Lift Hall Road

Hall Road Academy Hall Road, Hull, HU6 8PP

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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 Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils make good progress in this school. From starting points that are lower than that of other children nationally, they leave in Year 6 at levels roughly in line with other pupils of the same age.  Teachers help pupils think and learn by very careful marking and by regular, rigorous monitoring.  The governors play a very active part in school life. They support as well as challenge the school in all aspects of its work.  Pupils feel safe and enjoy coming to school. Pupils are well behaved and respect the environment by keeping it very tidy.  The academy is well led by a headteacher who communicates her vision and ethos with determination. Her high expectations are shared and delivered by all leaders and teachers in the school. This has led to rapid improvement in teaching and achievement.  The support of the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) has been instrumental in furthering the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

school’s improvement, particularly in this academic year.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage do not have enough opportunities in their classrooms to see and write the new letters they are learning.  The effectiveness of the support for pupils with special educational needs is not sufficiently monitored.  Not all teachers know what outstanding learning and teaching are and are therefore limited in their ability to deliver it.  The new performance management system is still being embedded and does not yet meet the improvement needs of some teachers quickly enough.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 16 lessons and three support lessons in a range of subjects, two of which were observed jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. They looked at a range of pupils’ work, sometimes jointly with senior leaders.  Inspectors listened to pupils from Year 2 and Year 6 read.  Meetings took place with the headteacher, middle leaders, staff and groups of pupils, the Chair, and vice-chair, of the Governing Body and the regional director of the Academy Trust.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s data on pupils’ progress and records relating to pupils’ behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.  Inspectors observed the breakfast club, morning playtime, lunch breaks and attended an assembly.  Inspectors were unable to take into account responses to the on-line parent questionnaire (Parent View) as there were too few to register. However, inspectors did speak with a number of

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Information about this inspection

parents and looked at the results of the school’s own survey of parents’ views. The views of staff and pupils were also considered.

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Inspection team

Joanna Sharpe, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Peter Bailey Additional Inspector Jan Lomas Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Hall Road Academy is part of the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET). It became a sponsored academy on 1 September 2012.  Hall Road Academy is a larger than average-sized primary school, with a sizeable increase in pupil numbers in the recent academic year.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage. Other pupils come from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is slightly above the national average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is well above that of other schools nationally. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is well above the national average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action plus or through a statement of special

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Information about this school

educational needs is well above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who start and leave the school at different times of the school year is high and increasing. This year, only 78% of pupils were stable in the school compared to 85.8% nationally.  There is a breakfast club, which is managed by the school, available free of charge every morning.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that children in the Early Years Foundation Stage have the chance to reinforce their learning by providing more opportunities in the learning environment, both inside and outside, to read and write the letters they are learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all leaders further embed and monitor the impact of the new performance management and pupil progress systems to ensure:  all teachers are aware of what outstanding learning and teaching is so they can improve the quality of their teaching and deliver consistently good and outstanding teaching  that individual needs of teachers are met more quickly to raise the quality of teaching of all teachers  the effectiveness and quality of the support lessons given to pupils with special educational needs are checked on a more regular basis.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the school with skills and abilities that are well below that which are typical for their age. By the time pupils leave the school in Year 6, they leave with standards that are just below but close to that of other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.  The vast majority of pupils in the school make more progress than that of other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.  Many pupils join the school other than in Nursery and Reception, often with standards that are lower than that of pupils who are already in the school and sometimes with little spoken English. These pupils generally make good and outstanding progress and move quickly from one National Curriculum level to the next.  The progress made in writing this year has been outstanding in five out of the six year groups. This has been largely due to the introduction of a commercial scheme which has been taught

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The achievement of pupils is good

across Key Stage 1 and 2.  Pupils supported by the pupil premium funding, including those known to be eligible for free school meals, make good progress. School information on pupils’ attainment shows that in reading, writing and mathematics across the school, these children are on average one term behind other pupils in school. This gap is closing rapidly.  Pupils read confidently and a love of books is promoted well throughout the school. Each classroom has a book reading area and parents read with their children most days. The systematic teaching of the sounds letters make supports the good progress pupils make in reading. The pupils have a wide range of books to choose from in every year group in the form of reading schemes and fiction and non-fiction.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress and adults create an environment that supports the quick learning of speaking, listening and cooperative skills. Not

