Fox Hill Primary

Inspection of Fox Hill Primary Keats Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S6 1AZ

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 January 2025

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good

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The headteacher of this school is Annali Crawford. This school is part of Steel City Schools Partnership, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Nicola Shipman, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Peter Mucklow. 14 and 15 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is highly nurturing and supportive of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Dedicated staff are deeply committed to serving their pupils, families and community. The school provides high quality support for pupils with severe needs. The pastoral team and wider staff are relentless in ensuring pupils are happy and safe at school. The school places a strong emphasis on its core values of ‘ready, respectful and safe’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement, but these are not always realised. In some subjects, pupils do not develop the knowledge that they need. Furthermore, some pupils miss too much school and this has an impact on their achievement.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a calm and orderly environment. Pupils move around the school sensibly. Where pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour, they are supported well by caring, patient adults who ensure they are ready to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular experiences such as multisports, archery and yoga. Curriculum enhancements, visits and visitors, widen pupils’ experiences. These opportunities develop their talents and spark their imaginations.

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

The school ensures that the national curriculum is covered in all subjects. Aspects of the school’s curriculum, such as early reading and mathematics, are taught well. This is reflected in what pupils know and remember. However, this is not consistently the case across all areas of the curriculum. In some subjects, the school has identified exactly which knowledge and skills pupils should learn and in which order. In others, the important pieces of knowledge that pupils need to learn are less clear. This makes it harder for teachers to focus on key knowledge and check that this has been learned.

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

Pupils with SEND are supported particularly well, including in the school’s integrated resourced provision. The school ensures that pupils with SEND benefit from well- considered adaptations to the curriculum. Whenever possible, these pupils are integrated fully with their peers. For example, pupils from the integrated resource are fully involved in their class physical education lessons.

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

Pupils at the early stages of learning to read benefit from focused phonics lessons. Staff are well trained and have expertise in teaching phonics. Every opportunity is taken to ensure pupils acquire the fundamentals of reading. Pupils regularly practise the sounds that they are learning. Those that struggle or fall behind receive high quality support to ensure they keep up with their peers. The school is less successful in developing pupils’ early writing skills. Too many pupils form letters incorrectly and do not develop fluency in writing. 14 and 15 January 2025

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Behaviour in the school is generally positive. Children in the early years respond well to the school’s high expectations and clear routines. The school tracks behaviour closely and creates individual learning plans when these are required. The school is making refinements to the behaviour policy and this is having a positive effect. The schools’ work to address high numbers of suspensions and instances of negative behaviour is having a positive impact. This is reflected in reductions in suspensions.

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The school is working closely with parents and families to improve attendance. Despite this, too many pupils do not attend school as often as they should and too many pupils arrive late to school. Late arrivals have a negative impact on learning. Pupils who do not attend, miss learning and have gaps in their knowledge.

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Early years provision prepares children well for their next stage. Children engage well in a wide range of well-considered activities. They play and learn cheerfully together. They develop independence, for example when putting on coats and boots to go outside. Adults develop strong relationships with children. They interact with children purposefully with a focus on developing children’s language and vocabulary. The curriculum in the early years supports children to acquire important knowledge. For example, children enthusiastically share information about what polar bears eat and why they have fur. There are plentiful opportunities for children to develop early mathematical knowledge, for example by matching numbers in different formats.

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Pupils demonstrate respectful attitudes. In personal, social and health education lessons, they learn about equality and diversity. They are familiar with the fundamental British values, such as tolerance and democracy. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including when using technology. They are proud to take on roles of responsibility such as school councillors, peer mediators and eco warriors.

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The trust, the school, the local school committee and leaders at all levels are passionate and committed to ensuring the school is the best that it can be. There is a relentless focus on improvement. The school is outward facing. It benefits significantly from the support it receives from the trust and a range of other external agencies.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s actions are not sufficiently effective in addressing the low attendance and punctuality of some pupils. This means that pupils miss out on learning and have gaps in their knowledge. The school should intensify its work to improve attendance and punctuality. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 In some subjects, the school has not precisely identified the component knowledge they want pupils to learn and remember. As a result, pupils do not develop the depth of knowledge that they should and teachers cannot check that pupils have acquired this knowledge. The school should ensure component knowledge is clearly identified and taught so that pupils learn equally well in all subjects.  The school's work to develop pupils' foundational knowledge in writing, including how to form letters correctly, is not sufficiently successful. This means that too many pupils do not become fluent writers. The school should work with staff to better teach pupils how to improve their early writing.

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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). 14 and 15 January 2025

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School details

Date(s) of previous inspection 5 July 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed in September 2022.  The school uses one unregistered alternative provider.  The school has a resourced provision for 19 pupils with specific learning difficulty and moderate learning difficulty.  The school is part of Steel City Schools Partnership.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other leaders. They also met with members of the local school committee, and representatives of the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, art and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors 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.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum and looked at samples of pupils’ work in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central

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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.  Inspectors took account of responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, the pupils’ survey and the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Dughall McCormick, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Matthew Vickers Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 January 2025

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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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