Red Hall Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher has been successful in embedding a culture of care, inclusion and high expectations for pupils. The warm, welcoming and delightfully cheerful ethos is all enveloping. The headteacher and deputy headteacher put safeguarding and the protection of pupils at the top of everyone's agenda.

Pupils feel safe, valued and extremely well looked after. New governors are benefiting from the expertise, skill and industriousness of the recently appointed chair of the governing body. Governance is strengthening apace.

Senior leaders' actions have ensured that the good quality of teaching and learning in each key stage has been sustained o...ver time. Most pupils make strong progress across subjects. Specific strengths are mathematics and personal, social and emotional development.

Senior leaders have revised their systems for assessment. In mathematics, reading and writing, pupils' progress is captured accurately. However, pupils' progress in other subjects, including science, is less effectively tracked.

Subject leaders are knowledgeable about their areas of the curriculum. Increasingly, they are having a positive impact on provision within their subject. The quality of leaders' improvement planning, however, is variable.

Teachers get the conditions for learning just right. Staff manage pupils' behaviour in a positive, enabling manner. Together with pupils, they skilfully debate topical issues and address any instances of derogatory language.

Teachers use questioning effectively, getting pupils to think carefully about their work and learning. Occasionally, the most able pupils tackle things they already know and can do or have to wait while others catch up. Overall, pupils make good progress in English across year groups.

Some inconsistencies in teachers' approaches to the teaching of reading, however, persist. Also, pupils' writing and spelling progress in key stage 1 is less strong than that in key stage 2. Pupils behave with tremendous courtesy and respect for adults and each other.

Doors are respectfully held open, polite greetings are offered, and happy, friendly smiles light up everyone's day. The early years is very well led and managed. Provision for two-year-olds, in particular, is of an exceptionally high quality.

From typically low and, sometimes, very low starting points, children make extremely good progress across areas of learning. By the end of Reception, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development matches the national average.

Information about this school

This is a slightly smaller than average-sized primary school catering for pupils from 2 to 11 years of age.

Most pupils are of White British heritage. There are currently few pupils in the school compared to national averages who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by pupil premium funding is much higher than other schools nationally.

The proportion of pupils with SEND is higher than national averages. The proportion of pupils with SEND who have an education, health and care plan is also higher than national averages. There have been several changes in leadership, including governors and staff since the last inspection.

A deputy headteacher and a special educational needs coordinator have recently taken up post. Most governors are new, including the chair of the governing body who took up post in September 2017. There have also been some changes to teaching staff.