High Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of High Green Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 June 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in April 2015.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your leadership team have effective systems in place to ensure that pupils receive a high quality of education.

You work with other local headteachers and an external consultant, to carry out regular school reviews on aspects of scho...ol improvement. As a result, you know your school well, and are constantly striving to implement any identified improvements in order to improve standards and rates of progress. Governors are heavily involved in school improvement.

They closely monitor the effectiveness of new initiatives. For example, they work alongside leaders, visit classes and review samples of pupils' work to ensure that they can see the improvements reported in governor meetings. Governors provide challenge through the questions they ask at meetings.

They also check the information for themselves. However, governors do not check that the website contains all the information required. Consequently, some key information was not included on the website at the time of the inspection.

The provision for pupils with special educational needs is particularly strong. Leaders have responded positively to the increasing number of pupils with complex needs. Teaching assistants provide high-quality support during lessons, so that all pupils are engaged and learning.

Pupils make good progress because teachers adapt work to ensure that pupils of all abilities receive appropriate challenge and support. Leaders recognise the importance of support for parents who have children with autism. Through listening to their needs, you have set up the 'Rainbow Network,' which provides regular opportunities for parents to meet at the school and share 'the joys and challenges that autism brings'.

Parents are well supported and reassured that their children are safe and happy. One parent commented that High Green Primary School is 'A lovely school, very accommodating and inclusive of children with additional needs.' Pupil voice is a key aspect of school improvement.

Leaders value the feedback they receive from pupils and make appropriate changes to what they teach and how they teach it. Recent feedback on reading books has resulted in a new approach for the most able older readers. These pupils can now choose from a carefully selected range of fiction and non-fiction books, some of which are chosen by pupils themselves.

Leaders ensure that pupils are taught how to be good citizens, how to treat each other and how to behave in different situations. Work on personal, social and health education is at the heart of learning. Leaders recognise that good personal qualities are important to secure optimum learning.

Consequently, pupils enjoy a varied range of experiences through the curriculum to help them develop their personal skills. Each class has its own pet, including a rabbit, fish, a lizard and a snake, which they learn to care for. Every class has its own charity, which they support throughout the year.

In Year 6, pupils were preparing for a charity sale, through baking, creating sweet treats and setting up a 'name the unicorn' game. Pupils enjoyed applying their mathematical skills in order to work out how much profit they were aiming to make for each item. They were heavily engaged in their work, had collaborated outside school to bake chocolate brownies and were enthusiastic about the charity they were supporting.

Both you and your deputy headteacher present as a strong team. You have created a welcoming environment, where you both lead by example. You know staff, pupils and parents well.

As a result, you quickly pick up on any issues and work hard to ensure that relationships are harmonious. Staff feel valued and supported in their roles. Children are happy; they enjoy learning and they feel respected by adults.

The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, commented on their children's happiness. One parent wrote, 'The teachers are very approachable, and the atmosphere is always friendly…I am so pleased that we have found a school like this.' Another parent stated, 'The staff treat every child as an individual.

They are brilliant at the holistic approach to educating the children...

It is a true village school with outstanding care and compassion for everyone.' Safeguarding is effective. School has a strong culture of safeguarding.

Policies and procedures are updated regularly and are fit for purpose. Relevant checks are carried out on new staff to ensure their suitability. Governors check the information regularly to ensure that records are up to date.

Staff files are orderly, and all document checks are carried out before staff begin their employment at the school. Leaders and staff know pupils well. Staff receive regular updates on safeguarding information at termly briefings.

As a result, staff know what to look out for and how to report concerns. Record-keeping is up to date and includes actions taken by leaders to keep pupils safe. Pupils say that they feel safe and are aware of what do if they have any worries or concerns.

Bullying is very rare, and pupils are confident that staff sort any issues out quickly. Pupils benefit from regular work on keeping safe and talked about how to keep safe online and stranger danger. Parents agree that their children are safe.

