Kings Hedges Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that all pupils make the progress of which they are capable, particularly at key stage 1, by ensuring that all teachers:
  • have higher expectations of the most able and plan challenging work for them
  • provide more opportunities for pupils to develop their reasoning skills in mathematics and other subjects.
• Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that leaders apply the same rigorous approach to raising standards at key stage 1 as they have at key stage 2.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors share a common purpose in putting pupils and their achievement first. Their effective leadership provides the local community with an inclusive school where equality of opportunity is regarded as crucial.
• The headteacher motivates and challenges staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning continuously. Specific targets for teachers, linked to the school’s priorities for improvement, ensure that staff understand their contribution to raising pupils’ achievement.
• Leaders ensure that teachers have opportunities for professional development and to share with one another what works well. Teachers, including those new to the profession, are positive about how leaders help them to develop their practice and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.
• The school’s self-evaluation of its effectiveness is accurate. A wide range of information is gathered by leaders through effective systems for monitoring the work of the school. This informs leaders’ judgements and enables them to set the right goals for improvement. For example, leaders have correctly identified the need to raise standards at key stage 1 and to enable more pupils to achieve the higher standards in national assessments.
• Middle leadership is effective. Subject leaders are rapidly developing appropriate skills through training provided both externally and by experienced colleagues in school. Nonetheless, their approach to monitoring the impact of pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics and other subjects is not rigorous enough. As a result, the most able pupils are not routinely challenged, particularly at key stage 1.
• Curriculum provision is broad, balanced and enriched by many exciting and engaging activities before, during and after school. This contributes strongly to pupils’ thirst for learning and the good progress that most make. Themes and topics, which include trips to places of interest, make learning relevant and provide further interest. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about the changes following the invasion of the Vikings in history, and how they had thoroughly enjoyed experiments in science to test air resistance.
• Leaders ensure that pupils have many experiences to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. A range of trips and visits broadens pupils’ understanding of life beyond the local area. The residential trip to a farm is clearly the highlight of the year for many older pupils, who spoke of their delight in collecting eggs.
• Leaders have made preparing pupils for life in modern Britain a priority. For example, the school holds elections for membership of the school council. Members are required to report back to their class on the improvements they are making around the school. Recently, following a pupil survey, additional bins have been installed and a perimeter hedge replaced to make pupils feel safer.
• Leaders use the pupil premium appropriately to help pupils overcome barriers to learning. Most disadvantaged pupils make strong progress from their starting points. There have also been some improvements in the attendance and behaviour of individual disadvantaged pupils. Leaders carefully evaluate the difference that particular programmes make to pupils’ progress and are quick to adapt or replace any approaches that are less successful.
• Most parents and carers who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, were positive about the work of the school and particularly about how safe pupils feel. Many recognise the improvements that school leaders have made and how open and welcoming the school feels.
• Leaders and governors ensure that the primary physical education (PE) and sport premium increases pupils’ participation in physical education and sporting activities. Pupils have recently taken part in a cross-country running competition between school houses. Pupils benefit from extra-curricular sports at lunchtime and after school as well as attendance at inter-school sports events.
• Provision for pupils with SEND is based on their individual needs, and funding is used effectively to support them. Pupils with SEND were observed to be integrated well into mainstream classes and are able to access the same curriculum as their peers. This is in large part due to the support of well-trained teaching assistants, who know pupils very well and are sensitive to the needs.

