Please click here to view our latest Ofsted report following the school’s inspection on the 25 and 26 January 2022.
As part of the inspection process, inspectors select four main subjects to focus on. In this inspection, these were reading, maths, history and computing. For this reason there is not a great focus on the other curriculum areas.
Below is a brief summary of the report, what the main positives are and what areas the school need to improve on.
We are pleased that the report highlights that children enjoy coming to the school and that there are warm and caring relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils also commented to inspectors that they felt safe and that bullying doesn’t happen within the school. Inspectors commented that there is a strong ethos of safeguarding and that children acquire the skills and knowledge needed to keep themselves safe in later life.
The report also highlights that children become confident readers as they pass through the school and that they speak excitedly about the books that they read. Pupils have a real passion for reading and are well supported if they start falling behind their peers. This is also mirrored in maths with pupils remembering difficult concepts such as fractions, they enjoy and engage in lessons. As a result, pupils achieve well in maths.
The main areas for development are around the assessment of pupils and ensuring that they have the precise knowledge that they need in subjects such as history and computing. The inspectors found that as a school we focus too much on developing an exciting curriculum and have failed to identify and assess the precise knowledge that we want children to acquire. This in turn has resulted in children remembering the exciting activities that they have done, rather than the key knowledge that they needed to retain.
#WPSYY2 were kept extremely busy during their day at Ripon Museum and showed great perseverance, whilst working in the laundry room and washing all of the Victorian clothes. #WPSYHistory #Woodthorpecharacter
Year 2 had a wonderful day last week at Ripon Museum. We started our day, in the Victorian school room and showed great determination during our handwriting lesson. #WPSYY2 #WPSYHistory #Woodthorpecharacter
To finish off our science topic ‘seasonal changes’, Year 1 proudly presented their own weather forecast! We used our prior knowledge of measuring the temperature and stating the different types of weather. ☀️ 💨 🌧️ #WPSYY1 #WPSYScience #Woodthorpecharacter
Would we have liked to go to school in the past? #WPSYY2 enjoyed finding out about Victorian classrooms; chanting times tables, practising our reading and writing on slate instead of paper. We were very respectful to the school mistress! #WPSYHistory #woodthorpecharacter