Hunstanton Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and raise standards in reading, writing, mathematics and other subjects by:
  • improving opportunities for pupils to develop their mathematical skills and apply them in real-life contexts across the curriculum
  • providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length to apply their English skills and record their knowledge in other subjects
  • sharing characteristics of the best practice within the school to further enhance the skills of other teaching staff
  • using the school assessment system more effectively so that pupils who are in danger of falling behind are identified quickly and receive additional support in a timely manner.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher, leaders and governors have managed the expansion from a junior to a primary school effectively. Throughout the many changes, including the addition of two new key stages, a significant increase in the number of pupils on roll and new staff appointments, leaders and governors continued to improve the quality of the school’s provision.
• The recently appointed acting headteacher is swiftly developing her skills and those of other leaders. She is building a cohesive leadership team that shares her drive for improvement. The most recent school improvement plan identifies concise and appropriate actions to improve teaching, learning and assessment, and pupils’ outcomes. Leaders understand what makes teaching effective and know how to improve it. There is good capacity to improve the school further.
• Leaders provide pupils with a rich, stimulating learning environment. The school’s caring and inclusive atmosphere fosters good relationships with pupils and their parents. Most of the parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, or spoke to inspectors, were supportive of the school’s work.
• Staff value the training they receive to improve their teaching and leadership skills. This could be further enhanced by sharing the very best practice within the school more widely. Recently appointed staff and those new to their career are supported well. Leaders have high expectations of pupils and staff and ensure that staff work collaboratively to meet the needs and interests of all pupils. Staff are proud to work in this school.
• Leaders acted swiftly to halt the school’s dip in attainment and progress in mathematics at the end of Year 6 in 2017. The mathematics leader quickly produced a new, effective calculation policy and scheme of work, alongside different teaching approaches, to improve the outcomes of mathematics across the school. Most pupils are now making good progress from their September starting points.
• Leaders ensure that assessment is accurate through checking with other schools and the local authority. The new senior leadership team has bought in external expertise to learn how to use all of the information filters within the school’s assessment system. This will enable leaders to identify any underachievement and required support for underperforming groups of pupils more swiftly. No one group or subject is significantly disadvantaged in progress across the school. Any differences are related to the characteristics of specific year groups.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development threads through the school’s exciting curriculum. A wide range of interesting learning opportunities are provided for all pupils, including tasks about British values. The school’s vision of ‘succeed, enjoy, aspire (SEA)’ encourages pupils who live by the coast to work hard to do well. Pupils show respect and tolerance towards each other. They welcome new arrivals throughout the school year from different backgrounds and cultures. Staff support all new pupils well, ensuring that they settle into school life quickly and confidently.
• The school has developed meaningful and purposeful links with the local community. Pupils support the local heritage garden and the ‘clean-up’ of the beach.
• Governors and leaders skilfully use the pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged pupils. The progress of these pupils is usually similar to or better than that of others across the school. Differences in attainment are diminishing. Swifter, more precise analysis of the school’s assessment system by senior leaders should enable effective support to be put in place even more quickly. The few most-able disadvantaged pupils are making good progress, similar to that of others.
• Leaders ensure that the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is spent effectively. Pupils’ needs are identified and appropriate support is put in place to support these pupils so that they make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders use the physical education (PE) and sport premium well to create a range of opportunities for pupils to develop their skills within school, through extra-curricular activities and competing in sports competitions. The school also uses the funding to develop staff expertise and to support the sustainability of effective teaching and learning in PE.
• The new senior leadership team works well with the local authority and external personnel. Leaders are swiftly developing their skills to aid school improvement.