Governance of the school

• The governing body provides expertise in different areas of the school’s work. Governors consider detailed reports, including from the headteacher and the local authority, and use these to hold leaders to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. They monitor and evaluate the school’s finances carefully, including the use of pupil premium and primary PE and sport funding to improve pupils’ achievement.
• Governors keep detailed records of how they monitor the work of the school and have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They gather their own evidence by undertaking a range of activities, including school visits, meetings with leaders and discussions with pupils. They use this evidence to hold leaders to account.
• Governors check that procedures for safeguarding pupils meet all statutory requirements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff carry out appropriate checks on those appointed to work at the school. Leaders ensure that staff and governors undertake regular training to ensure that their knowledge of child protection procedures is up to date. All staff understand what they need to do to keep children safe.
• The designated safeguarding leaders keep meticulous records of any concerns and ensure that they are followed up in a timely manner. Referrals are made to external agencies when necessary.
• Parents have total confidence in the school’s work and appreciate the advice they are given to help them keep their children safe. Parents report that they can approach the school with any problem and it will be addressed effectively.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers’ expectations of the progression and standards to be achieved by pupils as they move through the school are clear. Some teachers are highly skilled in particular subject areas and leaders have used this expertise to support others who do not have the same confidence. Consequently, there is a shared expectation of high standards across subjects.
• Teachers have positive relationships with pupils who enjoy learning. Teachers have well-established routines to ensure that pupils make the most of teaching time in lessons. Pupils’ previous learning is considered when teachers plan their lessons.
• Pupils are encouraged to reflect on what they have learned, to help them make even greater progress. For example, in a Year 5 mathematics lesson, pupils recorded ‘what stuck with me this week in maths’ and added it to a class display.
• Leaders have worked hard to improve handwriting and presentation across the school. Consequently, pupils are proud of their work. As a result of consistent and systematic teaching, pupils quickly develop a fluent joined handwriting style.
• Reading is taught well, and most pupils have access to an inspiring range of high-quality texts. Phonics is taught systematically, resulting in consistent improvements in the proportion of pupils who achieved the national Year 1 phonics screening check over the last four years. Standards are now in line with the national average and pupils are increasingly using phonic strategies to decode unfamiliar words independently.
• The teaching of calculation in mathematics is consistent across the school. Leaders are currently focusing on developing pupils’ reasoning skills in tackling problems. The teaching of reasoning has not been effective in enabling pupils to think more deeply about the strategies they have used and how they could apply them in different contexts. As a result, not enough able pupils, particularly at key stage 1, are reaching the standards in mathematics they should.
• The majority of support staff work effectively alongside teachers to enable all pupils to access the curriculum. Teachers have made good use of these adults’ skills, for example in leading specific support such as additional work on spelling and grammar.
• There is, rightly, an emphasis on using key vocabulary as part of teaching different topics so that pupils can develop their speaking skills as well as their writing. Examples were seen of a range of new vocabulary being introduced effectively in history, music and science lessons.
• On occasions, the work that pupils are expected to complete is too tightly prescribed. This limits the opportunities for pupils, particularly the most able, to think and work creatively and consequently they do not make the progress that they could.
• Classroom environments are conducive to learning. They support learning well because pupils are able to use displays to help them improve their work. For example, sentence starters were used effectively to support writing in a Year 1 English lesson. In a Year 6 mathematics lesson, pupils were encouraged to use the many available resources around them to support their work on estimating and measuring.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding
• Pupils are friendly and extremely enthusiastic about learning. While many have faced challenges of various kinds, they are successful in overcoming the barriers they have encountered and thrive in the school’s positive environment.
• Pupils who spoke to inspectors were confident, polite and keen to share and celebrate the many aspects of school life that inspire them. On a tour of the school, pupils explained the extensive range of lunchtime clubs, including those which support working as a team to create models. They take delight in using the specialist rooms for music and drama.
• The nurturing environment that has been promoted by leaders has helped pupils to care well for one another. Older pupils are proud of their work as ‘peer mediators’ at lunch and playtimes. They can explain the role clearly, including how they have been trained to carry it out and the successes they have had in helping resolve conflict.
• In lessons, pupils cooperate and collaborate without prompting. They are happy to share resources and to step in when someone is struggling to help them with their work. This means that lessons can proceed at a brisk pace as pupils move from one activity to another.
• Pupils report that bullying is rare and when it does occur, it is dealt with quickly and effectively. Parents who talked to inspectors and those with completed Parent View agreed. They feel that the school cares exceptionally well for their children.
• The breakfast club reflects the nurturing environment of the school. Those who attend are well prepared for lessons and happily embark on the school day. Pupils benefit from excellent resources to make good use of their time, including an outdoor play area with climbing frames and a den.
• The curriculum supports pupils’ understanding of how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils in Year 2 learn how to make an emergency phone call.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding
• Pupils have a strong sense of right and wrong and they use this to monitor their own and others’ behaviour. Pupils in Year 4 spoke enthusiastically about helping the children in the Reception classes to walk quietly to and from assembly and around the school.
• During lessons, pupils are highly engaged, work purposefully and are self-motivated to do as well as they can.
• Pupils move around the school calmly, stand aside and open doors for visitors. They are quick to explain the need to keep to one side of the corridor and to take care on the stairs.
• Leaders have worked hard to reduce any instances where pupils are excluded. Leaders adapt the curriculum for pupils who struggle to behave well so that their interests are used to plan activities and they have trusted adults they are happy to talk to.
• Pupils play well together and are kind and caring to one another. They did tell inspectors that they would like some additional equipment to play with outside. Nevertheless, they are imaginative in their play and enthusiastic about having the opportunity to spend time with friends.
• Leaders promote good attendance. Swift action is taken each day to follow up any absence and leaders are able to share examples of where individual pupils’ attendance has improved considerably.
• Detailed information about the importance of good attendance to support learning is regularly shared with parents. As a result, attendance is above the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils typically enter Year 1 with prior levels of attainment that are below the national average. They make good progress over time in reading, writing and in mathematics. This is linked to the good-quality teaching they experience, and their exemplary attitudes towards their learning.
• The proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has been rising steadily over the past four years and is now in line with the national average.
• Inspectors talked to pupils in Year 1 about how they tackle unfamiliar words and it is clear that pupils, including those with SEND, are able to apply their knowledge of sounds to read with greater confidence and speed.
• The proportion of pupils who reach the expected standard by the end of Year 2 in reading, writing and mathematics remains below the national average. The pupils who entered Year 1 with high prior attainment do not always reach greater depth at the end of Year 2. Leaders have identified this as a priority for improvement and the progress made by pupils currently in Year 2 is stronger.
• Throughout key stage 2, pupils make good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils make strong gains in their learning. Evidence seen of work in pupils’ books shows little variation in their performance from other pupils in the school.
• The most able, including those who are also disadvantaged, do not make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, because the work set for them in key stage 1 is not routinely demanding enough to ensure that they achieve as well as they can.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language acquire spoken and written English language quickly and make similar progress to other pupils in the school.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard and the higher standard at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics was broadly in line with the national average in 2018.
• Most pupils with SEND make good progress. This is because their barriers to learning are identified by leaders and work is carefully adapted by skilled adults. Often, these pupils have the opportunity to learn about topics to be covered in advance and so are given extra time to think and to prepare to join in with the class.
• Pupils read fluently at home and at school. They enjoy reading activities and are happy to talk about favourite books.
• Typically, pupils make good progress in mathematical calculation. This is because they are taught a systematic approach which is used across all classes and year groups. This approach includes a method of self-checking results which improves accuracy and pupils’ confidence in mathematics.
• Pupils’ ability to reason in order to solve problems in mathematics and other subjects is less well developed, particularly at key stage 1. This is because teachers are not setting tasks which require pupils to explain their approaches fully and then apply them in other contexts. This limits the progress made by pupils, particularly the most able.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of early years is good. Leaders strive to provide the very best provision for children and work hard to improve their achievement. Staff routinely reflect on what works well and what needs to improve. Consequently, children get off to a good start.
• Significant improvements have been made to children’s outcomes since the previous inspection. The proportion of children who achieve a good level of development has risen for three of the last four years and is now broadly in line with the national average.
• The early years leaders establish children’s starting points within weeks of their joining the school and use this information well to plan learning for each child.
• Teaching in the early years secures good progress for children. They are naturally inquisitive learners who respond positively to the learning environment. There is no significant difference in the progress made by different groups of children, and the additional funding for disadvantaged children is used appropriately.
• Children are taught regularly and systematically how to identify new sounds in words and are given many opportunities to practise their new skills in reading unfamiliar and nonsense words.
• Children make good progress in solving simple number problems because the methods they are learning help them to work independently and to check that their answers are right.
• The early years staff communicate with parents well and involve them in their children’s learning. Children’s home-school books are regularly filled in by parents with comments on their reading progress and the work they are enjoying at school.
• Activities are tailored to the individual needs of children. They are exciting, challenging and support the children to think deeply in ways suitable for their age and development. Children are helped to build on prior learning by provision of activities, such as a play or a story, at a level that is demanding but still within their reach.
• Children readily engage in the indoor and outdoor activities they choose for themselves. The vast majority are able to concentrate well for extended periods of time. For example, a group of children who chose to make flat mud pancakes outside took time with the task and were delighted with the finished product, which they decided they would weigh. They were well supported in this by adults who asked them which was heavier or lighter.
• Staff have high expectations of children to behave well. Behaviour is managed expertly with calmness, explanation, persuasion and just the right amount of insistence.
• Safeguarding is effective. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and apply them well. Children are safe and happy in the setting and attend regularly.
• The curriculum promotes a culture of safeguarding from the time that children first enter school. Children who spoke to inspectors were keen to describe their ‘circles of safety’, which include people they could go to if they were worried and places where they feel safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 110775 Cambridgeshire 10058781 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 417 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Roger Salmon Sarah Merritt 01223 518330 www.kingshedgesprimary.org.uk head@kingshedges.cambs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 1–2 July 2015

