Hall Green School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning at Hall Green and feel safe.

There is always an adult on hand whom they feel they can talk to and who will listen to them. Pupils live up to the school's values of 'learning with compassion, ambition, responsibility and excellence'. Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to their work.

The school sets high expectations for pupils to do well. Outcomes are improving, especially for boys. As part of the school's 60 years anniversary, it is collecting profiles to display of former pupils to raise pupils' aspirations further for their future careers.

Pupils excel in sports, for example the Year 8 boys' football team progressed t...o the final of a local football tournament. All pupils have the chance to be included in the wide array of academic and sporting clubs, including wheelchair basketball.

Pupils thrive on the leadership roles the school offers, for example as year group ambassadors or as part of the senior pupil leadership team.

The school is highly responsive and considerate of pupils' well-being. For example, it received national recognition on television for its work supporting pupils to take part in physical education during Ramadhan.

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

The school has put in place an ambitious and diverse curriculum.

For example, pupils can study three Shakespeare texts rather than the required two. It offers French and Spanish from Year 7. Art and business are particularly popular with pupils.

Consequently, there is a strong take-up at GCSE in these subjects. The school's plans are designed successfully to challenge pupils in the wide range of subjects on offer. They are delivered in a way that allows pupils to accumulate further knowledge over time.

The curriculum also takes full account of the changing demographics of the school. It is tailored to reflect the diverse backgrounds and faiths of pupils.

Pupils receive effective additional support in reading to catch up and become fluent and confident readers.

The school carefully identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The curriculum is skilfully adapted and sequenced for pupils with SEND to enable them to achieve the lesson objectives set for the whole class. Effective systems are also in place to identify and provide support for pupils who speak English as an additional language.

Teachers understand the needs of pupils who are disadvantaged. These pupils are supported through a range of strategies, including targeted and skilled questioning, to help them develop their knowledge of the curriculum. Teachers quickly pick up and address any mistakes, gaps or misconceptions pupils have in their learning.

This helps pupils to achieve well.

Teachers check how well pupils are doing either in lessons or summary checks at the end of units. However, where this is not practised consistently, pupils do not build learning on secure prior knowledge.

There is generally a calm and orderly environment around the school and in lessons. Pupils are respectful and friendly. Attendance has improved over time, and persistent absence is falling.

However, some pupils arrive late in the morning, and there is a lack of urgency in moving to lessons on time. This means these pupils miss some essential learning.

The school has planned its personal development programme well to give pupils a wide and rich experience beyond lessons.

There are numerous clubs and activities across the school. These include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, journalism and debate club, chess and kickboxing. These add to and extend pupils' interests and talents.

The school's personal, social, health and economic programme makes a positive contribution to pupils' wider development. For example, pupils understand the importance of making informed lifestyle choices. However, on occasion, there is variability in the delivery of this content by staff.

Additionally, some staff do not consistently follow the school's policy and procedures for managing pupils' behaviour in these sessions and when pupils are moving around the school.

The school takes full account of staff workload and welfare. Trustees are also mindful of these aspects.

They have streamlined the roles and responsibilities of leaders and shared training and staff knowledge across their three schools to maximise resources. Trustees know the school well and offer a range of expertise to support and challenge leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The assessment of learning is not consistent across the school, especially in key stage 3. This means that some errors and gaps in learning are missed by teachers. The school should ensure that the quality of assessment is consistently high across the school.

• In some instances, the delivery of content to support pupils' personal development and the management of behaviour is not in line with the school's policies and procedures. This leads to lost learning for some pupils. The school should ensure that all staff consistently apply the policies and procedures.

• A number of pupils arrive late to school and to the start of lessons. This means they miss essential learning. The school should work with pupils who arrive late to instil the importance of punctuality so they consistently arrive on time at school and for lessons.