Hargate Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school 'Forward together', the school's motto, is very appropriate.

Leaders, staff and governors have created a vibrant school community. Strong leadership and a dedicated staff team have taken the school forward to achieve the very best outcomes for pupils. The headteacher and deputy headteacher are highly effective leaders.

They have led sustained improvements to teaching and learning since the previous inspection. Governors and leaders at all levels of responsibility have high aspirations for pupils and staff. The governing body provides effective support and challenge.

The early years leader and staff provide high-quality pr...ovision for the youngest children. Throughout the early years, including the 'Little Gaters' setting for two-year-olds, children make exceptional progress. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those admitted to the school's hearing impairment provision, make rapid progress.

Pupils in Years 1 to 6 make outstanding progress in relation to their low starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. Standards are rising at a good pace and pupils do exceptionally well in mathematics. Pupils learning English as an additional language make rapid progress.

This includes the many who join the school at different times speaking little or no English. Teachers and support staff use information about pupils' achievement to plan activities that are challenging and interesting. Pupils thoroughly enjoy taking on roles and responsibilities in the school.

This helps to build their self-confidence. The curriculum and additional enrichment activities enthuse pupils, making learning fun. There is scope now to ensure that pupils acquire knowledge and develop skills in greater depth in subjects other than English and mathematics.

Teachers provide good opportunities for pupils to improve their writing but not enough for them to practise and deepen their understanding. The teaching of phonics is consistently strong, which lays strong foundations for developing early reading skills. Leaders and staff are rightly focusing on extending pupils' vocabulary to help improve their understanding of what they read.

Pupils behave exceptionally well and are keen to learn. Pupils are caring, respectful and tolerant. The staff go above and beyond what is expected to ensure that pupils are safe.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. This is a large primary school and numbers are increasing each year. Pupils come from a range of backgrounds.

The largest groups are represented by pupils of White British, Indian or Pakistani heritage. Over half of the pupils speak English as an additional language, which is a much higher proportion than that of most schools. A large proportion, approximately one in 10, join the school at different times, most of whom are new arrivals to the United Kingdom and speak little or no English, but one or more European, Asian, African or Middle Eastern home languages.

The governing body has extended early years provision since the previous inspection by admitting two-year-old children to its 'Little Gaters' setting on the school site. The provision is staffed by four qualified adults who are key workers and manage no more than four children each. Early years now comprises a pre-school setting for two-year-olds and provision for three-year-olds in the Nursery class.

All the children in both of these pre-school settings attend part time. In addition, there are two Reception classes for four- and five-year-olds who all attend full time. The school manages provision for pupils who have hearing impairments.

The pupils are admitted to the school's roll by the local authority. The local authority delegates funding for this provision to the school's leaders. There are currently 16 pupils who have a range of hearing impairments and nearly all are taught in mainstream classes.

In addition, the pupils are taught for short sessions each day by specialist teachers of the deaf and other specialised learning support practitioners. The school is shortly going to have this provision fully delegated to it as part of the school's budget and special educational needs funding agreement ('the local offer'). The percentage of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than that of most schools and also includes some pupils who have profound learning difficulties or complex physical, mental health or medical needs.

The percentage of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is high compared with most schools. The school met the government's floor standards in 2016, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. There is a charity group across the road that offers before and after school provision, that some of the parents choose to use, and the school works closely with them for the families they serve.