Hillside Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the impact of leadership and management at all levels so that it is consistently good by:
  • ensuring that leaders’ plans to raise pupils’ attainment and increase progress are implemented consistently by all staff
  • ensuring that improvements being made in the quality of teaching have a quicker impact on the standards that pupil reach and the progress they make
  • providing all pupils with sufficient breadth of curriculum to develop key skills required, particularly in science and religious education.
• Improve the quality of teaching and pupil outcomes by:
  • planning and providing work that consistently matches pupils’ needs, abilities and interests
  • increasing opportunities for pupils to develop their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
• Improve the quality of pupils’ behaviour by ensuring that they always engage fully with the learning opportunities provided in lessons.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The headteacher knows the school well and has an accurate and realistic view of its current strengths and weaknesses. Staff and volunteers praise his work and commitment to the school. One member of staff informed inspectors that the headteacher ‘relates very well to the pupils and his staff’. He has successfully ensured that other members of the leadership team also recognise the challenges facing the school, and they share his ambition and drive to improve the school.
• Leaders are beginning to tackle the improvements that are needed. The emerging picture of improving progress in most year groups shows that their efforts are beginning to bear fruit. However, leaders at all levels have not yet been able to ensure that teaching is consistently effective across the school, which slows the pace of pupils’ learning.
• Leaders check the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and know where teaching is strong and where improvements are required. In addition, they provide feedback to support teachers in developing their practice further. Work in books confirms that variability persists in the quality of pupils’ work and in their learning and progress in writing and maths.
• Middle leaders are keen to support the senior leadership team and are beginning to collaborate and to seek support from other schools, such as those in the multi-academy trust (MAT). However, many are in the very early stages of leadership, and do not have a clear view of standards in their area of responsibility, or of the effectiveness of new strategies, such as increased opportunities to check on the quality of teaching and learning.
• Increasing proportions of pupils who are supported by pupil premium funding are improving in their achievement. However, their progress is not as rapid as it needs to be and the leadership team is getting to grips with the most efficient way to target the funding. They provide support for those pupils who need to catch up with their English skills and to encourage better attendance. The full impact of these actions, however, is still to be seen.Senior leaders have ensured that systems in place for managing teachers’ performance and checking on the quality of teaching and learning are sound. Teachers have clear objectives that relate to the school’s development plan and leaders provide training to support teachers’ development. They carry out frequent visits to classes and analysis of pupils’ work and make recommendations for improvement. As a result, the quality of teaching is improving, but is not yet consistently good.
• Leaders make effective use of the primary school physical education and sports funding. They provide after-school sports clubs to encourage pupils to take part in physical activities and they employ specialist sports coaches to teach pupils and to improve teaching skills.
• Leaders are aware that the curriculum is not fully covering all subjects across all year groups. They are developing it to ensure that, in the future, the curriculum is broad and balanced so that pupils develop the key skills required. Subjects such as history, physical education and geography are covered well. Leaders have ensured that educational visits are utilised to enhance the curriculum, for example, to local historical sites and to London to develop the spoken word at the Royal Festival Hall. The curriculum also contains a programme of lessons in personal, social and health education that effectively promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils can explain the rule of law and democracy in simple terms, referring to activities such as elections for members of the school council and they are also able to demonstrate an understanding of mutual respect and the rule of law.
• The MAT has recently introduced extra capacity into the leadership team and support to improve the quality of teaching at the school. This work is still relatively new and, as a result, inconsistencies in teaching still exist across the school. School leaders value this recent intervention of the trust and feel that the quality of teaching will continue to improve as a result.
• The majority of parents who expressed a view were positive about the work of the school. They said that their children felt safe and were happy at school. One parent commented, ‘My daughters love going to Hillside. The school is always happy to help and nothing is too much trouble.’ Parents commented that the school was the ‘best of multicultural Britain’ and that they feel the school is approachable.
• The special educational needs coordinator provides effective leadership of the provision for this group of pupils. Effective use is made of special educational needs funding, and these pupils succeed socially. The school is to be commended for its work in developing alternative provision within the school for vulnerable pupils. Pupils and staff value the work of the ‘Bubble’ and the ‘Lodge’. Pupils of whom English is an additional language are supported well and their needs are met via initiatives such as ‘language of the half term’.
