Ofsted says Holy Trinity Junior School in Ripon ‘requires improvement’

Ripon’s Holy Trinity Church of England Junior School has received a ‘requires improvement’ rating by Ofsted.

Government inspectors visited the school for two days in June and published their findings in a report today.

It was the school’s first inspection since it converted to an academy is September 2022 – becoming part of the Leeds Diocesan Learning Trust.

The report said both the quality of education and leadership and management “requires improvement” but found behaviour and attitudes and personal development to be “good”.

It said some aspects of the curriculum are not well designed, adding:

“Some foundation curriculum subjects are not as well-structured or sequenced as others. Leaders sometimes identify too much content to cover in a lesson or across a series of lessons.

“Sometimes teachers do not emphasise the crucial knowledge needed, and pupils do not remember the most important facts.

“This means that pupils’ knowledge is not building securely year on year.”

The report also found “assessment does not sufficiently identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge or identify what pupils can already do”, while some students find “work can be too easy” as it “is not building on what they already know”.

Inspectors also added:

“There is a small proportion of pupils whose behaviour is sometimes a concern for other pupils, parents and staff.

“Pupils feel safe. However, some parents and staff who responded to Ofsted surveys do not agree.”

The 239-pupil school for seven to 11-year-olds is part of The Federation of Holy Trinity Church of England Schools.

Following the academy conversion, the senior leadership team has undergone “extensive change”, the report said, including a new headteacher in January and a deputy headteacher in March this year.

The senior leaders “share an ambitious vision for the school”, according to Ofsted, but the vision “is not fully established”.

To improve, inspectors suggested leaders “should ensure that pupils are securing the right essential knowledge to build on and learn over time”, as well as “ensure that teachers check that the work which is set for all pupils in all subjects is matched appropriately with what pupils need to know or be able to do next”.

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‘Pupils are proud to attend the school’

Despite the overall rating, inspectors praised Holy Trinity Junior School for the “warm and positive relationships between pupils and staff”.

Pupils are polite and considerate, and the school’s Christian ethos and values are woven through everything they do, the report adds.

It said:

“Leaders prioritise learning to read and promote a love of reading across the school. Pupils are keen to talk about their favourite books and authors.

“Teachers choose high-quality texts for their class novel.”

‘Early stages of a new era’

In a letter to parents, executive headteacher Sue Anderson and chair of governors, Adam Kitching, responded to the report. They said:

“We are delighted that the report highlights that pupils are proud to attend Holy Trinity Junior School and the opportunities they have to take on responsibilities throughout the school.

“The warm and positive relationships between pupils and staff were also acknowledged.

“You will share our disappointment in the overall grade; however, the inspection team recognised, when they visited the school, that the federation was in the early stages of a new era with a new leadership team and a new curriculum ready to be introduced in the autumn term.”

Major water leak delays opening of Ripon junior school

Ripon’s Holy Trinity Junior School was unable to open today for the start of the new academic year because it had no water supply.

The Church Lane school was without water from Friday, when a major leak was discovered but will be back open tomorrow morning (Wednesday) after water engineers and plumbers completed repair works this afternoon.

Executive headteacher Sue Sanderson, who confirmed that the water is now back on, told the Stray Ferret:

“We were forced to close the site to children as there was no water for toilet, hygiene, cleaning etc. The caretaker’s bungalow has also been without water since Friday.”

The water pipe junction

Ms Sanderson added:

“We discovered a major water leak on the junior site which involved the water supply being turned off on Friday afternoon for essential repairs – a junction on the main supply pipe urgently needed replacing.

“The replacement part arrived on Monday and was fitted. However, we were informed later in the afternoon that the supply could not be turned on for a further 24 hours. I’m pleased to say that the water is all back on now.”

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Children’s poetry focuses on poverty at Ripon Workhouse

Fifty-two year 6 pupils from Holy Trinity Junior School in Ripon have used their lockdown experiences to empathise with how Victorian children might have felt as inmates at Ripon Workhouse.

The children have been working towards their Bronze Arts Awards with staff at Ripon Museums, poet and Ripon Poetry Festival founder Andy Croft and animator Dawn Feather.

They encouraged the pupils to imagine themselves in the shoes of poor and desperate Victorian children entering the workhouse.

They wrote poems under the titles Dread, Fear, Grief and Nothing. They recorded the poems as spoken word with sound effects and made their own chalk drawing animations that were presented as powerful audio-visual pieces.

Carrie Philip, Ripon Museum’s learning and outreach manager, said:

“It became clear that the fear and uncertainty the children had experienced during the past two years of covid helped them to identify with child inmates in the Victorian workhouse.

“They produced beautiful and compelling pieces of creative writing as an emotional response to experiencing the workhouse. They should be immensely proud of their achievements.”

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Pupils were awarded their Bronze Arts Award with feedback praising their excellent animated spoken poetry. The experience went beyond the immediate task at hand and will hopefully inspire the group to explore other creative endeavours.

Holy Trinity headteacher Paul Bowlas said:

“We were thrilled to work in conjunction with Ripon Museums to provide a broad and creative experience for the children of our school.

“Working together on the arts award provided a much-needed experience which not only helped children educationally but was also very good for their health and wellbeing.”

The animated poems can be accessed through Ripon Museums website www.riponmuseums.co.uk

Police officers visit Ripon school kids to talk dangers of knife crime

Students from a Ripon primary school kids were visited by police officers to talking about the dangers of knife crime and taking drugs.

North Yorkshire Police‘s school liaison team and author Christina Gabbitas visited Holy Trinity Junior School last week to show children the dangers of getting involved in crime and how to avoid it.

Visits were also make to other schools across the county, including Scarborough and York.

Concerns about crime in Ripon have grown in recent months with some residents “scared to go out”. The police has promised more visibility in the city in an attempt to crackdown on crime.

Ripon has seen incidents in recent months involving knives; one in August left a boy in tears when he was told at knifepoint to take off his trainers and hand over his phone and jewellery.

The visits were in conjunction with a national campaign to tackle knife crime, Op Spectre. The students watched a video which showed young people getting drawn into the world of drug dealing which resulted in one of them being stabbed.

They were also given a ‘No more knives or county lines’ work booklet at the end of the session.

Sergeant Heidi Lewis of the schools liaison team said officers were there to build relationships with the children and answer any questions:

“Education at an early stage is crucial to steer children away from falling into a criminal lifestyle and becoming exploited.

“Some young people think it’s safe to carry a knife in case they need it for self-defence – but this could not be further from the truth. Any knife in the hands of anyone can cost lives and that’s what we hope the children we have engaged with this week have learned”.

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Christina Gabbitas said:

“I can’t emphasise enough how important it is for us to educate children at a young age about these issues and dangers. If we can get children to recognise the signs at an early age, we have a better chance to prevent them coming to harm.

“I am always so impressed with how engaged the children I speak to are. They are so keen to learn about these issues and because it’s done in a safe environment amongst peers, the children are very open and always ask a lot of questions.”

To reports concerns for the safety of a child, contact the police on 101.