Beacon Hill Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Beacon Hill Community Primary School Beacon Hill Road, Hindhead, Surrey GU26 6NR

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Outcome

Beacon Hill Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well and try their best to live up to the school values of ‘Be ready, respectful and safe’. Staff help even the youngest children to understand the expectations and routines to help them settle quickly. On the rare occasions when bullying occurs, adults take effective action to swiftly resolve it. Pupils have trusted adults they can ask for help, and this helps pupils to feel safe. One pupil commented, ‘We can always find someone to help’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work hard to meet leaders’ high expectations for learning and behaviour. Good routines established with the youngest children help them settle quickly. Pupils have good attitudes to their learning and appreciate the rich opportunities they have to learn in the school grounds. Pupils behave well because they want to learn. They understand school rules. Low-level disruption is infrequent.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ learning emphasises the development of vocabulary. As a result, pupils can speak confidently about their learning. They discuss their work regularly, inspiring a love of learning across the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Adults show high levels of care. ‘Teachers are dedicated, informed and caring professionals’ is a typical parent comment.

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

Leaders have created an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. Staff follow subject planning closely, which helps pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to learn the essential knowledge and skills in the right order. In a few subjects, this is not yet as precise as leaders would like it to be. As a result, some pupils are not able to build on their learning so that they can know and remember more. 21 and 22 March 2023

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Teachers have good subject knowledge because leaders focus on continual staff development.

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Leaders prioritise the teaching of early reading. Staff follow the phonics scheme closely to ensure that pupils begin to learn to read from the start of Reception. Staff check pupils’ understanding carefully and provide effective extra help so that any struggling readers are supported to keep up. Pupils read books that are closely matched to the sounds they have learned. Older pupils routinely read texts about a range of subjects. As a result, pupils learn to read with fluency and understanding.

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Numeracy is well taught. Teachers make sure that children count throughout the day. Children use their counting skills during registration, in formal learning and when learning independently outside. The curriculum is organised to encourage pupils to make links across different subjects. In Year 4, pupils design a Santa alarm. They use their knowledge of electrical circuits learned in science to set off the buzzer. Art is used to support history, using clay to model Roman monuments. In geography, pupils can name the countries and capitals of the United Kingdom. They know that the UK is part of Europe and can name the continents and oceans of the world. Teachers plan interesting lessons that capture pupils’ love of learning. They provide stimulating tasks that challenge pupils so that they can know and remember more of their learning. Teachers check pupils’ learning regularly and provide extra help for those pupils who find learning more difficult.

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Teachers focus on the key language that they intend for pupils to learn and understand. For example, in science, staff provide a wealth of opportunities for pupils to use and apply this vocabulary. As a result, pupils speak confidently and accurately about their learning.

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Leaders value staff. They have made staff training and development central to school improvement. Staff appreciate this investment, creating a learning environment where teachers and support staff feel valued.

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Leaders strongly promote pupils’ personal development. Pupils’ emotional needs are very well met. As a result, pupils develop resilience when they find learning more difficult. They persevere, becoming more confident. Pupils of all age groups work together on ‘Wonderful Wednesdays’, where learning focuses on whole-school themes such as writing for pleasure. Forest school, where pupils build dens or toast marshmallows, promotes care for the environment. Pupils have opportunities to take on roles of responsibility. Year 6 pupils take their role as a ‘buddy’ very seriously, acting as excellent role models for younger children.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have created a strong culture of safeguarding where everybody understands their responsibility to help keep pupils safe. They provide high-quality training to staff, so they know exactly what to do if they have a concern. Leaders act on concerns diligently and promptly. Leaders and the home-school link worker regularly consult outside agencies to ensure that pupils and their families get the support they may need. 21 and 22 March 2023

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Pupils feel safe in school and learn how to stay safe when online and in the community. They learn about consent and what is appropriate contact with adults and their friends. This empowers them to know what to do if they do not feel safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Planning in a few subjects needs refining. This means that pupils’ learning in these subjects is variable. Leaders should continue to develop curriculum planning from Reception to Year 6 so that teachers know precisely what skills and knowledge pupils will learn over time.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually, this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2017.

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How can I feed back my views?

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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 21 and 22 March 2023

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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. 21 and 22 March 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256501 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 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has one class in each year group, except for Year 6, which has two classes.  The governing body manages before- and after-school childcare provision.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other school staff.  The inspector also met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke to a representative of the local authority. 21 and 22 March 2023

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector 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.  Views and comments from parents were considered through the online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector spoke to staff and groups of pupils from different year groups. He observed behaviour in classrooms and during lunchtime.  The views of staff and pupils, including responses to Ofsted’s online surveys, were considered.

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Inspection team

Bill James, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 March 2023

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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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