Henry Whipple Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Henry Whipple Primary School Padstow Road, Bestwood, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG5 5GH

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Outcome

Henry Whipple Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, staff and governors are united in their ambition for pupils to ‘Believe, Belong and Achieve’. These three words underpin all aspects of the school’s work. Pupils know what each of these principles means for them, their education and their school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of the diverse nature of their school community. They enjoy learning about and celebrating each other’s backgrounds, cultures and beliefs. Diversity days are highly valued. Pupils know what British values are and why they are important. They describe these as ‘Global Values’, saying that they should be applied across the world.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s high expectations of behaviour are understood and followed. Behaviour is exemplary. Pupils treat each other respectfully. They are courteous to each other, adults and visitors. They understand the school’s approach to poor behaviour, including warnings, yellow and red cards. They say that bullying is rare. They will not tolerate ‘banter’, explaining that it can be disguised bullying.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of the wide range of leadership responsibilities that they undertake. They describe, with enthusiasm, the impact of their work as: well-being and emotional health leaders; junior leadership members; reading champions; ‘ECO’ leaders; attendance officers; and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) leaders.

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

The school’s curriculum is designed around the principles of ‘Believe, Belong, Achieve’. It aims to develop pupils personally, socially and academically. It does this well. ‘Learning away’, ‘learning together’ and ‘learning after school’ activities provide pupils with opportunities to learn the curriculum in a range of locations, with their parents and carers and after school. This well-planned approach helps to develop pupils’ cultural capital. 3 and 4 July 2024

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Alongside a robust curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE), it prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

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The school prioritises reading. It ensures that it is high profile. Pupils know why reading is important. As one pupil said: ‘Reading is our ticket to success.’ Pupils develop a love of reading. They read a wide range of books and genres. They enjoy listening to their teachers read, saying that they, ‘bring books to life and help us to visualise scenes.’ Pupils who are at an early stage of learning to read get off to a good start. The school’s phonics programme is well-organised. It is taught well and with a high degree of consistency.

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Across all subjects, the school’s curriculum is well planned and sequenced. In the vast majority of cases, the content that pupils are expected to know and remember is explicitly clear. In these subjects, pupils consistently know and remember content to an impressive degree. As pupils cite, ‘knowledge is power’. However, in a small number of subjects, the content that pupils are expected to learn and remember is less clear. In these subjects, there are some minor gaps in pupils’ learning.

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Children get off to a good start in the early years. They become increasingly independent. The activities on offer help them to learn the curriculum and to revisit what they have been taught and experienced before. Children are happy and excited to learn. For example, a large group of children were eager to tell the inspector how their caterpillars had become cocoons, before emerging as beautiful butterflies. Overall, the early years curriculum is well-constructed. However, in a small number of places, it does not make clear the milestones that children are expected to achieve as they progress through Nursery and the Reception Year.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. The school makes sure that their needs are understood and catered for. Adults skilfully adapt the curriculum so pupils access the same areas of learning alongside their peers. However, some of the targets that are set for these pupils are not precise enough. In a small number of cases, they do not make clear what pupils are expected to achieve before their progress is next reviewed.

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At all levels, including governance, leadership is strong. Roles and responsibilities are clear. The school’s ambitious vision is consistently understood and applied. The school has an accurate view of its strengths and where improvements can be made. Pupils and staff consistently hold the school in high regard. The school’s own surveys show a high level of support and appreciation from many parents. However, a small number of parents do not view the school positively. They cite weaknesses in the provision for pupils with SEND, about how the school is led and the support that the school offers parents. These views do not match what was found on inspection. However, the school recognises that there is further work to do to ensure that all parents view the school in a consistently, positive way.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 3 and 4 July 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The early years curriculum is not fully sequenced. In a small number of places, the milestones that children are expected to achieve are not fully established, which is not always helpful in supporting children to build their learning over time. The school should ensure that, across all areas of learning, the early years curriculum is fully sequenced.  In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the precise content that pupils are expected to know and remember. As a result, in these subjects, there are some minor inconsistencies in what pupils know and remember. The school should ensure that, across all subjects, the curriculum makes consistently clear the precise content that pupils are expected to commit to their long-term memory.  In some cases, the targets for pupils with SEND are not precise enough. They do not make clear the small, short-term improvements that pupils are expected to make. The

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

school should ensure that the targets for pupils with SEND are consistently specific and measurable.

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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 June 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. 3 and 4 July 2024

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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). 3 and 4 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Co-Chairs of governing body Emily Humphreys Lance Williamson Headteacher Cari Burgess

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5 November 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school’s governing body is led by two, joint chairs.  The school does not use any alternative education providers.

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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 that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the ongoing impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, curriculum leaders, leaders responsible for pupils with SEND, the early years leaders and groups of staff and pupils.  The inspector carried out deep dives in three subjects: reading, mathematics and geography. To do this, they met with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, looked at 3 and 4 July 2024

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pupils’ work and met with teachers and pupils. The inspector also spoke to leaders, looked at curriculum documentation and spoke with pupils about religious education (RE), computing and PSHE.  The inspector met with representatives of the governing body, including the joint chairs. He considered written correspondence from the vice chair of governors. The inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View. He considered the responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupils surveys. He took account of an email from a parent. He spoke informally to a small number of parents outside the school.  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

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safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector reviewed school documents, including those relating to governance, behaviour and attendance. He scrutinised leaders’ plans for improvement and their assessment of the school’s effectiveness.  The inspector spoke informally to pupils around school and in the dining hall.

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Inspection team

Vic Wilkinson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 3 and 4 July 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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