Hertford St Andrew CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 December 2024

Pupils enjoy attending Hertford St Andrew School. There is a calm and welcoming atmosphere. The school places a high value on everyone being included. Pupils are very well cared for by staff, and most pupils feel safe. The school has recently made changes to the curriculum. The expectations for what pupils can learn have risen. Pupils now find learning more exciting and more interesting. This means pupils are beginning to rise to these higher expectations and achieve more. However, these changes are recent and have yet to have the impact the school intends. The school's vision for children to be able to 'live life in all its fullness' links successfully to everything that happens at the school. Staff and pupils have created 'the HSA way'. This code guides the values and behaviours expected of everyone. Any unkindness between pupils is dealt with effectively. However, there are still too many instances of low-level disruption in class. Pupils appreciate the range of clubs and activities they can experience. The school provides opportunities for pupils to develop a love of cultural experiences through music and the arts. The youngest pupils begin school in a safe and well-organised environment. They experience purposeful learning and make a secure start.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, leaders are still developing the curriculum and training staff to deliver this. This hampers pupils' learning. The school needs to ensure it makes effective refinements and improvements to all curriculum subjects. This will enable pupils to learn equally well in the other subjects as they do in English and mathematics.
• In some subjects, teachers do not check thoroughly enough what pupils have learned. As a result, some pupils are carrying misconceptions forward, and these pupils are not ready to learn new knowledge. The school should ensure that agreed approaches for checking pupils' understanding are implemented consistently during lessons.
• A small number of pupils are not given opportunities to practise their reading frequently enough. Although these youngest children are learning the necessary knowledge of phonics to decode words, they are not gaining the confidence they need to be fluent readers. The school needs to ensure that pupils are provided with regular opportunities with expertly trained teachers to develop their confidence when reading aloud.
• During some lessons, staff do not have high enough expectations of pupils' behaviour. As a result, learning can slow, as teachers spend too much time ensuring a small number of pupils' behaviour is appropriate. The school needs to check more thoroughly that the high expectations of behaviour are applied consistently during the day.

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