Heasandford Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils' well-being lies at the heart of this school. The positive relationships that staff build with pupils helps them to feel safe and happy. Pupils are supported well to develop their understanding of strategies which promote positive mental health.

They spoke about using the worry box to share their concerns with staff. Pupils know that adults will resolve any problems effectively.

The school understands the needs of the community that it serves.

It has high expectations for pupils. This includes the many pupils who speak English as an additional language, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils typically achieve well.<...br/>
The school's expectations for behaviour are clearly understood by all pupils, including children in the early years. Pupils follow the rules consistently well in lessons and when moving around the school. The school provides effective support to pupils who need help to manage their emotions.

Pupils spoke with enthusiasm about the breadth of opportunities on offer. These include a choir and a range of sports activities. Pupils are proud to take on roles and responsibilities, such as being a buddy or an anti-bullying ambassador.

They explained how the school council had influenced positive changes in the school.

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

Since the last inspection, the school has made changes to some subject curriculums. The key knowledge that pupils should learn and when they should learn it is clearly identified, starting from the early years.

Staff deliver this ambitious curriculum consistently. In most subjects, pupils achieve well.

Pupils benefit from a rich, ambitious curriculum from the early years to Year 6.

Staff use assessment information effectively to check what pupils know and to identify what they should learn next, in most subjects. However, in a small number of subjects, these checks are less effective. In these subjects, some pupils do not have a secure foundation on which to build new learning.

The school accurately identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND. Staff act on advice from other professionals and make effective adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum. This helps pupils with SEND to learn the same curriculum as their peers.

Pupils with SEND are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

The school prioritises reading from the start of the Reception class. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy selecting books from the well-resourced libraries.

Pupils read widely and often. The school supports parents well to extend their children's reading skills at home.

Over the last two years, the school has made changes to the teaching of reading.

The school helps pupils to learn phonics quickly from when they first start in school. This includes pupils who join the school in later years, many of whom are new to the country. The school checks that children are progressing well through the reading programme and provides effective support for less confident readers.

This means that most pupils, including those with SEND, become confident, fluent readers by the end of key stage 1. The 2023 published outcomes indicate that the proportion of pupils who met the phonics screening check, and those who met the expected standard for reading in key stage 2, were low. These published outcomes do not reflect the strength of the revised curriculum, which is helping current pupils to achieve well in reading.

The school has high expectations for pupils' attendance. It takes effective action to improve the attendance of pupils who do not attend school as regularly as they should. The school ensures that parents understand the negative impact that extended leave during term time has on pupils' learning.

Leaders' actions have ensured that current pupils' attendance has improved significantly. In addition, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent has reduced over the last year.

Promoting positive attitudes to learning and supporting pupils' wider development are strengths of the school.

Pupils broaden their experiences by listening to visitors to the school and by going on a wide range of trips. They understand how fundamental British values relate to their own lives at home and in school. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Governors fulfil their responsibilities well. They provide effective challenge and support to improve the school further. The school has considered staff's well-being when introducing changes to the curriculum.

This includes seeking staff's views and providing support and guidance to reduce unnecessary workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the checks on what pupils remember are not as effective as they could be.

As a result, the school does not accurately identify how well pupils achieve in these subjects. This means that learning in these subjects is not secure for some pupils. The school should make sure that assessment strategies enable staff to check what pupils have learned and that any gaps in pupils' knowledge are effectively addressed.