Hillside Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy, content and caring at this school.

They enjoy discovering new learning, as well as socialising and engaging in activities with their friends. The strong and trusting bonds that pupils form with their peers and with staff are the foundations upon which the success of the school is built.

The school expects pupils to become high achieving, diligent and conscientious citizens.

Pupils respond positively to these ambitious expectations, which help to make sure that they learn well across the curriculum. They typically behave well during lessons. Classrooms are calm and purposeful.

Pupils are encouraged to develop their sports and musical... interests. They look forward to the school's annual 'Hillside's got talent' event, where they demonstrate their dancing, singing and gymnastic prowess. Staff also encourage pupils to share their talents during special assemblies, for example in Morris dancing and in martial arts.

Pupils' horizons are broadened in different ways. For instance, Year 6 pupils look forward to their annual residential, where they engage in outdoor and orienteering activities. Pupils enjoy visiting museums, galleries and local places of interest, which are linked to different aspects of the curriculum.

Pupils understand fundamental British values. They know that they should treat people from different religious and cultural backgrounds with dignity and respect.

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

The school has devised an interesting and exciting curriculum that matches the ambitions of the national curriculum.

It has ordered subject content so that pupils' knowledge and skills build securely and effectively over time. Children in the early years achieve especially well. They become cooperative and confident communicators from the start of their learning journey through the school.

Teachers benefit from a wide range of targeted support and training, which helps them to deliver the curriculum consistently well in most subjects. Typically, teachers employ a range of assessment strategies, which help them to successfully identify how well pupils are learning. However, in a few subjects, the school has not ensured that teachers routinely revisit and reinforce pupils' prior learning.

This means that some pupils do not commit previous learning to their long-term memory.

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils enjoy reading books by a range of different children's authors and they are developing their appreciation of poetry.

Staff broaden pupils' appreciation of a diverse range of authors and writing styles.

The school has revised and improved its approach to teaching phonics. Staff deliver the phonics programme and early reading curriculum effectively.

Children start to learn phonics as soon as they join the Reception class. Staff support pupils who find reading more difficult to help them to keep up with their peers. This helps pupils to develop their reading fluency and comprehension skills quickly.

The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) quickly. Staff work with external professionals, including speech and language therapists, and with parents and carers, to make certain that pupils with SEND receive the expert help that they need. Teachers modify learning materials to help pupils with SEND to follow the school's full curriculum.

The school's careful organisation of the curriculum helps to ensure that pupils with SEND develop their knowledge and skills well over time.

Pupils respond positively to the school's new behaviour policy. Even the youngest children in the early years follow instructions closely.

Those in the Nursery class enjoy learning plentiful songs and rhymes.

Many initiatives are in place to improve pupils' attendance. Nonetheless, some pupils' absence remains too high.

From time to time, this limits how well these pupils achieve.

Pupils are mature and responsible. They demonstrate this in their many leadership roles, including as school councillors, members of the pupil parliament and mental health ambassadors.

Pupils regularly attend extra-curricular clubs, including in cricket, rugby, cross country and football. They care about their community. For example, pupils participate in litter-picking campaigns and they make greetings cards for residents of a local care home.

Pupils know how to keep themselves fit and healthy. They understand the dangers associated with gang affiliation and they learn how to maintain appropriate personal relationships.

Governors understand the school's strengths and they provide appropriate challenge and support to help the school to continually improve.

Staff know that the school is mindful of their workload and well-being. They are appreciative of the opportunities that the school provides for them to prepare teaching activities and to modify curriculum materials.

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 few subjects, staff do not revisit and reinforce pupils' previous learning sufficiently enough to make sure that it is committed to their long-term memory. This hinders the progress that some pupils make through the curriculum. The school should ensure that, in these subjects, staff routinely check that pupils have learned and remembered the intended curriculum so that they can deepen their learning over time.

• The initiatives to improve pupils' rates of attendance are not having the rapid impact that the school would like. Some pupils' low attendance means that they miss out on important learning and other aspects of personal development. The school should the strengthen the effectiveness of its current strategies, including working closely with parents, to improve these pupils' attendance.