Whitehills Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 February 2025

Pupils are keen to come to school each day because there is always something to look forward to. They are safe and well cared for by staff. Pupils get on well with staff and with each other. Bullying happens rarely. Pupils said that they can rely on staff to deal with any incidents before they escalate. They rightly reported that behaviour seldom affects their learning. Pupils achieve well and enjoy collecting 'pom-poms' for going over and above in their work and behaviour. Typically, they rise to the school's high academic expectations. However, these high expectations are not consistently realised for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils understand the importance of respect for people who are different from themselves. One pupil echoed the views of many when he said that 'it's sad' if people do not uphold the values of respect and tolerance. Pupils enact these values through taking on leadership opportunities. They can join the school council or become playground buddies. They raise money for the food bank and visit a local hospice. These responsibilities help pupils to develop resilience and strength of character. They prepare older pupils well for the transition to secondary school.

What the school should improve

• The school does not have well-established systems in place to check that the quality of education is suitable for the increasing numbers of pupils with SEND. This lack of oversight impacts on pupils' day-to-day experience of the curriculum because it is not systematically reviewed and adapted as needed. The school should strengthen its systems to plan and review provision for pupils with SEND. This will ensure that pupils are appropriately challenged and supported to access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.
• The school does not provide staff with consistently clear and up-to-date information about how best to support pupils with SEND. This is a factor in a number of pupils with SEND not achieving as well as they could. The school should make sure that staff receive clear information and regular updates on how to support all pupils with SEND, train staff in how to use this information and monitor how well pupils achieve as a result.
• In some foundation subjects, the systems to assess pupils' learning are not fully developed. This makes it difficult for teachers to check precisely what pupils know and remember in these subjects. As the curriculum embeds, the school should ensure that teachers have a clear understanding of how to check what pupils have learned in each of the foundation subjects and to use this information to inform future planning. How can I feedback my views? You can use Ofsted Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school, or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection. The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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