Heath Mount Primary School

Heath Mount Primary School

Address: Knutsford Street, Balsall Heath, BIRMINGHAM, West Midlands, B12 9SR Unique reference number (URN): 149366

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Early years Strong standard

Children get off to a wonderful start at this school. From the moment they walk through the door, they enter a calm, welcoming and language-rich environment where they feel safe, confident and ready to learn. Adults know every child well and build warm, trusting relationships that help children to settle quickly and thrive.

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Early years Strong standard

Reading is a priority from day one. Staff teach phonics every day in a structured, consistent way, modelling sounds clearly and giving every child the time and support that they need to practise. Children read and write simple words by applying what they learn. Staff use rich language and demonstrate high expectations in every interaction. This helps children to build their vocabulary and communicate with growing confidence. Children build on their understanding of number each day.

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Early years Strong standard

Children develop the knowledge and skills that they need to move into Year 1 ready and prepared. Staff track every child’s progress carefully. They use what they know of children to plan their next steps. Every week, parents and carers come into school to share books with their children, building a genuine love of reading that starts at home. Children with additional needs take part fully alongside their classmates, with thoughtful support in place to help them flourish.​

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders care deeply about every child and are committed to doing right by all of them. They lead the school with clarity and courage. They know every pupil personally, understand their backgrounds and what pupils need. Leaders are tackling remaining challenges with energy and determination. The progress this school has made has been rapid and is continuing to build.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The trust provides genuine, practical support that makes a real difference to what the school can offer. Trust leaders work closely with the school on teaching and training. They also manage resources effectively. Staff say that their workload has reduced and that the training they receive is useful and well planned. Everyone in the school shares the same clear sense of direction. Staff build real expertise. The difference that it makes to children's learning is visible.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders make every decision with children at the centre. Extra funding to support children who need it most is used carefully and is beginning to produce clear, noticeable results. Children in the care of the local authority are thriving in this school.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Those responsible for overseeing the school take their responsibilities seriously and work in close partnership with leaders. Together, they continue to develop how they measure the difference the school's work makes to every child.​

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Personal development is central to this school. Leaders plan it thoughtfully. Pupils show a confident and fluent understanding of diversity, different family structures, and their place in a community. This is the result of ongoing, purposeful teaching.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school helps pupils to prepare for life in modern Britain. Older pupils speak confidently about fundamental British values and connect ideas like parliament, the law and democracy to their own experiences, such as taking part in real elections for school leadership roles. They understand active citizenship and can explain why fairness and equality are important in daily life. Pupils meet professionals from different careers like engineering, law, policing and the fire service. They also take part in activities that link learning to their ambitions. Leaders intentionally include positive examples of female role models for pupils to look up to. These experiences are especially valuable for pupils and have a real impact on them.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders have developed the personal development curriculum in close partnership with parents and carers, which has been essential in building trust. This collaborative approach has allowed the school to extend and deepen its programme over time. Leaders are continuing to develop full coverage across all areas, including an understanding of the features protected by law that make people different. Relationships and health education is taught appropriately, and pupils understand how to keep themselves safe, including online.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils benefit from a wide and deliberately inclusive enrichment offer. Opportunities include music tuition, choir, clubs, a university partnership scholars programme and curriculum visits that span the arts, sport, science and history. Pupils experiencing disadvantage are actively prioritised. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in the care of the local authority are fully involved in school life and genuinely thriving.​

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils make effective progress through the curriculum. This includes those who start school with gaps in their learning. Pupils learn to read with confidence. By the end of Year 2, all pupils pass the phonics check. All pupils, including those who began as unconfident readers, quickly move on to read age-appropriate books and demonstrate that they understand what they read. Across both key stages, pupils write with accuracy and increasing length. They use vocabulary precisely and recall what they have learned previously. Year 4 pupils excel in their times tables.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils across the school demonstrate swift and sustained progress in all subjects. In 2024, key stage 2 results were below average. However, by 2025 they had risen to close to average for all pupils. Disadvantaged pupils outperformed the national average for disadvantaged pupils in writing, and in reading, writing and mathematics combined.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Attendance is a clear priority for leaders. Their work to improve it is visible across the school. Leaders track every pupil's attendance carefully, act early when they see concerns and work closely with families and outside agencies to remove barriers and keep pupils in school. This determined, persistent approach has produced impressive results. As a result, pupils' overall attendance has improved significantly following sustained support, including home visits and daily contact with school staff. Leaders recognise that attendance remains a challenge for some groups of pupils, and targeted support is already in place and making a difference.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils behave well at this school. The calm, respectful atmosphere is one of its most notable features. In lessons, corridors and at social times, pupils are polite, considerate and kind to one another. Staff know pupils well and care for them as individuals, which creates a culture where pupils feel safe and settled. When pupils' behaviour needs addressing, leaders and staff respond promptly and fairly, working with both the pupil and their family to put things right. Bullying is rare, and when it does occur, the school takes it seriously and follows it up thoroughly. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive tailored support to help them manage and enjoy school life fully.​

