Hailsham primary school 'delighted' with another positive Ofsted inspection

Schools are judged on five categories – quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision.

Herstmonceux Church of England Primary School was inspected in September and the report has just been released (November 2022). It gained another ‘good’ rating. Back in 2017 and 2012 it was ranked as ‘good’ and it was ‘satisfactory’ in 2010.

The general atmosphere of the school is praised. The reporter says: “Warm relationships between staff and pupils create a calm and respectful culture. Pupils are happy, feel safe and enjoy their learning. The school’s values of wisdom, peace, community, dignity, hope and joy drive the school.”

According to the report, school leaders are ‘ambitious for the school and its pupils’ which helps the students to ‘think deeply about the concepts’ they’re learning about. Assessments are used effectively in lessons, the report says. Reading, phonics and maths are highlighted as strengths with daily phonics lessons and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are given extra help with reading to make sure their needs are matched.

Looking at children in the early years, the school has procedures in place to make sure they ‘settle well to life in school’ by mixing them with older pupils and giving parents useful information.

Behaviour is good in lessons according to the report. It says: “Pupils behave well in lessons because of the high expectations and well-established routines. Teachers ensure that pupils are attentive and respond well to questions posed by the teacher. This means that pupils have a positive approach to learning.”

Outside of the curriculum, there is outdoor learning opportunities to work on problem solving and teamwork. Pupils also play a musical instrument, and get involved with sport and creative activities. The report says: “Pupils relish these opportunities and describe their learning with enthusiasm.”

The report flagged one area the school needs to work on. It said: “Some strategies for teaching are less consistently applied across the school. This is because leaders have not carefully checked that teachers are clear about how to teach some lesson content. Consequently, some pupils are not progressing through this curriculum as well as they could in some subjects. Leaders need to ensure that teachers fully understand how learning is designed to build over time and that they follow the agreed approach to lessons.”

A spokesperson for the school said: “We believe that that our inspector picked up the essence of our school in the two days that he was here and it is good to see our school validated in such a positive way. The report recognises that the children enjoy challenge recognises that the school is ‘a great place to learn’.

“As well as our children’s fantastic outcomes in English and mathematics, he noted that they think deeply and ask ‘searching questions’, that they behave well and that they have a positive approach to their learning. He noted ‘a culture of care in the school’.

“We are delighted that the Ofsted inspector noticed the hard work and commitment of our whole school community, however we are never complacent and will continue to work hard to provide the very best education for our children and a school where ‘pupils thrive’.”

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