• Leaders offer a wide range of after-school activities, including sports. It also offers breakfast and after-school clubs. Pupils have opportunities to take part in extra-curricular activities and to go on trips. Pupils particularly enjoy the opportunities they have to play sport, such as football, and the opportunity to represent the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They are proactive in supporting the pastoral work of the school. They have supported the headteacher on decisions about finance, staffing and the structure of the school.
• Governors are reflective about their own strengths and weaknesses and have sought to strengthen the governing body by developing their own skills, and seeking to appoint additional governors whose skills support the development of the school.
• Governors share leaders’ ambitions for the school and fully support its values and ethos. They take a keen and close interest in all aspects of the school’s work. Minutes of their meetings show that they are increasingly holding leaders to account and asking questions about the information they receive.
• The governing body checks carefully on the spending of additional funding, especially the pupil premium, and understands the impact of spending decisions. They understand how teachers’ performance is assessed and rewarded and take an active role in pay decisions. Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and staff implement a thorough and secure approach to keeping children safe. The safeguarding policy meets the current national requirements and staff understand the procedures and their own responsibilities. The headteacher and safeguarding lead know the needs of vulnerable pupils well and are active in seeking support for pupils and their families. Effective engagement with parents and other agencies is in place. Staff and governors receive regular and appropriate training, for example training to recognise the signs of radicalisation and extremism. The safeguarding leaders display a very good awareness of how this training relates to the community the school serves.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching across the school is too inconsistent and, as a result, too few pupils make good progress over time.
• Teachers do not always plan lessons that meet the needs, abilities and interests of pupils. As a result, outcomes in these classes are not sufficiently good. Teachers in some year groups provide too little demand or allow pupils to come off task. On these occasions, pupils lose valuable learning time, because, for example, they are waiting to start work. Sometimes pupils start to misbehave in these circumstances and this prevents them from making as much progress in their learning as they could.
• Teachers, on occasions, do not pick up quickly enough on pupils’ mistakes or misconceptions. When this happens, pupils’ learning slows.
• Where teaching is stronger, teachers provide pupils with effective questioning, high expectations of what they can achieve and subject knowledge that develops pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills. Where this was observed, pupils were making strong progress.
• In mathematics, some teachers are now using a wider range of approaches to improve pupils’ mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills, although these are not yet fully embedded and impact is only just being measured. However, in other classes, opportunities to develop these skills are more limited. Pupils spend too much time on arithmetic and, therefore, do not develop mathematical reasoning sufficiently.
• Pupils display a curiosity in reading. They are interested in books and read with reasonable fluency and understanding. Younger readers make effective use of their phonics skills. The most able pupils are provided with texts that challenge their inference and retrieval skills appropriately. They speak enthusiastically about books they have enjoyed and can identify favourite authors such as David Walliams and J K Rowling.
• The majority of teachers provide topic work that provides good opportunities for using and applying pupils’ improving writing skills. In particular, it enables pupils to develop their geography and history skills well.
• Teachers use ongoing assessment in lessons to intervene and support lower-ability pupils to growing effect. This, together with the good-quality additional support provided by teaching assistants, is increasing the rate of progress for this group of pupils. As a consequence, lower-ability pupils currently in the school are making steady progress across the curriculum.
• Relationships between teachers, teaching assistants and pupils are mutually respectful and supportive. Teachers know individual pupils well. This means that pupils are not afraid to offer their ideas and opinions.
• Most teachers adhere to the school’s marking and feedback policy and use it to help pupils understand the next steps in their learning. However, there are some inconsistencies, including instances where feedback is too generic and does not always support positive progress for pupils.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils feel safe in school and appreciate the support that is provided by their teachers and support staff.
• Pupils’ personal development and welfare are well supported via the school’s decision to run its own alternative provision to support pupils who speak English as an additional language and for vulnerable pupils, via the ‘Lodge’ and ‘Place 2 Be’. As a result of these initiatives, pupils’ welfare is well looked after at Hillside Primary.
• Pupils understand the different types of bullying that exist, but they say that there are very few examples of this in school. Where bullying has taken place, pupils say that the school staff have dealt with it quickly and that the bullying has stopped.
• Pupils have a good awareness of the risks posed by the internet, including cyber bullying, because adults regularly remind them how to keep safe. They understand that they must never give personal information, such as their address, to anyone on the internet.
• Pupils trust the adults in the school to be able to respond appropriately to any concerns they may have. They appreciate the warm relationships they have with their teachers, making comments such as, ‘Teachers have different teaching styles, which helps us.’

