Havergal CofE (C) Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Havergal CofE (C) Primary School School Lane, Shareshill, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV10 7LE

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Outcome

Havergal CofE (C) Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Dedicated staff and governors have created a school in which pupils are happy and safe. Pupils say the school is like a family because teachers care about them. Leaders have high expectations, and all groups of pupils achieve well. The school is at the heart of the community, and pupils take part in the full life of both the parish and the school. A strong Christian ethos permeates all aspects of school life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand the school’s values of respect, hope, caring, fairness, achievement and responsibility. They behave impeccably, and there is no bullying, but if problems occur, staff support pupils to resolve issues. Pupils know the importance of ‘doing the right thing’ and understanding different viewpoints.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning because they say their teachers are ‘just the best’. Pupils talk knowledgeably about strategies to solve problems in mathematics and explain how through history lessons, they have learned how the school has changed since the Victorian era.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils relish leadership opportunities. Older pupils hear the younger ones read, and others help to maintain the school’s digital equipment. Children in the Reception class develop their interests and ideas through an exciting curriculum. They learn in the mud kitchen and explore the outdoors. These routines help them concentrate and develop good learning behaviours.

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

The school provides an ambitious, well-structured, broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils revisit key facts as they move up the school. This helps them remember what they have learned. However, sometimes curriculum planning does not identify precisely enough the knowledge that pupils need to learn. In addition, teachers check pupils’ learning, but assessment practices are more accurate in some subjects than others. For example, in history, teachers ask pupils to write down what they remember at the end of a series of lessons rather than checking crucial knowledge needed for the next steps in learning. 28 and 29 June 2023

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Leaders have already identified this through their thorough monitoring.

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Leaders have made reading a priority throughout the school. Pupils love reading. Year 4 pupils talked about Kenneth Grahame’s characters in ‘The Wind in the Willows’, and Year 6 pupils marvelled at Michael Morpurgo’s plot development in ‘The Giant’s Necklace’. Phonics is taught well. Pupils read confidently. Books are matched to sounds that are taught, and this ensures that pupils remember what they have learned.

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Teachers nurture every child. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and any pupils who are not keeping up in lessons are quickly identified and are given support by knowledgeable teaching assistants. This helps them to keep up and achieve well. In all classes, teachers use various strategies such as ‘ flashback 4’s’ in mathematics, consistent repetition of key facts and checking of vocabulary to help pupils remember what they have learned.

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Teachers are passionate about their craft. They bring learning alive. When celebrating the school’s 150th birthday, teachers created a Victorian classroom where ‘children were seen but not heard’. Pupils immediately wanted to revert to normal school life, where they are able to learn together and discuss their thinking.

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The curriculum provides well for pupils’ broader development. Pupils visit different places of worship. They take part in a range of sports tournaments, art, dance and gardening clubs, and sing in the choir. There are plenty of opportunities to develop leadership skills by being computer monitors, reading buddies and members of the school council.

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Good learning starts in the early years where children experience a well-planned curriculum that develops their knowledge and skills effectively. Children make rapid gains in early reading and the vocabulary needed for learning in other subjects. However, some children are not secure in forming their letters and numbers correctly. This prevents them from recording learning accurately when they enter Year 1.

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Pupils behave very well. There is no low-level disruption in lessons. The implementation of the rights respecting school charter, the school’s behaviour policy underpinned by Christian values and the consistent teaching of British values make this school a highly inclusive community.

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The school is well led and managed by the executive headteacher and head of school. They are supported by leaders of the trust and the local academy committee who are regular visitors to the school. Workload is managed effectively, and morale is high.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that all staff are suitably qualified and up to date with their training. Staff report and record any small details that may be an indicator of a pupil being at risk from harm. Leaders are prompt in their actions to follow up on concerns. External agencies are notified as needed, and help is secured in a timely way. 28 and 29 June 2023

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Pupils learn to keep themselves and others safe through assemblies and the curriculum. They know who to talk to if they have any worries.

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Governors ensure that all necessary checks are in place, and these are monitored regularly.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the most important content that pupils are expected to know and remember. As a result, teachers’ assessments are not precise enough. This means that pupils’ recall of curriculum content is inconsistent. Leaders should ensure that the most important content that pupils should know and remember is identified and assessed in all subjects.  Some children in the early years foundation stage are entering Year 1 unable to form their letters and numbers correctly. This means that they are not able to record their learning accurately. Leaders should ensure that more emphasis is placed on this aspect of learning so that pupils gain the handwriting skills they need for the next steps in their education.

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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 May 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. 28 and 29 June 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. 28 and 29 June 2023

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School details

Principal Karen Taylor (Executive Headteacher)

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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

 The school is part of the family of St Chad’s Academies Trust.  The school had a section 48 in September 2017, which was evaluated as good, and is due to be reinspected in 2025.  The school is in partnership with St Matthew’s CofE Academy in Stoke-on-Trent. It shares the same executive headteacher. Both schools are part of the trust.  The school is smaller than the average-size primary school.  There are no pupils attending 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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the executive headteacher, the head of the school and several other school leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator. 28 and 29 June 2023

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 The inspector also met with the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the chair of the local academy committee and several committee members.  Deep dives in reading, mathematics and history were carried out. Each deep dive included discussions with the curriculum and subject leaders, visits to lessons and scrutiny of pupils’ work.  The inspector met with pupils to discuss their learning in the subjects and listened to pupils read.  The inspector considered a range of documents provided by the school in relation to curriculum planning, assessments and safeguarding.  The inspector reviewed safeguarding records, including the checks made on staff prior to appointment. Training logs were also reviewed.  The inspector reviewed the responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire, including free-text responses.  The inspector spoke to several parents as they were collecting their children from

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school.  The inspector reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and spoke to staff during the inspection.  The inspector spoke to pupils informally during the inspection in lessons and out on the playground at breaktime and lunchtime.

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Inspection team

Bogusia Matusiak-Varley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 28 and 29 June 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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