Hungerford Primary School

Hungerford Primary School Fairview Road, Hungerford, Berkshire RG17 0BT

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher joined the school at the time of the previous inspection. Since then he has led the school effectively and with quiet determination.  Senior leaders, governors and other school leaders have worked together supporting the headteacher and sharing his drive for school improvement.  The governing body is holding the school to account effectively. It uses the individual skills of its governors intelligently in order to support and challenge the school.  Teaching throughout the school is now good with the assessment of pupils’ progress a strength. This is leading to improving outcomes for all pupils.  Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school and are quick to note the improvements made since the date of the previous inspection.  Due to the support and stringent challenge from the governing body, disadvantaged pupils are now making good progress.  The local authority has worked in close

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This is a good school

partnership with the school. It knows the school well and has been able to judge accurately the progress and improvement the school has made.  The pupils say they like school, they feel safe and enjoy their lessons. They behave well in class and around the school. They are respectful and supportive of each other.  The school is highly inclusive and has very caring values. It is proud of its role as part of the local community.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Progress of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is not as strong as their peers.  Reading skills are improving but are not yet as strong as in writing or mathematics.  Learning activities need to be more challenging so that over time pupils, including the most able, make more than expected progress.  The school curriculum and its learning environment do not offer pupils enough opportunities to experience a diversity of cultures.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 To further improve the progress and attainment of pupils who have special educational needs or disability, by: leaders, teachers and teaching assistants monitoring progress more carefully, identifying gaps in pupils’ learning and intervening quickly leaders ensuring that teachers and teaching assistants have ongoing training so they can best meet the individual needs of pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 To further improve outcomes in reading across the school, by: ensuring that the teaching of phonics builds on the good practice that exists in the school encouraging and promoting more reading opportunities in the class, for example to research information building greater links with parents so that reading is encouraged and enjoyed at home as well as in school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 To ensure that learning is sufficiently challenging, particularly for the most able, so that more pupils make better than expected progress, by: teachers recognising what pupils already know and understand so they effectively build on these when planning future tasks and activities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures that constitute modern Britain so that pupils will be able to celebrate diversity, by: developing more opportunities and enriching experiences for pupils to learn about other cultures ensuring that the experience of the pupils is enhanced by a variety of displays in the school environment that celebrate and illustrate other cultures.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher has led the school with quiet determination and a clear vision. His consistent approach has provided the school with stability and a sense of purpose.  Since the previous inspection the headteacher and his leadership team have worked incredibly hard. They have carefully chosen the correct areas to address and have kept a strong focus on ensuring that the school achieves success for all its pupils.  The staff respect the leadership of the school and consequently morale is high.  Parents are very positive about the changes to the school and they recognise the significant improvements. The large majority of parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, indicate they would be happy to recommend the school to other parents.  The early years is successfully led and in turn outcomes are good. Children are achieving a good level of development and school results are above national averages.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The school leaders in English and mathematics are knowledgeable and committed to school improvement. They have ensured that teachers have been well supported in the teaching of these subjects. They have monitored pupils’ work carefully and provided teachers with appropriate training.  The school has improved systems for the identification of pupils who have special educational needs or disability. As a result of these improved practices, the school is aware that not all pupils who have special educational needs or disability are making sufficient progress.  The local authority has been vigilant in supporting the school. It recognises that the school is now in a position where it can continue its journey of improvement with greater independence.  The leadership of assessment is excellent. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher have developed innovative practices to support the day-to-day assessment of pupils’ learning. Initiatives

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

such as the school’s marking logs have made a significant impact in the way pupils’ work is assessed and how future lessons are carefully matched to the pupils’ learning needs. The school has begun to share this excellent practice with other local schools.  The school is now more focused on ensuring that the pupil premium funding for its disadvantaged pupils is carefully monitored. The governor responsible for pupil premium is very effective in holding the school to account. This additional funding is also used to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are able to participate in all aspects of school life.  An understanding of the British values of democracy, tolerance and respect are promoted through assemblies and in displays around the school. Pupils participate in school assemblies in a thoughtful and respectful manner, taking the opportunity to reflect on, and celebrate, aspects of school life.  The leadership of the school has been very clear that the school should be a key part of the community it

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

serves. These values are clearly communicated through the school’s website. Comments from parents noted the caring support the school had provided for them, often during difficult times.  The headteacher, senior teachers and governors have managed teachers’ performance in line with statutory requirements. Staff training is now much more focused on the needs of the school, and the individual needs of teachers and other school staff. Teachers at different stages of their career have been provided with appropriate training.  The teacher leading the primary physical education funding has used this imaginatively and successfully. She has analysed current provision for pupils and targeted those pupils not participating in school sports. This approach has successfully ensured that more pupils are involved in a wider range of sports.  The curriculum provided by the school is well planned and the children say they find lessons interesting. One

