Hatchside School

Overview

Hatchside School is judged as ‘Good’ across all inspection categories. Leaders have established high expectations and an ‘ambitious’ curriculum that is personalised to meet pupils’ specific needs, fostering a calm and supportive environment. Staff build positive relationships with pupils, helping them to feel safe and settle quickly, while parents appreciate the clear communication and opportunities to support their children’s learning at home.

Strengths

• Staff take time to build positive working relationships, enabling pupils to ‘feel safe in school’ and trust adults.
• The curriculum is ‘ambitious’ and personalised, with therapists and teachers setting tailored learning goals that are already showing ‘positive impact on pupils’ achievement’.
• Reading is prioritised through a ‘systematic approach’ to phonics, with staff reinforcing sounds enthusiastically across the school day.
• Pupils’ behaviour is ‘calm’, and they are encouraged to ‘think positively about themselves’ and respect the cultures of others.
• The school is ‘tenacious in ensuring that pupils attend regularly’, working closely with parents to support daily attendance.

Areas to improve

• The school should ‘sharpen and refine goal setting’ to ensure learning is personalised more precisely, so it builds logically on what pupils already know.
• Leaders must ensure all staff have the resources and expertise to ‘strengthen communication, support behaviour and implement the curriculum as intended’, as intentions are not always securely implemented in practice.
• Trustees and the governing body need to strengthen their understanding and oversight of the school’s personalised curriculum.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘the arrangements for safeguarding are effective’.