Hayesdown First School

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Standards are rising and pupils attain above the national average at the end of Year 2 and above what is typical for their age at the end of Year 4. Pupils achieve well and make good progress.  All groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, and the most able pupils, make good progress.  Teaching is of good quality. Teachers mark pupils’ work with constructive comments and make it clear to pupils how they can improve their work.  Pupils behave well. They work hard and cooperate very well with each other. They feel very safe in school and attendance has improved so that it is now above average.  The headteacher has ensured that this is a rapidly improving school. She and the governing body are well supported by other staff. There is a relentless drive to improve opportunities for all pupils and ensure even better progress.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 There are very good opportunities for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Teachers acquaint pupils with British values in an imaginative way.  The school provides very good care and support for vulnerable and potentially disadvantaged pupils, for example in the nurture group.  The school has close relationships with the Trust schools and other schools in the local area. These have had a positive impact on increasing pupils’ opportunities and staff’s professional development.  The leadership checks the quality of teaching and learning rigorously and has developed very effective systems of assessment.  Children in early years make good progress in response to good teaching.  Parents greatly appreciate what the school does for their children and agree that the school has improved rapidly since the headteacher took up her post.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 In some lessons, teachers do not have high enough expectations of what the most able pupils can achieve during a limited time.  Occasionally, teachers focus on a range of teaching activities without sufficiently considering the quality of learning they should expect from all pupils in the class.  Progress in writing is more variable than in other subjects, partly because there is not always sufficient focus on providing good writing opportunities in subjects other than English.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 15 lessons, taught by 10 teachers. Members of the senior leadership team accompanied inspectors on five of the observations. Inspectors also visited several shorter sessions. They listened to pupils reading.  Inspectors held meetings with pupils, staff and the Chair of the Governing Body and three other members. An inspector met with the executive principal of the Fosse Way Trust, of which the school is a member. Inspectors talked to parents.  The inspection team took account of 60 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and 27 questionnaires returned by staff.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents, including the school’s view of its own effectiveness, minutes of governors’ meetings, the school’s planning for improvement, information relating to the school’s checks on the quality of teaching and data on pupils’ current attainment and progress. Inspectors looked at

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Information about this inspection

information relating to safeguarding and samples of pupils’ work.

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Inspection team

John Laver, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Hayesdown First School became an academy on 1 September 2013. When its predecessor school, also called Hayesdown First School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be inadequate.  The school is similar in size to the average-sized primary school.  The great majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is just below average.  The proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is below average. The pupil premium is additional government funding to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after.  There are two classes in Reception and the children attend full time. There are two Year 1 and two Year 2 classes. There are three classes which each contains pupils from Years 3 and 4.  The school is part of the Fosse Way Trust, comprising three schools.  The school operates a breakfast club.

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Information about this school

 There are a privately run nursery and a children’s centre on site, which did not form part of the inspection.  The headteacher was appointed less than three years ago and, since that time, there have been several changes in the teaching staff.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching, so that more of the good teaching becomes outstanding, by  making sure that teachers always provide work of sufficient challenge early enough in lessons, so that all pupils, especially the most able, can achieve to their full potential  ensuring that teachers always consider the quality of learning they should expect when they plan activities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve attainment and progress in writing by increasing expectations of the quality and quantity of writing that pupils do in all subjects, including children in early years.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has led the school very effectively since she joined the school just under three years ago. She is well supported by her senior leadership team and governors in improving all aspects of the school, including attainment and progress, during that time. The school shows a strong capacity to improve further, although outcomes at present are not outstanding.  Other staff, as evident from discussions and their completed questionnaires, fully support the continued drive for improvement and the leadership’s actions to implement the new National Curriculum and its preferred approach to assessment. There is a culture of mutual support that has benefited the school considerably in promoting rapid improvement.  School leaders, including subject leaders, check the quality of teaching and learning regularly. This has helped to improve teaching.  The leadership has developed a rigorous approach to managing teachers’ performance, so that teachers’

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The leadership and management are good

advancement and pay are linked closely to results. There are detailed support packages to structure the professional development of all staff.  The pupil premium funding has been used very effectively. For example, it funds additional support for disadvantaged pupils. This has successfully reduced the gaps in attainment and progress between these pupils and others in the school.  The leadership has used the additional sports funding well in various ways. One has been to employ specialist sports coaches to develop staff confidence and expertise in teaching physical education, as inspectors observed during the inspection. The funding has also supported the provision of a good range of clubs, which pupils enjoy.  The school ensures equal opportunities for all pupils, especially evident now that previous differences between the progress of different groups of pupils have been reduced. Pupils are now better prepared for

