Our children and families are at the heart of our school so it is important to everyone at Water Street School that you hear from our children, parents and carers:

Some of the qualities the children would like from their new head are:

Please click here to view a video of some of the pupils talking about what makes the school great to them 

"We love the focus on the independence of children. The welcome every morning. The open-door policy of being able to contact Teachers directly or Mr Anslow directly. The pride the children show in getting to show things to Mr Anslow his warm welcoming approach to everyone.” Year 3 parent

"A head who is passionate about children, their well-being and their education is very important.  Well-being is more important than attainment. Children who are happy at school perform much better than those who aren't” Year 4 Parent

Water Street is a friendly, welcoming, child-centred primary school in the beautiful small market town of Skiptonin North Yorkshire on the edge of the picturesque Yorkshire Dales. The town being in walking distance from our school, provides the opportunities for local outings out of school, for example for history walks, trip to Skipton Castle, swimming lessons and some sports activities at Sandylands sports centre.  

We make the most of what is available to use in our local environment. The school is built on a steep hill and is a former Methodist chapel. It is surrounded by housing and some time is spent on maintaining good relations with the neighbours. Skipton has excellent transport links, and the school is a 10-minute walk from the bus and train stations. 

The area is predominantly affluent with working professional families with aspirational parents. Over the last few years, we have experienced an increasing diversity in intake and family structures. New developments with a broader mix of housing options are bringing a more diverse range of pupils into the school. Over the last few years our intake has moved from about 2/3 being from within the catchment area to 90% in the 2022 intake being from within catchment.   

Boys’ and girls’ selective grammar schools exist within the catchment area which many of our pupils move onto after their time at Water Street. Currently the school is oversubscribed with approximately 90 applications for 30 places in reception.  

Features and benefits of our schools: 

• Breakfast club offered in-house. After school club run on school premises by a third-party provider  
• Many after school clubs run, predominantly sports based. 
• Reception and year 1 have their own outside space they can access throughout the day, including a science garden 
• Residential trips run in year 5 to London (3 days, 2 nights) and year 6 to Bewerley Park (1 week) 
• Christmas productions for KS1 and KS2 
• Summer production for KS2 and leaver’s show 
• House system with school activities sometimes run-in houses across year groups rather than in class groups – e.g., science week 
• Termly reward for the house with the most points 
• Active school council made up of year 5 and 6 children that organise Children in Need Day and other activities during the year 
• Year 5 playground squad that run lunchtime activities for other year groups 
• Year 6 and reception buddy system  
• Geography of the school means there are sloping playgrounds and lots of stairs! 
• Celebration of national events, e.g., Queen’s Jubilee, royal weddings, world cup etc run as whole school events 
• Some whole school trips too – for example to Blackpool Zoo to link in with the Key Stage 2 production of the Lion King that year. 
• We like to ensure that lots of special memories are created for children during their time at WS 
• Use of SAT Buster books not commonly seen in many schools 
• Within Skipton Water Street has the reputation of being the best primary school to go to, not just among the parents or primary school aged children but across the wider community.

Our Pupils are the heart of our school; we are lucky enough to have well-behaved, confident, polite, enthusiastic, and hardworking pupils. When out and about on trips the pupils are often receive positive comments from members of the public.  

Some year groups have one or two individuals that have some behavioral challenges that can sometimes disrupt their class. One to one TA support is provided for these individuals where possible. Year 4 is currently the year group with the greatest challenges. 

Two pupils have significant medical needs, but both specifically wanted to be at Water Street, despite its geography not necessarily being conducive to their needs. Both these children are thriving and have recently won awards for their attitude towards sport in a national competition.  

We have an increasing number of children with additional needs which is challenging the budget in terms of providing the right support for them.  

