Fox Hill Primary

Highlights from Latest Inspection

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'.

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.<...br/>
Furthermore, some pupils miss too much school and this has an impact on their achievement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(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.

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.