Hunstanton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Hunstanton Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Hunstanton Primary is a welcoming and inclusive school.

Pupils are happy and enjoy their lessons. There is a strong sense of community within the school. Pupils are polite and courteous, especially to visitors.

They are safe and know that adults are there to help and support them. Most pupils behave well. However, a small number of pupils need more support with their behaviour than others.

These pupils get the support they need, which has a positive impact on their behaviour.

The school's curriculum helps pupils achieve the school's motto of 'succeed, enjoy, an...d aspire'. Pupils want to do well.

They know their teachers have high expectations of them. Pupils benefit from the many opportunities to develop their interests and talents. They have fun and thrive in the wide array of clubs the school provides.

This includes impressive sporting and performing arts activities. Pupils also value the leadership roles they can have.

Pupils have experienced change in the past couple of years.

This change has been for the better and in their interests. Nevertheless, although pupils are happy and safe, some parents would like fewer changes in teachers. The school is working hard to provide this stability.

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

The development of enthusiastic, fluent readers is a key priority for the school. Staff get the training they need to teach reading well. The school's programme for phonics is effective.

As pupils learn more sounds, they read with increasing confidence. Children begin learning phonics as soon as they start in Reception. The books that pupils read match the sounds that they know.

This helps pupils to practise and apply their phonics knowledge. Staff provide effective support for pupils who are not keeping pace with the programme. These pupils get the support they need to successfully catch up quickly.

The school has constructed a curriculum that is broad, ambitious and designed to meet pupils' needs. There is also an emphasis on the pupils learning about the area in which they live and being proud citizens of Hunstanton and Norfolk.

In most subjects, the curriculum identifies the important knowledge that pupils should learn and the best order to teach this in.

Learning does not always build on previous knowledge and skills. This can prevent pupils from developing detailed understanding and making connections with what they have learned before. Some subject leaders are new and have not yet had the opportunity to check that pupils are learning what they intend.

As a result, in these subjects, pupils are not having the same effective learning experiences as in most others.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. The school quickly identifies their needs and addresses them.

The school makes the necessary adaptations to help pupils access the curriculum and learn alongside their peers. This helps pupils with SEND achieve well from their starting points.

The school has recently reviewed and revised the behaviour policy, which is having a positive impact on improving behaviour further.

Staff set high expectations, adopting a consistent approach to behaviour management. Pupils understand this approach. The importance of behaviour starts in the early years, where the children know the routines in their classroom.

Staff feel well supported to manage behaviour. There are a few pupils who require help to manage their emotions. Staff have the same high expectations for how these pupils should behave and what they can achieve while making reasonable adjustments where appropriate.

Leaders monitor absence with rigour. The school regularly emphasises the importance of attendance in newsletters and letters to parents. They work with pupils and families to improve attendance.

However, despite some recent improvements, there are some pupils who miss school too often. This means that a few pupils miss out on important learning, which impacts negatively on their social and learning development.

Leaders are proud of the school's provision for pupils' personal development.

The school's ethos sits at the heart of this through assemblies and pupils' participation in wider enrichment opportunities. Pupils have a range of leadership responsibilities, including school councillors, house captains, librarians, head girl and head boy. There is a clear, well-planned programme for personal, social, health and economic education.

This gives pupils the age-appropriate knowledge they need. The school provides a variety of experiences, trips and visitors to help pupils develop new interests. Pupils value the opportunities and experiences the school provides for them.

Leaders support staff well. They are considerate of staff workload and ensure that this is well balanced. Governors know the school well and provide a good balance of support and challenge to leaders.

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, the curriculum is not yet precisely defined or sufficiently well sequenced. The expectations of the curriculum in these areas are not yet explicit.

As a result, pupils do not always have the knowledge and skills required to build more complex knowledge. The school must ensure that the curriculum in these areas is sufficiently planned and sequenced to enable pupils to understand and use subject knowledge effectively across the full range of subjects they learn. ? In a few subjects, subject leaders do not check what pupils are learning and how well they are learning.

This means that pupils have variable experiences of the curriculum. The school must allow subject leaders the opportunity to monitor so they have an accurate understanding of their subject and develop the skills they need to make the improvements required, so all pupils learn more and achieve well.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good on 27 and 28 June 2018.