Goathland Primary School

Overview

This ungraded inspection confirms the school remains ‘good’, though evidence suggests a graded inspection might yield a lower judgement. The report highlights a ‘nurturing’ environment where pupils are ‘confident, happy and safe’, but notes that recent curriculum changes are not yet fully embedded, leading to gaps in pupil knowledge.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from ‘nurturing’ relationships with staff and ‘very positive’ behaviour, treating each other with ‘high levels of respect’.
• The early years provide a ‘calm and engaging classroom environment’ where children make a ‘positive start’ and independently explore patterns and shapes.
• Staff implement the phonics programme ‘correctly’ and use ‘ambitious and exciting texts’ to develop reading skills.
• Governors are ‘highly supportive’ and ‘deeply committed to the improvement journey’, closely monitoring development despite recent leadership changes.
• Recent system changes have improved ‘staff’s workload and well-being’, with staff described as ‘proud to work at this school’.

Areas to improve

• The school must prioritise completing curriculum improvement work to ensure an ‘effective and ambitious curriculum’ that builds understanding securely, as current plans are not sufficiently established.
• Assessment systems need review to accurately identify and fill ‘gaps in their knowledge’, which currently limits achievement in some subjects.
• The school should ensure gaps in phonics knowledge are addressed ‘effectively and quickly’, as some pupils do not receive timely support to catch up.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘the arrangements for safeguarding are effective’.