Hawkswood Primary PRU

Inspection of an outstanding school: Hawkswood Primary PRU Antlers Hill, Chingford, London E4 7RT

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Outcome

Hawkswood Primary PRU continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in the highly nurturing, supportive and therapeutic environment at Hawkswood. They are kept safe and happy by an exceptionally skilled team of leaders and staff. Even though pupils spend a relatively short time in this setting, they achieve highly. They learn quickly to recognise and manage any barriers to learning they may have. The rapid gains they make ensure they feel confident and successful when they return to their mainstream schools.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand what is expected of them and how to be a ‘Hawkswood Hero’. This means they behave well, work hard, participate fully and care for one another. Pupils’ success is celebrated. For example, they are praised warmly when successful and enjoy petting the school dogs, playing outside or spending time in the sensory room as a reward.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a strong personal, social and health education curriculum. They enjoy the rich cultural experiences provided. These include visits to the theatre and museums, and visitors to the school, offering a range of workshops, including poetry, music and drama.

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

The school provides an exceptional learning experience for pupils. In all subjects, staff have very high expectations of what pupils can achieve. The curriculum is ambitious, well structured and robust. Wherever possible, the curriculum is aligned with what is being taught in mainstream settings. This means pupils have kept up with their learning when they return to their schools.

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

Enabling pupils to be ready to access learning is prioritised. Teachers accurately identify pupils’ starting points in terms of social, emotional, behavioural and attention needs that may be having an impact on their ability to engage in learning. Teachers are expert at 5 and 6 March 2024

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employing a range of strategies to support pupils to overcome these challenges. This skilled support helps pupils to become successful learners.

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The curriculum is carefully designed to ensure pupils are provided with opportunities to practise, rehearse and apply their knowledge. This helps them to build their fluency and deepen their understanding and confidence in different subjects. For example, in mathematics, children in Reception count different objects and identify patterns. They build on this knowledge when calculating numbers using different operations. The complexity of these tasks increases as pupils become more confident in their knowledge and understanding. As a result, any gaps in pupils’ knowledge are quickly closed.

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The school’s agreed phonics programme is delivered with precision by highly trained staff. Pupils have frequent opportunities to practise their reading using books that are well matched to the sounds they have learned. This helps pupils to read with increasing confidence and fluency. They quickly catch up and achieve well. Pupils develop a love of reading. They enjoy reading to adults and each other.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified swiftly. The school works closely with a number of specialists, including speech and language, occupational, drama, art and music therapists as well as educational psychologists. Advice and guidance are well communicated. Staff use these to make suitable adaptations so that pupils can access the planned curriculum wherever this is possible.

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Behaviour is consistently well managed. The policy is clear, well understood and consistently applied. All staff are highly trained to de-escalate challenging behaviours. The curriculum is specifically designed to help pupils identify and manage what causes them to be upset or distressed. This helps to ensure that they have strategies to manage their behaviour in their mainstream settings. Attendance is managed very effectively. Leaders know families well and work closely with them to understand and overcome any barriers to attending school. Consequently, pupils’ attendance is high.

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Pupils’ personal development is very well considered. They learn to take on additional responsibilities. For example, the student council has had a significant impact on improving and developing school life. The council has been involved in bringing about a sensory room, library and minibus, and it is currently working towards an adventure playground. Pupils recognise that while they may not benefit directly from this work, they leave a legacy that benefits those who attend the school after they have left. Pupils celebrate equality and diversity through learning about different faiths and cultures. A programme of exciting visits enriches the ambitious curriculum, for instance pupils visited an aquarium to enhance their learning about the sea.

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Staff feel valued, listened to and appreciated. Leaders and governors consider the well- being of all staff. Workload is well managed and staff morale is high. There is a strong and supportive team ethic underpinning the whole school community.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 5 and 6 March 2024

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Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. 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 outstanding in June 2015.

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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' 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). 5 and 6 March 2024

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School details

Local authority London Borough of Waltham Forest

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 January 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use an alternative provision.  The school is part of a group of pupil referral units called the Hawkswood Group. It shares its site with a secondary provision and therapeutic school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, physical education and mathematics. To do this, they met with subject leaders, had discussions with staff and pupils, visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work. Other subjects were considered as part of this inspection.  The inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement. 5 and 6 March 2024

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 The inspection team met with senior leaders, a selection of subject leaders, teachers and support staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the management committee, including the chair. They also spoke with a representative from the local authority.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: 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 views of pupils, parents and staff were considered through discussions and looking at information collected from Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Una Buckley, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Tom Canning Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 March 2024

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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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