Hope Community School Southampton

Inspection of Hope Community School Southampton Central Hall, St Mary Street, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 1NF

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 February 2022

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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 15 and 16 February 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Hope Community School is a welcoming and supportive place for pupils to learn. Pupils thrive despite learning in temporary classrooms. They enjoy coming to school and appreciate how their teachers help them. Staff expect them to concentrate and try their best. Pupils work hard to meet these expectations and so they learn well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils warmly accept the diversity in the school and get on well together. This helps children who are new to make friends quickly. As one pupil commented, ‘When children arrive without speaking English, we help them.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

From the start of Reception, staff use the ‘golden promises’ to help pupils learn how to behave. This supports pupils to make the right choices and behave well. Bullying rarely happens, but pupils trust adults to listen to them if they have concerns. They know staff will act swiftly to help sort any problems. This helps pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff encourage pupils to be proud of and contribute to their community. For example, they raise funds to buy hats and gloves for homeless people who visit the church café based in the school building. Pupils enjoy the range of clubs and school trips to theatres, parks and the science centre.

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better?

Leaders and staff are ambitious for pupils. They equip pupils with knowledge and experiences to help raise their aspirations. Parents appreciate their efforts. As one parent commented, ‘Hope is so much more than a school – it’s a family!’ Staff are proud to work at the school and feel empowered by leaders’ support.

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better?

Children often join Reception with underdeveloped language skills. Some pupils join other year groups with limited knowledge of English. Consequently, leaders and staff keep a strong focus on improving pupils’ communication and developing their vocabulary. For example, during the inspection, staff in Reception modelled and encouraged the use of accurate language when pupils discussed aeroplanes following a visit from a pilot.

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better?

Reading is prioritised by leaders. Staff are highly trained and have the resources they need to teach early reading well. From the start of Reception, staff follow the school’s phonics programme closely. They check pupils’ progress carefully. Struggling readers, including those new to speaking English, are given support to help them keep up. Staff read aloud high-quality books from a range of authors. This develops pupils’ love of reading and exposes them to texts they might not read themselves. As a result, pupils get off to a strong start in learning to read.

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better?

In mathematics, staff follow well-structured plans to help pupils recap prior learning before moving on to new content. For example, pupils in Year 3 practise counting in fives before revising telling the time at five-minute intervals. Teachers accurately 15 and 16 February 2022

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explain new vocabulary. They carefully check pupils’ understanding and use this information to inform their teaching. Consequently, pupils learn the mathematics curriculum well.

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Leaders have ensured that there is planning in place for all subjects from Reception onwards. In some subjects, such as science, leaders have precisely identified the knowledge and skills they intend pupils to learn from Year 1 onwards. Staff follow the planning closely, which means that pupils build on what they have been taught before. Teachers carefully check that pupils have remembered the most important content. In a few subjects, leaders are still refining the essential knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and remember. The curriculum thinking for Reception is not as well developed.

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The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures that any additional learning needs pupils have are identified swiftly. Training is provided for staff to help them meet pupils’ needs. Staff adapt their teaching skilfully in mathematics and English so that pupils learn well. Leaders recognise that the support in other subjects needs to be strengthened.

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From the start of early years, children settle quickly and calmly and follow the daily routines. Leaders ensure that all staff use a consistent approach to encourage positive behaviour. Staff are swift to support any pupil who makes the wrong choice. As a result, poor behaviour rarely disrupts learning.

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Leaders prioritise developing pupils’ confidence and resilience. Staff are effective role models of these qualities for the pupils. This helps pupils to understand the ‘power of yet’. Pupils describe how they might not be able to do something at first, but with practice, they know they will improve.

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Governors know the school and its strengths well. This helps them to provide effective support in most respects. Governors acknowledge that they need to improve their knowledge of the curriculum beyond English and mathematics in order to further hold leaders to account. Trustees provide effective support and challenge so as to develop the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff, including the Family Liaison Officer, know the families well and this helps them to notice when pupils may be at risk of harm. Leaders provide regular and effective training for staff, so they understand how to help keep pupils safe. Staff report concerns swiftly and record-keeping is comprehensive.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including when online, and in emergency situations, such as when there is a fire. From Reception, pupils learn the correct names for parts of the body so that they have the correct language to report any worries. 15 and 16 February 2022

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Governors diligently assure themselves that safeguarding is effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, leaders’ curriculum thinking is not precise enough. Teachers are not clear on what they must make sure pupils learn and remember. Leaders should make sure that in all subjects they precisely identify the key knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn from Reception onwards. Leaders have already taken action to remedy this. For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied.  In a few subjects, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not supported as well as in other areas of the curriculum. Consequently, pupils do not always achieve as well as they could in those subjects. Leaders should ensure that staff know how to adapt their teaching so that pupils with SEND learn well across the whole curriculum.  Governors do not have a strong enough oversight of the whole curriculum. This means that they are unable to offer sufficient challenge to leaders about this

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

aspect of the school’s work. Governors should ensure that they have the right information about the curriculum so that they can effectively hold leaders to account.

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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. 15 and 16 February 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10212122 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Hope Community School opened in September 2017 with one Reception class. It now has pupils in year groups from Reception to Year 4.  The school is in temporary accommodation while the new school is being built. It is expected that the new school building will be completed by 2024.  The school is part of the New Generation Schools Trust. There is one other primary school in the trust.  The principal started in his role when the school opened.  This school has a Christian designation. Its first section 48 inspection is due before the end of the year.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 15 and 16 February 2022

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

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 The inspectors met with the principal, SENCo and other school staff.  The lead inspector also met with members of the local governing body, called Hope Council, including the chair, and spoke to a group of trustees, including the chair of trustees.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum planning, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors also looked at curriculum planning and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors spoke with staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding leads to review their knowledge, records and actions and also reviewed information about the

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safer recruitment of staff.  To make wider judgements, inspectors spoke to staff and groups of pupils from different year groups and observed behaviour in classrooms and at playtime.  The views of staff and pupils, including responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff and pupils, were considered.  The responses to Ofsted’s Parent View, including written responses, were also taken into account.

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Inspection team

Laurie Anderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Alison Bradley Her Majesty’s Inspector 15 and 16 February 2022

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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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