Hart Plain Junior School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 June 2025

Pupils value the strong pastoral support they receive at this school. Keeping pupils safe is a high priority. Pupils learn how to keep safe when online and important road safety skills they need when out in the community. Pupils also benefit from an enhanced swimming programme through which they learn about water safety. The school is ambitious for pupils to achieve well. In recent years though, too many pupils have not acquired the reading and mathematics knowledge they need to be ready for secondary school. The school is beginning to make positive changes. For example, improvements to the mathematics curriculum now enable most pupils to achieve well in this subject. However, there are still too many pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, who cannot read sufficiently well for their age. Generally, pupils behave well. The school is calm and purposeful. Pupils appreciate the consistent and thoughtful approach to managing behaviour. Pupils understand that the school wants them to become the very best version of themselves. Pupils relish making a difference to the school. This includes helping to decide on changes to school meals and improving football safety at playtimes. Through this, pupils feel valued and that their voices are heard.

What the school should improve

• The school's approach to teaching early reading is not as effective as it needs to be. This means that too many pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, do not receive the support they need to catch up quickly with their peers. The school must ensure that all staff are expertly trained to teach early reading effectively.
• In many subjects, the curriculum is not yet effectively sequenced and lacks clarity about exactly what should be taught and when. This means that pupils do not securely learn the important knowledge they need to be ready for their next steps. The school must ensure it has a coherently sequenced curriculum with clearly identified component knowledge from Year 3 to Year 6 in all subjects.
• The school has not ensured that teachers' subject and pedagogical knowledge are consistently strong. Too often the work given to pupils does not enable them to develop a detailed understanding of the curriculum and demonstrate what they know and can do. The school must strengthen teachers' subject and pedagogical knowledge in all subjects, so that all pupils achieve as well as they should.

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