Hook-With-Warsash Church of England Academy

Inspection of a good school: Hook-With- Warsash Church of England Academy Church Road, Southampton SO31 9GD

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Inspection dates: 12 and 13 September 2023

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Outcome

Hook-With-Warsash Church of England Academy continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Sara Willoughby. This school is a standalone academy, overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Luke Bailey.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s motto, ‘let your light shine’, reflects the glowing positivity embedded in this inclusive and caring school. Parents say they ‘feel part of a community’, which is an ‘environment for children to grow and thrive’. Pupils are proud to nominate their peers for ‘light stickers’ to celebrate each other’s compassion and effort.

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What is it like to attend this school?

High expectations are well established across the school, and pupils rise to meet them. Pupils are joyful, well behaved and enthusiastic. Ambitions are realised through a creative and engaging curriculum adapted to include everybody. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and medical conditions benefit from nurture and expertise across the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their environmental area, trim trail, wooden bus and sports pitches. They enjoy exciting and fun playtimes. Pupils are confident to talk to staff about any worries. All pupils are passionate that opportunities should be equal, so nobody misses out.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone plays a valuable role in the annual school productions, performed in a church theatre to a wide audience from the local area. Pupils develop confidence and team- building skills through residential trips. A highlight of the year is the week Year 6 pupils spend in France. They practise speaking French and explore the D-Day sites to enrich historical learning.

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

Inclusion is at the heart of this school. Every pupil accesses a broad curriculum. The school identifies the needs of pupils through careful monitoring of their academic work and their well-being. Pupils with SEND use a range of resources to develop their 12 and 13 September 2023

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independence. Visual aids and dyslexia friendly approaches help pupils with reading and writing. Staff ‘pre-teach’ pupils with SEND to prepare them with language and skills they will use in lessons. Parents speak highly of the communication they receive from the school about SEND provision. The school considers the views of pupils and parents. Support is continually reviewed to boost the progress of disadvantaged pupils.

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The school promotes a sharp focus on mathematics learning from the early years onwards. Children use measurement, sand timers, tally charts, dice and number lines to grow their skills. Across the school, mathematics is planned and taught well. Consequently, work in pupils’ mathematics books is good, demonstrating their effective use of calculation strategies and problem-solving skills. The school makes valuable use of practical equipment to ensure that mathematics is accessible for all. If pupils find concepts hard to master, they attend early morning booster groups. These help everyone, including disadvantaged pupils, to catch up. Older pupils are well prepared for secondary school, mastering skills such as balancing equations.

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Reading is highly prioritised. Starting strongly in early years, all staff are well trained to teach the scheme, which is resourced with appropriate books. Catch-up interventions are effective, as staff encourage self-correction and provide effective modelling. This helps pupils to develop into fluent and confident readers by the end of key stage 1. The school promotes a love of reading through celebrations and incentives. Leaders have selected a diverse range of ‘must read’ books. This ensures that all pupils experience a wide range of multicultural stories and non-fiction texts. Pupils love their outside reading area, where they relax and enjoy books on beanbags.

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The curriculum is planned with high aspirations to excite pupils. For example, history planning is ambitious and consistently revisits chronological understanding to help pupils understand the significance of events. Pupils were well engaged when placing civilisations on a giant timeline in the hall. They develop skills as historians by analysing artefacts and working out what objects can teach them about the past.

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Across foundation subjects, pupils share their understanding in a range of ways, often involving creative uses of technology. However, pupils sometimes recall activities and not what they have learned. While activities are enjoyable, staff do not consistently emphasise the precise learning, so pupils sometimes find it hard to remember the important content.

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Behaviour is exemplary. There is a respectful, positive and supportive atmosphere across the school. Pupils show enthusiasm for learning, and lessons are not disrupted. Beginning in early years, the nurturing ethos is a strength of the school. Thoughtful collaboration with families helps children with SEND to manage emotions and overcome anxiety.

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Spiritual and moral development underpin school life. Eco-ambassadors lead litter picking in the school grounds and beyond, including local beach tidying. Pupils write speeches and get elected for school council through democratic voting. Sports leaders proudly help to run sports day for younger pupils. 12 and 13 September 2023

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Staff feel well supported by leaders, who manage teacher workload and well-being with diligence. Trustees, governors and leaders are dedicated, knowledgeable and reflective. One parent represented many others when expressing admiration for the ‘brilliant leadership, compassion, hard work and professionalism’ of leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some foundation subjects, teachers do not emphasise the most important content. As a result, pupils are not always able to consistently recall prior learning. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to focus on the key knowledge, skills and vocabulary, and then check that pupils have learned and remembered it.

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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 school to be good in March 2018.

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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. 12 and 13 September 2023

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In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 12 and 13 September 2023

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 8 March 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a Church of England school in the Diocese of Portsmouth. The school was rated good in its most recent section 48 inspection in January 2023.  The school currently uses no alternative provision.  The school offers a before- and after-school club, led by an outside provider.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education 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 the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, school business manager, special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, subject leaders, governors and trustees, including the chair of trustees. 12 and 13 September 2023

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector listened to a range of pupils read. The inspector observed catch-up interventions to learn how staff provide extra support to pupils.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector considered the responses to the staff survey and spoke to a range of staff about their views of the school.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire,

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including the free-text responses.  The inspector spoke with a range of pupils to gather their views about the school. The inspector evaluated responses from the pupil questionnaire.  The inspector spoke by telephone with a representative from the diocese.

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Inspection team

Scott Reece, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 12 and 13 September 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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