Governance of the school

• Governors work effectively with the school’s leaders. They know the school well because they visit often, talk with staff, and discuss and evaluate all aspects of the school frequently. They regularly check the impact of the actions on the school improvement plan to ensure that teaching and learning and pupils’ outcomes are being maintained or improved upon.
• Governors ensure that additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, those who have SEN and/or disabilities, and the sports funding, improve the progress pupils make.
• Governors understand their responsibilities with regard to the safeguarding of pupils within the school and have received appropriate training in child protection.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• High-quality procedures ensure that pupils, including the most vulnerable, are kept safe. Staff are well trained and are quick to report any concerns they have about pupils in the school. Leaders ensure that these concerns are acted upon quickly and appropriately.
• Governors ensure that all the necessary checks are made when recruiting adults to work with children. The school’s central register is kept up to date and is regularly checked.
• Safeguarding documentation is monitored and updated effectively. Staff are appropriately trained in the relevant aspects of safeguarding.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment are enabling current pupils to make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics across the school. Inspection evidence, including the school’s assessment records and work in pupils’ books, confirms this.
• Pupils’ books show that they complete appropriate tasks for their chronological age and ability in reading, writing and mathematics. These tasks are interesting and most pupils produce work of a good quality and quantity.
• Effective interventions and support are provided for pupils who require consolidation of their learning skills. Disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities have targeted support from effective staff to meet their individual needs. This is enabling these pupils to make good progress from their various starting points.
• The teaching of reading across the school is good. Staff are raising the profile of reading by providing two well-equipped libraries. Leaders and teachers have reorganised how they teach reading. There is now a greater focus on improving pupils’ fluency in their reading and their understanding of the meaning of challenging texts. Across the school, inspectors observed pupils enjoying reading from books appropriate for their ability.
• The English leader ensured that the teaching and learning of phonics for younger pupils improved significantly after the very low results for the school’s first Year 1 phonics screening check in 2016. Teachers were provided with high-quality training to improve their skills. At the same time, new reading books based on a clear progression of phonics skills were bought to support pupils’ learning and enjoyment of reading. Pupils use their phonic skills effectively to support their spelling.
• Teachers and other adults support pupils’ learning well during lessons. They ask effective questions and clarify any misconceptions. Teachers consistently use the school’s feedback and marking policy to improve pupils’ learning.
• Through interesting activities, pupils write regularly in their English and extended writing books in a range of styles, using their knowledge of grammar and punctuation well. For example, Year 6 newspaper reports about King Kong and Year 2 stories about baby owls show good quality writing skills for the pupils’ chronological age. However, pupils have too few opportunities to extend their writing to develop their skills across the curriculum.
• Teachers, under the guidance of the new mathematics leader, have implemented effective new strategies for teaching mathematics across the school. A focus has been on improving pupils’ fluency and reasoning skills, and filling in any gaps in pupils’ prior learning, especially for Year 6 pupils. Evidence in pupils’ books and within the school’s assessment system indicate that most pupils have been making good progress since September.
• Pupils use practical mathematical resources and a variety of recording strategies to support their learning. They explain their decision making confidently. Year 2 pupils thoroughly enjoyed devising a systematic approach when solving a problem about how to feed three monkeys 25 peanuts by only giving them an odd number of nuts. Discussions and recorded work were of the highest quality. This work challenged pupils of all abilities, who produced various correct systematic approaches. However, pupils’ books show few opportunities for pupils to develop their mathematical skills by applying them in real-life contexts to deepen their understanding further.
• Teachers use their secure subject knowledge and effective questioning skills to widen and deepen pupils’ learning across the curriculum through exciting topics. Pupils’ work is recorded in a variety of ways to show their understanding. However, there are too few opportunities for pupils to write at length to show the full knowledge they have gained in other subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• There is a strong ethos of respect and care from everyone within the school. New arrivals throughout the school year, due to the coastal location of the school, settle quickly and confidently. Pupils show empathy and tolerance towards each other. Parents agree with this, stating: ‘Children thrive on the caring, supportive, kind culture that runs throughout the school.’
• Pupils say that the school is a safe and friendly place. They suggest that there is little bullying and know which adult to speak to if they have any concerns. All pupils, including those who are vulnerable, are well cared for. The school’s records show that bullying and racist incidents are rare and that they are dealt with effectively.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in school and in the locality. For example, they know how to be safe when using the internet and recognise the dangers of living by the coast, not just to themselves but to sea life as well. Year 2 pupils followed with interest the improvement in health of a seal which their teacher had found on the beach. It had been injured by a plastic ring which was stuck around its neck. They monitored the seal’s recovery and were very happy and relieved to observe its release back into the sea.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Inspectors found pupils to be respectful, courteous and polite in lessons and around the school. Pupils show good attitudes to learning and listen to adults well.
• Pupils play well together at breaktimes, making good use of the play equipment.
• The school’s records show that pupils’ behaviour is improving. Pupils who have difficulty managing their own behaviour are supported well. The few low-level disruptions during lessons are dealt with appropriately.
• Attendance remains below the national average. Persistent absence is high, with a transient school population impacting on attendance. Leaders work effectively with parents to improve their child’s attendance and persistent absence declined in 2017.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The school had Reception children and key stage 1 pupils taking part in statutory assessments for the first time in 2016. Initial outcomes varied, as pupils, teachers and leaders adapted to the change from a junior to a primary school. Overall, results in these two new key stages improved in 2017.
• Many Reception children enter school with skills that are below those typical for their age. At the end of 2016, most of the Reception children had made good progress from their starting points. As a result, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development, the expected standard, was similar to the national average. However, results declined in 2017. Leaders quickly improved the provision in the early years. Inspection evidence and the school’s teacher assessments indicate that a higher proportion of children are working at a good level of development this academic year.
• In 2016, the first year the school had Year 1 pupils taking part in the phonics screening check, the proportion reaching the expected standard was well below the national average. Leaders swiftly improved the teaching and learning of phonics for the younger children. In 2017, the proportion of pupils who met the expected standard rose and was above the national figure. Evidence this year shows a slight decline in the proportion of pupils reaching the standard, but these pupils have made appropriate progress since joining the school.
• Standards in key stage 1 have also varied since 2016. The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in 2016 was below that seen nationally for reading, writing and mathematics. The impact of improvements in teaching and learning saw results rise in all three subjects in 2017, to be in line with the national average at the expected standard. Evidence indicates that this academic year the proportion of Year 2 pupils working at the expected standard has increased again in writing and mathematics, for the third consecutive year. Fewer pupils are working at the expected standard in reading, but the proportion is similar to the 2017 national figure.
• Proportions of pupils achieving the higher standard at the end of Year 2 have been similar to or above those seen nationally for the past two years. Evidence indicates that this is likely to be the case again this year.
• Pupils’ attainment and progress in reading and writing at the end of Year 6 in 2016 and 2017 were broadly in line with or better than the national average. Standards in mathematics have been weaker, especially in 2017 when the progress these pupils made from key stage 1 declined to be in the bottom 20% nationally. However, evidence from pupils’ books and the school’s assessment system indicate that higher proportions of Year 6 pupils are working at the expected and higher standards in mathematics this academic year, and these figures are broadly in line with those seen nationally in 2017. These improvements are due to the effective implementation of new teaching and learning strategies in mathematics.
• Pupils’ recorded work and the school’s tracking information show that in all year groups pupils are now making good progress in English and mathematics from their September starting points. The assessment system shows that all groups of pupils usually make expected or better progress from their last statutory assessment. However, leaders acknowledge that performance information needs to be precisely analysed in a more timely manner, so that any differences can be identified and rectified as swiftly as possible.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are now making good progress from their starting points, across the school. Any differences in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and others are diminishing in English and mathematics.
• Through targeted support and effective interventions, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making good progress from their starting points. The evidence of this good progress can be seen in pupils’ books.
• More challenging learning activities are enabling the small numbers of most-able pupils in each year group to work consistently at the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Improvements in teaching and learning this academic year have enabled the highest proportion of Year 6 pupils in three years to work at the higher standards in mathematics and reading.

