Griffin Primary School

Inspection of Griffin Primary School Barham Road, Hull HU9 4JL

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 2 and 3 November 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of pupils. Staff share a determination to help children succeed. They are committed to including all pupils in the school and work hard to ensure that they achieve well. Pupils are happy and enjoy their learning. There are strong relationships between staff and pupils. This contributes to the caring and friendly feeling in the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour in school is good. Pupils are encouraged to show teamwork, effort, good attitudes and good manners. They are rewarded when they do so. This has helped to create a settled and industrious feeling in classrooms. Pupils told inspectors that bullying is rare. Pupils behave well at social times and enjoy playing games together.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn about their local area in geography and history and go on trips to help them understand more about where they live. For example, pupils have visited Wilberforce House to help them understand how Hull is connected to the abolition of the slave trade.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are taught about what makes people different. They have a good understanding of different religions and what makes them distinctive. They understand that all people should be treated equally. One pupil told inspectors, ‘All people, all races and all thoughts are equal.’

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better?

Leaders, including trustees, have established a culture of high expectation. Staff support leaders and share their vision for the school. Leaders have systematically secured improvements in behaviour and to the school’s curriculum. This has led to the school being a calm place where pupils focus on their learning.

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better?

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum, using the national curriculum as a starting point. Curriculum plans identify precisely what pupils should learn and when. Leaders have provided training for staff to help them teach the curriculum well. Pupils build on their prior learning and make links between subjects. For example, pupils in Year 4 could connect their learning about the water cycle in science to their learning about rivers in geography. As a result of this well-planned and well-taught curriculum, pupils achieve well.

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better?

Children settle quickly in the early years. Staff rightly focus on developing children’s vocabulary and communication skills. Adults ask skilful questions of pupils that help them to deepen their thinking. Children in Reception start learning to read straight away.

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better?

Leaders have ensured that reading is high priority. Pupils listen to adults read to them daily. Pupils talk about a range of different books and authors that they enjoy reading. Leaders have recently introduced a new curriculum for the teaching of early 2 and 3 November 2021

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reading. Staff have had training to help them teach reading well. Pupils who need help to keep up in reading take part in extra short sessions that help them to remember the sounds they have been taught. Occasionally, staff who lead these sessions do not use the best strategies to help pupils. This means that a small number of pupils are not learning to read as quickly as they could. Leaders have identified this in their monitoring and are making changes as the new programme is implemented to ensure these pupils catch up quickly.

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Leaders have planned the curriculum for mathematics carefully. Teachers check pupils’ understanding of their prior knowledge before introducing new learning. They check in lessons to make sure that pupils are keeping up. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported in mathematics. Teachers adapt the materials they are using or provide more explanation to these pupils. As a result, pupils achieve well in mathematics.

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Staff manage most pupils’ behaviour very well. Pupils are polite and respectful. Pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs benefit from effective pastoral support, for example pet-therapy, which is helping them to manage their own behaviour. In the case of a few pupils with complex needs, leaders have not thoroughly analysed the factors that contribute to instances of extremely challenging behaviour. As a result, staff do not have effective strategies to help these pupils calm their behaviour. On occasions, this has led to staff turning to physical restraint of pupils.

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Through their focus on personal development, leaders support pupils to be confident, resilient and independent. Personal, social and health education (PSHE) is taught each week to all year groups. Leaders have ensured that the books pupils read develop their knowledge of people from other cultures and backgrounds. Pupils learn how to eat healthily. They understand what bullying is and how to respond if they think that bullying is taking place. Pupils take on leadership roles in school by representing their peers on the school council or looking after books as a librarian.

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Trustees know the school well because they visit often. They receive detailed information about the school and the quality of education from leaders. They use this information to hold leaders to account effectively. Leaders are considerate of staff well-being and ensure that their workload is manageable. Staff say they are proud to work in the school. One member of staff represented the views of many when they said, ‘The culture has developed really well. There is a lot of staff buy-in and a real team ethos.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff receive effective training to help them recognise that a pupil may be at risk of harm. Staff report concerns to the designated safeguarding leaders (DSLs) quickly. DSLs work with external agencies to provide effective support for vulnerable children and their families. All staff keep thorough records of their actions. 2 and 3 November 2021

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A wide range of safety topics are taught through the PSHE curriculum. Pupils understand how to use the internet safely and talk confidently about the dangers of speaking to strangers.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders are not analysing the circumstances that lead to poor behaviour for a very small number of pupils with complex SEND. There is a high number of instances of physical restraint for these pupils. Leaders should ensure that the behaviours that lead to physical restraint are carefully analysed so that the right support can be provided to help pupils manage their behaviour.  Some staff are still getting to grips with the recent training on the new phonics programme. Because of this, there are some minor inconsistencies in the delivery of the new curriculum for early reading. Leaders should ensure that all staff embed their knowledge of teaching early reading so that all pupils learn to read with fluency and confidence.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 2 and 3 November 2021

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School details

Local authority Kingston upon Hull City Council

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School details

Inspection number 10200756 Type of school Primary

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School details

School category Academy special sponsor-led

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Executive Headteacher

Amraz Ali Website https://griffinprimaryschool.org.uk

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Executive Headteacher

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school became part of the Venn Academy Trust in June 2017.  The head of school took up post in January 2021.  The head of school is supported by an executive headteacher from the trust.  The school makes use of the Whitehouse Pupil Referral Unit, which is also part of the Venn Academy Trust.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation. 2 and 3 November 2021

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 Inspectors met with the head of school, executive headteacher and members of the senior leadership team. Meetings were held with the school’s designated leader for safeguarding and their deputy and leaders responsible for attendance, behaviour and personal development.  The lead inspector met with the two trustees, including the chair of the board of trustees, who is also the chair of the local governing body.  The lead inspector met with the chief executive officer of the Venn Academy Trust.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation relating to the school’s work to safeguard pupils. These included records of actions taken relating to concerns about pupils’ safety. The school’s single central record, which includes the recruitment checks made on staff, was reviewed.  Inspectors reviewed documentation relating to the use of restraint, including the school’s positive handling policy, positive handling plans, records of restraint,

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SEND support plans and behaviour logs.  An inspector met with the school’s SENCo and reviewed education health and care plans.  An inspector spoke to the executive headteacher at the Whitehouse Pupil Referral Unit.  Inspectors undertook deep dives in reading, mathematics, science, history and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to pupils about their learning in some other subjects.  Inspectors spoke to parents informally on the playground at the start of the school day.  Inspectors considered 31 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 20 free-text parents’ comments. Inspectors also reviewed the 31 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff and 8 responses to Ofsted’s online

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Inspection team

Tim Scargill-Knight, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lesley Allwood Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 November 2021

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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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