Hampton Court House

School report Hampton Court House Hampton Court House, Hampton Court Road, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9BS

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Overall effectiveness Good 2

Pupils’ achievement Good 2 Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Quality of curriculum Outstanding 1 Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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This school is good because

 Good, and increasingly outstanding, teaching enables pupils to make good progress and achieve well over the time they spend at the school. Pupils with linguistic or specific learning difficulties are extremely well supported and make outstanding progress.  The development of a nurturing ethos, along with an outstandingly rich curriculum, contributes to pupils’ outstanding behaviour and personal development.  The senior leaders have taken very effective measures to secure significant improvements since the last inspection, resulting in good achievement with an upward trend.  Pupils are cared for well. They say that they feel safe and are very happy at the school. Most parents and carers would recommend this school to others.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The quality of teaching, in a very small minority of lessons, is only adequate because pupils’ understanding is not checked sufficiently.  The governing body, although effective, lacks sufficient knowledge in a few areas to challenge the senior leaders.  Despite recent improvements in the quality of information provided for parents and carers, a small minority of parents and carers say that they are not sufficiently well informed of their children’s progress and that the school does not respond well to their concerns.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school meets schedule 1 of The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, as amended by The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with one day’s notice.  The inspectors observed 19 lessons, some of which were observed jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. They also looked at pupils’ work. Meetings were held with the governing body, senior leaders, teaching staff, pupils, parents and carers. School policies and other documentation were examined.  The inspectors took account of the responses in 32 staff questionnaires and also the views of parents and carers through the 41 responses to the on-line Parent View questionnaire and through meetings and telephone conversations.

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Inspection team

Michèle Messaoudi, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Flora Bean Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Hampton Court House is a co-educational, independent day school for pupils aged from three to 16 years. It was founded in September 2001. It is housed in a historic building and located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The school prepares pupils for the 11-plus, Common Entrance and scholarship examinations, as well as GCSE. The school is registered for 300 pupils aged three to 16. Currently, there are 205 pupils on roll, including 28 children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Of these, 11 attend part time.  The school seeks to give children from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 4 a bilingual education in English and French and, in parallel to its own bilingual curriculum, also offers pupils the possibility to follow the French curriculum from the age of six onwards. This is in partnership with the Centre National d’ Enseignement à Distance (CNED).  The school uses a local park and swimming pool as additional provision.

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Information about this school

 Most pupils are of White British or White European heritage. Some pupils speak English as an additional language and 14 pupils are at an early stage of learning English. The school supports 35 pupils with specific learning difficulties (for example, dyslexia and dyspraxia). There are no disabled pupils or pupils with a statement of special educational needs.  The current headteacher has been in post since September 2012, with operational responsibility for the whole school. He is a co-founder of the school.  The school had its last full inspection in January 2010 when it met all the regulations for registration and the quality of education was judged to be satisfactory.  The school aims to ‘foster the habit of curiosity and the lifelong love of learning’ and to provide ‘a clear focus on traditional, systematic teaching which stretches and stimulates every child’.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve the quality of teaching by:  sharing the existing outstanding practice  tailoring professional development more closely to the needs of individual staff and to foster specific subject expertise  eliminating the very small minority of adequate teaching.  Refine the skills of the senior leaders to ensure that they are always secure in their judgements about the quality of teaching and give staff feedback that is sufficiently incisive to improve their teaching skills.  Further improve communication with parents and carers so that all feel well informed of their children’s progress and are confident that the school responds well to their concerns.  Improve the effectiveness of governance by improving governors’ understanding in the few areas where governors have weaknesses.

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Pupils’ achievement Good

Pupils’ achievement, previously judged to be adequate, is now good as a result of mostly good teaching. Pupils join the school with a wide range of knowledge and skills ranging from below to above expectations for their age. They make good progress in relation to their varying starting points from the Nursery onwards. More pupils are making outstanding progress as the result of an increasing proportion of outstanding teaching. From the Nursery to Year 4, pupils develop excellent speaking, reading and writing skills in both English and French, owing to the bilingual curriculum and the expert support of multilingual staff. Pupils throughout the school have regular opportunities to apply their literacy, mathematical and communication skills in most subjects and to develop their intellect and creativity. Most pupils who have linguistic needs or specific learning difficulties make outstanding progress. They achieve exceptionally well because highly skilled

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Pupils’ achievement Good

specialist staff give them well targeted one-to-one support and their teachers receive training in the most effective strategies to use to support them in lessons.

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Pupils’ achievement Good

By the end of Reception, children achieve or exceed the expected goals in all areas of learning. Standards in Key Stage 4 have risen gradually since the last inspection owing to much improved teaching in mathematics, science and information and communication technology (ICT). The proportion of pupils achieving A* to C grades in five GCSE subjects, including English and mathematics, was comparable to the national average in 2011, and was above in 2012, when one third of the GCSE grades awarded were A* or A. The 2012 GCSE results indicate strong performance in all subjects and exceptionally high performance in art, history, ICT, psychology and Spanish. Although there is a marked upward trend, pupils’ achievement is judged to be good rather than outstanding because this high level of achievement has not been sustained for a long enough period and the proportion of pupils making outstanding progress is not yet sufficiently

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Outstanding

Pupils’ behaviour and personal development are outstanding. This is the result of extremely well planned and well-coordinated whole-school strategies aimed at creating a nurturing ethos that places pupils’ emotional well-being at the centre of pastoral care. The staff create an orderly, yet relaxed, learning environment based on mutual respect in which pupils are treated as unique individuals and can flourish. Pupils are expected to regulate their own behaviour to conform to the school’s code of conduct. They value the sense of freedom this gives them and develop high levels of self-discipline and a strong sense of personal and social responsibility. Their behaviour is exemplary in and out of lessons. They combine high levels of attention and cooperation with a lively approach to learning, often buzzing with excitement. Pupils know what constitutes bullying and feel free from harassment. They are taught to keep safe when using computers and other

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Outstanding

types of information and communication technology and are proud to be trusted to ‘do the right thing’.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Outstanding

The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is exemplary. Every care is taken to provide each pupil with opportunities to overcome barriers and to excel, through presentations in assemblies, participation in clubs, educational visits, challenges, competitions or school performances. Pupils have numerous opportunities to showcase their talents or discover new ones, for example when making short films about topics of their choice and performing in school concerts and drama productions. Consequently, pupils develop high levels of self-esteem and self-confidence. Through the bilingual curriculum, ethics, the celebration of festivals and educational visits to France, Italy and Kenya, pupils learn about different cultures and appreciate diversity. They develop leadership and enterprise skills by participating in residential visits, camps and the running of the fundraising and film clubs. In addition to citizenship lessons, pupils gain a

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Outstanding

practical understanding of public institutions and democracy though the work of the pupil council and educational visits, for example to the Houses of Parliament and from a representative of UNESCO, of which the school is an associate. From Nursery to Year 4, pupils contribute to school life by recycling, growing food and raising chickens. Pupils are encouraged to take an interest in current affairs and to express balanced opinions when reviewing news items.

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Quality of teaching Good

The quality of teaching is good overall. The mostly good or outstanding lessons enable pupils to make rapid progress. Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They ask questions and plan tasks that are designed to challenge all pupils well, whatever their current ability. They motivate pupils highly by giving them the opportunity to take an active part in their learning, whether through paired or group work or through interactive sessions, and by using praise wisely. They communicate enthusiasm and their dynamic style helps pupils to learn at a good pace. They usually listen to pupils’ responses carefully and re-shape questions or tasks to ensure that all pupils understand new concepts well, or can apply and develop new skills successfully. Teachers make very effective use of resources to support pupils’ understanding and provide the right level of challenge for different individuals most of the time. They promote pupils’

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Quality of teaching Good

literacy and oracy skills consistently well whatever subject they teach. Teaching assistants are deployed and briefed well to provide very effective support for individual pupils. Pupils generally gain a clear picture of how well they learn and how they can improve their work through constructive verbal and written feedback. Useful systems enable teachers to track pupils’ progress rigorously and to use the information from assessments to inform the planning of future work.

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Quality of teaching Good

Where the teaching is outstanding, the teacher is truly inspirational and skilfully maintains a high level of challenge throughout the lesson, enabling pupils to make exceptional progress. The teacher builds up pupils’ understanding systematically and quickly so that pupils make rapid progress. Detailed academic guidance or marking comments show pupils very precisely how they can attain the next level. In a very small minority of lessons, the teaching is only adequate. On these occasions, teachers do not check on pupils’ learning sufficiently to spot the errors of a few pupils and do not make timely interventions. On a very few other occasions, teachers do not always respond to pupils’ misconceptions very effectively, resulting in a lack of clarity in some pupils’ minds. In such cases, pupils only make adequate progress.

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Quality of curriculum Outstanding

The quality of the curriculum is outstanding overall. It serves the needs of pupils in Key Stages 1 to 4 extremely well and provides them with rich opportunities for high quality academic learning and personal development. Since the last inspection, much work has been done to improve all aspects of the curriculum. There are now several strengths: the provision for bilingual education in the primary department; English, mathematics, science and information and communication technology (ICT) in the secondary department; and the linguistic, aesthetic and creative areas of learning throughout the school.

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Quality of curriculum Outstanding

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the curriculum, previously judged to be adequate, is good. Children learn through a good balance of indoor and outdoor play which they initiate and also through activities led by adults. Reading, writing and mathematical skills are taught systematically from Nursery onwards and, by the end of Year 2 and Year 6, standards are very high. From Years 1 to 4, the bilingual curriculum is constructed around a mix of lessons taught in French and in English that successfully builds pupils’ competence in both languages and their knowledge and skills across all subject areas. Secure foundations are laid in the primary department to develop pupils’ reading and writing skills, with a deliberate emphasis on grammar, spelling, comprehension and the acquisition of a broad vocabulary. In upper Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, the curriculum supports pupils well to meet the demands of the Common Entrance examinations. Computer

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Quality of curriculum Outstanding

science is offered from Years 5 to 9 and includes programming. The Key Stage 4 curriculum includes GCSE or IGCSE courses in 15 subjects. Pupils are helped to choose options and future careers through good careers advice that includes educational visits and work experience.

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Quality of curriculum Outstanding

Pupils who have linguistic or specific learning difficulties benefit from an excellent support programme that meets their needs accurately, as a result of thorough initial and continuous assessments and specialist teaching. Personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE) is woven through the curriculum as well as taught through assemblies, life skills and sessions of religious education and ethics called ‘perspectives’. A wealth of enrichment activities develops pupils’ self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as their creative, thinking, physical, communication and technological skills, and ensures that they have a well-rounded education.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Good

Good provision for pupils’ welfare, health and safety ensures that pupils feel safe and well cared for. Parents and carers trust the school to keep their children safe and happy and to deal effectively with bullying. Security checks, fire safety checks and risk assessments of the premises and on-site and off-site activities are thorough. Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements and robust recruitment procedures ensure that staff are properly vetted before being employed. All the required checks are recorded in a single central register in the correct manner. All staff receive the appropriate level of training in child protection. The policies and procedures for child protection, anti-bullying, the promotion of good behaviour, first aid and health and safety are up to date and sufficiently detailed to support the staff. There is a sufficient number of staff trained in first aid to levels that suit the age range and to meet all eventualities. Supervision is vigilant, without being

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Good

oppressive in the primary and secondary departments. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, staff are deployed well to support children’s learning and welfare very effectively. Staff promote consistently high standards of behaviour that create a well-ordered environment conducive to learning. Instances of bullying and misbehaviour are very rare. Pupils develop a strong commitment to healthy eating through the curriculum and the wide range of nutritious foods provided by the school. They have free access to water and understand the benefits of exercising vigorously. Pupils are helped to make appropriate lifestyle choices through PSHCE. All independent school standards are met.

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Leadership and management Good

Good leadership and management have resulted in significant improvements in the quality of education. The senior leaders communicate their ambitious vision to all staff and have directed the changes required to improve the ethos of the school and promote pupils’ outstanding behaviour and personal development. The leaders’ self-evaluation is accurate. The restructuring of the leadership and management team, the creation of middle manager roles, the recruitment of highly skilled teachers and the setting up of systems to appraise and develop staff have led to good achievement, good teaching and an outstanding curriculum. The senior leaders generally manage the performance of teaching staff well; although occasionally, their checks on teaching lack rigour. Consequently, on these occasions, staff do not receive feedback that is sufficiently incisive to improve their skills further and there remains a small minority of adequate teaching. Also, not all

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Leadership and management Good

staff have access to professional development that closely matches their needs and helps them to improve their knowledge and skills. The governing body generally supports the senior leaders effectively; although, in a few areas, limited knowledge means that it cannot challenge the leaders sufficiently.

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Leadership and management Good

The premises are maintained well and provide suitable accommodation for safe and effective learning. The governors ensure that parents and carers receive the full range of information to which they are entitled and that the complaints procedure meets all requirements. Most parents and carers are delighted with all aspects of the school’s work and would recommend the school to others. However, despite recent improvements in the quality of communication, a small minority of parents and carers say that they are not sufficiently well informed of their children’s progress and that the school does not respond well to their concerns.

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Leadership and management Good

The proprietor has ensured that all standards for independent schools are met.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and significantly exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 2 Good A school which provides a high quality of education that exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 3 Adequate A school which meets minimum requirements but needs to improve the quality of education it provides. Grade 4 Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and/or the quality of education has serious weaknesses.

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School details

Unique reference number 133443 Inspection number 420172 DfE registration number 318/6586 This inspection was carried out under section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. Type of school Day primary and secondary school School status Independent School Age range of pupils 3–16 years Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 205 Number of part time pupils 11 Proprietors Hampton Court House Ltd (Eliana Houstoun-Boswall, Alexander Houstoun-Boswall) Chair Alexander Houstoun-Boswall Headteacher Guy Holloway Date of previous school inspection 19–20 January 2010 Annual fees (day pupils) £10,401 to £14,481 Telephone number 0208 943 0889 Fax number 0208 977 5357 Email address office@hchnet.co.uk guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If

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School details

you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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