We have a strict anti-bullying policy which has been written in an adult and child friendly way. The children were involved in the creation of the child-friendly version.  In addition, we have a positive behaviour policy 

Pupils are supportive of each other across the year groups and consider themselves to be part of a whole Water Street family and not just part of their own year group 

“We are one big family, we not only care for the children and teachers of our own school year, but everyone as a whole” Year 4 parent 

“Water Street is a great local school with enthusiastic pupils, lots going on and very positive fun atmosphere.  In amongst all this the children also do well academically” Year 4 Parent  

Child wellbeing:  

The emotional wellbeing of the children at the schools has always been a high priority and children are encouraged to talk in class and to their peers about their mental health. Mental health has continued to be of key importance as we come out of the Covid pandemic and activities, such as mindfulness, have been shared with the children. Online safety is also a key factor and regular information is shared with children and parents on how to stay safe on the internet.  

Our staff are our greatest resource and are incredibly committed, loyal, positive and hardworking. We always have the best interests of the pupils at heart and are determined to find something at which every child can shine. All our staff get to know the children in our schools very well and use this information to personalise opportunities for learning and socialisation.  

“The people, the staff and the dedication and knowledge. The staff really get to know your child and families. The school currently has a strong leadership team” Year 5 Parent  

SLT structure 

• Headteacher  
• Deputy- Maths lead/ KS2 coordinator/Y6 teacher 
• KS1 leader, EYFS leader, English lead (with headteacher 
• SEND- outsources service which work well.  

Staff Structure: 

• KS1/EY Lead – also English lead with the HT 
• KS2 lead also Maths lead 
• Head/Deputy and Year 1 TA are the Safeguarding leads 
• SEN outsourced and overseen by the HT 
• Subject leads for science, history, sport, geography, computing  

Teaching Assistants: 

• • Used to be one per year group supporting the teacher – now most are used to support those with the most additional needs one to one. 
  • One TA also responsible for our mental health and wellbeing offering for the pupils and created the application for the school’s Silver mental health award  

Number of Teachers and FTE 

• 9 (7 FTE) plus the head who fills in when required

SENDCo Responsibilities 

• Day to day outsourced overseen by the HT 

Number of classes 

• 7 Classes – One form intake from reception to year 6 but classes are large from year 3 - 6 (33 or 34 pupils) 

Details of non-teaching staff 

• School Business Manager, is also Clerk of Governors and administrator of the Castle Network Alliance 
• School office manager  
• Midday supervisors 

“Fantastic education where every child is helped to be the best they can be. Rewarding, nurturing, builds confidence and belief in abilities. A community feel. Caring. Amazing dedicated staff”. Year 5 Parent 

Staff relationships 

There is an excellent, supportive staff team who are engaged, dedicated, and look out for each other. They have years of experience with the school (4 have been here for over 25 years) and there is minimal staff turnover. Once at WS staff seem to never want to leave! There is culture of care for each other and the children.  

There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’ between the teaching and non-teaching staff they very much see themselves as one team.  This also includes the current head who whilst a leader is also very much part of the team and will roll his sleeves up when necessary, taking classes and supporting the staff. 

We are also fortunate enough to have some very experienced TAs who are former teachers. 

In addition, we bring in specialist external support for Music, French, and a variety of sports 

The Governing Body’s Role and Support 

The school has a very supportive governing body who take their role seriously. They provide robust, but friendly challenge and are approachable and supportive. The full GB meets once a half term with meetings either focusing on resourcing or improvement.  

We have link governors for our required statutory areas as well as for all areas of the SIP, Early Years, KS1 and KS2. The chair of governors is due to stand down at the end of the school year with the vice chair currently working with her, so the VC will take over next year as chair. For the next school year, the roles will flip so the current chair will become the vice chair and will work alongside the chair to provide some continuity for the incoming head. 

Whilst we have no issue in recruiting parent governors, we currently have a LA and a co-opted governor vacancy. 

Read more about our Governors

In order to formulate and communicate a whole school vision and ethos, the following vision and value statement was devised. It has a prominent place in the school’s reception and permeates all of our school life from forming the basis of our assemblies, to the same language and terms being embedded in many of our school polices. The children all know the values by heart, can give examples of how they can demonstrate them and are rewarded with house points when they display them. 

