Haughton School

Inspection of a good school: Haughton School Queen Street, Madeley, Telford, Shropshire TF7 4BW

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Outcome

Haughton School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Haughton School is a nurturing school. Staff are attentive to pupils’ needs. They go the extra mile to care for them. Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent. One parent’s comment echoed that of other parents and carers, when they said, ‘The school community feels like a family.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff support pupils well in how to manage their emotions. If pupils become upset, staff are quick to resettle them to their learning. This helps lessons to run smoothly. Bullying does not worry pupils. If pupils are unkind to others, leaders deal with it quickly and effectively. As a result, pupils feel safe and are happy to be in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are aspirational and passionate about what pupils can achieve. They want pupils to learn to the best of their abilities and to develop the social skills they need to be successful in the future. Pupils respond well to these expectations. They make good progress towards their education, health and care (EHC) plan outcomes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff teach pupils how to become active, responsible citizens by giving them roles and responsibilities. These include being a member of the school council or a classroom helper. Pupils raise money for charities and support a local food bank. Pupils enjoy taking on these responsibilities.

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

Governors have a clear vision for the school. They want pupils to achieve the best they can and to be happy in school. Leaders and staff share this vision. Leaders know their school well. They have an accurate understanding of what the school does well and what they need to do to make it even better.

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

Leaders think carefully about the knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn. They use this to design well-organised sequences of lessons that cover the national curriculum. They ensure that lessons are well planned and sequenced. The things pupils learn each 10 and 11 May 2023

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day build on what they have learned before. Leaders are ambitious in their aims for what each pupil can achieve. Pupils in the specialist hubs, for example, learn and play alongside pupils in the mainstream school. This accelerates their learning and the development of their social skills.

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Leaders have created an environment where pupils enjoy learning. This starts in early years. Staff plan an appropriate range of creative and multisensory activities to motivate and engage children in their learning. This helps children to sustain their concentration for longer periods of time and prepares them well for key stage 1.

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Staff use a range of assessment strategies effectively. This includes checking the progress pupils are making towards the targets in their EHC plans. Classroom-based staff and the school’s therapy team work closely together. This ensures that pupils get the teaching, equipment and resources they need to be successful in their learning. Work in pupils’ books shows that they are doing well in making progress towards their personal targets.

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Leaders prioritise reading. Every class has a daily story time. Staff give advice to parents about how to support their children’s reading at home. Parents of children in the early years are regularly invited into school to share their child’s reading. Leaders recently introduced a new reading programme. All staff have received training in how to teach the programme. However, there is some inconsistency in how staff deliver the programme. This may affect some pupils’ progress. Leaders check how well pupils are reading and provide extra support for those who need it. Most pupils are developing into confident, fluent readers.

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Developing pupils’ communication is a strength of the school. Staff use appropriate resources well. These include the use of a range of communication aids that closely match pupils’ needs. This means that all pupils have a voice.

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Pupils enjoy a range of experiences beyond the classroom, including residential trips. At lunchtimes, pupils keep themselves physically active by playing ball games or joining in with group activities, such as the parachute game. Pupils go swimming, including to a local hydrotherapy pool. However, despite leaders’ repeated efforts to support parents in getting their children into school, a small number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. Therefore, they miss important learning and experiences. This hinders both their academic and personal development.

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Staff speak highly of the support leaders provide for them. Staff say leaders consider their workload, for example by giving teachers time to plan together. They also cite examples of how leaders support their personal well-being. Staff value this support.

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Governors are committed to the school and its pupils. They make sure that services bought for the school provide good value for money. Consequently, pupils have a well- resourced environment in which to learn. 10 and 11 May 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. They quickly report any concerns and leaders take effective action. Leaders make sure staff receive regular updates and training. Leaders use support from external agencies effectively. This means families get the help they need when they need it.

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Safeguarding

Leaders complete the appropriate checks on all adults who work at or visit the school.

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Safeguarding

Through lessons and assemblies, leaders make sure pupils know how to keep themselves safe. This includes e-safety. Pupils know who will help them in school. Parents agree that their children are safe in school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 A small number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This hinders their academic and personal development. Leaders should continue to work closely with parents to improve the attendance of pupils who are regularly absent. They should do this so that more pupils are in school, learning well and making better progress.  There is some inconsistency in the implementation of the new phonics scheme. This may affect some pupils’ progress in learning to read. Leaders should ensure that all staff have the appropriate knowledge and skills to deliver the new scheme effectively. They should do this so that all pupils continue to make good progress towards becoming confident and fluent readers.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2014. 10 and 11 May 2023

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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.

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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. 10 and 11 May 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 8 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 An early years and key stage 1 leader has been appointed since the previous inspection. An assistant headteacher was appointed in September 2022.  The school caters for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. All pupils who attend the school have an EHC plan.  Currently, 13 pupils from the school receive their education at specialist hubs run by the school. These hubs are based in two local primary schools.

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Information about this inspection

 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.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, other leaders, staff, pupils and members of the governing body, including the chair.  The lead inspector met online with the school improvement partner.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, computing and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, 10 and 11 May 2023

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visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector also visited lessons in other subjects and listened to pupils read.  The inspectors talked to pupils and staff at unstructured times during the day.  The lead inspector talked to parents and transport drivers at the school gate.  The inspectors evaluated a range of school documents and looked at information on the school’s website.  The lead inspector checked the single central record of recruitment checks on adults in school and met with the school’s safeguarding leads to discuss how the school keeps pupils safe.  The inspectors reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and considered the responses to the online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Lesley Yates, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Russell Hinton Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 May 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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