Harborne Primary School

Harborne Primary School Station Road, Harborne, Birmingham, West Midlands B17 9LU

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report:

At the most recent graded inspection, the following areas were identified as needing to improve:  The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. This leaves pupils at risk of harm. The school should make sure that staff have the necessary knowledge to know what to look for and how to report concerns. It should make sure that any concerns are swiftly referred to external agencies as necessary. This is so that the school keeps pupils safe.  Governors do not understand and carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively. They do not hold leaders to account fully. The school should ensure that governors have the expertise to fulfil their roles effectively and hold leaders to account fully.  Pupils with SEND are not accurately identified, assessed or supported effectively. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve poorly. The school should make sure that pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and that effective support is put in place to enable them to

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report:

achieve their full potential.  The school lacks a coherent system for checking on pupils’ absences. As a result, some pupils miss too much school and may be at risk of harm. The school should ensure that it checks routinely on pupils’ absences to make sure they are safe. It should implement strategies to help pupils who are persistently absent to attend school more regularly.  Some pupils who find it hard to manage their own behaviour do not get the support that they need to do so. This means that they miss school through being suspended. This impacts negatively on their learning. The school must ensure that pupils receive appropriate support to help manage and improve their behaviour.  The school has not ensured that the curriculum is delivered as intended in some subjects. Gaps in pupils’ knowledge are not accurately identified and are sometimes left unaddressed. This means that some pupils continue to have misconceptions,

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report:

which inhibits their learning. The school should consistently implement the recently introduced curriculum and make sure that any gaps in pupils’ knowledge are identified accurately and addressed fully. Monitoring Inspection report: Harborne Primary School, 17 to 18 March 2026 2  The school’s approach to teaching early writing is inconsistently implemented. Some pupils do not hold a pencil correctly or form letters correctly. The school should ensure its approach to teaching writing is implemented consistently and effectively so that pupils acquire the knowledge and skills required to form letters accurately and write fluently.

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Leaders and governors are taking effective action to improve the school, but

continued work is needed to remove the special measures designation.

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Years they may be appointed to: Year 3, Year 4 and/or Year 5

During the monitoring inspection, inspectors focused on the following evaluation areas:  Leadership and governance  Inclusion  Curriculum and Teaching  Attendance and Behaviour

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Leadership and governance

The leadership capacity of the school has increased, with key leadership appointments secured. However, there is still more work to be done to increase leadership capacity at all levels and stabilise staffing across the school.

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Leadership and governance

Members of the interim executive board (IEB) have the right expertise to fulfil their roles effectively. They are getting to know the school well. For example, they have made appropriate checks around policies and practice relating to safeguarding, attendance and inclusion. They support and challenge leaders. Leaders provide members of the IEB with appropriate information. However, the IEB requires more detailed information to fully challenge and support the work of the school.

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Leadership and governance

Leaders and members of the IEB carefully consider the impact of the school’s improvement journey on staff workload and wellbeing. They have appropriate plans in place to address the concerns raised by some staff relating to their increased workload.

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Safeguarding

At the previous monitoring inspection in October 2025, safeguarding was evaluated as being effective.

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Inclusion

Leaders are making sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are now in the process of being accurately identified, assessed and supported. Many more pupils than previously are now swiftly and accurately identified with SEND. Monitoring Inspection report: Harborne Primary School, 17 to 18 March 2026 3 Identified pupils have been either accurately assessed or are awaiting assessment. Most staff understand who these pupils are and their needs. There is still more work to do, however, to ensure swift identification, accurate assessment and effective support of all pupils with SEND.

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Inclusion

Recently, leaders have successfully identified more disadvantaged pupils than has previously been the case. Some of the barriers disadvantaged pupils face are known and addressed. As a result, these pupils and their families access an increased range of pastoral support, which is effectively addressing some of the barriers they face. However, further improvements are needed to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are known by staff and that support strategies are implemented effectively.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders are aware of pupils with gaps in their knowledge. They have begun to address these for some pupils. For example, some disadvantaged pupils are in receipt of regular additional catch-up support. This is in the early stages of implementation but is beginning to show some positive impact on some pupils’ knowledge and understanding in reading, writing and mathematics. Despite this, there continues to be pupils with significant gaps in their knowledge, particularly those who are disadvantaged. Some of these pupils are not in receipt of additional support to address gaps in their knowledge. This is an area that leaders are prioritising.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have recently implemented a new writing curriculum. Staff have the necessary expertise to teach this. Some staff are teaching this curriculum effectively. However, there is some staffing instability, and this is causing inconsistencies in the way in which staff deliver the writing curriculum. As a result, some teaching of writing is not as effective as it should be.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have accurately identified that the phonics curriculum is not effectively supporting pupils to keep up with their peers. Appropriate plans are in place to address this area.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have identified that the handwriting curriculum is not securing pupils’ basic knowledge in writing. Staff teach letter formation, but the approach is not systematic enough. In addition, some staff do not routinely address incorrect pencil grip. Appropriate plans are in place to address this area.

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Attendance and behaviour

The leadership of attendance has been strengthened so that there is increased capacity to improve this area. New attendance policies and procedures have been implemented so that there is more rigour in the follow-up to pupil absence. As a result, many pupils are attending school regularly. For some pupil groups, such as pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged, persistent absence continues to be too high. Monitoring Inspection report: Harborne Primary School, 17 to 18 March 2026 4

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Additional next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should in addition to the next steps raised at the school’s last full inspection:

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Additional next steps

 Ensure that staff identify, assess and effectively support disadvantaged pupils and those who may face barriers to their learning.

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About this inspection

The inspector carried out this monitoring inspection under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005, and it was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require special measures following the graded inspection that took place in May 2025.

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About this inspection

The school’s previous inspection and the first monitoring inspection were carried out under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) at that time. The renewed EIF took effect from 10 November 2025. The areas for improvement identified at the school’s graded inspection and subsequent monitoring inspections have been cross-referenced to the relevant evaluation areas in the inspection toolkit for consideration on this monitoring inspection.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this monitoring inspection was not to determine grades for any of the evaluation areas set out in the school inspection toolkit. The purpose was to identify and report on the school’s progress in addressing priorities for improvement since the school’s previous inspection.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMI.

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About this inspection

During this inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, other senior leaders, members of the IEB and representatives of Birmingham Local Authority to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection.

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About this school

Number of pupils on roll 804 Monitoring Inspection report: Harborne Primary School, 17 to 18 March 2026 5 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 looked- after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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About this school

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About this school

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About this school

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About this school

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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