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The leadership and management are good

the next stage of their education. There is no discrimination in the school and behaviour has improved. Parents confirm that the school provides a happy and supportive environment for their children.  Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy the range of subjects that they learn, often through topics.  The leadership provides very well for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. An inspector saw opportunities for reflection and collective worship in assemblies. The school gives pupils good opportunities to develop a wider cultural awareness. For example, pupils attended an exhibition about Frome and the First World War and, afterwards, pupils produced some mature and reflective work about the experience.  The leadership has ensured that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain and understand British values. The school devotes specific curriculum time to promote this aspect of pupils’ learning. Children in

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The leadership and management are good

early years learn not just about school rules, but also about rules in society. Year 1 learns about the roles of important people, ranging from their family to the Royal Family and the prime minister. Year 2 learns about different rules involving society and common law. Years 3 and 4 learn about concepts such as free speech, respect for people of different faiths and cultures and how laws are made and upheld.  The school makes very good use of its links with other schools. For example, staff get the opportunity to plan jointly with colleagues from other schools. Pupils work on projects, which they continue when they move to their next school, helping them in the process of settling in. Pupils also benefit from additional links with other schools, for example through getting increased opportunities for sports.  The school complies with all safeguarding requirements. There are appropriate policies and procedures,

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The leadership and management are good

for example to check attendance, and all staff know them. The school site is secure, with the additional security of CCTV surveillance.  The leadership is outgoing in supporting other schools. For example, the headteacher provides advice for other schools in the Trust and a teacher gives support to a Reception setting in another school.  The governance of the school: – The governing body is highly effective and involved in all aspects of school life. Governors not only support the leadership, but also challenge it constructively, for example on curriculum and assessment issues. The governing body is able to do this because it is very knowledgeable about the school. Governors understand the assessment data and know how well the school’s pupils are doing, compared with pupils elsewhere. They also understand the qualities of teaching and where improvements can usefully be made. This is because governors do a lot of the checking themselves,

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The leadership and management are good

going into classrooms, talking to staff and pupils and looking at pupils’ work. They write reports on their activities in school and make a valuable contribution to school improvement. Governors are fully aware of their responsibilities for safeguarding and receive appropriate training. They understand the impact on the school’s performance of initiatives such as pupil premium funding and additional sports funding. They oversee the school’s system of appraising staff performance and help the leadership to ensure the accountability of staff. Governors have high expectations of the leadership and other staff and are committed to continued improvement.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is overwhelmingly good. Pupils enjoy coming to school. The leadership’s more rigorous approach towards ensuring that parents understand the importance of pupils regularly attending school has resulted in attendance rising to above the national average.  Behaviour is good in most lessons, but not outstanding. This is because, very occasionally, some pupils are off-task and behave in a way that requires careful management. However, this aspect of behaviour has improved, as pupils acknowledge, so that learning is rarely interrupted. The great majority of pupils are keen to learn.  Pupils report that although there are occasional behavioural incidents outside the classroom, staff deal with them effectively and pupils do not see bullying as an issue. The pupils are made aware that there can be different types of bullying: for example, they are trained in e-safety. Behavioural issues are also dealt

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Behaviour

with in assemblies and in lessons.  Pupils like the opportunity to take responsibility, for example through consulting on school rules and what topics are taught. They also enjoy taking part in community events, for example in the local theatre.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  Parents and pupils report that pupils feel safe and well cared for in school. This is particularly true of the nurture group, which gives very individualised care to some pupils for part of the week, as was observed during the inspection.  Pupils know what they are supposed to do in order to keep safe, for example when using computers.  The breakfast club provides a healthy and enjoyable start to the school day for several pupils.  The school promotes pupils’ awareness of safety through lessons, assemblies and visitors.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The evidence of the school’s own checks on teaching, the evidence of assessment and the quality of work in pupils’ books all indicate that teaching has been good for some time and has improved under the present leadership. This has resulted in good pupil attitudes towards learning and good progress in all year groups.  Teachers mark pupils’ work with detailed and constructive comments. Consequently, pupils know how well they have done and how they can improve their work further. Pupils are usually made to respond to teachers’ comments in their books. Pupils say that they find the marking helpful.  The regular phonics sessions (teaching letters and the sounds they represent) throughout the school have successfully developed pupils’ language skills. Inspectors saw pupils responding enthusiastically to teachers and teaching assistants who teach these skills, using a variety of means and resources.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff teach reading effectively, with pupils having a good selection of books from which to choose. Other adults besides teachers support pupils well during reading sessions.  Teachers show good subject expertise and have clearly benefited from opportunities for professional training. This is true in several subjects, including physical education, which inspectors observed being taught expertly during the inspection.  There is evidence of improved teaching in mathematics, a subject in which there has been under achievement by some pupils in the past. Teachers have benefited from support from within the school and externally in order to improve their confidence and expertise in teaching mathematics.  Pupils told inspectors that they find many lessons ‘fun’ because teachers make them lively and engage their interest.  Teaching meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils well, so that they are now achieving more in line with