• The school’s breakfast club provides a caring and safe environment for the pupils who attend. Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Overall, most pupils behave well in lessons. However, when teachers’ expectations are not high enough, or where pupils receive work not well matched to their needs, low-level disruptive behaviour takes place which slows the progress being made by pupils in the class.
• Attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, is not showing sustained improvement yet. The school has started to address this, by introducing initiatives that they are confident will show the required improvements in the coming year. There are some early signs that work with families where pupils’ absence levels are too high is beginning to have a positive impact.

• During playtimes and lunchtimes, pupils generally behave well, socialise suitably and engage in lively, friendly activities. Pupils move around the school in an orderly fashion and demonstrate good manners.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement because not enough pupils across the school are making good enough progress in reading, writing and mathematics from their different starting points.
• The outcomes of national tests at the end of 2016 for pupils in key stages 1 and 2 were well below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. School assessment information and evidence in books suggests that attainment and progress will be higher in 2017. However, outcomes across almost all year groups, and in a wide range of subjects, are not yet sufficiently good.
• Pupils currently at the school are making more progress than in previous years, because the quality of teaching is improving. This, combined with a good pastoral care system is leading to better rates of progress within the school. Rates of progress, though, do vary across the school and are not yet consistent.
• Pupils’ attainment in phonics has been a strength of the school for several years. Pupils attain well from their differing starting points and teaching strategies used by staff support positive progress in pupils’ phonetic ability.
• Pupils enjoy reading and many of them show appropriate fluency and comprehension for their age and ability. Leaders have chosen to introduce whole-class reading sessions in class to strengthen pupils’ skills, and these are having a positive effect. Leaders introduced new teaching strategies to tackle the lower attainment in reading witnessed in 2016, including organising pupils into groups by ability and developing pupils’ ‘love of reading’. These are becoming increasingly effective, as current pupils are making good progress in reading.
• Most disadvantaged pupils make progress from their starting points that is at least in line with, and frequently better than, the other pupils in the school. However, where teaching is not as effective, the rates of progress seen in pupils’ workbooks are inconsistent.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress from their different starting points. Well-targeted support ensures that these pupils move forward with their learning and regularly achieve their individual targets.
• Pupils of whom English is an additional language make positive progress from their starting points and they receive good levels of additional support. This is helping these pupils make increasingly strong progress across the curriculum. The school is inclusive in its approach to this increasingly growing group of pupils, and pupils are fully integrated into classrooms.
• Where teaching is not strong, the most able pupils are not reaching their full potential. In these instances, too few are reaching the higher standards expected. This includes the most able disadvantaged pupils. This is because, throughout key stage 2, teachers’ expectations of what these pupils can achieve are not high enough.

Early years provision Good

• Children start in the Nursery with skills and abilities that are generally below those typical for their age. From their starting points, children make good progress through the early years classes and the majority of children move to Year 1 having achieved a good level of development.
• Leadership of the early years provision is good. The early years leader is an experienced and knowledgeable practitioner who provides effective support for the early years team. The training and advice that are given are effective in driving improvements.
• The resources, both indoors and outdoors, hold children’s interest and enthuse their imaginations. As a result, low-level disruption is rare and learning takes place at a quick pace.
• Adults in both the Nursery and the Reception classrooms understand the needs of children and have created a safe and stimulating environment. Provision outside is attractive and effective. In particular, the children’s ‘mud kitchen’ is a well-used area for developing a range of key skills.
• Learning activities make good use of the available adults to move children’s learning forward. As a consequence, adults utilise opportunities to assess children’s learning or to address misconceptions.
• Staff provide children with a mixture of activities that develop children’s key skills. For example, in writing, children were asked to describe their favourite bear. Opportunities are taken by the children to join in with child-led tasks or adult-initiated activities which lead to effective assessment tasks that shape future learning. This information is used well to allow staff to plan additional, targeted activities that are focused on a specific, identified need.
• Staff assess pupil development with accurate and effective assessments. They make good use of online systems for recording observations and tracking individual children’s progress. This is also supported by parents at home, for example, through a dialogue between the school and home when describing how a child had measured a runner bean plant over a period of time.
• Children’s relationships with adults and with each other are warm and positive. Children show that they feel safe in their behaviour and adults support their personal development and welfare effectively. Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding and have received appropriate training.
• Staff have an increasingly strong partnership with parents. Leaders provide information evenings and have regular sessions during the school day when they invite parents to come into school to see the work children are doing. Parents also have regular communications about how well their child is progressing and were observed during the inspection reading with their children.
• There are no breaches of the statutory welfare requirements. Safeguarding procedures are effective and all statutory responsibilities are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140887 Suffolk 10026124 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 Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 604 Appropriate authority Academy Trust Chair Headteacher Bob Dool Lee Abbott Telephone number 01473 601402 Website Email address www.hillsidecp.net/ office@hillsidecp.net Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected as an academy

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. It also complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards.
• Hillside Primary School is a much larger than average-sized primary school.
• Children in the Nursery classes attend part time. Children in the Reception classes attend full time.
• Pupils are taught in three classes per year group except in Year 6 which has two classes.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those who are eligible for the pupil premium funding, is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils of whom English is an additional language is higher than the national average.
• The school provides childcare at the start and the end of the school day.
• Hillside Primary School became a sponsor-led academy on 1 July 2014 as part of The Active Learning Trust.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed the pupils’ learning in 36 lessons or parts of lessons. They also made a number of short visits to lessons with the headteacher.
• The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met groups of children to gain their views of the school, as well as speaking to pupils informally. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime, lunchtime, at the start of the school day and in lessons.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the following: assessments and records of pupil progress; the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance; records of how teaching is managed and the school’s improvement plans.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the acting deputy headteacher, the interim assistant headteacher and middle leaders. The lead inspector met with four members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. There was also a meeting with the Academy Trust’s Hub Standards Adviser and Director of School Improvement and Development.
• The inspectors took account of the responses to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, and met parents around the school.

Inspection team

Joseph Figg, lead inspector Vanessa Love Ashley Best-White Lesley Stevens Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector