Heronshill School and Nursery

Overview

Kents Hill School continues to be a good school, providing a welcoming environment where pupils feel safe, happy, and supported by staff. Leaders maintain high expectations for learning, resulting in pupils who work hard and achieve well across most areas of the curriculum. The school fosters strong relationships and a positive climate for learning, with effective support for all pupils, including those with special educational needs.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy being part of the school, benefiting from "warm relationships" and firm friendships that help them feel secure.
• Staff possess "strong subject knowledge" and adapt teaching effectively to address gaps, ensuring pupils are ready for their next stage of learning.
• Reading is central to the curriculum, with staff teaching phonics "consistently well" so pupils, including those with SEND, become accurate and fluent readers.
• The school provides effective support for pupils who speak English as an additional language, helping them to "quickly learn to speak and read English."
• Leaders ensure a strong curriculum for personal development, teaching pupils about diversity and how to form "healthy relationships."

Areas to improve

• In a few subjects, including mathematics, the curriculum is "not coherently sequenced," meaning pupils do not achieve consistently well.
• Leaders need to ensure subject leaders have "precisely identified what they intend pupils to learn and in what order" and check how well pupils are learning essential content.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with clear systems in place to identify pupils at risk and staff who are well trained and know how to follow up on concerns.