Hale Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 7 December 2022

Pupils enjoy coming to school. Pupils develop strong and trusting bonds with each other and staff. They know that they can talk to any trusted adult if they are concerned or worried. This helps them to feel happy and safe. If bullying should occur, staff take immediate action and deal with it. Staff expect pupils, and children in the early years, to behave well and achieve highly. Pupils and children respond positively to these high expectations. Most learn well in a range of different subjects. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) also learn well. Pupils respect and celebrate different religious and cultural traditions. They understand that people should not be discriminated against because of where they are from, what they look like or because of who they love. Pupils are active citizens. The make their views known during pupil parliament meetings. Pupils also raise money for different charities and a local food bank. They regularly sing at community events. Pupils relish the new range of educational trips and visits available. Key stage 2 pupils were highly excited about their recent overnight stay in the Catalyst Museum, where they engaged in experiments and learned about astronomy. Year 6 pupils talked enthusiastically about their forthcoming residential trip to North Wales.

What the school should improve

• Opportunities for pupils to read in different subjects are not as frequent as they could be. This impedes some pupils from building confidence and fluency when reading. It also limits opportunities for pupils to gain a wider range of knowledge across the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that pupils experience a broad range of reading texts across the curriculum.
• In a few areas of the curriculum, subject leaders are developing their expertise. This restricts the quality and range of support they can offer to other teachers and contributes to variations in the way the curriculum is implemented in these subjects. Senior leaders should ensure that subject leaders have the time and support that they need to develop their skills. This will improve the quality of support that subject leaders give to teachers in these areas of the curriculum.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)