Huntingtree Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Huntingtree Primary School Huntingtree Road, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4HY

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Outcome

Huntingtree Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending Huntingtree Primary School. The school sets high expectations for all pupils. They achieve well in school, particularly in writing. Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils work hard in lessons and want to do well. Pupils are happy and safe in school. They are well cared for.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand the school rules. They know how to ‘be ready, be respectful, be safe’. Pupils aspire to be in the ‘gold zone’ for excellent behaviour. Praise points and school awards motivate them to do well. The school makes sure that the rules are consistently and fairly applied. Any pupil who struggles to behave well gets highly effective support. This helps them to manage their behaviour so that they can focus on their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s enrichment offer broadens pupils’ horizons and interests. Trips, visits and visitors help to deepen pupils’ learning by providing new and exciting experiences. These include museum visits, geography field trips, and science and history workshops. A wider range of clubs such as coding, dance, Spanish and sports clubs help pupils to develop new talents and interests. The pupil leadership team, eco-recycling champions and librarians make a positive contribution to the life of the school.

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum for pupils. It is clearly planned and sequenced so that all pupils can be successful. Learning builds on what pupils already know, and their next steps are clear. Teachers have good subject knowledge. Unit organisers help teachers to know what to teach and when to teach it. There are clear systems for checking how well pupils are learning the curriculum. One pupil said, ‘Our teacher constantly checks that we are taking in the information that she is teaching us.’ Any misconceptions are swiftly identified. Teachers help pupils to understand what they have done wrong and how to fix it. All this means that pupils know and remember more of the curriculum. 23 and 24 April 2024

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However, in mathematics, the progression of skills in reasoning is not clear enough. As a result, some pupils do not always achieve as well as they could, for example when solving mathematical problems or presenting a mathematical argument.

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Children in the early years settle into school life well. Staff carefully plan for their learning and care needs. Children have fun counting with class puppets to develop their understanding of numbers. They learn early map-making skills while reading a story together. Children practise and apply their learning when working independently or in pairs. For example, children find different ways of making eight objects in the mathematics area. They learn to read and write simple sentences. Children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The school ensures staff know how to teach reading, including phonics. Any pupil that falls behind in reading is swiftly identified and well supported to catch up. Books are carefully matched to pupils’ phonic knowledge so they can practice and apply new sounds when reading. Reading trees, author visits, reading club, competitions and high-quality books all help to promote a love of reading. Pupils read with the accuracy and confidence expected for their age.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are prioritised. Any pupil with additional needs gets the help they need quickly. Rigorous assessment and engagement of experts means pupils are well supported to be successful. They get highly effective support in the classroom. This includes tailored learning, resources and, for those pupils that need it, a bespoke curriculum.

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The school works hard to make sure pupils attend regularly. They analyse school information and identify barriers to good school attendance. Staff work effectively with parents, carers and external agencies to overcome these barriers. As a result, more pupils who have had poor rates of attendance are in school regularly and are catching up on missed learning.

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Pupils know the qualities of a good friend. This helps them to understand the importance of healthy and safe relationships in life. They learn about the importance of religion and festivals to those of different faiths and cultures. For example, pupils learn about the Sikh faith and the festival of Vaisakhi. They deepen their learning during a visit to a gurdwara. All this helps them to respect difference. This helps them to understand the importance of healthy and safe relationships.

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Leaders make sure staff are highly skilled so that the curriculum is delivered as they intend. They meticulously check on all aspects of the school’s work. Governors probe and ask the right questions. They effectively hold the headteacher to account for the performance of the school. Staff are very positive about the support from leaders to manage their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 23 and 24 April 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, pupils do not achieve as well as they could when solving mathematical problems or presenting a mathematical argument. This is because the school has not laid out clearly enough how teachers need to teach this aspect of the curriculum. The school should review how the progression of skills in mathematical reasoning builds over time, and ensure that teachers know and understand this so that more pupils are able to deepen their learning in mathematics over time.

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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 February 2019.

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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). 23 and 24 April 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 and 27 February 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use alternative provision.  The school provides a before- and after-school club for its pupils.

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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. 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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, geography and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of sessions, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also looked at samples of pupils’ work and held discussions with the leaders about the Spanish, physical education and science curriculums. 23 and 24 April 2024

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 The inspector observed pupils reading to a familiar adult and reviewed reading resources.  The inspector reviewed a range of documentation on the school’s website.  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 observed pupils in lessons and at other times during the day.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the designated safeguarding leader, curriculum leaders and members of the governing body. The inspector also met with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector took account of responses to Ofsted Parent View, pupil surveys and staff

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Lorraine Lord, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 23 and 24 April 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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