Our single form primary school is at the heart of the local community. The picturesque village of Hutton Rudby is situated near Stokesley in the North of North Yorkshire. It is approximately 20 minutes south of Middlesbrough.

At Hutton Rudby we benefit from plenty of space. We have eight classrooms, a hall, a large playing field, a woodland area and two playgrounds. We also have changing rooms for the children in upper Key Stage 2. We take great pride in the school plays and pantomimes that we produce at Hutton Rudby Primary School, as well as the extra-curricular opportunities that the children have access to in terms of performing arts (the children currently can learn guitar, drums, keyboard, piano and a number of brass instruments).

Between members of staff and outside providers, we offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities, from football to skateboarding; these activities engage and excite the children. We also offer the children the chance to engage with clubs involving LEGO, Warhammer and more. We even have a salt-water aquarium with a variety of tropical fish that the children care for at Wildlife Club!

An engaging Sports Week is one of the many highlights of our school year. The children have the chance to access sport as diverse as wheelchair basketball to rock climbing. We aim to give the children the chance to access sports that they would not normally have the chance to enjoy. Children can compete in a range of sporting competitions with other local schools.

There is a private nursery onsite (Kidz Day Nursery) and we provide wraparound care from 7.30am until 5.45pm, Monday to Friday, which is staffed by our teaching assistants.

Our Pupils

At Hutton Rudby, our pupils are predominantly of white, British ethnicity. Only 47% of our pupils come from within our catchment area. 25% of pupils come from Stokesley and 28% from other surrounding villages. Hutton Rudby itself is an established commuter village with little social housing and a large number of professional parents.

We are very proud of our well-behaved and confident pupils who have a deep sense of social responsibility. We try and instil leadership qualities in all of our children and they get many opportunities to show these skills off in group work, sports, dramatic performances, school council, eco team and various clubs. In year 6, every child can apply and interview for a number of leadership roles.

Ofsted (September 2023) recognised:

“Pupils behave well in lessons, and learning is not disrupted. From the early years, children are quickly taught about routines and expectations. There is a calm, orderly and purposeful atmosphere around the school. Pupils are knowledgeable about being tolerant and respectful to all. They discuss how the curriculum for personal, social and health education has taught them the importance of this.”

“Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities and show great enthusiasm for these roles. They can become prefects, members of the school council, house captains and sports leaders. There are weekly assemblies to celebrate success. Pupils are very keen that their class achieves the weekly attendance award. The caretaker gives certificates to the class with the tidiest classroom. These awards inspire pupils to be motivated and responsible.”

Curriculum and Wellbeing

The curriculum at Hutton Rudby Primary School is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that is inclusive of the needs and wellbeing of all pupils. Lessons and trips are stimulating and teachers inject fun into learning, aiming to give pupils the knowledge and understanding to prepare them for the next stage of their education. The curriculum ensures that academic success, as well as physical and mental development, are key elements that support the development of the whole child. It also promotes a positive attitude to learning, giving pupils the knowledge and desire to continue learning long into the future.

Oftsed (September 2023) recognised:

There has been much work of late to review the school’s curriculum. Thought has been given to what knowledge pupils need to know and when this should be taught. Some subjects have new curriculums in place, and early indications show that this is having a positive impact.

Currently, the senior leadership team at the school is as follows:

The federation’s Governing Body will need to agree a senior leadership team structure that works across the whole federation and is fit for purpose.

Our valued staff team consists of seven full-time teachers, four HLTA/ATA’s and four GTAs, two MSA/after school assistants, two administrators, a school cook, kitchen assistant and caretaker.

Our teaching staff are a very capable and dynamic staff; most of which have been with us since they qualified and have specialist subject area expertise. Although this brings with it loyalty and a desire to work here, it also limits the range of ideas and practice experienced which we are keen for our next headteacher to develop.

Our staff relationships are very strong, as evidenced by a recent staff questionnaire (December 2023).  Our staff-pupil relationships are also strong.

Ofsted (September 2023) recognised:

“There are positive relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils attend well and say that they love coming to this school, as their lessons are interesting. Pupils report that they feel safe in school and have a trusted adult should they have a concern. Staff have high expectations for behaviour, and pupils follow the rules well.

