Hatfeild Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

While the newly established leadership team are having a positive impact; over time, leaders have not ensured that the curriculum is as ambitious as it could be.

This hinders pupils from gaining deep knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.

Pupils arrive at school with smiles on their faces. They are happy and safe here.

Bullying rarely occurs When it does, staff deal with this seriously and make sure it is not repeated. Staff encourage pupils to be themselves and grow in confidence. They celebrate everyone's differences.

Pupils enjoy break times. Most pupils behave well. They interact well with each other and have a range of equipment to p...lay with.

However, during break time, boisterous behaviour is sometimes not picked up by staff and, sometimes, older pupils' do not behave sensibly around the school or during assemblies.

Pupils compete with other schools in a range of sports, such as swimming, gymnastics, basketball, and tennis. Older pupils enjoy the residential journeys that leaders organise.

Many pupils attend the school's popular after-school clubs.

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

Although the curriculum is broad, curriculum leaders' thinking is inconsistent. In many subjects, leaders have not identified the most important knowledge pupils need to learn.

They have not made sure that staff routinely follow the intended curriculum in all subjects. Sometimes, teachers are not sure what subject content to teach. This leads to pupils learning incoherent knowledge that is not built upon sequentially in further learning.

In the early years, curriculum thinking lacks clarity. Leaders and staff often focus on setting up activities for children rather than developing key knowledge. Staff are not sharply focused on the specific content that children need to learn.

As a result, mistakes and gaps in children's learning are sometimes missed.

Curriculum thinking in some subjects is better developed. In mathematics, for example, teachers consistently and confidently model new concepts to pupils.

Teachers provide pupils with expert support to use a range of resources to help them with calculations. In other subjects where curriculum thinking lacks detail, teachers are unsure about the important knowledge that pupils should be taught. They do not typically give pupils the appropriate support to clarify any misconceptions.

This leads to ongoing gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding. Leaders do not ensure that all staff have the appropriate knowledge of the subjects that they teach and expertise to build pupils' skills consistently.

Staff make appropriate adaptations to learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils from the additionally resourced provision (ARP), 'The Lighthouse', receive effective support to access similar content to their peers. Interim leaders have improved communication with parents and carers who have children with SEND. They make appropriate links with outside agencies to support pupils' complex needs.

Pupils who are learning to read, including in the early years, are not strongly supported to read with fluency and confidence. The school's approach to early reading is at the very early stages of implementation. In recent time, leaders have taken steps to ensure that staff, particularly in the early years, and Years 1 and 2, have received the appropriate phonics training.

The interim leaders' work to develop early reading is beginning to deliver improvements. For example, pupils decode unfamiliar words with increased accuracy. Leaders ensure that pupils access reading books that match the sounds they know.

Older pupils can choose books from a range of quality texts. They enjoy reading and look forward to weekly visits to one of the school's two libraries. Pupils spoke about their favourite books and authors enthusiastically.

There is some low-level disruption in many classrooms. Staff do not routinely deal with it effectively. As a result, pupils often struggle to concentrate on their work, when classrooms are noisy.

In contrast to this, children in early years demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning. Staff in the early years encourage children to focus on their work and to be independent. Children in in Nursery and Reception interact with each other respectfully.

Pupils are helped to understand how families can be different in modern Britain. They are especially proud of how inclusive their school is. Pupils are welcoming and friendly.

They celebrate each other's differences. Pupils are taught about how to keep healthy both physically and mentally.

Staff enjoy working at the school.

They said their workload was manageable and that leaders looked out for their well-being.

Recently appointed senior leaders have made positive changes in a short time, including to early reading and to the curriculum. They have identified the school's priorities for improvement.

The governing body is working with the local authority to enable the new leadership to make improvements.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Senior leaders have a clear overview of safeguarding.

They know their community well and work closely with families to support them. All staff receive thorough safeguarding training to help them spot the signs of abuse. Leaders ensure that they provide staff with regular updates of how to report any concerns.

Leaders work effectively with external agencies to support the most vulnerable pupils. Pupils are taught how to keep safe, including online, and are encouraged to speak to an adult if they have any worries or concerns.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's early reading programme is at the very early stages of implementation.

Pupils learning to read are not helped to build reading confidence and fluency securely. Leaders must make sure that all staff, including support staff and those who teach in key stage 2, receive training, so that they can provide pupils with effective support. Leaders should also ensure that they check that the school's phonics approach is followed consistently.

• In most subjects, including in the early years, the curriculum lacks depth, ambition and coherence. Leaders have not identified the crucial knowledge they want pupils to learn over time. As a result, pupils do not build a deep body of subject-specific knowledge sequentially.

Leaders need to identify precisely what content pupils should learn and in what order. They should also ensure all staff have the required expertise to clarify pupils' misconceptions. ? From Years 1 to 6, staff do not have consistently high expectations for pupils' behaviour.

They do not routinely pick up and deal with low-level disruption in lessons. They allow the noise level to negatively impact on other pupils' ability to concentrate on their learning. Leaders should ensure that all staff have high expectations for all pupils' behaviour across the school.

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