Hanley Swan St Gabriel's with St Mary's CofE Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s CofE Primary School Welland Road, Hanley Swan, Worcestershire WR8 0EQ

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Outcome

Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s CofE Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s motto ‘Be all you can be!’ underpins all aspects of school life. School leaders and staff want every pupil to achieve their potential, regardless of their background. Pupils rise to these high expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning with their friends. The school is a happy and close-knit community. Pupils feel safe in school because they trust their teachers to look after them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils of all ages understand the school’s Christian values, which include compassion, kindness and perseverance. Pupils demonstrate these values in their positive behaviour in classrooms and around the school. At lunchtime, pupils eat and play together sensibly. All are valued in the school community. Pupils learn how to respect different religions, cultures and lifestyles.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand what bullying is and that it can take different forms, including cyber- bullying. Bullying is rare, but when it does happen staff address it immediately.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The majority of parents are very positive about all aspects of school life. They value the way that the school supports the wider development of their children. A parent commented, ‘My child bounces into school daily and is always excited about what he will be doing.’

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

In subjects such as English and mathematics, leaders have planned carefully what pupils need to learn in each year group. As a result, teachers are clear about the order of learning and lessons build on what pupils have learned in the past. Teachers check thoroughly that pupils know and understand what has been taught. Pupils, including 3 March 2020

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those who are disadvantaged, achieve well in these subjects. This is reflected in standards achieved in national tests, work completed in books and what pupils can remember.

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In some of the foundation subjects, including history and geography, this is not yet the case. Leaders have created curriculum plans and teachers are using them to plan lessons. However, the plans lack detail. Teachers are not clear about the specific knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn. Therefore, the curriculum is not well sequenced and connections are not made between areas of learning. Leaders are aware of this and have plans to resolve it.

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In the Reception class, children are settled and keen to learn. Activities build on what children already know. Children get excited about their learning, such as their involvement in meadow planting. The indoor learning environment is inviting and colourful. The outdoor learning environment is impressive. It is well resourced, inspiring and helps pupils learn. If children want to make music or build dens, it is the place to be. Adults care deeply about the well-being and education of the children. Staff work closely with parents throughout their child’s time in Reception. Parents value this.

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In many subjects, teachers know the subject content well. They explain ideas clearly using subject-specific language. Pupils are then confident using this same language to explain what they have learned. Teachers select work for pupils carefully. This helps all pupils to learn well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils with SEND participate in all aspects of school life. Adults help pupils when they are struggling, but they do not do the work for them.

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From the very start, pupils develop their reading skills confidently. Staff have been well trained and teach phonics effectively. Leaders have introduced a new approach to teaching reading in key stage 2. This is already having a positive impact on pupils’ reading skills. A pupil said, ‘Reading takes you to exciting places and you can learn lots of new things.’

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Staff organise a wide range of trips, special activities and after-school clubs. These range from visiting Cadbury World to looking after the school’s beehives. Pupils are proud of their link with Maweni Primary School in Tanzania. Leaders use this link to enrich the curriculum. The work of leaders and staff has broadened pupils’ experiences of life in modern Britain and the wider world. The school supports children looked after extremely well. They have been nominated for ‘The Pride of Malvern Hills Inclusion Award’ for their work with this group of pupils.

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Leaders are taking effective action to constantly improve the quality of education. Staff work well with leaders to continue to develop the school. Staff are quick to take up opportunities to improve their skills. This benefits pupils. Those responsible for governance support the school to provide the best possible education for its pupils. They make detailed checks on English, mathematics and religious education. However, their knowledge and understanding of other subjects is more limited. 3 March 2020

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Keeping pupils safe is a whole school priority. It is the responsibility of everyone. All staff, including safeguarding leads, have been trained appropriately. If staff are concerned about a pupil’s welfare, they know exactly what to do. Pupils trust staff and are happy to speak to them if they are worried about something. Staff record and pass on any concerns to safeguarding leads, who respond appropriately. If needed, the school works with external agencies to provide pupils with extra help. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, especially when they are online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have worked hard to introduce new curriculum plans in the foundation subjects. However, in subjects such as geography and history, the plans are not detailed enough. Consequently, teachers are not clear about what they need to teach in these subjects. For this reason, the transition arrangement has been applied. The school needs to review and improve these curriculum plans, so that they clearly identify the knowledge and skills that pupils need. Teachers should then plan accordingly and check that pupils know and remember what they have learned.  Those responsible for governance make thorough checks on the core subjects and religious education. However, their ability to check on the foundation subjects is more limited. As a result, they do not have a clear understanding of the quality of education in these areas. Governors should develop their understanding of the foundation subjects. They will then be better equipped to hold school leaders to account for the

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

quality of education in all curriculum areas.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good, or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s CofE Primary School, to be good on 22–23 January 2014. 3 March 2020

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 3 March 2020

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School details

Website http://www.hanleyswanprimaryschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s CofE Primary School converted to become an academy school on 1 April 2017.  The school is part of the Hanley and Upton Educational Trust.  A Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools to evaluate the distinctiveness and effectiveness of Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s CofE Primary School as a Church of England school took place on 21 June 2019.  The school has a breakfast club operating on site. This provision is managed by the school.

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Information about this inspection

 We held regular meetings with the headteacher. We met with six members of the local governing body, including the chair. The chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer also attended this meeting.  We held meetings with the special educational needs coordinator and the early years leader. 3 March 2020

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 As part of the inspection, we carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, and geography.  We met with groups of pupils, curriculum leaders and teachers to talk about the quality of education at the school.  We visited classrooms. Many of these visits were with curriculum leaders or senior leaders.  We listened to several groups of pupils read.  We spoke with pupils formally and informally about their learning and experiences at school. We looked at pupils’ work in a range of different subjects to see how well the curriculum is applied.  Documents relating to safeguarding were checked, including the checks that leaders make on staff’s suitability to work with children prior to employment. We checked that safeguarding policies and procedures are implemented effectively across the school.  We talked to parents after school. We considered the 49 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 35 free-text responses received during the

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inspection.  We considered a range of documentation provided by the school. We looked at the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, school policies, curriculum documents, published information about pupils’ performance and attendance information.  We looked at published information on the school’s website.

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Inspection team

Wayne Simner, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Tustian Her Majesty’s Inspector 3 March 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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