Hillside Community First School

Overview

Hillside Community First School continues to be a good school, where staff help pupils become "respectful, tolerant and responsible." Leaders maintain high expectations, ensuring pupils feel safe, happy, and proud of their school community.

Strengths

• Pupils build "trusted relationships" with staff and peers, resulting in a positive atmosphere where they are "well mannered and considerate."
• The curriculum is well-structured, particularly in mathematics and reading, where leaders have carefully selected vocabulary and phonics programmes to ensure pupils become "confident and competent readers."
• Staff effectively support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, enabling most to "achieve well" through bespoke support and regular reviews.
• Pupils take on meaningful responsibilities, such as serving in the school parliament or as eco-warriors, fostering their wider development and interests.
• Parents speak highly of the school, feeling part of a community and noting that children are excited about events that enhance their development.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure the mathematics curriculum is implemented effectively so all pupils have sufficient opportunities to "reason and problem-solve well," as current gaps prevent some from deepening their knowledge.
• New curriculum plans in some subjects, such as religious education and computing, are not fully implemented, leading to gaps in pupils’ "secure enough understanding" of subject-specific content.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff well trained to identify risks and thorough record-keeping ensuring pupils receive necessary help.