the future.

"As a sponsoring academy trust has not been identified it is vital that ways to ensure long-term stability in leadership are identified and pursued with urgency."

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'Decisive plans' improving village school near Harrogate, says Ofsted

'Warm, caring and welcoming'

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