Hanborough Manor CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Hanborough Manor CofE School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders' vision to 'nurture, educate and inspire' pupils is lived out in day-to-day life in this school.

Everyone wants the best for pupils and all are encouraged to shine in their own unique way. As one pupil explained, 'It would be boring if we were all the same.' Pupils achieve well, enjoy learning and are keen to do their best.

The school is a happy, cohesive community. Pupils get on well with each other and their teachers. They describe their school as friendly and caring.

Pupils appreciate that the school's 'ready, respectful, safe' rules are there for everyone...'s well-being and safety. They learn the importance of treating others as they would wish to be treated.

Pupils are encouraged to be active citizens and take on leadership roles such as play leaders, prefects or school councillors.

Many happily give up their time to help and support others by organising lunchtime activities. A wide range of special events foster pupils' sense of belonging and community spirit.

Musical performances and sporting competitions enhance pupils' enjoyment and learning.

Older pupils enthuse about the adventurous activities they encounter on their residential visits, including climbing, caving and kayaking.

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

Following a period of turbulence in staffing and leadership, new leaders have brought stability to the school and established a new sense of direction. Staff and parents speak warmly about the positive changes the headteacher and deputy headteacher have made.

Leaders have carefully balanced their ambition to make improvements with their consideration for staff well-being and workload. This has ensured that changes have been manageable, sustainable and implemented effectively. Staff enjoy working at the school and feel well supported.

Leaders have designed a broad and interesting curriculum that is aligned with the content of the national curriculum. In most subjects, leaders have thought carefully about what they want pupils to learn from early years through to the end of key stage 2. Typically, content is revisited and built on logically.

This enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and deepen their learning. However, this is not fully the case in a minority of subjects, including history and geography. In these subjects, leaders have not made explicit what pupils need to learn and remember and the concepts that staff need to emphasise.

Therefore, the impact of the curriculum on pupils' learning in these subjects is not as strong as in other subjects.

The school's new phonics programme is proving to be successful and reading is taught well. Books are matched accurately to the sounds that pupils are learning.

This helps them to gain confidence and develop their fluency. Leaders have also revamped the texts that support pupils' comprehension and vocabulary. From Reception to Year 6, high-quality texts now form the backbone of the English curriculum.

Visits from published authors further enhance pupils' reading knowledge and enjoyment. Overall, most pupils are doing well. However, a small number of pupils still require support to become fluent, confident readers.

Leaders are rightly providing these pupils with intensive support.

Teachers generally explain and model new concepts well, introducing new content step by step. They successfully 'hook' pupils into learning and spark their curiosity.

Typically, teachers begin lessons with a recap and time to consolidate knowledge and skills. They are adept at noticing and addressing gaps in pupils' knowledge. In most subjects, teachers plan activities that build on and deepen pupils' learning.

However, in a few subjects, this is not consistently the case. Sometimes, teachers plan activities that do not support pupils' learning as well as they intend. In some foundation subjects, staff occasionally focus on engaging pupils, rather than securing important learning points.

As soon as children join Reception, teachers quickly identify any children who may have underlying needs and who need additional support. Leaders have put in place a clear 'plan, do, review' approach to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work in close partnership with parents and enlist the expertise and support of other agencies to ensure that pupils get the right support.

When needed, teachers adapt lesson activities and resources so that all pupils can access the curriculum.

Leaders provide many opportunities for pupils to learn to play a musical instrument and engage in music making. Regular forest school sessions help pupils to explore the natural environment and develop their teamwork skills.

Pupils enjoy a range of sporting clubs on offer. Leaders are currently working to widen the scope of after-school activities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a priority at this school. Staff and leaders know pupils well and quickly notice if something is not quite right. Leaders know when concerns need to be referred to external agencies and do so without delay.

They quickly put support in place for any pupils and families who need help. The curriculum helps pupils to learn how to identify risk, including when online. Pupils know to speak to a trusted adult if they have any worries.

Trustees and governors have established strong systems to enable them to maintain effective oversight of safeguarding.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a minority of foundation subjects, leaders have not been clear enough about the most important things they want pupils to learn and remember. This means that staff do not have enough guidance about what they need to teach and what is important to check that pupils have remembered.

As a result, pupils are not building their knowledge consistently well enough or making meaningful connections with what they already know. Leaders need to make more explicit the most important concepts and knowledge pupils must learn and remember in these subjects. ? In some foundation subjects, teachers do not always design learning activities that align well with or help pupils to learn the intended curriculum.

Pupils' attention is sometimes diverted to the activity and away from what they most need to learn and remember. Leaders should make sure that staff have the guidance they need to enable them to implement the curriculum fully effectively in all subjects.

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 June 2017.