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

child stated that the planned learning, ‘gets my mind working’. However, the inspectors noted that the curriculum is not sufficiently broad enough to provide opportunities for pupils to learn about the vibrancy of different cultures that make up modern Britain.  The governance of the school Since the previous inspection the governance of the school has considerably improved and governors have a clear understanding of their role. Governors are highly effective in the intelligent way they challenge and support the school. The governing body is well led and organised by the chair. The governing body is confident in its use of assessment information. It is able to analyse this information and then challenge the school leaders accurately. This has been particularly effective in raising the outcomes for the disadvantaged pupils in the school. Governors have a wide range of expertise and this is being used effectively to check and support the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

school’s work. They have matched their expertise to the areas of the school where it will have most impact. They have also undertaken training to enhance their skills. The governors have established a positive and professional relationship with the school leadership and this has helped to ensure that they are kept well informed. Governors are determined in their aspiration that their school will be the one that parents will automatically choose to send their children.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff maintain a high degree of vigilance and care with regard to the welfare of the pupils. Senior leaders ensure that referrals to agencies are followed through. The overwhelming majority of parents who completed the Parent View questionnaire stated that they feel their children are safe in school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching throughout the school is good. Teachers plan interesting lessons for the pupils and this ensures that the engagement of the pupils is high in most lessons and across the school.  The school has devoted much time in ensuring that the new curriculum is implemented successfully; consequently, teaching across a range of subjects is good.  The assessment of pupils’ work is now much improved. Teachers use the school’s innovative marking logs to reflect on their lessons. When completed, the information in the marking log is used to plan future lessons. This has helped ensure that the pupils’ future work is more accurately matched to meet their learning needs.  The deputy and assistant headteachers have ensured that the teachers use regular marking opportunities to assess pupils’ work. This information helps the teachers understand what the pupils know, what the pupils may have forgotten and most importantly what the pupils need to know next.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Writing is taught effectively in the school, for example a pupil in key stage 2 who had joined the school at the start of the school year with very little English language is now writing fluently and confidently.  Pupils say they enjoy mathematics and the teaching of this subject is good. The teachers deliver a broad and interesting menu of mathematics activities including the more open-ended investigative challenges. Speaking with an inspector, one pupil stated that he loved mathematics, ‘because there is no end to it’.  For pupils who have special educational needs or disability, teachers are becoming more secure in meeting their learning needs and supporting them to improve their progress. Pupils are supported by an effective team of teaching assistants who know the pupils well and work closely with the teachers in order to meet their needs.  The teaching of reading across the school is not as consistent as it should be. Some pupils read with

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

enthusiasm and confidence but this is not always the case and some pupils, on inspection, were unable to use simple strategies to help build up more complex words. There needs to be challenging activities and tasks for pupils, particularly the most able pupils so that they can make more rapid progress over time.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good; safeguarding systems, including that to promote e-safety, are thorough and known by staff and pupils.  The school has strong community values. These are based on the headteacher’s aim that all pupils and staff are part of the school community and in turn the school is a central part of the local community.  The school has made significant recent changes to ensure that it is meeting the needs of its more vulnerable pupils. The establishment of a nurture room run by a qualified teacher is helping to ensure that pupils are supported in both their learning and emotional needs.  The pupils know what they need to do to improve their learning and are happy and confident to share their positive experiences at school. They feel safe at school and do not consider bullying to be a problem and if there was an incident they would know what to do and who to go to for help.

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Personal development and welfare

 The work to increase the number of pupils participating in sports is having a significant success in promoting a positive attitude towards sport and healthy activity. The recent success of the girls’ football team has been shared as an example of successful sportsmanship and teamwork.  The large majority of parents who completed the Parent View questionnaire agreed that their children feel safe, are happy and are well looked after at school.  The school leadership and staff have been extremely proactive in supporting vulnerable families. They have relentlessly followed up concerns, working with other agencies to support vulnerable pupils and their families through difficult times.  Pupils’ cultural development needs to be developed further so that they have a greater understanding of other cultures and diversity and the impact that these have on their own lives in modern Britain.

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Behaviour

 Behaviour at the school is good. Pupils are polite and courteous. They are friendly towards each other and also towards visitors to the school.  Pupils play well together and look after each other, for example when a younger child bumped his head an older pupil was observed carefully escorting him to the medical room.  Relationships between pupils at the school are good and pupils work together well and engage themselves fully in lessons. They are extremely positive about their school.  Some minor incidents of low-level disruption were observed during the inspection.  The school is managing those pupils who have behavioural difficulties with care and clear expectations. Inspectors were able to observe how the school effectively manages pupils who, at times, struggle with their behaviour. This has ensured that the level of disruption in classes is low.  Attendance at the school is high and levels of persistent absence is low. Both of these figures are better than

