Beacon Hill Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Beacon Hill Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well and try their best to live up to the school values of 'Be ready, respectful and safe'. Staff help even the youngest children to understand the expectations and routines to help them settle quickly.

On the rare occasions when bullying occurs, adults take effective action to swiftly resolve it. Pupils have trusted adults they can ask for help, and this helps pupils to feel safe. One pupil commented, 'We can always find someone to help'.

Pupils work hard to meet leaders' high expectations for learning and behaviour. Good routines established with the y...oungest children help them settle quickly. Pupils have good attitudes to their learning and appreciate the rich opportunities they have to learn in the school grounds.

Pupils behave well because they want to learn. They understand school rules. Low-level disruption is infrequent.

Pupils' learning emphasises the development of vocabulary. As a result, pupils can speak confidently about their learning. They discuss their work regularly, inspiring a love of learning across the curriculum.

Adults show high levels of care. 'Teachers are dedicated, informed and caring professionals' is a typical parent comment.

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

Leaders have created an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum.

Staff follow subject planning closely, which helps pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to learn the essential knowledge and skills in the right order. In a few subjects, this is not yet as precise as leaders would like it to be. As a result, some pupils are not able to build on their learning so that they can know and remember more.

Teachers have good subject knowledge because leaders focus on continual staff development.

Leaders prioritise the teaching of early reading. Staff follow the phonics scheme closely to ensure that pupils begin to learn to read from the start of Reception.

Staff check pupils' understanding carefully and provide effective extra help so that any struggling readers are supported to keep up. Pupils read books that are closely matched to the sounds they have learned. Older pupils routinely read texts about a range of subjects.

As a result, pupils learn to read with fluency and understanding.

Numeracy is well taught. Teachers make sure that children count throughout the day.

Children use their counting skills during registration, in formal learning and when learning independently outside. The curriculum is organised to encourage pupils to make links across different subjects. In Year 4, pupils design a Santa alarm.

They use their knowledge of electrical circuits learned in science to set off the buzzer. Art is used to support history, using clay to model Roman monuments. In geography, pupils can name the countries and capitals of the United Kingdom.

They know that the UK is part of Europe and can name the continents and oceans of the world. Teachers plan interesting lessons that capture pupils' love of learning. They provide stimulating tasks that challenge pupils so that they can know and remember more of their learning.

Teachers check pupils' learning regularly and provide extra help for those pupils who find learning more difficult. Teachers focus on the key language that they intend for pupils to learn and understand. For example, in science, staff provide a wealth of opportunities for pupils to use and apply this vocabulary.

As a result, pupils speak confidently and accurately about their learning.

Leaders value staff. They have made staff training and development central to school improvement.

Staff appreciate this investment, creating a learning environment where teachers and support staff feel valued.

Leaders strongly promote pupils' personal development. Pupils' emotional needs are very well met.

As a result, pupils develop resilience when they find learning more difficult. They persevere, becoming more confident. Pupils of all age groups work together on 'Wonderful Wednesdays', where learning focuses on whole-school themes such as writing for pleasure.

Forest school, where pupils build dens or toast marshmallows, promotes care for the environment. Pupils have opportunities to take on roles of responsibility. Year 6 pupils take their role as a 'buddy' very seriously, acting as excellent role models for younger children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have created a strong culture of safeguarding where everybody understands their responsibility to help keep pupils safe. They provide high-quality training to staff, so they know exactly what to do if they have a concern.

Leaders act on concerns diligently and promptly. Leaders and the home-school link worker regularly consult outside agencies to ensure that pupils and their families get the support they may need.Pupils feel safe in school and learn how to stay safe when online and in the community.

They learn about consent and what is appropriate contact with adults and their friends. This empowers them to know what to do if they do not feel safe.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Planning in a few subjects needs refining.

This means that pupils' learning in these subjects is variable. Leaders should continue to develop curriculum planning from Reception to Year 6 so that teachers know precisely what skills and knowledge pupils will learn over time.

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.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2017.