Haughton School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Haughton School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Haughton School is a nurturing school. Staff are attentive to pupils' needs. They go the extra mile to care for them.

Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent. One parent's comment echoed that of other parents and carers, when they said, 'The school community feels like a family.'

Staff support pupils well in how to manage their emotions.

If pupils become upset, staff are quick to resettle them to their learning. This helps lessons to run smoothly. Bullying does not worry pupils.

If pupils are unkind to others, leaders deal with it quickly and effectively. A...s a result, pupils feel safe and are happy to be in school.

Leaders are aspirational and passionate about what pupils can achieve.

They want pupils to learn to the best of their abilities and to develop the social skills they need to be successful in the future. Pupils respond well to these expectations. They make good progress towards their education, health and care (EHC) plan outcomes.

Staff teach pupils how to become active, responsible citizens by giving them roles and responsibilities. These include being a member of the school council or a classroom helper. Pupils raise money for charities and support a local food bank.

Pupils enjoy taking on these responsibilities.

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

Governors have a clear vision for the school. They want pupils to achieve the best they can and to be happy in school.

Leaders and staff share this vision. Leaders know their school well. They have an accurate understanding of what the school does well and what they need to do to make it even better.

Leaders think carefully about the knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn. They use this to design well-organised sequences of lessons that cover the national curriculum. They ensure that lessons are well planned and sequenced.

The things pupils learn each day build on what they have learned before. Leaders are ambitious in their aims for what each pupil can achieve. Pupils in the specialist hubs, for example, learn and play alongside pupils in the mainstream school.

This accelerates their learning and the development of their social skills.

Leaders have created an environment where pupils enjoy learning. This starts in early years.

Staff plan an appropriate range of creative and multisensory activities to motivate and engage children in their learning. This helps children to sustain their concentration for longer periods of time and prepares them well for key stage 1.

Staff use a range of assessment strategies effectively.

This includes checking the progress pupils are making towards the targets in their EHC plans. Classroom-based staff and the school's therapy team work closely together. This ensures that pupils get the teaching, equipment and resources they need to be successful in their learning.

Work in pupils' books shows that they are doing well in making progress towards their personal targets.

Leaders prioritise reading. Every class has a daily story time.

Staff give advice to parents about how to support their children's reading at home. Parents of children in the early years are regularly invited into school to share their child's reading. Leaders recently introduced a new reading programme.

All staff have received training in how to teach the programme. However, there is some inconsistency in how staff deliver the programme. This may affect some pupils' progress.

Leaders check how well pupils are reading and provide extra support for those who need it. Most pupils are developing into confident, fluent readers.

Developing pupils' communication is a strength of the school.

Staff use appropriate resources well. These include the use of a range of communication aids that closely match pupils' needs. This means that all pupils have a voice.

Pupils enjoy a range of experiences beyond the classroom, including residential trips. At lunchtimes, pupils keep themselves physically active by playing ball games or joining in with group activities, such as the parachute game. Pupils go swimming, including to a local hydrotherapy pool.

However, despite leaders' repeated efforts to support parents in getting their children into school, a small number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. Therefore, they miss important learning and experiences. This hinders both their academic and personal development.

Staff speak highly of the support leaders provide for them. Staff say leaders consider their workload, for example by giving teachers time to plan together. They also cite examples of how leaders support their personal well-being.

Staff value this support.

Governors are committed to the school and its pupils. They make sure that services bought for the school provide good value for money.

Consequently, pupils have a well-resourced environment in which to learn.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously.

They quickly report any concerns and leaders take effective action. Leaders make sure staff receive regular updates and training. Leaders use support from external agencies effectively.

This means families get the help they need when they need it.

Leaders complete the appropriate checks on all adults who work at or visit the school.

Through lessons and assemblies, leaders make sure pupils know how to keep themselves safe.

This includes e-safety. Pupils know who will help them in school. Parents agree that their children are safe in school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• A small number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This hinders their academic and personal development. Leaders should continue to work closely with parents to improve the attendance of pupils who are regularly absent.

They should do this so that more pupils are in school, learning well and making better progress. ? There is some inconsistency in the implementation of the new phonics scheme. This may affect some pupils' progress in learning to read.

Leaders should ensure that all staff have the appropriate knowledge and skills to deliver the new scheme effectively. They should do this so that all pupils continue to make good progress towards becoming confident and fluent readers.

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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2014.