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Behaviour

the national figures and attendance has been high for the last three years.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Outcomes for pupils have been improving since the previous inspection and are now good.  Current in-school assessment information demonstrates that the majority of pupils in the school are working in line with national expectations. Disadvantaged pupils are also achieving in line with other pupils in the school and most, but not all, pupils who have special educational needs or disability make expected progress.  The inspection team together with senior leaders undertook a very detailed scrutiny of the pupils’ work over a range of subjects and this indicated the secure progress the pupils are making and the expected levels of attainment they are reaching.  Outcomes for pupils at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2 are now broadly in line with the national expectations.  Teachers are now checking the pupils’ level of knowledge carefully and by applying the school’s much- improved assessment systems, the teachers are able to find out why a pupil may not be progressing so well

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Outcomes for pupils are good

and adjust their teaching accordingly.  Activities organised by the school for its older pupils such as the Year 6 booster lessons and the additional Easter classes have helped accelerate progress for these pupils.  In mathematics, pupils in different year groups were observed confidently applying their mathematical knowledge and reasoning to new tasks. In Year 6, the strong mathematical subject knowledge of the teachers is helping to prepare pupils for the next stage of their education at secondary school.  Outcomes in writing across the school are good. In the early years, children were observed writing simple words confidently and with clear handwriting. In Year 6, pupils were observed writing their own non- chronological text on ideas and subjects that they found interesting.  Reading outcomes are not as consistent as those for writing. Effective teaching of phonics was observed and many pupils do read well and for enjoyment; however, more needs to be done for this to be a consistent

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Outcomes for pupils are good

picture across the school. The school is anxious to work more closely with parents to improve the confidence of pupils’ reading.  Most parents who responded to Parent View either agreed or strongly agreed that their child was making good progress at the school.  Pupils’ work in their books and in the wide range of activities they are offered demonstrates that the school is preparing pupils well for their move onto the next stage of their education.

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Early years provision is good

 The leadership and management of the early years is good. Clear planning and close monitoring of the children’s progress has ensured that the proportion of children attaining a good level of development was above the national figure over the last two years. The effective use of the pupil premium funding has also ensured that disadvantaged children are also achieving well. These actions ensure that the children are well prepared and ready to start Year 1.  Children have the opportunity to experience a wide range of engaging learning. The children’s response to this learning is carefully and regularly assessed to ensure that the children’s future learning is sufficiently challenging.  While assessment in the early years is good, teachers need to continue to be vigilant to ensure that their teaching challenges boys to achieve equally as well as girls.  Children listen respectfully to each other and are confident to share their ideas. The teachers skilfully use the

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Early years provision is good

children’s ideas from their play activities to question them in order to extend their vocabulary.  The quality of teaching and learning is good. Interventions to support the children’s learning are effective and the early years teachers and teaching assistants are ambitious for all the children to achieve their best.  Good support from teaching assistants helps engage all the children in the different activities.  Children enjoy the activities that are planned for them; they demonstrate high levels of concentration and persevere at tasks.  The teaching of phonics and handwriting are particularly effective. Children demonstrate confidence in using a wide variety of letter sounds. The children are also able to write legibly with a cursive handwriting style.  Children in the early years are well looked after and all safeguarding and welfare requirements are met.

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School details

Unique reference number 109816 Local authority West Berkshire Inspection number 10009205

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School details

This inspection 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 396 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Andy Bell Headteacher Gerry Heaton Telephone number 01488 682230 Website www.hungerfordprimaryschool.co.uk Email address office@hungerford.w-berks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 16–17 January 2014

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Information about this school

 This is a larger than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs or disability is in line with the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium funding, is just below the national average. The pupil premium funding is additional government funding to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority. There were no pupils looked after at the time of the inspection.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and a very small proportion speak English as an additional language.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  The headteacher joined the school eight days before the previous inspection in January 2014.

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Information about this school

 The chair of the governing body took the position soon after the inspection in January 2014.  A before- and after-school club operates on the site and is run by the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 22 lessons or part lessons across a range of classes and one assembly. The lead inspector also jointly observed several lessons with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with pupils, the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, middle leaders and governors, including the chair of the governing body.  The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of pupils’ work, heard pupils read, observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, around the school and at lunchtime and talked informally with staff, pupils and parents.  Inspectors considered the views of parents, taking into account 75 responses on Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also considered the 67 free text question responses submitted by parents alongside an email and a letter. Responses to the 32 online questionnaires completed by staff

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Information about this inspection

and the two by pupils were also taken into account.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents including those to do with safeguarding, behaviour and attendance, minutes of meetings of the governing body, records of visits by the local authority, the school’s evaluation of its own performance and its development plans.  The inspection team looked at the school’s assessment information, including teacher marking logs.

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Inspection team

Kevin Parfoot, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Mo Galway Ofsted Inspector Kevin Burrell Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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