Hibaldstow Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Pupils make strong friendships and enjoy each other's company. Adults know pupils well and provide high levels of pastoral care. Pupils feel safe in school and attend regularly.

Parents and pupils are largely positive about the actions of the school.

Staff are ambitious about what pupils should know and be able to do. In lessons, pupils typically remain focused on their learning.

Disruption to learning is infrequent. Adults support pupils who need help to focus effectively. This helps create an environment where pupils enjoy learning and achieve well.

At social times, pupils take advantage... of the well-designed range of activities. These provide pupils with effective opportunities to safely learn to manage risks and work with peers. Other pupils explore their interests in areas such as gardening.

Pupils find these highly engaging. Older pupils take on responsibilities and act as role models to their younger peers.

The school provides pupils with opportunities to broaden their horizons beyond their locality.

Pupils in key stage 2 experience residential visits, including to Robin Hood's Bay. Leaders effectively integrate aspects of the curriculum, such as geography fieldwork, into these experiences. These also help to develop pupils' independence.

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

Leaders have developed an interesting and ambitious curriculum for pupils. Teachers make effective links between what pupils learn in different subjects. The school places reading at the centre of the curriculum.

In Reception, much of children's learning connects back to the book that they are reading. For example, children made and measured their own worms out of string when reading the book 'Superworm'. Adults use these activities to develop pupils use of mathematical language, such as 'longer' and 'shorter'.

Children in the early years make a strong start to their time at school. The curriculum is well designed to meet their needs. Leaders have carefully considered what children need to know in preparation for key stage 1.

Adults increasingly integrate important vocabulary into continuous provision, modelling how to use this effectively. This prepares children well for future learning.

Within the school, reading is prioritised.

Older pupils talk enthusiastically about the books that they are reading. The school provides opportunities to enhance pupils' enjoyment of reading. Some pupils have visited the local theatre to listen to a children's illustrator speak.

Others have listened to talks from authors. The school effectively supports pupils at the early stages of learning to read. Adults teaching the school's phonics scheme have been well trained and receive ongoing support.

The school uses a range of suitable intervention programmes that help pupils who need additional support to catch up with their reading.The school ensures that pupils' learning builds securely on what they already know. Pupils take pride in their work and talk confidently about their learning in many areas of the curriculum Teachers use the school's new approach to check what pupils know and remember.

This provides teachers and leaders with a clear picture of how pupils are progressing through the curriculum. However, particularly in foundation subjects, this information is not routinely used to inform what pupils learn in the future. This limits how swiftly the school closes any gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported in the school. Leaders have strong systems for identifying pupils with SEND. This is based on staff's detailed knowledge of pupils and families.

The school works well with external agencies, including educational psychologists and local authority support teams. They use the additional information these professionals provide to give pupils with SEND the additional help they need to access the school's curriculum.

The school supports pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe in the local community.

For example, by teaching pupils about the risks of the brook and river near the school or discussing road safety with pupils. The school's personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons help pupils to learn about topics, such as healthy relationships and other cultures. Pupils understand the importance of fundamental British values, such as respect and tolerance.

To enhance pupils' knowledge of other cultures and communities, leaders have begun developing relationships with schools in differing contexts. As in other subjects, the school's approach to checking what pupils know from the PSHE curriculum is currently being developed.

The school has carefully considered how to respond to the challenges raised at the previous inspection.

Leaders, including trustees, have supported staff to make improvements, including to the quality of education that pupils receive and in pupils' conduct. They have a realistic view of the school's strengths and areas for development. New initiatives are considered against their impact on staff workload and well-being.

For some new strategies, the school has not defined how it will know that the intended impact is being realised. This limits trustees' ability to evaluate the effectiveness of these new approaches.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Information that the school gathers about what pupils know from the curriculum, particularly in foundation subjects, is not consistently used to inform future teaching. Gaps in some pupils' knowledge are not closed as quickly as they could be. The school should ensure that information about what pupils know from the curriculum is routinely used to inform future teaching.

• For some improvement actions, the school has not defined what the intended impact is or how it will evaluate this. This limits the ability of the school and those with responsibility for governance to check how effective their actions are in improving pupils' education. The school should ensure that the intended impact of new approaches is clearly defined and evaluated effectively.