William Hildyard Church of England Primary and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leadership of the school is strong. Senior leaders' focused and effective leadership has led to considerable improvements.

Leaders have used professional development and training opportunities to bring about successful improvements to the quality of teaching across key stages 1 and 2. Children make a flying start to school life in the early years. Good teaching and stimulating activities engage children in their learning.

The teaching of phonics is good. Younger pupils use their phonics knowledge well to help them to read and spell. The large majority of pupils attain the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check.

P...upils feel safe and cared for well. Their behaviour is good. Leaders promote pupils' personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well through the school's curriculum and Christian ethos.

Governors have a wide range of skills and contribute efficiently to the school's continuous improvement. Attendance is in line with national averages. The school's curriculum is designed to motivate pupils to learn and to broaden their knowledge and skills.

Teachers develop pupils' English and mathematics skills through the variety of curricular subjects. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language are well supported to make good progress from their starting points. The quality of teaching and learning is good.

Teachers use consistent strategies to ensure that pupils attain well, particularly in English and mathematics. Nevertheless, not all teachers maintain high enough expectations for what pupils can achieve to enable them to make strong progress, particularly in reading. Occasionally, teachers are too slow to deal with pupils' misconceptions, particularly in writing.

This hinders their progress. Some teachers do not use effective strategies to ensure that pupils move between tasks promptly to make the best use of time in lessons.

Information about this school

William Hildyard Church of England Primary and Nursery School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average. The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and of pupils who speak English as an additional language are below those seen nationally. The proportion of pupils with SEND is just below the national average.

In 2015, the school federated with St. George's Church of England Primary School to form the Aspire Federation. The school accesses support and training for staff through the local authority and through the Keystone Teaching School Alliance.

The school's section 48 inspection took place on 12 January 2017. The school achieved the Primary Science Quality Mark in 2018. The executive headteacher is a local leader of education, and two teachers at the school are specialist leaders in education.

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