Water Street is a friendly and welcoming school. Whilst the building is quite imposing from the outside, once inside there is a wonderful ‘Water Street’ feel. It is kind, nurturing and supportive for both the children and staff alike with a culture of bespoke curricula which nurture the whole child. We are not a school that will necessarily follow the latest trends if we do not feel it is right for our pupils; this can be a challenging path to tread. We spend a lot of time on resilience and more recently an increased focus on mental health and wellbeing.  

“Fantastic education where every child is helped to be the best they can be. Rewarding, nurturing, builds confidence and belief in abilities. A community feel. Caring. Amazing, dedicated staff.” Year 5 parent 

“One of the things I value the most about the current head is that he is involved on the ground level with the staff and the children. He knows what is happening in all the classes and knows the pupils by name. He covers classes, does story time, visits reception and interacts/plays with the younger children. This is very rare to find in a headteacher but something that is very special and important. A lot of schools have a top-down approach but what makes Water Street special is that it values the early years and sees EYFS and ks1 as the foundations to a great education.” Parent of children in years 2 & 6 

Date and result of last Ofsted  

June 2007 – Outstanding  

Future Considerations  

We want to be on the front foot before we are ‘forced’ into academisation, so whilst having academy experience is not a necessity, having someone who has either gone through this experience already or is open to going through it would be extremely beneficial. We were also looking into federation before COVID hit so this is also something we could consider as an alternative. 

As with many schools we are struggling to be able to submit a surplus budget and as a result staffing structure will need to be looked at if the current level of funding is not rectified, especially with the increasing needs from SEND children that we are experiencing.   

However we continue to support the children and their families, who are struggling in mainstream education but for whom there is, currently, no alternative.’ 

Current levels of pupil achievement, attainment and progress:  

All pupils progress well, including those from vulnerable groups. Pupil progress is carefully monitored whilst being mindful of staff workload. Regular pupil progress meetings take place with interventions put into place for issues that are picked up. The experienced staff team are adept at identifying needs and addressing them early. 

Current areas identified for improvement: 

• Provision for SEND pupils with additional needs (included in SIP) 
• Curriculum leadership needs to be spread across a wider number of staff (included in SIP) 
• Building the resilience of the children more after COVID as well as some COVID catch up around writing - writing at greater depth is part of the current year’s SIP. 
• Extension of the mental wellbeing support to the staff as well as the children (included in SIP) 
• Delegation of some responsibilities 

 Main priorities of our School improvement Plan: 

• Embedding Quality Education – remembering key knowledge, ensuring progress of SEND pupils, focus on Writing (particular focus on Greater Depth to address Covid dip), marking and feedback.  
• EYFS – further embed curriculum etc – focus on ensuring learning is sequential and skills progressive. Sticky learning (remembering/recall of knowledge and skills taught in EYFS). Planning for expectations of Reception Pupil at end of year. 
• Behavior and Attitudes – ensure continue to be exceptional.  
• Personal Development – aim to be beacon school for Mental Health and Wellbeing 
• Leadership & management – succession planning for governing body, focus on safeguarding, develop subject leadership. 

Current schools’ strengths: 

• Our wonderful children 
• Bespoke curriculum and the planning and work behind this 
• Staff experience, commitment, and wealth of knowledge of the curriculum and the school 
• Subject expertise and drive.  
• Support of the wider school community, especially the parents and governors. 
• Relationships with parents, and staff team ethos.  
• TA expertise and commitment to the job (as noted previously, some are former teachers) One of our TAs is one of the Safeguarding leads and another leads our mental health and wellbeing curriculum, completing our submission for our successful “schools mental health award”.  
• We have a surplus budget (albeit it a decreasing one) that has been built up over years of strong financial management.  
• Castle Alliance HT support network. 
• Our positive ethos which is also open friendly and inclusive. 
• Have high outcomes – results in all areas are well above the national average (EYFS, Phonics, KS1 SATS & KS2 SATS) 
•  

The people, the staff and the dedication and knowledge. The staff really get to know your child and families. The school currently has a strong leadership team.” Year 5 parent 

Make-up, needs and expectations of pupils  

A high number of pupils have aspirational parents who wish for their children to go to the grammar schools in Skipton.  The evolving catchment area is broadening the range of social status of the families in school and bringing with it wider needs for those pupils.  

