Yealand Church of England Primary School

Overview

Yealand Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school, characterised by a "tightknit community" where pupils view themselves as "one family." Leaders maintain high expectations for behaviour and achievement, ensuring that even the youngest children interact positively with older pupils and feel safe. The school provides a wealth of opportunities, including carefully planned trips and links with other schools to broaden pupils’ understanding of diversity and modern Britain.

Strengths

• Pupils conduct themselves well, with leaders dealing with bullying "quickly and effectively" so that it does not recur.
• Leaders have devised an "ambitious curriculum" that is suitably challenging for all pupils, including those in mixed-age classes and the early years.
• Staff deliver early reading and phonics programmes well, ensuring books taken home match the sounds pupils are learning in class.
• Governors skilfully hold leaders to account, ensuring pupils needing additional support receive help to access the same curriculum as their peers.
• Teachers make effective checks on learning to identify misconceptions and inform the next steps in curriculum delivery.

Areas to improve

• In one or two subjects, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant teachers have not delivered some aspects of the curriculum, leaving a few pupils slightly behind. Leaders should ensure teachers revisit this lost learning to enable these pupils to catch up quickly.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff receiving regular training and being adept at identifying pupils who may be at risk of harm or neglect.