Hipsburn Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 November 2023

Pupils at Hipsburn Primary school achieve well. Leaders are ambitious about what they want pupils to learn. The school ensures that pupils are well prepared to take their next steps in education. Pupils in this small primary school have a strong understanding of their community. All pupils regularly attend beach school, where they learn about and help to protect their local environment. The youngest children enjoy accessing the outdoor forest space, where they learn about and engage with nature. Beach school and forest school encourage a love of the outdoors and promote well-being. Staff know pupils and their families well. Parents and carers appreciate the school's caring and nurturing environment. Pupils enjoy attending school and do so regularly. Pupils feel safe here and are confident in talking to adults if they are worried. They trust adults to help and keep them safe. Pupils here explain well how people treat each other kindly. They have a strong understanding of equality and respect. Bullying is not a problem at Hipsburn Primary School. On the rare occasions it happens, staff sort it out quickly and effectively. Pupils here are encouraged to succeed, in both their learning and their attitudes. Pupils value the rewards systems in school. They enjoy earning jewels to help their crew be the most successful. Pupils behave well.

What the school should improve

• Despite the secure safeguarding culture in school, there are some weaknesses in record-keeping. The current system makes it difficult for leaders to identify patterns and/or trends. On occasion, the logging of leaders' actions is not thorough enough. The school should ensure that there are robust record-keeping systems in place.
• Phonics is not delivered consistently well. This means that some pupils do not receive the most effective support when they are learning to read. The school should ensure that staff receive additional training to deliver the school's chosen phonics scheme well.
• The school has not developed clear assessment systems in some foundation subjects. This means that teachers are not able to check what pupils have remembered over time. The school should ensure that assessment processes are in place across the curriculum to give staff accurate information about what pupils have learned.
• Recently introduced systems for monitoring across the school are in the early stages of development. This means that some leaders do not have an accurate picture of the impact of the curriculum. The school should ensure that monitoring procedures give leaders the information they need about the quality of the school's provision.

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