OFSTED
After a long delay due to the summer break, Ofsted have published our report following our inspection on 13th and 14th June. The report is attached for your information.
Whilst we are extremely disappointed with the overall grade of the inspection, we are pleased that Personal Development was recognised as a strength. Inspectors found the school to have many good aspects, but raised some inconsistencies with the curriculum and behaviour and there was some variability in the provision for children with SEND. We are very proud of our children and would like to share some of last year’s successes both within last year's results and in the improvements we are currently making which were recognised in the report itself and are detailed further below.
Summer 2023 outcomes
Early Years Foundation Stage: 75% of our pupils reached a Good Level of Development, a 10% increase on last year’s results and likely to be above national.
Phonics: 70% of our pupils met the required standard, a 5% increase on last year. By the end of Year 2, 85% of the children met the required standard in phonics.
By the time our Year 6 pupils left the school, 74% of them reached the expected standard in reading and maths and 71% in writing. This is in line with national outcomes.
Strengths praised by Ofsted
Given our continuing improvements in outcomes along with the strengths in pupils’ personal development, we are pleased that Ofsted have been able to identify the good work we have been doing. They reported that ‘Pupils are happy at Hallbrook Primary School. They are polite, friendly and well mannered. Relationships between pupils and adults in school are strong.’ We are proud that children told inspectors that they know that adults in our school will keep them safe.
Ofsted acknowledged that school leaders, with the support of the Trust, have brought about recent improvements in the quality of education. The following positive comments were included within the report:
• Pupils are happy, polite, friendly and well-mannered.
• Relationships between pupils and adults are strong and pupils have confidence that staff will keep them safe.
• Leadership roles and masterclasses help to prepare children for transition to secondary school.
• Leaders have taken significant steps to address actions from the last inspection.
• In maths, pupils gain knowledge in a well-considered way.
• Teachers provide clear explanations and check on gaps in learning so that they know more over time.
• Older pupils enjoy reading widely and leaders ensure that pupils read and share texts that explore diversity.
• Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND have the right resources and equipment to help them to access the curriculum.
• Most pupils have positive attitudes to learning.
• Early Years pupils enjoy playing in Preschool and Reception children are excited and curious about learning.
Work in place around areas for improvement
The school’s improvement journey has been as rapid as possible in the last three years. Staff are committed to improving all aspects of the school. However, we recognise there is more work to do and acknowledge the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted during the inspection.
Firstly, they identified that in some subjects, key knowledge and content pupils need to learn is not sufficiently well identified or sequenced but recognised that as a school we are already refining our curriculum. We are already ensuring that all curriculum subjects include further detail on the knowledge pupils should know and by when. The work we have already implemented on assessment will also be refined as part of this process.
The second area identified for improvement is in the area of Special Educational Needs where inspectors identified that targets need to be more precise so that the curriculum for these pupils is well-matched to their needs. We are in the process of developing our SEND provision further and the appointment of a new SENDCo will enable us to accelerate this process. Specialist advice is always followed for our pupils but sometimes this is delayed by the availability of external providers. We have moved rapidly to ensure scaffolds and adjustments are in place for all children and staff will continue to receive additional training in this area.
Finally, whilst inspectors recognised that there were high expectations for pupils’ behaviour across the school, they identified some inconsistencies in the implementation of these expectations. We have addressed this with recent training for all staff.
Ofsted recognised that leaders and staff are putting in place the right infrastructure for the school to thrive, and we have confidence that all areas of improvement identified will be rapidly addressed well before the next inspection in order for the school to be recognised as good in all areas.
We will continue to keep you informed of our progress and look forward to continuing to share our successes with you.
OFSTED REPORTS
We are proud of our school and our continued improvement in all areas of learning and management.
Click on the Ofsted link below to view our report.
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/143609
PARENT VIEW
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