Hateley Heath Primary School

Inspection of Hateley Heath Primary School Huntingdon Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands B71 2RP

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Inadequate Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 14–15 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Hateley Heath Primary are well looked after and cared for. They show good manners and generally behave well. While pupils occasionally argue and fall out, there is little evidence of any bullying. Pupils feel safe in school. They are confident that leaders will deal with any worries that they have. However, too many pupils regularly miss school and this impacts on how much they can learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not learn to read quickly enough or as well as they could. Older pupils are now learning more in English and mathematics but work is not challenging enough for the most able. Many activities in Nursery and Reception do not help the children to develop relevant skills and knowledge.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy history. They can remember a lot about the topics they have studied. Pupils know very little about some subjects, such as music and French. This is because they are not taught very often.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Every term, parents and carers are invited into school to find out what their child will be learning about. This is a fun afternoon, where parents and children work together on a new topic. During the inspection, Year 6 parents and pupils were learning about Chinese Dynasties.

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better?

Over the last 12 months, the school’s leadership has been through a turbulent time, including the long-term absence of the headteacher. At the time of the inspection, the headteacher had recently returned to work and several members of the governing body were newly appointed. As a result, improvements since the previous inspection have not been sustained or have been introduced too slowly. Some systems and processes are no longer used consistently by all staff. Due to recent changes, the governing body does not have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Leaders and governors have not checked if they are using funding to help disadvantaged pupils effectively.

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better?

Children’s school life gets off to a strong start in pre-school but this is not built on sufficiently well in Nursery or Reception. Adults do not expect enough from the children. There are too few opportunities for children to explore and learn independently. There are lots of resources, but children, especially in Reception, are not helped to use them properly. This can lead to silly behaviour or flitting from one activity to another. There is little evidence of progress in learning journals. Adults are not clear about what children need to learn next. The children are safe and well cared for.

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better?

The teaching of early reading is not good enough. Pupils struggle to read the books that they are given because they are not well matched to their knowledge of letters 14–15 January 2020

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and sounds. This is disheartening for pupils. Staff do not listen to pupils read often enough. This slows the progress that they can make. Reading activities for older pupils are well planned and link to interesting texts.

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Leaders have concentrated on developing writing and mathematics. The approaches are having a positive impact on the quality of pupils’ work. Pupils enjoy writing and are motivated to do so. Pupils clearly enjoy learning about history and they can talk knowledgeably about the work they have done, for example on the Romans. Teachers make good links to prior learning and emphasise key vocabulary. However, other subjects are taught less well or not often enough. For example, pupils have little understanding about geography. Older pupils cannot name a river or a capital city in the United Kingdom. In all subjects, teachers do not provide activities to meet the needs of the most able pupils.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not always receive the help that they need, when they need it. Sometimes leaders do not follow up concerns quickly or effectively enough. Leaders do not always know how well pupils with SEND are doing.

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Too many pupils, especially those who are disadvantaged, do not attend school regularly. This has been the case for a number of years and actions taken by leaders have had little impact so far.

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The school supports pupils’ personal development, through a range of clubs, visitors and trips. Pupils are taught how to keep safe. Older pupils have a good understanding of the school’s values. They also have opportunities to take on responsibilities, such as school council representative. There are few activities at breaktimes and lunchtimes to encourage pupils to be physically active. Many pupils eat unhealthy snacks at breaktime.

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Staff are supportive of leaders and each other. They work well together. Leaders are enthusiastic and keen to take forward developments. Leaders and governors take appropriate actions to try to reduce staff workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

As one member of staff said, ‘Keeping pupils safe is at the forefront of the school’s work.’ All staff have regular, relevant training. They are confident about what to do if they have worries about a pupil’s welfare. Leaders know the school’s community well and the issues affecting it. They ensure that any concerns are followed up quickly and with the right people. Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe through the curriculum and assemblies. Leaders make sure that the right checks are made on staff before they start working at the school. 14–15 January 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The teaching of phonics is weak. Many adults teaching phonics do not have the subject knowledge to teach it effectively. Pupils’ reading books are not well matched to the sounds that they know. Pupils do not practise reading often enough and they have too few opportunities to read aloud to an adult. Too few pupils are on track to pass the phonics screening check. This impacts on the progress that they can make in a range of subjects. Leaders should ensure that improvements are made to the teaching of phonics as a matter of urgency.  The curriculum on offer to pupils is not broad and balanced. Despite recent changes to the timetable, pupils have very limited experiences in some subjects, such as geography, French and music. Most subject leaders have created long- term plans for their curriculum areas. However, in a number of subjects, these are not yet being used effectively in classrooms. Planning does not take into account

