Hertford Primary School

Overview

Hertford Primary School is described as a "welcoming school" with a "warm, respectful atmosphere" where pupils feel secure and trust staff. The report highlights that the school has successfully navigated a recent amalgamation, maintaining high expectations for personal development and academic achievement while ensuring pupils with significant barriers to learning "thrive here."

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from a "broad, high-quality offer of wider opportunities," including arts festivals and sporting events, which supports their personal development.
• Staff provide an "effective balance of nurture and challenge," using "captivating stories" and systematic phonics teaching to ensure children become fluent readers.
• The curriculum in core subjects is "coherently sequenced," allowing pupils to "master the most important knowledge" and build learning securely over time.
• Governors have an "accurate understanding of the school’s challenges and strengths" and effectively support the school’s ambitious vision.
• Early years provision is strong, with staff having a "secure understanding of how young children develop," ensuring an "excellent start" in Reception.

Areas to improve

• Staff must be trained to "check systematically for pupils' understanding" during lessons to ensure work is appropriately pitched and gaps in learning are avoided.
• The school should refine a "small minority of foundation subjects" where essential knowledge is not fully identified, ensuring pupils learn equally well across the entire curriculum.

Safeguarding

The report states that "the arrangements for safeguarding are effective."