Hillstone Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 23 November 2022

Pupils at Hillstone are lively and friendly. They are happy at school. They confidently share their opinions and ideas with visitors and each other. Pupils behave well, especially in the classroom. Learning is not disturbed by poor behaviour. Leaders deal with bullying effectively. Pupils understand and trust the anti-bullying system. This helps them to feel safe. Leaders are successful in their aim to 'inspire, care, educate'. They have high expectations for pupils in all areas of school life. Pupils work hard and want to do well. As a result, pupils are successful in their learning. Leaders provide an extensive range of wider opportunities that includes trips, sports events and performances. From Year 2, pupils can go on residential trips every year. A high proportion of pupils attend clubs such as 'yoga bugs', football, and judo. Throughout the year all pupils have the chance to represent their house team in a variety of sporting events to win house points. Pupils visit farms, grow produce and sell this at their own farmers' market. These opportunities teach pupils to be confident when facing new experiences and support their personal development well.

What the school should improve

• Teachers do not provide children in the early years with enough meaningful opportunities to develop their language in the outdoor environment. This means that children do not develop their language skills as well as they should. Leaders need to ensure that children have a wide range of effective ways to develop their language in the outdoor learning spaces.
• New trustees have not received training to enable them to fully hold leaders to account for the school's performance. This means that they are unable to fully challenge leaders about how well the school is performing. The trust board should ensure that all trustees receive training and support to enable then to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
• Leaders have not established effective assessment systems in some subjects. As a result they do not have a clear picture of how well pupils are achieving in these subjects. Leaders need to develop effective assessment systems in all subjects.
• Some pupils miss too much school. These pupils are not learning as much as they should. Leaders should continue to work closely with families to ensure that they understand the importance of regular attendance.

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