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

the needs of all pupils, especially those who are most able. Some teachers lack the subject knowledge they need to teach at greater depth. As a result, in many subjects, pupils do not make as much progress as they could. Leaders need to ensure that all pupils develop appropriate knowledge and understanding across all subjects within the national curriculum.  In the early years, adults’ expectations are too low and activities do not build on children’s prior knowledge. The curriculum does not meet the children’s needs well and they are not prepared adequately for the rest of their schooling. Activities lack purpose and children do not know how or why to use resources. There is no day-to-day leadership. As a matter of urgency, senior leaders need to provide clear direction to drive improvements, particularly in relation to the curriculum and quality of teaching.  The needs of pupils with SEND are not identified and addressed quickly enough.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Support is not monitored effectively to check that pupils are making strong progress. Plans are not always reviewed in a timely manner. Leaders need to ensure that the school’s provision successfully addresses the needs of pupils with SEND and meets the requirements within the SEND Code of Practice.  Pupils’ attendance has been consistently low for at least four years. The number of pupils who are persistently absent is too high, especially for disadvantaged pupils. This means that some pupils are not making as much progress as they should, because they are missing too many lessons. Leaders’ actions to improve attendance have had little sustained impact. Leaders should focus on developing strategies to improve pupils’ overall rates of attendance.  The governing body is not currently fulfilling its statutory responsibilities effectively. This impacts on the quality of education provided by the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Several governors are newly appointed to their roles. The governing body should take action to improve their effectiveness in holding school leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils. 14–15 January 2020

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 Due to turbulence in leadership, leaders and staff are not clear about who is responsible for what within school. Processes and policies are not fully understood by all. This leads to inconsistency and the risk of poor practice being missed. Senior leaders need to review roles, responsibilities and systems across the school. This is to ensure that everyone follows the same procedures and is consistent in their approach.  Leaders and governors do not have a clear rationale for how pupil premium funding is spent or its intended impact. Disadvantaged pupils are not making as much progress as they should. Leaders and governors need to review how pupil premium funding is used to ensure that it is equipping disadvantaged pupils with the knowledge and experiences that will help them to succeed in life.  Too little is done to help pupils to eat healthily or to be active. It is not clear how the physical education and sport premium is used to encourage the development

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of healthy, active lifestyles. Leaders and staff need to do more to promote a healthy lifestyle among pupils.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 14–15 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122440 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28–29 June 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the school has experienced a period of considerable disruption. A staffing restructure was completed in 2018. More recently both the headteacher and the deputy headteacher have been out of school for a long period. The headteacher returned to school in January 2020.  The governing body has recently appointed a new chair and vice-chair. Three new governors joined the governing body in January 2020.  The school runs ‘busy hands active minds’ for children from the term after their second birthday and Nursery classes for children from the term after their third birthday.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons 14–15 January 2020

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responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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 Meetings were held with the headteacher, interim deputy headteacher, other leaders and members of staff. We met with the recently appointed chair of the governing body and with a representative of the local authority.  We did deep dives in these subjects: early reading, writing, mathematics and history. We spoke to subject leaders about their plans for these subjects. We visited lessons when these subjects were taught. We looked at samples of pupils’ work. We talked to teachers and pupils about the lessons. We also looked at some other subjects, such as science and geography, but in less detail.  We met with the school’s designated safeguarding leads. We reviewed a range of safeguarding information, including the checks that leaders make on staff prior to employment. We talked to pupils, staff, other leaders and the chair of the governing body about safeguarding arrangements.  We observed and spoke to pupils at breaktime, lunchtime and around the school,

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as well as in lessons.  We looked at a wide range of documentation. This included published information about pupils’ outcomes and the school’s website.  We looked at 10 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. These included six free-text responses. We also spoke to some parents before school on the second day of the inspection. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ or staff’s questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Catherine Crooks, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Beardmore Ofsted Inspector 14–15 January 2020

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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