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The school has grown in the last year.
• Children in the Reception Year, who attend full time, learn in two separate classes.
• The school serves an area that is made up almost entirely of local authority and social housing.
• The proportion of pupils who come from a minority ethnic background and who speak English as an additional language is above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, for whom the school receives pupil premium funding, is above average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is above average.
• The school has had a number of staff changes since the last inspection and has taken on three newly qualified teachers this year.
• The school manages ‘So to speak’, which is pre-school provision that focuses on children aged from two to three years whose language development is delayed. It also manages a nursery, which was separated from the primary school in 2011 and subsequently rejoined as a federation. Both of these aspects of provision are subject to separate inspection.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors made visits to classes and observed learning across all year groups. Many of these visits were carried out with school leaders. Inspectors also scrutinised pupils’ work in a range of subjects, listened to groups of pupils read and reviewed the school’s assessment information.
• The inspection team reviewed a range of school documents and policies, including behaviour and attendance information, records of visits carried out by the local authority, minutes of the local governing body meetings and documentation relating to the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils in lessons, met with groups of pupils, including the school council and spoke to pupils at break and lunchtime to gather their views on the school. Inspectors also analysed 316 responses to the online pupil survey
• The lead inspector met with members of the local governing body, senior leaders and a representative from the local authority. Members of the inspection team held meetings with middle leaders and newly qualified teachers. Inspectors considered 33 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the school day and considered 33 responses and 20 free-text responses submitted to Parent View.

Inspection team

Mary-Jane Edwards, lead inspector Judith Sumner Debbie Griggs Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector