Green Lanes Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Green Lanes Primary School Green Lanes, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9JY

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Outcome

Green Lanes Primary School continues to be a good school. There is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded (section 5) inspection now. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are confident and charismatic. Leaders and staff celebrate what pupils do well and their efforts to improve their behaviour and learning. Pupils feel happy and safe in school because adults take the time to know and support them. This also ensures that bullying is rare. When it does occur, pupils understand that leaders and staff take suitable steps to resolve it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn a great deal through the school’s interesting curriculum. This shows when they speak about their work. Younger pupils, for example, can explain how to make secondary colours, while older pupils confidently calculate with large numbers. There are whole-school initiatives too that encourage pupils to be scholarly. For instance, pupils eagerly share the meaning of new words with peers to be a ‘word champion’ and they read regularly to get a chance to read to the school dog.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to lend a helping hand. They can choose to serve as a sports leader, a language ambassador or a member of the school council. Taking on a role includes opportunities to practise public speaking, such as through leading assemblies to share important messages. Pupils also learn to be charitable, willingly giving up their free time to improve the school. Play leaders, for example, run lunchtime activities to ensure younger pupils socialise happily.

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

There are many highly positive aspects of the school. These stem from how leaders, including governors, work strategically to improve what is on offer to pupils, parents and staff. Leaders’ collaborative work ensures that the school goes from strength to strength. 23 and 24 May 2023 Children in the early years get off to a flying start. Leaders devise the curriculum carefully, ensuring it prepares children for Year 1. Leaders see the benefit in specifying what exactly children should learn. This supports teachers with assessment. Teachers quickly identify any shortfalls in children’s learning. Staff then seamlessly weave opportunities for children to address any gaps through their play. For example, they facilitate ‘tummy time’ to build up children’s shoulder and arm strength. This then readies children for writing.

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

Leaders ensure that staff follow the phonics and reading programmes effectively. Daily revision means that pupils learn the sounds that letters make. Beyond the phonics programme, teachers access high-quality excerpts from fiction and non-fiction books. These include guidance for teachers to show pupils how to comprehend a text. Pupils enjoy reading because they access books containing words they can decipher. Also, pupils are motivated to win ‘reading gems’. This sets them up with the good habit of reading often, which helps pupils to achieve well across the curriculum.

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

Leaders’ determination to strengthen the curriculum has paid off. Leaders chose to attend conferences and consult research to develop their curriculum. From this, they elected to adopt high-quality schemes of work. They did this so that teachers have clarity about the specifics that they need to teach. Teachers make effective use of the resources and training available to them. This helps them to provide clear explanations, modelling the activities they expect pupils to complete. This sets pupils up for success, which shows in their sound recall of what they learn in all subjects.

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

Teachers balance checking pupils’ understanding effectively during lessons and at the end of sequences of learning. Useful assessment approaches help teachers to know how well their pupils are doing. For instance, teachers can compare their pupils’ work to high- quality examples so that they know whether pupils are achieving the aims of the curriculum. When needed, teachers make appropriate changes to what they teach based on their checks on pupils’ learning. They may revisit content from the previous year, for example, to ensure pupils are ready for the next step. This means that pupils typically keep up with the pace of learning.

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

Leaders and staff have high ambitions for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff realise these through simple adjustments matched to pupils’ learning needs in class and around school. During lessons, well-trained teaching assistants repeat and rephrase the teacher’s instructions if required to support pupils with SEND. The ‘Banksy room’ allows pupils to access high-quality pastoral support, when needed. The multi-faceted approach ensures pupils with SEND behave calmly and focus on their learning to help them achieve their best.

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

Leaders bring about the compassion and patience they wish to see in staff and pupils. Staff value leaders’ training and support. This ensures, for example, that staff script their language carefully to ensure consistency so they resolve behavioural incidents well. Leaders’ small changes to the environment, such as installing soft lighting, make a positive difference. Their efforts combine to make sure that the school is a calm place that is conducive to learning. 23 and 24 May 2023 There is much on offer to cater for pupils’ wider development. Pupils and parents appreciate the array of extra-curricular clubs and inter-school competitions. Changes to the curriculum foster healthy lifestyles. For example, pupils prepare, cook and eat dishes from around the world. This also helps to broaden their horizons.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders, including governors, ensure that there are suitable pre-employment checks for all staff and volunteers.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive termly, fortnightly and weekly ‘lite bite’ training that helps them to spot and report concerns swiftly about pupils at risk of harm. Leaders maintain positive relationships with parents, so in-school support often resolves issues. However, when required, leaders liaise effectively with external agencies. This ensures that pupils get the help they need.

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Safeguarding

Pupils see how staff support them to have a voice in school. Knowing that they can share their ideas means that pupils also feel comfortable talking about their concerns. Pupils also learn a great deal about keeping safe. For instance, they know what information to keep private when using the internet.

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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 June 2013.

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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. 23 and 24 May 2023

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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. 23 and 24 May 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 October 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Leaders are responsible for delivering specialist provision locally. Together with school staff, they offer outreach support and facilitate some services for pupils with SEND in nearby schools.  There is a pre-school on the school site. It is run by a separately registered and inspected childcare provider.  There is before- and after-school childcare for pupils who attend the school. It is run by a separately registered and inspected childcare provider.  Leaders engage the services of a registered 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 held meetings with leaders, including the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the inclusion coordinator, three governors and a representative working on behalf of the local authority. 23 and 24 May 2023  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with senior leaders and subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector met with leaders to review records. The

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Information about this inspection

inspector also met with the office manager to scrutinise the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks. To further evaluate safeguarding, the inspector spoke to governors, staff and pupils.  The inspector reviewed a range of other school documents and policies, including the school development plan and minutes from governor meetings.  The inspector gathered pupils’ views by observing and speaking to pupils. The inspector also took account of the 127 responses to Ofsted’s survey for pupils.  The inspector gathered parents’ views by reviewing the 135 responses and 86 free-text responses submitted to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector gathered the views of staff by speaking to several staff and reviewing the 50 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Daniel Short, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 May 2023 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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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