Hilton Lane Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the rigour with which leaders at all levels, including governors, understand and evaluate the impact of strategic developments with, where possible, clear and measurable outcomes.
• Further improve the attendance of pupils so that it becomes more in line with the national average.
• In Reception, further promote children’s independent learning skills by, for example, improving the learning environment, particularly in the outdoors.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has a very clear understanding of what pupils who attend Hilton Lane Primary School need in order to flourish. The headteacher has systematically developed the school so that it meets the needs of pupils very well. The industrious, harmonious and happy atmosphere of the school can initially prevent a visitor from being fully aware of the highly skilled work that has taken place over years to ensure that pupils have the confidence, positive attitudes and skills to learn well. School improvements are secure and sustained.
• All staff have high expectations of themselves and of pupils. Adults are excellent role models for pupils and ensure that relationships with pupils are always positive. Pupils learn quickly to trust adults who work in the school and have faith in the guidance and support they are given.
• Leaders ensure that teachers work as a team so learning is built systematically year on year. No time is wasted with pupils unnecessarily repeating work. The monitoring of teachers’ performance is a routine and effective part of school life. Leaders ensure that training and teacher development meets both the needs of individual staff and whole-school strategies for improvement. Leaders and teachers make sure that there is consistency in the expected standards of behaviour and pupil attitudes throughout the school. This consistency gives pupils a feeling of security because they know what is expected of them. It makes a significant contribution to helping pupils learn well.
• Improving the curriculum has been a focus over recent years. Leaders have managed this development exceptionally well. The curriculum is now an integral part of promoting good learning throughout the school. The quality of pupils’ work in subjects such as science and humanities is as good as it is in mathematics and English. For example, from an early age, pupils are taught in religious education about similarities and differences in the practices of followers of different religions. In addition, they learn about how people from different backgrounds may think about complex world issues. Teachers ask pupils to formulate their own thoughts about these difficult questions and encourage them to explain their ideas. Although subject content may be different, there is consistency in the high quality of pupils’ work across the whole curriculum. In mathematics pupils learn the basics quickly. They are also given many good-quality opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems.
• The school’s ethos, curriculum and enrichment activities strongly promote pupils’ excellent spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils demonstrate high standards of behaviour and an understanding of pupils who may have different experiences and backgrounds to themselves. They are caring and tolerant.
• The vast majority of pupils respond very positively to the school’s expectations. Pupils enjoy being in school and value the education they are receiving. Teachers manage behaviour mainly by modelling good behaviour and ensuring that the activities they provide for their pupils are interesting and beneficial. Provision for those pupils who sometimes find it very difficult to behave are excellent. A wide range of staff, including teachers, are highly skilled in calming pupils and listening to them. They are then able to help pupils understand their feelings and the thoughts that have led them to have a lapse in their normally good behaviour.
• The school’s special educational needs (SEN) coordinator (SENCo) is relatively new to post. Despite this, she ensures that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities learn as well as other pupils in the school. The SENCo monitors the progress and welfare of about a quarter of the school’s population. The SENCo accurately assesses pupils’ needs. Teachers are well informed about specific strategies that will help pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress.
• The school employs a large number of teaching assistants. They provide very good support in a variety of different ways. This includes working with individual pupils and small groups. Some teaching assistants support pupils’ learning, others use specific strategies to build pupils’ confidence and self-esteem. Whether managed by teachers, or by school leaders, teaching assistants are given very good guidance and support to fulfil their roles.
• Governors and the headteacher use any additional funding the school receives well to promote pupils’ personal development and learning. These include the PE and sport premium for primary schools, the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils and additional funds for some pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. The school is establishing good additional opportunities for pupils to participate in a range of sporting activities, including in competition with other schools. Some funding is used very effectively to enable school staff to work with parents, helping them to support the school in educating their children. Additional funding also contributes to the costs of running the very supportive breakfast club and the walking bus scheme where, every morning, a member of staff follows a specific walking route to school, gathering children along the way.
• The school makes a significant investment in working with parents to help them engage with their child’s education. Relationships between home and school are positive. This provision has helped reduce the number of pupils who were persistently absent and improved pupils’ achievement.
• Improvement planning in the school has clearly been effective. Much has relied on the knowledge and experience of the headteacher and the deputy headteacher as they have led change. Leaders at all levels, including governors, tend to measure the impact of strategies to improve the school by the amount of work people do or the range of initiatives rather than by the impact on pupils’ learning and personal development. This limits leaders’ opportunity to measure the effect of initiatives during their introduction and development, and so restricts leaders from adjusting strategies when they are not making quite as much improvement they had expected.

