Newby and Scalby Primary School ‘requires improvement’ according to latest Ofsted inspection

The Office for Standards in Education, Ofsted, has given the second lowest rating to the school, stating that it “requires improvement”.

The review of the school, located on The Green, in Newby, looked into various aspects of the academy’s effectiveness, including the quality of education, personal development, and leadership and management.

In a statment issued to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the school said it was already looking at ways of improving and developing.

A spokesperson for the school said: “Inspectors recognised how effectively children’s personal development and positive relationships are developed and that parents, pupils and staff value working with and in school.

“Inspectors confirmed that children are safe and that the foundations for their educational journey are built early in their school life, regardless of their needs or disabilities.

"They noted that the ambitious curriculum of our early years means that children have high levels of interest and, as a result, are happy and confident learners who flourish.”

While positive feedback was given regarding the relationships and atmosphere at the school, social and health education, and after-school activities, issues were raised regarding the consistency of curriculums and assessments.

The Ofsted inspectors said: “There are weaknesses in how well some subjects are planned and delivered, such as early reading. This prevents some pupils from achieving as well as they could.”

They added: “Teachers do not plan opportunities for pupils to revisit and rehearse important knowledge.

"Some pupils do not remember what they have learned.

"In mathematics, they struggle to apply their knowledge to reasoning problems.”

It was also noted that there was a lack of consistency across classes and that students who struggled to read did not receive the appropriate help that would have enabled them to keep up with their peers.

The school said: “You can be reassured that school has already developed plans to address these areas, and we are confident that these will help us strengthen outcomes for all pupils in our school and that they will continue to ‘enjoy coming to school’”.

The report commended the school for providing pupils with opportunities to develop their knowledge of being “healthy and responsible citizens”, noting that students understood and were “empathic to many cultures and beliefs”.

“Pupils talk with interest, insight and real experience of aspects of law, democracy and mutual respect. This results in an ability to think about the likely consequences of their own and others’ actions,” the report added.

The inspectors also raised concerns about the “weaknesses” in the school’s safeguarding measures.

In the report, published on November 14, they noted that “although safeguarding is effective” there was “some confusion for staff around where to record and report concerns”.

However, they added: “These are easy to put right and have not left pupils either being harmed or at risk of harm.”