Luttons Community Primary School rated ‘Inadequate’ by Ofsted

Inspectors from the watchdog gave the rating to Luttons Community Primary School, in West Lutton near Malton, after visiting the school on February 21 and 22.

They raised concerns over the school’s leadership and said there are fears among parents of bullying not being dealt with quickly.  

The school is below the average size – caring for 46 pupils aged three to 11.

There are two classes - one with children from nursery and reception along with key stage one pupils, and another with key stage two pupils from Years three to six.

Before this visit, Ofsted inspectors last visited the school in October 2021, where it retained the overall rating of ‘Good’.

Since then, however, the inspectors found the school to be “unsettled” and said there has been “significant changes in leadership and staffing”.

They said this has meant that many parents and carers are “anxious about the negative impact this has had on their child’s learning”.

Following the concerns, an interim executive board (IEB) was established by North Yorkshire Council to help the school secure interim leadership.

An interim headteacher has now been appointed to develop a new curriculum, who inspectors said has “earned the trust and respect of the whole staff team”.

The inspectors said the scale of this task means that work has only just begun in some subjects, so it is too soon to see the impact of the leaders’ plans.

They stated that, although “considerable progress” has been made to improve pupils’ behaviour, some still worry about bullying.

Parents 'unconvinced' that any bullying would be stopped quickly

The watchdog found that, overall, the pupils behave well with little bullying taking place, but said “some parents remain unconvinced that leaders will stop any bullying quickly”.

Inspectors also found that the curriculum for early reading is not being implemented well.

They raised further concerns over pupils developing their listening skills in phonics lessons, which they said is slowing pupils’ progress and means that “far too few" in Years one and two achieve the reading standard that is expected for their age.

Additional issues were raised in the report over adults having low expectations of children, and that the learning environment is “dull and uninspiring”.

Inspectors said that staff have a “poor understanding” of the areas of learning they teach and the way in which young children learn, which is slowing children’s progress.

Rating was 'disappointing, but not unexpected'

Luttons Community Primary School’s chair of the IEB Jane Pepper, said: “We accept the findings of the Ofsted report and the outcome of the inspection, which whilst disappointing, was not unexpected.”

She added that the board is “committed to providing challenge and support to school leaders to improve the quality of education as a matter of urgency”.

North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for education and skills, Amanda Newbold, said: “We have developed a plan for improvement and will work alongside the IEB to monitor and support the school as it moves forward ensuring that the necessary improvements take place with the urgency that is required.”

The report can be read in full on Ofsted's website.