Early years provision Good

• The early years provision, leadership, teaching and learning, and outcomes have improved from when the first Reception children started at the school.
• Most children enter the early years with skills and abilities that are below those typical for their age. Evidence from teacher assessments and children’s work in their ‘learning journeys’ indicate that children are making good progress from their starting points. The proportion of children working at a good level of development this year is the highest the school has achieved and is in line with the 2017 national figure. These children are well prepared for their learning in Year 1.
• The early years teacher is an effective leader. She assesses children’s needs accurately and plans activities to meet their personal, social, behavioural and academic requirements. Adults in the setting work closely together. Their skilful questioning helps children to explain and expand their learning, during adult-led tasks and activities the children have chosen for themselves.
• The early years accommodation provides a calm and purposeful learning environment. Both the inside and outside areas help children to develop their understanding and skills in all areas of learning. For example, when the teacher and children dressed up as pirates, the children immersed themselves in stealing treasure and then forming number sentences to calculate how much they had stolen and how much was left. To improve their writing skills, children drew a large chalk whale on the playground and then wrote sentences around it. They were encouraged to use capital letters and full stops and to segment and blend words to support their spelling. Children used a wide range of specific vocabulary, including ‘krill’ and ‘blubber’.
• Children show high-quality artistic skills. Some enjoyed mixing paints to make the colour they wanted, while others drew whales and coloured them in very carefully. They said: ‘We have to keep in the lines.’
• The children’s behaviour is good, and they follow class routines well. They are able to work independently and with each other. They follow instructions effectively and tidy up enthusiastically. They share resources well and take turns when riding on the bicycles.
• Additional funding is used well to build up the confidence of the vulnerable pupils. Effective support is put in place to meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Adults work closely with parents to ensure that children make a good start to their school life. Children are safe and happy because of the secure welfare and safeguarding procedures that exist in the early years.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121190 Norfolk 10046528 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 Foundation 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 183 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair of governors Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Steve Jones Nigel Harvey 01485 533373 www.hunstanton.norfolk.co.uk head@hunstanton.norfolk.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19–20 October 2011

Information about this school

• The school converted to a primary school in September 2015 from a junior school which had previously federated with a local infant school. The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school, although the number of pupils on roll has risen considerably.
• There have been a number of new leadership and teaching appointments since the previous inspection. The deputy headteacher became the acting headteacher in March 2018.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of SEN or an education, health and care plan is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is higher than the national average.
• A large majority of pupils come from a White British background and speak English as their first language.
• Children in the early years attend full time in the Reception Year.
• The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of key stage 2.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes except Year 6, as these pupils were visiting the secondary school they will be moving to. Some of these observations were carried out jointly with the acting headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the acting headteacher, senior and middle leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at documentation, including: teachers’ planning; the school’s analysis of its strengths and weaknesses; information on pupils’ attainment and progress; records of behaviour and safety; minutes of governing body meetings; and safeguarding documents.
• A discussion was held with a group of pupils, and informal conversations with pupils took place during lessons and at breaktimes. The inspectors listened to pupils read and scrutinised work in pupils’ books in all classes. A more thorough, detailed scrutiny was made of Year 6 pupils’ books.
• Inspectors considered 26 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as 17 free-text comments. Views of parents were informally sought at the beginning of the school day. Inspectors also took account of the views of 12 staff who responded to their online survey.

Inspection team

Julie Harrison, lead inspector Paul Copping Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector