Hooe Primary Academy

School report Hooe Primary Academy Hooe Road, Hooe, Plymouth, PL9 9RG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  All groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs, achieve well in this new academy. Achievement in English, mathematics and personal development is at least good.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress and achieve well in their learning.  Teaching is almost always good and some is outstanding. As a result pupils have made good progress since the academy opened. Teaching is most effective towards the upper end of Key Stage 2 where pupils make rapid progress and quickly extend their skills.  Behaviour is outstanding and pupils are safe. They say they enjoy themselves at the academy. A few pupils take holidays in term time, affecting overall attendance.  The vast majority of parents and carers are rightly pleased with their child's education.  Strong leadership by the headteacher, ably supported by other leaders and staff, results in a clear vision and an accurate view of the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

academy’s performance and very high aspirations for the future.  Efficient planning by the governing body means money is spent well for the benefit of all groups of pupils, including those who are known to be eligible for premium funding.  High-quality training includes a strong focus on managing and improving the performance of all staff which is having a very positive impact on improving the quality of teaching.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 In a few lessons pupils are not challenged to work at a fast enough rate and not all pupils are involved in assessing their own learning.  Attendance is not regular enough because too many pupils take holidays in term time.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 13 lessons, a few jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors also made a few short visits to lessons to look at the pupils' work and hear some pupils read.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, other senior leaders, two members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority, and some staff and pupils.  The inspectors observed the work of the academy and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own information about pupils' progress, planning and monitoring documents, safeguarding information and pupils' books and files.  Inspectors took account of the 37 responses to the online survey (Parent View) and spoke to a few parents and carers in the playground and by telephone. Inspectors also took account of 13 responses to the staff inspection questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Denise Morris, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Linda Rafferty Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Hooe Primary Academy converted to become an academy in March 2013. When its predecessor school of the same name was inspected by Ofsted in July 2008, it was judged to be good.  It is a smaller than the average sized primary school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs at school action is below average. The proportion at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is broadly average.  Almost all pupils are White British and a very small number of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who benefit from the pupil premium (additional funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals, those looked after by the local authority and those from service families) is below average.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching so that achievement improves across the school by:  ensuring that all teachers plan challenging tasks in every lesson so that pupils work at a fast rate  involving all pupils across the school in their assessment of learning so that they quickly achieve their next steps

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Work with pupils and parents and carers to ensure that pupils come to school regularly.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language, achieve well. Their good and sometimes very good achievement since the academy opened is evident in pupils' books and in the high-quality outcomes achieved by pupils in Year 6 in their recent standardised end of year attainment tests.  Achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in the short time that the academy has been open is at least good, and for pupils in Years 4 to 6 is often outstanding. This is because of the current very strong focus on improvement and the high-quality of challenge in these year groups.  Pupils' reading skills are effectively promoted through the good phonics programme for younger pupils. As a result pupils in Reception and Key Stage 1 use their phonics knowledge well to read new words. Year 2 pupils, for example, read previously unseen books to the inspector. Although

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The achievement of pupils is good

they had not seen the books before, they were mostly able to read fluently sounding out new words accurately.  Writing skills are fostered well though a wide range of real-life activities that engage pupils and encourage them to create their own stories and poems. A visit to the Eden project resulted in some older pupils writing high-quality evocative and empathetic poems about their experiences.  Pupils make at least good progress in mathematics. They enjoy the practical aspects of the subject in particular. This was evident in Year 5 where pupils showed outstanding achievement as they revised mental strategies linked to the four mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Because of the teacher’s clear explanations and demonstrations and the fast pace at which pupils were expected to work, they were able to quickly use inverse operations to find and check answers.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils have many high-quality experiences to develop their good communication and other skills that will help them in the future. For example, all groups are involved in the new business enterprise activities, making and selling items such as tee shirts they have decorated, raising money for different charities, and learning about the use of finances and banking.  Just occasionally, a few pupils do not achieve quite as well as they should because tasks in lessons are not challenging enough to ensure they work at a fast enough rate to make the expected progress. Not all pupils are regularly involved in self-assessing their own learning so that they are sometimes unclear about how to achieve their next steps.  Those known to be eligible for the pupil premium achieve equally as well as other pupils in English and mathematics. They reach standards in English and mathematics that are similar to those achieved by other pupils. This is because the extra funding is used well to employ

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The achievement of pupils is good

additional staffing to support their individual needs or to fund additional resources to engage those pupils in learning.  A high proportion of parents and carers who responded to Parent View are rightly pleased with their child's progress but several do not think their children have enough homework. Inspectors found homework to be appropriate to pupils' ages and abilities.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The vast majority of teaching is good, and some is outstanding as shown by inspection evidence and the academy's own evaluations. Teachers regularly build on pupils' skills through high- quality discussions extending their speaking and listening skills well.  The teaching of reading is good. For example, phonics is taught accurately and this results in younger pupils building their understanding and improving their reading skills.  Effective approaches to the teaching of writing ensure that pupils make good progress across classes. Where teaching is outstanding pupils make excellent progress.  In a Year 6 English lesson, for example, very high expectations and the fast pace of questioning challenged pupils to improve their use of vocabulary in a piece of writing based on their own choice and style. As a result their outcomes were of a very high quality.  The most effective lessons have high levels of challenge and pace. Tasks are often timed so that

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The quality of teaching is good

pupils work with a sense of urgency; this was best in mathematics lessons where pupils make at least good progress.  Not all lessons provide this kind of challenge to pupils. At times teachers talk for too long and pupils are kept sitting on the carpet for too long. This slows the pace of pupils' learning and their rates of progress.  There are many good examples of pupils using their mathematical skills in their business enterprise challenges, working out costs and looking at value for money.  Some specialist teaching in music enables all pupils to learn to play a musical instrument and some recent work with a local artist has resulted in some very high-quality paintings by pupils. Sport is being promoted very well through coaching.  Teachers' assessments and marking of pupils’ work usually provide very helpful comments to help pupils improve further. Not all teachers involve pupils well enough in assessing their own

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The quality of teaching is good

learning to enable them to understand how they could improve further and move on to their next steps.  Teaching assistants are used very well to promote pupils' learning and personal development and most have a very positive rapport with the pupils in their class. Several pupils told the inspectors that they would confide in their teaching assistant if they had any concerns.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Exceptional behaviour across the academy is evident in all that pupils do. They are polite, helpful and work very well together.  Pupils told the inspector that there is very little bullying or teasing and that any bullying is quickly dealt with. They say they feel very safe. Records show that there has been only one behavioural incident since the academy opened.  Pupils say that they really enjoy their academy. 'It's the best' said one. Pupils show this by the way that they fully engage with all the activities offered. During the inspection older pupils were practising for their end of year show. They showed high levels of enthusiasm, taking their parts seriously and working hard to perfect their performances.  The vast majority attend well but since the academy opened some pupils have not attended regularly because too many holidays are taken during term time. The headteacher has already put procedures in place to improve attendance and is working closely with parents and carers.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Older pupils regularly support younger ones and have an excellent sense of their responsibility to take care of them.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is extremely well promoted through the curriculum, enabling pupils to develop good levels of responsibility for themselves as well as respect for adults and other pupils. They value their outdoor education and class visits which support their awareness of worldwide issues about conservation, helping them to develop their own social responsibility.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has an aspirational vision for the academy's future and is determined to make it outstanding. He is ably supported by senior leaders and staff but has not yet had a long enough time since the academy opened to show consistently outstanding teaching and learning. Leaders recognise that there is a lot more to do to ensure that teaching is consistently good or outstanding.  Leaders have begun to make changes to the provision, for example by enriching the curriculum. Sports coaching has been introduced, business enterprise is developing and improvements to the outdoor environment are having a very positive impact on pupils' enjoyment of the academy and on enriching their lives.  Following academy conversion some excellent partnerships have been established, particularly with local colleges and these have resulted in opportunities for the academy to become involved in action research with other schools to improve teaching and learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders are working effectively to maintain the best practice in behaviour and personal development and to improve teaching and learning. They are already working closely with parents and carers to improve attendance.  Good use of the national standards for teaching shows that leaders are committed to developing the skills of teachers so that they can improve, progress up the pay scale, and seek promotion. There are several good examples across all staff groups of how high-quality training is improving opportunities.  Leaders regularly keep checks on teaching and learning through frequent monitoring and through outcomes. They have recently improved their capacity to do so by restructuring the leadership team to ensure that monitoring roles are more widely shared. As a result leaders are fully aware of which staff deserve promotion.  Leaders continue to use local authority support services since becoming an academy and these

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The leadership and management are good

provide good quality support to leaders in monitoring the quality of provision and outcomes. The academy is seen as a leader of good practice and is fully involved in working with other local schools.  Equality is promoted very well and leaders are rigorous about providing opportunities that meet all pupils' needs and abilities so that there is no discrimination across the academy.  The parents and carers who spoke to inspectors and those who responded to the inspection questionnaires agree that their children achieve well.  Safeguarding procedures meet requirements.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is very supportive and provides effective challenge to leaders. Governors have a very strong belief in preparing pupils well for their futures. They have been fully involved in taking the school into academy status and fully check teaching and learning carefully to ensure that the pupils are achieving well. Governors have a good range of skills

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The leadership and management are good

which they use to benefit the school. Their full involvement in evaluating the academy's outcomes ensures that members know how well the school is doing. Finances are well managed and the pupil premium is used to support eligible pupils in their learning. As a result the achievements of these pupils are as good as those of their classmates in English and mathematics. Governors ensure that teachers and staff are supported with appropriate training and that the best staff are rewarded.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 139299 Local authority Plymouth Inspection number 421033

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Barbara Smith Headteacher Jake Daykin Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01752 402042 Fax number 01752 481628 Email address admin@hooe.plymouth.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If 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 and as part of the inspection.

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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

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, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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