New Hall Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 March 2023

Pupils enjoy attending New Hall Primary School. There is plenty to do, and all pupils are involved and welcomed, including those who are new to the school. Leaders have high expectations of pupils' academic achievement and behaviour, and pupils work hard to live up to these. Pupils feel safe in school. They know that there are trusted adults to speak to if they have any concerns. They learn how to keep themselves safe online, for example by not sharing personal information with people they do not know. Pupils behave well in lessons and at less formal times of the day. If bullying happens, adults ensure that it stops. Pupils enjoy working towards individual and collective rewards in their 'teams' and voting for what to spend their 'golden balls' rewards on. They appreciate initiatives and the opportunities on offer. For example, some pupils thoroughly enjoy reading in 'The Cove' at breaktime; others take blankets onto the grass area to curl up with a book. Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities. For example, pupils vote for school councillors, and other pupils apply for jobs such as prefect and subject ambassador. Parents speak highly of the school, staff and leaders.

What the school should improve

• In a few subjects, leaders have not broken down the curriculum into small enough steps. This leaves some teachers unclear about exactly what they need to teach. As a result, some activities do not support pupils in learning the intended curriculum. Leaders should ensure that they clearly identify precisely what is to be learned, so that all teachers can consistently choose the right activities for pupils to learn the intended key knowledge.
• Some teachers do not check pupils' understanding carefully enough. As a result, some pupils are moved on too quickly, and some are not sufficiently challenged. Leaders should ensure that teachers accurately check what pupils can do, so that their learning is moved on at the right time.
• In Year 6, there is a strong focus on preparing pupils for statutory testing. As a result, pupils do not study the full breadth of the national curriculum across the whole of the academic year. This limits pupils' understanding of important concepts that they may wish to study further in later years. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum in Year 6 is broad enough to enable all pupils to have a full breadth of experience in all subjects, at all times of the school year.

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