High View School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

High View Primary School is highly successful and its overall effectiveness is outstanding. The amalgamation has been carried out in exemplary fashion, minimising the disruption to pupils' learning. The school's self-evaluation procedures are robust and accurate and are based on detailed analysis of pupils' progress and performance.

This, together with the very rapid progress made by pupils and the high levels of attainment by the end of Year 6, shows that the school has an outstanding capacity for sustained improvement. The school faces challenging circumstances with very low starting points when children enter Nursery, especially in their personal development and literacy skills. Outstanding leaders...hip and well-established provision mean that children in the Early Years Foundation Stage get off to an excellent start.

Thereafter, pupils make rapid progress. By the end of Year 2, pupils' attainment is broadly average, although they are doing better in reading and mathematics than in writing, where it remains below average. Pupils make exceptional progress in Key Stage 2 and by the end of Year 6 attainment is above average in both English and mathematics.

All groups of pupils, including the more able and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make outstanding progress. The leadership of the headteacher, senior managers and members of the governing body is outstanding because the concerted actions taken to improve the school have been highly effective and have led to a significant improvement in outcomes for pupils. Action to improve teaching has been very effective, and robust monitoring and excellent professional development have resulted in newly qualified staff settling in quickly and contributing effectively to the outstanding teaching profile.

Support staff are always deployed very effectively and they make a substantial positive contribution to pupils' progress. Assessment systems are outstanding and are used very effectively to ensure that pupils are challenged and supported to do their best. Marking is highly effective and clearly indicates the next steps pupils need to take in their learning.

Pupils assess their own work and that of their peers and quickly identify what they need to do to reach the next level. The provision for pupils' care, guidance and support is outstanding. All pupils say they feel safe in school and those parents and carers who returned questionnaires agree.

The excellent support is demonstrated by the outstanding progress being made by different groups of pupils. The school has very successfully promoted equality of opportunity, so that potentially vulnerable groups of pupils are targeted and supported extremely well. Although it has excellent links in the local community and makes a substantial contribution in this area and there are well-defined opportunities for pupils to learn about life in other countries, links with different communities in the United Kingdom are less well developed.

Pupils' understanding of diversity is consequently more limited. There is no significant difference in the performance of boys and girls, and the school has been very successful in engaging boys in learning.

Information about the school

High View Primary School is larger than the average sized primary school.

It was formed in September 2009 by the amalgamation of two primary schools in Efford, a suburb of Plymouth. The school is located in an area that is undergoing significant regeneration. A new school site was opened in February 2011, after a period in one of the old school buildings.

Most pupils are of White British origin and very few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well above average. The proportion of pupils currently identified with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above average.

Pupils' special educational needs include moderate learning difficulties, specific learning needs and behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. The governing body provides and has responsibility for a breakfast club, and this was included in this inspection. An independently run nursery is located on the site and did not feature as part of this inspection.

It will be subject to a separate inspection. The Early Years Foundation Stage provision includes a Nursery that takes children both full- and part-time. The school has recently achieved the 'I Can' Award for developing pupils' speaking and listening skills.