Leaders have successfully created a 'family atmosphere' in school, where pupils are nurtured and valued. The school's evacuation plan is thorough and even takes account of how class pets will be kept safe. Inspection findings ? At the beginning of the inspection we agreed to focus on how middle leaders are impacting on standards in their areas of responsibility; how well the curriculum is planned; how leaders have improved standards, rates of progress in reading and writing; and how well the small number of disadvantaged pupils are supported.

• Middle leaders are having a positive impact on standards. The leader of mathematics has carried out careful analysis of the school's internal assessment to identify where extra support is required. Staff training, for both teachers and teaching assistants, is enabling them to become more confident in planning work of a higher standard.

Teachers now provide more opportunities for a higher proportion of pupils to apply their thinking in order to deepen their learning. The leadership of mathematics is good, and, as a result, a higher proportion of pupils are targeted to reach greater depth of understanding. Standards are improving.

• Leaders have introduced assessment for all subjects across the school. They are using this information to identify gaps in learning, which informs planning for the next school year. Consequently, curriculum leaders are beginning to be more effective in supporting planning, checking coverage and monitoring the standards pupils are achieving in their subject.

The use of pupil self-assessment at the beginning of each topic also allows teachers to understand how to adapt their planning to take into account the prior knowledge of pupils. ? Over the last two years, you have prioritised creating a more exciting curriculum. You have carefully planned out what skills are required as pupils move through each subject in each year group.

As a result, pupils enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum. However, you have not thought enough about what knowledge you want the pupils to learn across each subject. As a result, pupils' knowledge is sometimes a little muddled.

For example, pupils talked about being evacuated during the First World War. ? Standards in writing significantly improved in 2018. Pupils enjoy writing and many say that it is their favourite subject.

Leaders have introduced 'Awesome Writing' to engage all pupils. This has been effective in capturing their imagination. Pupils enjoy working with others and being responsible for the way in which they present their own work.

All writing work is now carried out in writing books, because leaders wanted pupils to understand how important it is for the quality of writing to be the same across all subjects. Alongside this, they have focused on spelling and handwriting. The use of special lined books helps pupils keep their work neat.

Lower-ability pupils stated that this had been successful in helping them to keep their work tidy. All pupils were proud to show off the high standard of presentation within their work. Your whole-school focus on developing and extending vocabulary is helping pupils to learn and use new words in their writing.

One pupil told me, 'I like to use words that impress other people, like opulent.' ? You are now focusing on improving the standard of reading across the school. Pupils have a wide range of books from which to choose.

You have invested in buying new books for class reading areas and the library. As a result, pupils develop positive reading habits, display a love of reading and results are improving. ? Phonics teaching has improved because leaders have ensured consistency across key stage 1 and early years.

More children are now reaching the expected standard than seen previously. ? Progress rates in reading, writing and mathematics are improving for all groups. Leaders track the progress of disadvantaged pupils carefully.

Swift action is taken to support any pupils who fall behind. The number of disadvantaged pupils is low, so leaders track individuals and know the pupils well. As a result of tracking, interventions and good teaching, a higher proportion of disadvantaged pupils are now on track to reach both the expected standard and the higher standard in all subjects.

• Attendance is above the national average for both boys and girls. Although you work closely with some disadvantaged families to ensure that their attendance improves, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is below that of other pupils. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? The school's website is regularly monitored and updated to ensure that it is compliant with DFE guidance.

• The attendance of disadvantaged pupils improves so that it is line with that of other pupils at the school. ? Curriculum planning identifies and sequences the knowledge that pupils are required to learn in each topic in every year group, so that pupils are supported to retain key facts over time. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Sheffield.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Janet Lunn Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, I spoke with you and other leaders. We visited classrooms together to observe pupils' learning and scrutinised their work.

I talked to pupils in lessons and in meetings. I also heard some pupils read and talked to them about their work and life in school. I scrutinised a range of documentation, including the self-evaluation, school development planning, safeguarding and curriculum information.

I met with the chair of the governing body and a group of staff. I conducted a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. I took account of the 32 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View.