Hurley Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

There is a strong sense of community at Hurley Primary School. Pupils feel they are part of a family where everyone is welcome.

Care and kindness are of paramount importance here. Pupils are happy and well cared for.

Pupils are given a range of leadership opportunities, such as being members of the school council.

They successfully work in partnership with staff to develop playground activities. Pupils carry out these roles with enthusiasm, diligence and pride.

Pupils talk about 'the 5Rs' – the school values – which all pupils take delight in fulfilling.

The school has high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils know and meet these high e...xpectations. Classrooms are calm and purposeful.

Pupils behave well in lessons. Social times are also calm and orderly. Pupils are safe.

They say that bullying hardly ever happens but if it does, staff sort it out quickly.

The curriculum is enriched through a wide range of trips, clubs and visitors. There are visits to places of worship and talks by authors and members of the emergency services.

These memorable activities help pupils to enjoy school. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about books they enjoy reading and their preferred authors. Pupils generally achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. It meets the needs of pupils, including those with SEND, well. The curriculum is organised so that pupils learn in a logical way.

This helps them to make connections in their learning and build their knowledge as they move through the school.

High-quality training supports teachers to deliver the curriculum effectively. Teachers generally model the correct use of strategies and subject-specific language.

They support pupils to do the same. Teachers regularly ask pupils probing questions in lessons. This helps pupils understand their learning and provides opportunities to address any misconceptions.

However, in some subjects, the learning activities have not been carefully enough considered and do not focus on the intended learning well. Important knowledge is missed. This means that pupils enjoy an activity but it is not always helping their learning as well as it needs to.

The school has rightly made improvements to writing across the curriculum. The way it is taught has been revised, providing more opportunities for pupils to practise and apply their skills. Nevertheless, in some subjects, expectations for written tasks are too low.

Errors in presentation, grammar, punctuation and spelling persist as they are not picked up quickly enough. The school has prioritised reading from the early years to Year 6. Pupils read widely and often.

Staff deliver the phonics programme well. Pupils who need help to catch up are well supported to do so. School staff check carefully to see whether sounds are secure before moving on.

This helps pupils to become confident, fluent readers.

The school has cultivated a love of reading through strong links with the local library, story time and competitions. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the lunchtime book club, where they relish the opportunity to 'get lost in a story'.

Pupils with SEND are identified early. Staff know pupils, including children in the early years, very well. This helps them to identify swiftly any barriers to learning and put support in place quickly.

Pupils with SEND are supported effectively to learn the same curriculum as their classmates.

Pupils' conduct around school is positive. In the early years, children learn to share and play together happily.

Pupils enjoy earning rewards, such as house points and 'headteacher's hot chocolate', for their good behaviour. The school places a high priority on pupils' attendance. Pupils' rates of attendance have improved.

Support from external agencies and strong partnerships between school, pupils and their families have contributed to this improvement. Strategies are working well. Pupils are attending school more regularly.

The curriculum successfully supports all pupils' personal development. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online. They benefit from specialist staff who help them to understand how to keep themselves physically healthy.

Pupils understand the importance of healthy relationships. They learn about a range of faiths and cultures.

Governors know the school well.

They understand their roles and responsibilities and hold leaders to account effectively. Staff enjoy working at the school. They all agree that leaders are mindful of their workload and well-being.

They are proud to be members of the school community and feel valued. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the work of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the school has not ensured that learning tasks are sufficiently well linked to the intended curriculum. Consequently, pupils' learning does not build well enough over time. The school needs to ensure that all tasks are more closely linked to the aims of the curriculum so that pupils are provided with a secure foundation of knowledge for subsequent learning.

The school's expectations of pupils' writing, in some subjects, are not high enough and opportunities to write at length are limited. As a result, errors in pupils' presentation, spelling, punctuation and grammar are not routinely addressed. Leaders should ensure that all teachers have consistently high expectations for writing in English, and other subjects, and systematically teach pupils how to improve their writing.

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