Tickhill Estfeld Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 May 2022

This is a school built upon nurture and care. There is a strong sense of community. Pupils with a range of different special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) build strong relationships with other pupils. Relationships between pupils, staff and families are strong, and there is a real sense that all involved with the school are working in partnership. There is a clear sense of community. Pupils talk about feeling safe in the school and how they know all staff are there to help them. There is a calm and orderly atmosphere around school and pupils are polite and confident. They are keen to talk about their learning and share their successes. Pupils treat each other with high levels of respect. They say that bullying does not happen but that if it did, they know staff would make sure it stopped. Pupils behave towards each other in the way staff behave towards them. Leaders have high expectations for what pupils should experience through the curriculum. In some subjects, such as mathematics and science, leaders have made significant improvements to what is taught to pupils and the order in which this happens. In other subjects, leaders are aware that they have further work to do to make sure pupils are taught the knowledge they need in the order that will help them to remember it.

What the school should improve

• The phonics curriculum chosen is not delivered with high enough levels of consistency or precision. As a result, some pupils get off to a slower start with reading. Leaders should ensure that all staff receive the most up-to-date training in line with the new phonics programme. They should ensure all staff are early reading experts and can deliver the programme and any catch-up programmes with consistency so that pupils quickly become confident and fluent readers.
• The monitoring undertaken by leaders does not give them a clear enough picture of the overall impact of the curriculum. As a result, some school improvement activities are not directed at the greatest area of need. This in turn affects the level of information shared with governors about the quality of education. Leaders should ensure that the systems and processes in place for monitoring the curriculum are robust and give an accurate picture of the provision on offer to pupils. Governors should then use this information to challenge leaders about the improvements they are making as a result of this, particularly for the lowest 20% of pupils.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)