Harris Primary Academy Haling Park

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Harris Primary Academy Haling Park continues to be an outstanding school.

The headteacher of this school is Rob Hyneman. This school is part of the Harris Federation, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Sir Dan Moynihan, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Lord Harris of Peckham.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils really enjoy coming to school. They are keen to see their friends and teachers each day.

This includes children in the early years, who have settled quickly into their new routines. Pupils are safe in school, and they are taught how ...to make the right choices. Leaders are keen for pupils to take on responsibility.

For example, pupils choose a charity to support through their monthly 'Community Champions' focus. They were keen to explain why they had chosen a charity for deaf people last year.

Leaders are aspirational for all pupils in the school.

They have designed a curriculum that is broad and extends beyond the national curriculum. For example, in the summer term of Year 6, pupils study a unit of work to prepare them for Year 7 in each subject. It prepares pupils extremely well for the next stage of their education.

Pupils are highly motivated to learn and are keen to do their best in all lessons. As a result, pupils achieve excellent results.

Leaders have created a school community with respect at its heart.

Pupils are kind to each other, and they celebrate their differences. Staff have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and pupils rise to this challenge. They manage their own behaviour extremely well so that staff rarely need to intervene.

In the classroom, pupils are focused on their learning, and no time is lost due to poor behaviour.

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

From the start of early years to the end of Year 6, leaders have thought carefully about the knowledge and skills they want pupils to know and remember across all subjects. They have organised this in a way that allows pupils to develop their understanding step by step over time.

Leaders in the early years work closely with those in Years 1 and 2 so that children learn the key knowledge they will need to know when they move from Reception Year to Year 1.

Teachers have secure subject knowledge and receive high-quality training and resources to deliver the subjects in the curriculum. All lessons start with tasks that ask pupils to recall knowledge from the last lesson, the last topic and the previous year.

Pupils in Year 4 mathematics were learning Roman numerals, and could recall the numbers one to 10, which they learned in Year 3. They built on this knowledge by learning them up to 100 and learning how to add and subtract them. Teachers assess pupils' knowledge regularly in a lesson.

If they spot any errors or misconceptions, they correct them immediately.

Teaching pupils to decode words and become fluent readers is a priority at this school. From the start of Reception Year, children are taught the sounds that letters make and how to decode words.

Teachers read to pupils in all year groups daily. Leaders quickly identify any pupils who may struggle, and they put support in place to help them keep up. Teachers ensure that pupils still learning to read take home books that match the sounds they know.

As a result, pupils become accurate and fluent readers quickly.

Leaders quickly identify pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They make sure that staff understand the individual needs of these pupils.

Leaders break the curriculum down into smaller chunks and identify the key knowledge that pupils need to progress to the next stage of their learning. As a result, pupils with SEND access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers and achieve well.

Pupils take responsibility for their own behaviour, and lessons are rarely disrupted.

Routines are well embedded from the start of Reception Year, and staff apply the behaviour policy consistently and fairly throughout the school. Pupils enjoy their playtimes and make good use of the activities made available to them. Leaders expect high levels of pupil attendance, and they have rigorous procedures in place to monitor and improve attendance to school.

As a result, pupil attendance is high.

Leaders make sure that all pupils benefit from a rich variety of activities that extend beyond the subjects taught in school. Leaders identify a range of activities that all pupils should experience before they leave the school, for example join the library, visit a museum and go to the theatre.

These activities are then built into the curriculum and leaders monitor to ensure that all pupils experience each of them. Pupils elect their representatives for the 'pupil parliament', and there are digital leaders as well as eco-leaders. Pupils take on these roles enthusiastically.

Staff are proud to work at the school and they are well supported by leaders and the trust. Staff benefit from high-quality training and resources both from within the school and from the trust. Leaders are held to account by a local governing body as well as by the trust board and executive.

Through regular meetings and headteacher reports, the trust has a clear oversight of the work of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.

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 outstanding in June 2017.