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have built an ambitious curriculum. They have implemented a consistent phonics programme, which is taught as soon as pupils start Reception. The curriculum focuses on speaking and handwriting before pupils' develop extended writing. Staff carefully plan sequences for grammar and vocabulary across every year group.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

At its most effective, teaching is precise and purposeful. Staff explain new ideas clearly, use the right vocabulary for each subject and make sure that pupils understand new knowledge before moving on. Pupils explain their ideas confidently, remember what they have learned in previous lessons and apply their knowledge across different subjects. In history, for example, pupils write and talk using the right language and make connections across different periods.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The phonics programme helps pupils to make rapid improvements in their reading. Adults model sounds accurately, regularly check every pupil's progress and provide extra help for those who need it. These pupils catch up with their reading quickly.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Teaching is not equally consistent across all year groups and classrooms. Leaders know this. They have identified the areas where they want to improve teaching, including ensuring that pupils are appropriately stretched and challenged. Work to address this is already underway, and leaders are determined to ensure that every child benefits equally from the school's ambitious vision.​

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders know each pupil well. They understand every child's background and needs. The school has sharpened how it identifies pupils who need extra support and the right children now receive the right help at the right time.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The majority of teachers make careful adjustments so that all pupils learn successfully alongside their classmates. This includes staff teaching in the specialist provision. Staff frequently adapt resources, consider where pupils sit and deploy additional adults where needed to provide focused, purposeful support. However, this support does not consistently build pupils' independence over time. Leaders are actively working to make sure that this happens, precisely and consistently, across every classroom. Staff training is well underway, and leaders are extending this further so that adults across classrooms have the expertise that they need.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The school uses its additional funding carefully and with clear purpose. Leaders direct this money towards the pupils who need it most. As a result, pupils with barriers to their learning read with confidence and join in after-school clubs and enrichment activities. Leaders review this work regularly and adjust their approach based on what the evidence tells them. Pupils spend time within the specialist provision and time socialising with their year group peers.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils feel happy, safe and proud to be part of their school. Each morning, they arrive eager to start the day, often skipping through the gate. Staff welcome every child by name. Those pupils who find mornings difficult receive extra support at the breakfast club. This helps them to settle calmly before the day begins. Staff know the pupils extremely well, and pupils speak about their school and their teachers with confidence and warmth.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils behave well and attend school regularly. In class and social times, they are polite, cooperative and respectful towards each other and towards adults. Pupils trust the adults completely and know who to go to with a worry. They are certain that adults will listen and help.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils learn important knowledge and skills. The school teaches reading systematically and effectively through a structured phonics programme, and results improve each year. Pupils remember what they have learned, use the right vocabulary across different subjects, and write with real ambition. Those who join the school speaking English as an additional language, with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), or significant personal challenges make real and meaningful progress. They take visible pride in what they achieve.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Leaders know those pupils experiencing disadvantage and pupils with SEND well. These pupils receive the support that they need to succeed alongside their peers.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Life at this school extends well beyond the classroom. Pupils take part in a range of music opportunities, including the choir. They attend a wide selection of after-school clubs and attend curriculum visits, including trips to local places of interest. Older pupils take part in a scholars programme, which exposes them to universities and raises their ambitions for the future. Pupils feel that they truly belong here.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to ensure that additional adult support is consistently precise and builds all pupils' independence over time, including pupils with barriers to their learning. Leaders should continue their work to ensure that teaching is consistently effective across all year groups and subjects. They should ensure that errors and misconceptions are identified and addressed promptly and all pupils, including those with higher prior attainment, are appropriately challenged and stretched. Leaders should ensure that attendance remains a whole-school priority, continuing their work, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other relevant groups. These improvements in pupils' attendance should sustain and built over time.​

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About this inspection

This school is part of Excelsior Multi Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Hazel Pulley, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Pam Garrington.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with leaders, including the headteacher and director of education within the trust. They spoke to the CEO and chair of trustees. They spoke with a number of staff during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school has an internal enhanced provision 'Pathways' for pupils with complex educational needs.

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About this inspection

The the school uses no alternative provision.

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About this inspection

This is the first inspection since the school converted to an academy.

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Lead inspector:

Aliki Constantopoulou, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Donna Wright, Ofsted Inspector Wayne Simner, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 69% 62% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 75% 75% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 78% 72% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 75% 74% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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

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