Training and Development of staff including networks

The school has had a strong relationship with the Swaledale Alliance, a local ex-teaching school alliance which still functions as such in the north of North Yorkshire. The organisation provides a wide range of CPD, ITT and school to school support.

The Governing Body

We are fortunate to benefit from a very strong governing body which contains professionals with a wide range of skills. There are no vacancies and recent parent governor elections have demonstrated a strong desire by the parent community to serve the school.

Ofsted (September 2023) recognised:

Leaders and the governing body have a shared vision for their community. They have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Members of the governing body provide support but also hold leaders to account. At subject leadership level, there are some new leaders in role. These staff are being supported by the school to develop. Staff feel valued and are overwhelmingly proud to work at this school. All staff feel very well supported. Leaders are considerate of staff’s well-being and workload. The school asks parents their views using surveys, and leaders support pupils to participate in community fundraising events.

At Hutton Rudby Primary School the CHILD is at the heart of everything we do.

Our vision and values centres around 5 priorities that are intertwined and centred around the CHILD and feed into our curriculum offer.

C ulture & Community: We want our children to be citizens of the world and valued members of their communities.

H ealthy Minds & Bodies: We want our children to be mentally and physically healthy.

I ndividual Excellence: We want all of our children to achieve their full potential and will set high expectations for all to help them do so.

L ifelong Learners: We want our children to be able to take the skills they learn here and apply them to the rest of their lives.

D etermination: We want our children to be resilient in the face of adversity.

Ofsted (September 2023) recognised:

“The school values are well known and understood by pupils. In discussions, pupils often refer to how these values help them, such as remembering to be healthy in mind and body.”

We were pleased with our most recent Ofsted report from September 2023:

Overall effectiveness - Good
The quality of education - Good
Behaviour and attitudes - Good
Personal development - Good
Leadership and management - Good
Early Years provision - Good

Ofsted recognised:

“Hutton Rudby Primary School is a friendly and welcoming school. The vast majority of pupils report that they are happy to come here and that staff are caring. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. Leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).”

Areas for development

Assessment for Learning - Teachers and teaching assistants have been working hard on developing a wider range of AfL strategies to ensure that adults and children are fully aware of their performance during lessons so they can respond to feedback. We’ve been looking at videos of good practice and have recently undertaken a round of reciprocal peer observations alongside a partner school.

Faith and Religious Education - During our recent inspection, Ofsted agreed with us that faith and religious education isn’t taught as well as some other subjects. We are currently reviewing these areas of the curriculum. This includes the daily act of collective worship.

Curriculum leadership - Due to some recent staffing changes, we have English and maths leaders that are new to post.  A significant amount of CPD has been invested in both members of staff and their development has been rapid. However, this needs to continue. If the decision is taken to federate, this leadership model may need to evolve.

Pupil Achievement, Attainment and progress

Overall, pupils are academically able, with six out of seven cohorts well in excess of national standards. Our weakest cohort, year three, are in line with national expectations and are making better than expected progress. Our most recent pupil data can be found here.

Budget position

Revenue Budget summary figures taken from the revised forecast (December 2023).

Expected outturn for April 2023: 21k deficit
Expected outturn for April 2024: 3k deficit
Expected outturn for April 2025: 12k deficit

The school is currently working with the Local Authority’s FMS team (Financial Management in Schools) to reduce this deficit.  However, if the school federated, these budget figures would have to be revised to take these financial changes into consideration.

Either way, it would be pertinent for any candidate to consider their approach to reducing revenue spend, given that school budgets will be in a challenging position over the next few years. Further financial data about us can be found here.

Following our 2023 Ofsted, our School Development Plan outlines our ambitions and priorities across the next couple of years as we seek to federate.

Short term priorities

The governing body has taken the decision to formally consult on federating with a local federation. A 6-week public consultation will go ahead shortly, providing the governing body with a decision-making window around April/May 2024. If the process goes ahead, the headteacher will be working closely with other headteachers and heads of schools across the federation.  They will require strong inter-personal skills and will continually collaborate with others as we integrate.