Governance of the school

• Governors are passionate supporters of the school and its pupils. Governors have managed steady improvement since the last inspection. Despite difficulties in recruiting effective teachers, leaders and other staff, they have managed to do so well. They have a very good understanding of how to manage school budgets efficiently and to ensure that pupils are safe. They know in detail how funding is spent, but they are not diligent enough in requiring the school to provide evidence of the impact of spending. This limits their ability to evaluate precisely all aspects of the provision.

Safeguarding

• Highly effective safeguarding is based on excellent open and trusting relationships between pupils and staff. If a pupil had a concern, they would confidently discuss it with an adult in school. Leaders ensure that staff are well trained in responding to any concerns they may have about pupils’ welfare, including safeguarding.
• The school ensures that communications between all agencies responsible for safeguarding are efficient and effective. Staff diligently maintain good records.
• Pupils are taught how to be safe in many circumstances, including when using social media, in their communities or in unfamiliar situations.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching is consistently good throughout the school and pupils make strong progress. Teachers plan very well. Teachers know in detail what pupils already know and can do. Teachers take this into account when planning their teaching and pupils’ learning activities. Teachers meet the needs of pupils from the full range of ability groups very well. Teachers also make sure their teaching and pupils’ learning are interesting. Therefore, pupils engage very well, concentrate well and work hard. Collaboration between teachers is very effective and this helps them to systematically structure learning so that no time is wasted.
• All teachers promote pupils’ positive attitudes to their learning and a culture of hard work. Very high standards in the presentation of pupil’s work are consistent across all classes and subjects. Teachers take every opportunity to ensure that pupils write well and present numerical information accurately across all subjects.
• Teachers constantly evaluate how well pupils are learning and are very perceptive. Teachers spot when a pupil develops a misunderstanding and quickly correct them. The school provides teachers with clear guidance on how to give pupils written feedback on their work. This is another aspect of practice that teachers apply consistently throughout the school.
• Teachers deploy teaching assistants very well. Teaching assistants are confident in meeting their responsibilities. Teachers ensure that teaching assistants are clear on how they should support pupils’ learning. Teachers and teaching assistants work well as a team and pupils have as much respect for their work as they do for the work of teachers.
• The whole school has worked hard to develop a policy for homework that suits pupils. Teachers meet the school’s expectation that homework is set regularly. Pupils do their homework well because they know it will help them consolidate what they are currently learning. Research activities are also set for homework with the intention of preparing pupils for forthcoming topics and giving parents opportunities to take part their child’s learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Improving pupils’ emotional well-being and personal development is a major aspect of the school’s work and one in which it excels. All staff understand how important it is to develop pupils’ self-esteem. All staff find different ways of helping different pupils grow in confidence. Pupils flourish, take great pride in their work and make strong progress.
• Pupils’ growth in personal development makes a very important contribution in enabling them to learn well. Pupils are able to socialise confidently and work just as effectively in groups or individually.
• Most pupils say that bullying does not exist in the school. This is because all staff work hard and effectively to minimise bullying. Teachers ensure that pupils know bullying is wrong and why it is wrong. When bullying does occur, staff deal with it very well so that the perpetrator does not bully again.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils’ attitudes to their learning are excellent. They work hard and with enthusiasm in every lesson. Their books, in every subject, reflect the pride they have in their work and their desire to meet the high expectations set by teachers.
• Pupils around the school and during breaktimes and lunchtimes are polite and courteous. They look out for each other and are always keen to help. There is a sense of industry and happiness throughout the school.
• The school’s work to promote good behaviour is very effective. The number of pupils being excluded has declined dramatically. There are almost no incidents of misbehaviour that affect pupils’ work in class.
• The below average rate of attendance is proving to be a very stubborn aspect of the school to improve. Leaders have tried a vast range of strategies including improving their engagement with parents. A small number of pupils are persistently brought to school late. The school is fully aware of this and again is working hard to improve the situation. Within school, pupils are always punctual.
• The school’s family liaison officer has significantly reduced the number of pupils that are persistently absent from school. This year there are a third fewer pupils who are persistently absent than last year. For disadvantaged pupils this figure has been cut by even more. A wide range of strategies have been introduced to reduce persistent absenteeism. The most effect have been the introduction of the walking school bus and the breakfast club where pupils can enter the school early, are given breakfast and enjoy a range of activities and games.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• From low starting points, pupils make good progress and leave the school with average levels of attainment. Rates of progress have been improving over at least the past three years. The progress of pupils currently in the school is good across all key stages and subjects.
• The successful teaching of phonics is well established in the school and at the end of Year 1 the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard has been broadly average.
• The standards pupils attain in each year are broadly average and this represents securely good progress. There is no significant variation between subjects because teachers keep a close eye on the progress pupils make. If any show signs of struggling they are given additional, very focused, support so they can quickly return to learning well.
• Pupils make good progress not only in English and mathematics but also a range of other subjects. Teachers give time to these subjects and teach them equally well.
• Pupils learn to read well because teachers ensure that pupils read books that closely match their ability and potential. Many adults in the school take time to listen to pupils read.
• In class there are no differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others. Expectations for these pupils are as high as they are for other pupils and they respond as well as others too. Teachers closely monitor the progress and well-being of disadvantaged pupils and are able to help these pupils get over any specific barriers to learning they may have. This indicates the very effective use of the school’s pupil premium.
• The progress pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make is improving quickly. For these pupils currently in the school, their progress is good. The recently appointed SENCo is enabling teachers and teaching assistants to precisely address the needs of these pupils.
• Pupils that are good attenders are extremely well prepared for their next stage in education because they have excellent attitudes to learning and behave well. They can read and write well and are confident mathematicians. They have very high standards of attainment in the wider curriculum. They are polite, sociable and respectful. Those pupils who do not attend well are not as well prepared for their move to secondary school.