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The quality of teaching is good

other pupils than they did previously. Teachers also teach disabled pupils and those with special educational needs well, supported by teaching assistants both inside and outside the classroom.  Teachers plan their lessons conscientiously, as well as assessing pupils’ progress regularly. However, although they usually meet pupils’ learning needs well, occasionally the nature of the tasks is not appropriate for the most able pupils. Sometimes the work they do is too easy for them and they do not get on to more suitably challenging work until later in the lesson. On these occasions, although these pupils are keen to learn, they do not make as much progress as they could. This explains partly why teaching is not yet outstanding.  Teachers teach writing well in English lessons, as is evident in the range and quality of writing in pupils’ literacy books. However, sometimes pupils do not demonstrate the same writing skills in topics outside

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is good

 Having made a good start in Reception, pupils go on to make good progress in Key Stage 1 and in Years 3 and 4, so they are well prepared for their transfer to middle school.  Achievement has improved considerably during the past two years. The 2014 results were an improvement on the previous year’s results, showing above average attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1. The evidence of pupils’ work and the school’s assessment records show above average standards for many pupils in Years 3 and 4 also. Most pupils are on track to meet challenging targets, with more pupils than would normally be expected exceeding typical levels of progress.  Reading is a particular strength, but attainment and progress have also improved in mathematics and writing for most pupils, although there is more variability in progress in writing.  The improvements in progress have been the result of decisive action by the school’s leadership. There

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is good

have been changes in staffing, more effective staff development, better use of assessment and more accountability for progress.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs have underachieved in the past, but now make good progress. This has been partly the result of improved training for staff and better-targeted support.  The school has a very effective system in place for identifying weekly those pupils at risk of underachieving. Consequently, the leadership quickly puts strategies in place to support these pupils, making sure they get appropriate teaching and, sometimes, additional support.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils was variable in the past. In 2013, these pupils were achieving well, often better than other pupils in the school. In 2014, by the end of Key Stage 1, there were too few disadvantaged pupils to make the results statistically reliable, although those that were assessed were just

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is good

over three terms behind other pupils in reading and mathematics and almost three terms behind in writing. As a result of putting additional resources and support in place, the gap in their attainment and progress with other pupils in the school has considerably narrowed and disadvantaged pupils are making good progress.  Although in some classes there is still a gap between the progress of boys and girls, these gaps have narrowed.  Although the most able pupils do not always achieve as well as they might in individual lessons when work is not sufficiently challenging for them, over time they are making good progress. This was very evident in the Key Stage 1 results in 2014, when there was a big improvement in the number of pupils attaining the higher Level 3 in English and mathematics. This progress has been sustained and further improved upon.  Most parents believe that their children make good progress and are taught well and the evidence of the

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is good

 Children joining Reception do so with skills and abilities mostly typical for their age and, increasingly, better than this. During Reception, the children make good progress to reach standards that, in many cases, are better than those that would typically be expected for their age. Therefore they are well prepared for their transition to Year 1.  Teaching is good in Reception, although sometimes there are opportunities missed to develop children’s early writing skills more quickly.  Children of all abilities make good progress in Reception. For example, in a phonics session (letter and the sounds they make) children were completely focused and fully engaged when identifying possible items in a lunchbox and then spelling out the words.  As well as developing basic skills quickly, children also make good progress in their personal and social development. They quickly learn how to listen to each other and share appropriately. When changing

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is good

activities, the children do so quickly and without fuss, because they have learned what is expected of them.  When the children are working away from adults, they are given challenging tasks to develop their creativity, thinking and other skills while doing enjoyable things. For example, children working with bricks were only allowed to use a particular number when creating an object.  Many children in Reception are confident and have well-developed speaking skills. They are keen to show visitors what they are doing and explain the processes.  Children behave well when together as a class or when working and playing on their own or in small groups. Children clearly feel safe and well supported and parents confirmed this. Children are encouraged to think about how to keep safe.  There is good leadership in Reception. Staff are managed well and they assess children’s progress and record it regularly. They know exactly how well the children are doing. Staff welcome parents into the

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is good

early years setting and parents are encouraged to support their children’s learning both at school and at home.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 139945 Local authority Somerset Inspection number 450184

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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 5–9 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 251 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Karen Haines Headteacher Sue Heal Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0137 3462718 Fax number 0137 3453715 Email address office@hayesdown.somerset.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 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

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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