Highfield Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher has maintained his passion and commitment to the school. He has a strong understanding of the pastoral needs of his pupils and their wider families.

Senior leaders are equally committed and provide effective support to the headteacher. Collectively, they recognise that they did not respond quickly enough to the increased demands of the new national curriculum. This led to a decline in pupils' outcomes.

Subject leaders are knowledgeable and use assessment information effectively to identify the priorities for further improvement. However, they are not playing a full enough role in quality assuring their work. Governors are ...skilled and offer challenge and support to school leaders.

However, they have not ensured that improvement plans are sufficiently tightly linked to gains in pupils' outcomes for them to be evaluated precisely. Nor have they ensured that the school's website is compliant with statutory requirements. The curriculum is engaging for pupils and offers them many and varied experiences.

However, it did not build pupils' knowledge and skills sequentially. Leaders have responded to this and produced detailed progression documents. It is too early to measure the effect of these on improving pupils' outcomes.

The quality of teaching and learning is good and enables pupils to make good progress. Teachers use pupils' assessment information to inform their planning and to adjust their teaching as required. However, there is more to do to ensure work is sufficiently demanding for the most able pupils.

Although the teaching of phonics is effective, pupils' outcomes in the national Year 1 phonics screening check are variable. This is because : pupils do not receive their entitlement to a daily phonics lesson. The early years leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching in the early years is good.

Activities are engaging and enable children to make good progress from their often low starting points. Pupils behave well and are respectful of each other and of visitors to the school. They demonstrate good manners and are keen to offer a welcoming smile and hello.

Pupils' outcomes are good, and their progress is improving. There is greater consistency in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. However, very few pupils achieve the higher standards with any degree of consistency, particularly in writing and mathematics.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The overall proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above the national average. This is also the case with regards to the proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.

The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage, although an increasing proportion of pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds. The school is housed within a private finance initiative build and shares its site and some facilities with another primary school. The school's website does not meet statutory requirements in respect of its pupil premium strategies and curriculum plans.

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