Early years provision Good

• Generally, when children start in Nursery, they are not as well developed in terms of their skills and knowledge as children typically are at that stage. The weakest aspects of their development tend to be their understanding of number, their skills in speaking and understanding of language. However, good teaching throughout the early years helps children to make good progress. By the time they join Year 1, they have not quite caught up, but are well prepared for key stage 1.
• Accurate systems to assess children throughout the early years help teachers understand what their children need to learn next. Teachers and teaching assistants are adaptable and meet the needs of all children well.
• Teachers prepare interesting and effective learning activities. In most parts of early years, the environment is stimulating and bright, which helps to motivate children.
• Leadership and management of the early years is good. Leaders have systems in place to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the provision. They have identified the need to improve the outdoors area of Reception. This deficiency is one of the reasons why children do not make such good progress in developing their independent learning skills as their other skills.
• Leaders ensure that all welfare requirements are met and the children are safe. Relationships between adults and children are very good. Children are well cared for and behave well.
• Leaders spend the additional pupil premium well. This supplementary funding helps employ an additional teaching assistant. Adults are able to spend more time with disadvantaged children doing a variety of activities such as listening to them read. This work helps disadvantaged children start to catch up with others.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 105914 Salford 10045160 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 Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 225 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Lee Wynn Aileen Birrell Telephone number 0161 921 1195 Website Email address www.hiltonlaneprimary.co.uk hiltonlane.primaryschool@salford.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 June 2014

Information about this school

• Since the last inspection there have been seven changes to the teaching staff of eight.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is much larger that seen nationally.
• The school serves a community which has very high deprivation indicators.
• This smaller than average primary school has provision for early years in the form of a nursery which is located on a separate site and a Reception class which is within the main school.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards at key stage 2, which are the minimum expectations of pupils’ attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other leaders and managers. The lead inspector met with four members of the governing body, one of whom holds the position of chair.
• Inspectors talked to pupils during break and lunchtimes and listened to some pupils read.
• Inspectors met with groups of teachers and also spoke to individual teachers.
• School documents were scrutinised including safeguarding checks, information about pupils’ achievement and records of checks on the quality of teaching.
• Inspectors considered school evaluation reports written by representatives of the local authority.
• Inspectors visited classrooms to speak with pupils, look at their books and observe their learning.
• The headteacher and other senior leaders were party to many of the inspection activities.
• Inspectors took account of eight responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. Eight parents sent their comment by text message to the inspection team. Inspectors took account of 12 staff responses to an inspection survey of their views. Inspectors also took account of the school’s pupil surveys conducted over this year.

Inspection team

Neil Mackenzie, lead inspector Howard Bousfield Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector