Holmwood School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The strong and inspirational leadership of the headteacher has led to significant improvements since the last inspection.

She has made this a special place to learn and to work. Everyone is valued, respected and works as a team. The headteacher has developed a strong management team.

They have high expectations of everyone in order to secure high-quality provision and care for pupils. Teaching is effective as a result of strong leadership. Leaders monitor and evaluate teaching and its impact on learning on a regular basis.

As a result of good teaching, pupils are making good, and sometimes rapid, progress to prepare them well for... the next stage in their education. However, not all pupils are achieving the standards of which they are capable. Most disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities are catching up to make similar progress to other pupils nationally.

Leaders have correctly identified this as an area for further improvement and are taking decisive action to help these pupils make faster progress in their learning. As a result of high-quality, targeted support for their learning, pupils who speak English as an additional language are making at least good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Children in the Nursery and Reception class benefit from a very high level of care and support and make good progress.

The large majority of parents and carers are very supportive of the school. They believe that their children are very well cared for and progress well in their learning. Pupils feel very safe at school and show a high level of care and respect for each other.

A number of pupils have leadership responsibilities that enable them to make very positive contributions to school life. Pupils' behaviour is impeccable. The school's effective strategies to promote good behaviour encourage pupils to be self-reflective and to think about the results of their actions on others.

Governors take their responsibilities seriously and keep the best interests of the pupils at the heart of what they do. They are meticulous in checking that leaders are doing their jobs well.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized infant school.

It is part of a 'hard' federation with a local infant school, Ashbrook School. The federation is called 'The Bridge Partnership'. The two schools share a governing body, executive headteacher and a school business manager.

Some leaders, including subject leaders, fulfil their roles across both schools. The school opened a Nursery in September 2017 and a leader of early years was appointed to lead the Nursery and Reception classes. About half the pupils in school are White British, with the rest coming from a wide range of ethnic heritages.

For over one third of pupils, English is not their first language, with around 25 different languages being spoken by Holmwood pupils. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is in line with national figures. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average.