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The achievement of pupils is good

enough opportunities are provided in the classrooms for children to reinforce the learning of the sounds letters make and the writing of them.  Pupils who have been identified as either disabled or having special educational needs do not make as much progress as other pupils in the school. At the moment, the quality of the extra support they get is not monitored as closely as other teaching in the school. This has meant that the leadership team has not been able to accurately identify if these children’s needs are being well met or if the quality of the teaching is good enough.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and very well. Comments written after the completion of work help pupils understand how they have gone wrong and what they can do to improve their work. This particularly supports the good and better progress of the most able pupils as they know exactly what they need to do next and can quickly move on. Pupils are given the time and encouragement to respond to comments made on their work which supports further improvement. A marking policy gives teachers clear guidance on how their marking can support learning and progress.  Teaching assistants within the classroom are well used to support pupils’ learning. In a Year 5 class, support was well targeted to ensure that a pupil with limited English could participate fully in the activity. On other occasions, such as a Year 6 mathematics lesson, the teaching assistant supported the needs of the middle-ability pupils at two different tables by moving between them

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The quality of teaching is good

and questioning and supporting them.  Pupils comment on how much they enjoy lessons, especially mathematics, because they are interesting and fun. They like the activity-based and problem-solving mathematics activities, as they make them think for themselves.  Specialist sports coaches funded by the primary school sport funding ensure all pupils happily participate in healthy activities. Through activities such as these, the school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination well.  Pupils respect the opinions of others and peer marking is used on a daily basis to improve their work and celebrate success.  Teachers have high expectations of behaviour and learning and the way teachers organise their classrooms helps pupils to learn well.  Teachers check within lessons and then on a more formal basis termly, what pupils have learnt. This enables teachers to provide activities that meet the needs of pupils, ensuring that all have

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The quality of teaching is good

an equal opportunity to learn and make progress.  A minority of teachers do not consistently teach to a high quality due to their unmet training needs in a range of skills.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave respectfully and relationships are good.  Pupils take a pride in their school and wear their uniform with pleasure and keep their school clean and tidy. Resources are kept tidily and treated with respect.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils feel safe and parents also consider that their children are safe in school. Adults supervise pupils well at all times to ensure their safety. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe on the internet and are aware that bullying and racism are unacceptable. They enjoy celebrating the cultural differences in their school.  Pupils are very polite to each other and welcoming to visitors, for example when a pupil helped an inspector by taking them around to the appropriate classroom.  There are very clear systems in place to promote good behaviour. Pupils were highly instrumental in developing the system that is currently in place. All pupils, including the very

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

youngest children, understand the behaviour system and consider it to be very fair. Pupils, parents and staff all comment that behaviour has improved.  Senior leaders carefully monitor the behaviour logs for each pupil so that they can identify and resolve any issues that may arise for individual pupils.  Although attendance is below that found in other schools nationally it has improved again this year. Much of the poor attendance is due to a small minority of pupils, with one pupil attending for only 32% of the school year. Staff are working very closely with these families and external agencies to try to support these pupils in getting to school more regularly. A free breakfast club is very popular and has been just one of the ways the school have helped improve the attendance of some pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is well led by a headteacher who has high expectations and has a clear vision of how this school will become an outstanding school. She communicates this vision well and it is shared enthusiastically by all.  Although the structure for middle leaders (who are known as the extended leadership team) is new, it has already had a positive impact on the quality of teaching.  One of the strengths of the school is the new system for following the standards and progress all pupils and groups of pupils make. Managers analyse this information on a termly basis and use it to support pupils’ individual needs, groups of pupils and to identify weaknesses in the quality of teaching. However, it does not yet monitor the effect the support lessons have on the learning of pupils with special educational needs.  Leaders and managers use the information on pupil progress effectively to manage the performance of the vast majority of teachers. A small minority of teachers have not yet had their

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The leadership and management are good

individual needs met. Leaders and managers also use other forms of performance monitoring including scrutiny of pupils’ books, observing teaching and checking planning. Teachers feel very well supported. They comment on how recently, AET has been able to provide a range of resources which have been highly valuable in improving their teaching skills.  Leaders and managers have not yet given all teachers a clear understanding of what outstanding learning and teaching is so that they can independently improve the quality of their own teaching.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well through events, including cultural days, assemblies and links with other schools.  The governance of the school:  Governors are highly involved in school improvement and are knowledgeable about pupil progress and the quality of teaching in the school. They ensure that the quality of teaching is

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The leadership and management are good

closely linked to achievement and that good teachers are rewarded accordingly. They have detailed records of the impact and spending of the pupil premium funding. Knowledge of sports funding is currently limited and is timetabled for the next finance committee meeting. Initially, governors were resistant to becoming an academy and note that in the first year there were some weaknesses in the support the Trust gave the school. However, governors recognise the good support the Trust now gives the school and the positive impact this has had on the quality of teaching.

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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 138679 Local authority City of Kingston upon Hull Inspection number 440057

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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 Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 337 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lynn Warelow Headteacher Caroline Holliday Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01482 441151 Fax number 01482 492483 Email address contactus@hallroadacademy.org 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 and 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

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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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