Hoylake Holy Trinity CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, parents, carers and staff are proud to be a part of this happy and caring school. Children in the early years, along with any new pupils across the school, are given a warm welcome.

They settle into school life quickly. The supportive and positive relationships that pupils build with both the staff and each other help them to feel safe.

At breaktimes, pupils play happily together.

They enjoy using the 'positivity box' to share their gratitude with friends and staff. They said that they trust staff to help them when they have any worries. Leaders deal with incidents such as bullying swiftly and with sensitivity.

Leaders have high expectations ...of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils live up to these high expectations, and they strive to be 'ready to listen and ready to learn'. They behave well and work hard.

They are keen to take part in 'Hot Chocolate Fridays' and to be celebrated on their class 'recognition boards'. Across the school, pupils achieve well in a range of subjects.

Pupils carry out roles of responsibility with pride.

These include being house captains, eco-warriors, prefects and sports leaders. Pupils are proud to make a positive difference to their local community by, for example completing local litter picks. They appreciate the range of extra-curricular activities on offer, such as choir and cheerleading.

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

Leaders have developed an ambitious and broad curriculum for all pupils. They have identified the important knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this should be taught. They have constructed the curriculum to account for the mixed-age classes.

Subject leaders have benefited from training to develop their expertise. They provide support for colleagues to develop their skills and knowledge of how to teach different subjects effectively. As a result, staff are confident in delivering subjects across the curriculum.

Staff identify any pupils with additional needs quickly and effectively. They provide timely support to help pupils with SEND access the full curriculum.Teachers make regular checks to ensure that pupils are learning well.

In most subjects, leaders' strategies are effective in checking that pupils are remembering key knowledge over time. This means that teachers can rapidly fill any gaps and help pupils to move on successfully in their learning. As a result, pupils progress well through the curriculum in the majority of subjects.

In some subjects, teachers' checks on pupils' learning do not allow them to identify, with sufficient precision, whether pupils fully understand or remember the most important knowledge and vocabulary they have been taught. Consequently, some pupils do not have a secure understanding of concepts before they are expected to learn more complex ones. This means that pupils do not build up their knowledge as well as they should in these subjects.

Leaders place a high priority on pupils learning to read with confidence. Pupils benefit from a carefully constructed phonics programme. Staff have been well trained to deliver it.

Children in Nursery respond well to activities that enhance their ability to hear and recognise different sounds. New arrivals to the school, including pupils who speak English as an additional language, begin to learn phonics quickly.Leaders ensure that the books pupils read are closely matched to the sounds they are learning.

This helps pupils to become confident and fluent readers. Staff successfully help pupils who are struggling to keep up with the phonics curriculum, and they catch up quickly.Pupils in key stage 2 read high-quality texts.

Teachers and pupil reading ambassadors encourage pupils to read widely and often. Pupils are motivated to earn the coveted 'reading rainbow' certificates.Learning is seldom disrupted by poor behaviour.

Pupils work well with their classmates. They are kind and respectful towards each other and adults. The school is a calm and purposeful environment, where pupils can learn effectively.

Leaders ensure that pupils' personal development is prioritised. High-quality pastoral support ensures pupils are equally well supported to understand how to look after their mental as well as their physical health. Pupils learn about different religions and faiths.

They understand the importance of treating others equally. Through such opportunities, leaders support pupils to develop as kind, caring and thoughtful citizens.

Governors have a wide range of experience, enabling them to support and challenge leaders appropriately.

Leaders, governors and staff form a united team. Leaders support staff to manage their workload well. Staff feel valued and are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Adults in school, including governors, complete regular safeguarding training to ensure that they understand their important role in keeping pupils safe. Staff are vigilant to the signs that may indicate that a pupil is at risk of harm.

Staff report such concerns quickly, and leaders take prompt action to act on this information. They make sure that pupils and their families get the support they need.

Through the curriculum and weekly 'Wake Up Wednesday' sessions, pupils are taught how to stay safe.

For example, they learn how to keep themselves safe in and near water, railway tracks and on roads. They learn how to protect themselves from harm when working and playing online. Leaders ensure that these important messages are repeated regularly.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the systems that leaders have devised to check pupils' learning do not enable teachers to check sufficiently well if pupils have learned and remembered the essential knowledge and vocabulary that has been taught. This means that teachers sometimes move learning on too quickly, and pupils do not build up their knowledge in these subjects as well as they should. Leaders should further refine their systems to check pupils' learning so that teachers can clearly identify and address any gaps in pupils' long-term knowledge in these subjects.

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