Hall Road Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Hall Road Academy is inclusive and welcoming. A strong sense of community is at the heart of decision-making.

This means that pupils and families get any support they need. Pupils value the staff, particularly the pastoral team. They call them 'superheroes'.

Pupils know and follow the '3Bs': be ready, be respectful and be safe. They value the certificates they earn for good behaviour. Pupils say this encourages them to behave well.

They want to avoid getting yellow or red cards. Some pupils get extra help from staff to support their behaviour. This helps them to regulate their behaviour and emotions.

Leaders at all levels have a clear vision for what... the school should be for its pupils. They have recently changed the curriculum to make it more ambitious for all. Pupils enjoy learning and achieve well.

Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Pupils feel safe. They are not afraid to ask for help.

Bullying is rare, but if it does happen, pupils say staff would sort it.

Pupils understand the need to attend school. They look forward to visiting Buzz's store to spend their attendance tokens.

Older pupils look forward to the school trips to Edinburgh and London. Pupils have the chance to get involved in school life, such as being assembly monitors or part of the eco-council.

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

The school has recently introduced a new curriculum in nearly all subjects.

This curriculum is ambitious and has high expectations for all, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The curriculum is sequenced from Year 1 to Year 6. Staff break learning into small steps to help pupils remember important information.

Pupils use this model to explain their answers. This strategy is helping them to remember more over time. Teachers know the important information that pupils need to know.

Pupils are now remembering this information and applying it in their future learning. For example, in Year 4 art, pupils were successfully applying their drawing and shading skills to a new area of learning.

Reading is a school priority.

Hearing and retelling stories starts in early years. Children learn phonics as soon as they begin school. Skilled staff expertly deliver the phonics programme.

Any pupils that need extra help get this from trained staff. This helps them to catch up. Books match the sounds pupils know.

Staff encourage daily reading. After 50 reads, pupils visit the book vending machine to choose a free book. They access books from different authors.

The new reading curriculum provides the chance for pupils and staff to read together. This helps to foster a love for reading and supports pupils to achieve well.

Staff have high expectations for all pupils.

Pupils listen well in learning and follow instructions. Staff use assessment well to decide on next steps. They adapt the curriculum well for pupils with SEND.

As a result, they make effective progress from their different starting points.

The curriculum for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a strength. It helps pupils to understand how to stay safe and prepares them for the future.

Community links within the PSHE curriculum are strong. Leaders have enhanced the planned curriculum through their community. For example, this includes working with the local police or Hull Children's University.

However, in some foundation subjects, new curriculums are still being embedded. As yet, the school does not yet make full use of the locality to enhance the curriculum offer. Trips, visits and local community links, for example, are still developing.

Across the school, developing pupils' oracy skills and vocabulary are areas of focus. Typically, staff model vocabulary pupils need to know well. Older pupils, in particular, use the vocabulary they hear with confidence when talking about their learning.

The school has worked hard on developing the early years curriculum. In some areas of learning, children learn and can remember important vocabulary. For example, in Nursery, children can remember words such as `seeds', `light' and `oxygen' when talking about germination.

However, this is not consistently the case across all areas of learning. Some key vocabulary that children need to learn during the early years to support their continued development in key stage 1 has not yet been clearly mapped out. For example, it is not sufficiently clear that children need to understand the terms `past' and `present' to be successful in their learning in history.

There is a determination from trust and school staff to improve attendance. In the last year, attendance has improved. The number of pupils who are persistently absent from school has reduced.

Leaders carefully track absences and provide support. Some pupils have a staff buddy. This has helped them to be in school more often and earn reward points to spend in Buzz's store.

Pupils have a deep understanding of what it means to be different. This understanding comes from the curriculum and the books they read. Pupils have a strong sense of equality and fairness.

They know about different faiths and cultures. Pupils are taught how to keep safe on the internet. They learn how to stay safe in the local area, such as learning how to ride their bikes safely.

The trust has worked closely with the school to support and drive improvements. Those responsible for governance and leaders provide effective challenge. Staff value the ongoing coaching and training they receive.

They say this helps to make their workload manageable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Much of the work on the school's curriculum has been recent.

In a few foundation subjects, the school has not yet had sufficient opportunity to fully evaluate how these plans reflect their local community. This means that opportunities to enhance the curriculum to reflect the local area are yet to happen. The school should develop a strategic programme of opportunities for all pupils to enrich and develop the curriculum through their local community.

• In some areas of learning in the early years, the curriculum does not make clear the most important vocabulary that children should know and remember by the end of Reception. This means that as pupils move on into key stage 1, they are not as well prepared for learning as they could be. The school should ensure that the most important vocabulary that children need to learn in all areas of learning in the early years is clearly identified and followed to better support pupils' transition into key stage 1.