A village school near Knaresborough with 78 pupils on the roll continues to be ‘good’, according to Ofsted inspectors.

The latest report found Goldsborough Primary School was welcoming and safe, described as “like a second home” by one pupil when inspectors visited in July.

The new report, published last week, found pupils’ behaviour was “calm and purposeful” and that staff were quick to deal with any bullying at an early stage. It said:

“Pupils are taught how to care for their mental health. Leaders support this through a commitment to the school values of happiness, perseverance, resilience, kindness, friendship and respect.

“The school works closely with the church. Alongside school leaders, church members contribute to thoughtful discussion about a wide range of spiritual and moral topics in assemblies.”

Inspectors found teachers had high expectations of pupils and set a “well-sequenced curriculum”, though said they acknowledged it was not implemented consistently in all classes.

Executive headteacher Zoe Ellis welcomed the report and said the school and Ofsted understood reasons why there was some inconsistency and had a plan to tackle it. She said:

“Ofsted and leaders both recognised that the approach was not always consistent in classes due to significant absences throughout periods of covid.

“Ofsted were positive that leaders were already making strides to improve this and that they had a strong, strategic approach to continue with the positive trajectory witnessed on the inspection day.”

The report highlighted the teaching of reading as a particular strength, along with the development of the curriculum in core subjects such as maths since the last inspection. It also praised the support for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities, which inspectors found helped all pupils to make progress through the school.

Personal, health and social education (PHSE) and relationships and sex education (RSE) were both found to be “a strength within this small school”.

Read more:

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Inspectors also praised the school’s leadership, saying:

“Staff say that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being. They work hard because they want the best for the pupils in their care.

“Members of staff explained that they enjoy their job and are proud to work at Goldsborough. Governors are supportive of leaders across the federation. They are very proud of what the school has achieved.

“They are dedicated to working with leaders to continue to improve the school further. They work well with leaders to oversee this ongoing improvement.”

Goldsborough Primary School has been federated with Sicklinghall Primary School since January 2017. Mrs Ellis is executive headteacher of both schools and has a shared governing body.

Inspectors said the ‘good’ rating of the previous full inspection in 2012 had been maintained, which under Ofsted’s new framework means a further full inspection is not required.

A former Harrogate headteacherhas been spared jail after he was found guilty of making over 3,000 indecent images of children.

Matthew Shillito, 43, repeatedly visited a Russian website where he viewed sexual images of children, York Magistrates’ Court heard.

Shillito, who was appointed headteacher at Western Primary School in 2019, was arrested after police searched his home in January 2020 and seized a Dell laptop and Macbook Pro, on which they found thousands of sexual images of under-age girls.

On Friday, district judge Adrian Lower told Shillito his teaching career was now “in ruins” as he handed him an 18-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work.

Shillito was also placed on the disbarring lists preventing him from working with children ever again.

Shillito was convicted of the offences last month following a trial at the magistrates’ court. He had denied making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between September 2007 and December 2015, claiming the illegal images inadvertently found their way onto his devices while he was looking at other photographs online.

But judge Mr Lower found him guilty of both counts and said the evidence against the disgraced former teacher was “incontrovertible and inescapable”.

‘Repeat viewing’

Shillito – who was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools – had claimed that he was searching for holiday snaps because he had an interest in photography.

He also said he visited several websites for educational purposes because he was “dissatisfied in the way sex education was being taught at school”.

But prosecutor Philip Morris said that Shillito – who was understood to be in a relationship until shortly before his arrest – had visited some of these websites “30 or 40 times”. One of these websites was called ‘Pre-Teen Love’.

He added:

“It is deliberate and intentional, repeat viewing of (indecent) images and (web) pages.”

There was evidence of Shillito viewing the illicit images  in 2011 and then again in 2015 when further images and “albums” with titles such as ‘Girls Line Up’ and ‘Girls Love Girls’ were found.

He had used search terms such as ‘Lolita’ while trawling the web for the illicit material, said Mr Morris.

‘Previous good character’

After being arrested in January 2020, Shillito was immediately suspended from his teaching post and subsequently dismissed.

Kevin Blount, mitigating, said that Shillito had since “re-trained in another role” following the collapse of his teaching career.

He added:

“Clearly these are matters that are going to live with him for the rest of his life.”

Judge Mr Lower told Shillito:

“I know you are a man of [previous] good character. You have worked in the teaching profession for a number of years, achieving the rank of being a headmaster and I’ve no reason to [doubt] that you did all that was expected of you in the course of your employment.”

He added, however, that Shillito’s “disgrace is complete” following the discovery of the sordid images.

He said Shillito had a “corrosive, addictive interest” in viewing indecent images of children, adding:

“You will realise… that you are never going to work in the teaching profession again, a profession to which… you gave your all.

“This kind of behaviour is serious and the law-abiding public… would expect me to send a strong message to people like you, that if you are guilty of this behaviour you are going to be punished for it and you can have no complaint about that.”

Imposing the 18-month community order, Mr Lower told Shillito:

“The very fact that you have been found guilty and the consequences that follow from that is probably more punishment to you than anything else [in terms of sentence] I can propose.”

Read more:

• Ex-Harrogate headteacher found guilty of making indecent images of children
• Former Harrogate headteacher ‘repeatedly accessed’ website with indecent images, court hears

As well as unpaid work hours, Shillito will also have to complete 24 days’ rehabilitation activity. He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to curb his internet activities and allow police to monitor his online use.

He was also ordered to pay £600 prosecution costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

None of the offences related to Shillito’s employment at any of the schools where he worked.

Detective Constable Andy Lowes, of North Yorkshire Police’s Online Abuse and Exploitation Team, said:

“North Yorkshire Police is committed to preventing child sexual abuse, helping victims and bringing offenders to justice.

“Those who obtain and distribute child-abuse material directly contribute to the sexual exploitation of children. This is because the children involved are continually re-victimised every time the images are viewed.”