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National Society Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools Report

Fountains Earth Lofthouse Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Lofthouse Harrogate HG3 5RZ Diocese: West Yorkshire and the Dales Local authority: North Yorkshire Date of inspection: 13 October 2014 Date of last inspection: April 2010 School’s unique reference number: 121561 Headteacher: June Brown Inspector’s name and number: Linda Hodson 314

School context Fountains Earth Lofthouse is a very small primary school, providing education to 34 pupils in the isolated rural community of Upper Nidderdale. All learners are of white British heritage with few being eligible for pupil premium funding. The proportion with special educational needs is broadly average. The school is an active partner within the Dale Teaching Alliance and has recently entered into a formal collaboration with another Church of England school within this partnership. It now shares a headteacher with this school, following the retirement of a full- time headteacher who joined the school shortly after the last inspection.

The distinctiveness and effectiveness of Fountains Earth Lofthouse as a Church of England school are good.  Pupils flourish as confident, independent and successful learners in a warm and caring environment, underpinned by Christian values.  Governors’ decisive actions in establishing the collaboration are ensuring the school’s continued growth as a church school and providing development opportunities for leaders at all levels.  The mutually supportive links with the local church and wider community enrich the school’s curriculum and its provision for collective worship.

Areas to improve  Establish formal systems to enable governors to routinely monitor and evaluate the school as a church school and take well targeted action to secure improvement.  Provide more first-hand experiences to extend pupils’ knowledge and understanding of diverse cultures and communities.  Provide regular opportunities for pupils to contribute to the planning, leadership and evaluation of worship. The school, through its distinctive Christian character, is good at meeting the needs of all learners. Fountains Earth, Lofthouse is a welcoming learning community with a strong Christian character. It values and supports each child as a unique individual. The wide range of educational experiences offered stimulate lively enquiring minds, foster independence and help to develop self-belief. Pupils become confident learners who readily express their views, in the knowledge that their thoughts, ideas and beliefs will be respected by others. They say that they feel safe and well cared for in school and that they enjoy their lessons. As a consequence, rates of attendance are well above average. Parents welcome the strong moral code the school provides, recognising that this is based on the Christian values of respect and trust. The importance of caring, sharing and co-operation is emphasised and modelled effectively by staff in their relationships with each other. The impact is very evident in the pupils’ good behaviour and their support for a wide range of charities. Politeness and courteousness are particularly well fostered at lunchtimes, when the whole school comes together and a family atmosphere prevails. Pupils of all ages interact and support each other at such times. Teachers know the children well in this small school and so are well placed to adapt learning to individual needs. Most pupils therefore make good progress with their learning. The school’s new leaders have high aspirations for all and are implementing plans to ensure that more able pupils are fully challenged. Pupils’ wider achievements are also highly valued and are regularly celebrated in Friday assemblies. Parents welcome the opportunity they have to share their child’s successes at these times. The school’s religious education (RE), together with a varied curriculum, reinforces understanding of the school’s distinctive Christian character. A particularly good example of this is the recent visit of Archbishop Sentamu to the Bell Service, in response to invitations issued by the school. Such experiences effectively support pupils’ understanding of the Church of England beyond the local parish. The opportunities provided by the school to engage in high quality creative activities such as music, drama and art make a good contribution to pupils’ spiritual and cultural development. The new RE leader recognises the need to ensure that teachers continue to plan for spiritual development as the new national curriculum is introduced. Pupils’ understanding of diverse cultures and world religions is well supported in RE, but is not as widely enhanced through visits and links with schools in other localities as at the time of the last inspection.

The impact of collective worship on the school community is good. Collective worship occupies a place of importance in the life of the school and is valued as a special time when the school community can meet together. This is reflected in the quality of the physical environment for worship and the impact is seen in the engagement and responses of both adults and children within individual acts of worship. Pupils say that worship is often lively and interactive, particularly when Gary the Gorilla comes along. They enjoy being able to join in with actions and contribute to role play. However, they also understand that quietness and stillness is an equally important part of worship. One child noted, “I find it easier to talk to God when it is quiet and the candle is lit.” Pupils are well supported in creating their own prayers and routinely make use of the Lord’s Prayer. However, they have not yet encountered a wider range Anglican prayers and texts. Leaders ensure that worship is Christian in character and well planned. Christian values such as hope, justice and generosity are routinely explored as part of a structured programme, providing a firm foundation for pupils’ moral and social development. Pupils quickly learn right from wrong and readily demonstrate thoughtfulness and concern for others. The regular contribution of the vicar and the wider church community ensures that pupils encounter a variety of leadership styles and routinely engage with and respond to distinctively Christian teaching. Pupils therefore have a good understanding of the importance of Jesus Christ within the Christian faith by the time they leave the school. The recent introduction of the Open the Book programme has stimulated interest in Bible stories and has encouraged many children to read these for themselves. Major Christian festivals such as Easter

NS 09 2013 SIAMS Inspection School Report and Christmas are normally celebrated in St Chad’s church and are well attended by the local community. Pupils and their families also attend special services that celebrate local traditions such as the Lambing service and the Bell service. These good links with the local church strengthen pupils’ understanding of Anglican traditions and practices. The school’s self- evaluation processes have ensured that quality provision has been sustained over time, ensuring a good impact on pupils’ spiritual development. However, opportunities to involve pupils in these processes have not been fully capitalised on.

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the school as a church school is good. The school has recently undergone a period of significant change in leadership, governance and staffing. A decision to enter a collaboration with a larger Church of England Primary School ensures that education, within a distinctively Christian context, can be sustained within the heart of this rural community. Parents feel well informed about the new arrangements and describe the transition as ‘seamless’. Leadership is now provided by an experienced executive headteacher who has quickly gained the trust and confidence of the whole school community. Her clear direction is ensuring the school is rapidly moving forward. Fountains Earth, Lofthouse continues to be an inclusive learning community, with Christian values at its heart. It provides high levels of care for all its pupils and offers learning experiences, which help pupils to discover and foster their individual talents. The positive impact of the school’s distinctive Christian character on pupils’ personal and social development is well evidenced in their good behaviour. Pupils achieve nationally expected standards, with most making good progress from their individual starting points. Their attendance is also above average and there have been no exclusions since the last inspection. Well-embedded provision for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development ensures that pupils develop as confident, well-rounded learners who demonstrate concern for others and the world they live in. Parents speak highly of the school and feel that they are genuine partners in their children’s education. Mutually supportive links with the local parish make a very effective contribution to the development of the school’s distinctive Christian character, and particularly to the quality of collective worship. Pupils’ understanding of the role of the diocese is enhanced through visits to Ripon Cathedral. Governors ensure that statutory obligations are fulfilled and have a strong commitment to the continuing professional development for staff. They recognise the value of sharing good practice between schools and actively promote this. Records verify that actions were taken to address development points from the previous inspection. However, significant changes in the composition of the governing body has meant that governor involvement in monitoring and evaluating the school as a church school has been not sustained. This, therefore remains an area for development.

SIAMS report October 2014 Fountains Earth Lofthouse C of E VC Primary School HG3 5RZ

NS 09 2013 SIAMS Inspection School Report