There is a small ethnic minority within school. Some pupils have English as a second language but overall English is strong. 

Budgetary Position 

We have a current in year deficit but an overall surplus of just over £100k. This is currently being chipped away at to cover our in-year deficits as we battle to provide the right level of support for our children, especially those with additional needs. 

Budget for 22/23. 23/24 & 25/25 outcomes are below – revised budget won’t be done in time for this submission but is currently being worked on 

The extended school balance relates to Castle funding and is not part of our surplus.                        

The needs of our children always come first, and we work closely with parents and carers, building positive relationships that help contribute to the work we do.  

Many parents/carers and residents continue to be very engaged and to support our school.  It is in this way that all are able to feel they are active participants in the functioning and development of our school which can only have positive implications for the children: 

In Particular: 

• Strong relationships with parents. Current head is very visible on the gate morning and afternoon and has an open-door policy to ensure things are dealt with before they become big concerns.  
• Most teaching staff are also out at the end of the school day and open to contact with parents as and when required 
• There are no shortage of parent governor volunteers and there is strong fund-raising team (FOWS – Friends of Water Street School) who undertake numerous fundraising activities throughout the year which are well attended. 
• Teaching staff send out a weekly newsletter to parents of their class on what is coming up the following week, including any homework. 
• A full school newsletter is published weekly along with a monthly ‘bumper’ edition with a summary of what each class has been up to for that month including photos.  
• The FOWS pay for a texting service for key messages and reminders to go out to parents on a timely basis. 
• Parents are invited into school for assemblies and school productions. They also come on school trips to help with ratios (there is always sufficient school staff to meet the minimum requirements) 

Relationship with wider community:   

• School performances at the local church  
• Fund raising:
  • Comic relief 
  • Sports relief 
  • Children in Need – run by school council.
  • MacMillan coffee morning run each year  
• Participate in many cross-school sporting events, cross country, football, cricket, swimming 
• Participate in the annual Skipton Music Festival 
• School summer fair attended by school and local community 
• Fire brigade and Police visits 
• Also, time spent maintaining relations with the immediate neighbours of the school 

Support that will be available to the new Headteacher

• Castle Alliance Head Teachers network 
• Handover days with the current HT in the summer term 
• Very experienced SLT 
• Experienced Governing Body 
• Support from LA Senior Education Advisor  

Collaborative Partnerships 

Water Street is part of Castle Alliance a network of schools in the Craven area who have historically worked together to share best practice via a series of networks. The strategic board is made up of 5 heads of which Water Street is one of them and Water Street also runs the administration for the network. It has previously provided opportunities for the staff to develop and think about how they can support other schools in the local areas with topics such as: newly qualified teachers, specific subjects, implementation of the revised Ofsted requirements.  

Founding member of the new “The Craven Partnership”.  It will be hosting competitions, science clubs, and events for families, trips for children and training for staff - www.cravenpartnership.co.uk   

Water Street School is also part of a local sports network hosting various sporting events and competitions. 

Skipton  

Skipton is a charming market town in the Craven district of North Yorkshire and is ideally positioned with excellent transport links too many other major UK cities, and close to the junction of the A65 from Leeds to the Lake District and the A59 from York to Liverpool. Leeds is only 40 minutes away by train and there is a direct train to London once a day. 

Nestled on the edge of the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, people travel the length and breadth of the country to visit and it was listed in the 2018 Sunday Times report on “Best Places to Live in Northern England”.  With its famous 900-year-old castle, romantic ruined priory and historic cobbled High Street, Skipton is endlessly rich both in history and outstanding natural beauty.  

You can find out more here. 

North Yorkshire 

North Yorkshire is England's largest county and one of the most rural. The area comprises the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, 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 ‘Grand Depart’ in 2014 and has since created the Tour de Yorkshire, an annual event with global recognition. 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 Pickering and Skipton, traditional seaside towns, the Spa town of Harrogate and the ancient city of York - the most visited city outside of London. 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 close proximity to metropolitan cities of Leeds and Newcastle and with a 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.