Mid-term priorities

Ensuring challenge for all pupils, including the most able

A high number of pupils enter our school with high attainment.  The successful candidate will need to have proven strategies to motivate and inspire staff and pupils to continually challenge and meet high expectations.  Attainment outcomes at the end of Key Stage 2 are consistently high, however progress measures are only average.  We need to work hard to avoid complacency.

Long term priorities

Improvement of ICT

School’s device:pupil ratio is not low enough to provide easy access to technology and the school will need to consider its long term strategy to solve this.  Federation solutions enable parents to provide voluntary funds, which generate them with loaned laptops. Younger pupils could utilise a larger number of ipads to support their learning. A move over to a cloud-based server network (Microsoft Intune) is imminent.

Improvement of budget

Some further work to improve the efficiency of the school and therefore the budget is essential over the next few years.  If the school federates, the headteacher would need to work in partnership with the Executive Headteacher to establish and implement plans to secure the budget.

We also intend to review our nursery/pre-school provision in line with DfE requirements.

Relationships with parents

There has been a significant improvement in relationship between school and parents over the last 18 months, marked in our most recent parent survey in December 2023.

A Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has been formed which has already raised a significant amount of money for the school.

Overall, parents provide excellent support for their children’s education at Hutton Rudby Primary School with high expectations of the school around good communication, high quality teaching and learning and a first-rate quality of education. There has been a great deal of work done to improve communication and provision for our pupils with SEND. This has included improvement in systems which improve communication between staff and parents. We are looking for our next headteacher to be able to take this work further.

Relationship with LA

The school enjoys a strong relationship with the Local Authority. Until recently, the Local Authority had categorised the school as requiring additional support and received many additional visits as part of greater scrutiny. After a lot of work and effort, the school is now in a strong position, moving forward. This has been recognised both by Ofsted and the Local Authority.

Wider Community links

Hutton Rudby Primary School has supported a number of charities and good causes over a number of years and continue to do so.

We are keen to build further links with our local community. Although the school visits the local Church once at Christmas (All Saints, Church of England) which is a part of the Whorlton Benefice, it is felt that this relationship could be stronger. Likewise, although there are some links with local sports clubs, these could be stronger. We would welcome our new headteacher developing these links and seeking greater community engagement.

North Yorkshire is England's largest county and one of the most rural. The area comprises the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and the Pennines - three areas of outstanding natural beauty, and a stunning coastline around Scarborough and Whitby. There are ruined castles and abbeys, serene gardens, unique breweries, thrilling rides and industrial heritage. The area hosted the phenomenal Tour de France in 2014 and has since created the Tour de Yorkshire, an annual event with global recognition. Our success in supporting these events led to Harrogate hosting the UCI Cycling World Championships in 2019.

North Yorkshire has plenty to offer the outdoor enthusiast. From the hard gritstone of Almscliff and Brimham rocks to the limestone of Malham, Gordale and Kilnsey climbing venues are in abundance. The Yorkshire Dales is the premier area for caving and for mountain biking; there are the bridleways of the Dales and North York Moors as well as the renowned trail centre at Dalby Forest. There are a small number of sailing clubs on reservoirs around the county and fantastic surf sport venues and sea kayaking on the east coast.

While the county is rightly known for its wide-open spaces, it also incorporates attractive market towns including Thirsk, Pickering and Helmsley, traditional seaside towns, the Spa town of Harrogate and the ancient city of York. There are a wide range of shopping, leisure, and cultural facilities as well as excellent schools, universities, road and rail links, there really is everything to offer you and your family as a place to work, live and enjoy!

Travelling further afield we have convenient connectivity, with proximity to metropolitan cities of Leeds and Newcastle, with little over two hours commute on the main train line to London. We border the Lake District, Lancashire, County Durham, and Yorkshire & Humber regions with all they have to offer.

For further information on our beautiful county, please visit:

www.visitnorthyorkshire.com
North Yorkshire Visitor Guide

When applying please take into account the following supporting documents:

Person Specification
Job Description
Application Form

Additional documentation related to federation will be provided to shortlisted candidates.

