Hill View Primary School

Overview

Hill View Primary School is described as a happy community where pupils’ well-being is central, fostering a sense of safety and support. The report highlights “courageous, determined leadership” and a “very strong culture of safeguarding,” noting that staff are highly alert to concerns. While the curriculum is generally well-sequenced and inclusive, particularly in mathematics and music, there are specific inconsistencies in how learning is structured across all subjects.

Strengths

• Pastoral care is strong, with staff providing effective support for behaviour and emotions, ensuring bullying is “never tolerated.”
• Leaders have implemented a consistent approach to teaching reading, with staff confident in delivering phonics from Reception.
• The curriculum is “carefully considered and sequenced,” with mathematics being “particularly well thought out” to develop fluency.
• The school is inclusive, with high ambitions for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and prompt support for their needs.
• Personal development is a distinctive feature, with high-quality relationships and sex education that promotes equality and respect.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must continue to help younger pupils who lost ground in reading during the pandemic to “catch up as quickly as possible.”
• The step-by-step reading knowledge for key stage 2 needs to be identified more precisely to ensure pupils build knowledge securely.
• Greater focus is required on handwriting, particularly for pupils with SEND, as this aspect of writing is not developing well enough.
• Learning activities in some foundation subjects must be better matched to the intended curriculum to avoid limiting pupils’ responses.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with thorough record-keeping and staff who are “highly alert to the slightest concern.”