Hartington CofE Primary School

Overview

Pupils are “known, cared for and nurtured as individuals” in this small Church of England primary school, where they are “happy and safe.” The report highlights a “mutually supportive” staff team and positive parental feedback, noting that pupils are “rightly proud” of their community. While most aspects of the school are rated Good, the governing body requires significant improvement to provide effective oversight.

Strengths

• Pupils exhibit “very well” behaviour, are “welcoming and polite,” and develop a “mature understanding of diversity, equality and respect.”
• The school meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities “very well,” with staff who “adapt teaching effectively.”
• Reading is developed well, with staff trained to deliver phonics “consistently well,” enabling pupils to read “confidently and fluently.”
• Personal development is “carefully thought through,” helping pupils understand healthy living, risk, and their role as “active citizens.”
• Staff are “very proud to be part of the school” and appreciate that leaders “actively support their workload and well-being.”

Areas to improve

• Some foundation subject curriculums, such as art and geography, “do not precisely identify the key substantive and disciplinary knowledge,” meaning pupils do not embed learning as well as they could.
• The governing body “does not fulfil its responsibilities as well as it should,” failing to provide the “strategic oversight and the accountability required.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”