Application guidance - Information in Support of your Application

Your application form plays an important part in your selection. As part of the application process, you may have been asked to demonstrate within this application form how you meet some or all of the criteria or key competencies outlined in the person specification. The supporting information section of your application should clearly evidence your ability to meet these requirements. This will be used to shortlist applicants for this role and therefore it is imperative that you provide evidence as requested. Rather than simply repeating your career history, look at the skills and experience required by the job and provide evidence that you possess them by giving specific and detailed examples which include a focus on outcomes and on your own contribution to the scenario. Try to use different and varied examples wherever possible and do not forget the skills and experience you have gained outside full-time work. Outlining your previous work experience or other responsibilities may help you to uncover skills which you have taken for granted and which are clear signs of your ability to do the job.

Please note that only the contents of the application form will be used as evidence for shortlisting.  No other information is required, for example a letter of application.

Completed applications should be emailed to jobs@huttonrudby.n-yorks.sch.uk.

Canvassing

Should your application be for a local authority school, you must not try to influence an elected Council Member, any council employee or a member of the school governing body, to act in your favour, as this will disqualify you.  If you are related to a Councillor, a Council employee or a governor you must indicate this in the relevant section of the application form.

Data Protection

The information that you state on this application form will be used by the school to consider you for a job vacancy. To find out about how we use your personal data for the purposes of recruitment please see our Privacy Notice here.

Rehabilitation of Offenders

The post you are applying for requires you to have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service criminal records check for work with children, with a barred list check if you work in regulated activity.  This check for disclosure of criminal history will include spent convictions, pending prosecutions / current court proceeding and police enquiries.

Should you be shortlisted, you will be asked to disclose full details of your criminal history prior to your interview. This includes any information deemed relevant as part of Keeping Children Safe in Education which may arise in an online search undertaken on shortlisted candidates. This information may be discussed with you at your interview in order to assess job related risks, but we emphasise that your application will be considered on merit and ability and you will not be discriminated against unfairly.  Failure to disclose this information will result in any offer of employment being withdrawn.

Please also see the policy statement on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders below.

Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders (Source www.gov.uk)

1. As an organisation assessing applicants’ suitability for positions which are included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order using criminal record checks processed through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), this school complies fully with the DBS code of practice and undertakes to treat all applicants for positions fairly.
2. This school undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a criminal record check on the basis of a conviction or other information revealed.
3. This school can only ask an individual to provide details of convictions and cautions that it is legally entitled to know about.  Where a DBS certificate can legally be requested (where the position is one that is included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975 as amended, and where appropriate Policy Act Regulations as amended) this school can only ask an individual about convictions and cautions that are not protected.
4. This school is committed to the fair treatment of its staff and potential staff, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, responsibilities for dependents, age, physical/mental disability or offending background.
5. This school has this written policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders, which is made available to all DBS applicants at the start of the recruitment process.
6. This school actively promotes equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential and welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records.  Candidates are selected for interview based on their skills, qualifications and experience and criminal record information is only requested from short-listed candidates.
7. A disclosure is only requested from the DBS after a thorough risk assessment has indicated that one is both proportionate and relevant to the position concerned. For those positions where a criminal record check is identified as necessary, all application forms, job adverts and recruitment briefs will contain a statement that a DBS certificate will be requested in the event of the individual being offered the position.
8. This school ensures that all those who are involved in the recruitment process have been suitably trained to identify and assess the relevance and circumstances of offences.
9. This school also ensures that they have received appropriate guidance and training in the relevant legislation relating to the employment of ex-offenders, e.g. the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
10. At interview, or in a separate discussion, this school ensures that an open and measured discussion takes place on the subject of any offences or other matter that might be relevant to the position. Failure to reveal information that is directly relevant to the position sought could lead to withdrawal of an offer of employment.
11. This school makes every subject of a criminal record check submitted to DBS aware of the existence of the code of practice and makes a copy available on request.
12. This school undertakes to discuss any matter revealed on a DBS certificate with the individual seeking the position before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment.

References

When completing your application, please provide two employment referees.