St Mary's Hampton Church of England Primary
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since you took up post as headteacher following the last inspection, you, your deputy headteacher and the governing body have worked with determination and commitment to make sure that the school continues to move forward. Staff work well together. Their responses to the inspection questionnaire show they understand your motto for the school, ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’. This drive to respond fully to the academic, social, spiritual and emotional needs of your pupils is reflected in all aspects of the school’s work. Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Governors visit the school regularly and have a range of skills that enable them to provide good challenge and support. As the school has grown, governors continue to fulfil their strategic role and are developing, with parents and the community, plans to improve the school further. Leaders and governors monitor all aspects of the school improvement plan carefully with the support and challenge of the local authority and diocese. Governors hold leaders to account well for pupils’ progress and attainment but agree that more detailed short-term planning targets and deadlines in school development planning would improve accountability further. The school is an inclusive school where pupils feel valued. Pupils flourish both socially and academically and are a credit to the school. Pupils are friendly, confident and articulate. They behave extremely sensibly throughout the school day, including when attending the well-organised before- and after-school provision. Pupils are keen to learn and thoroughly enjoy school. They are especially positive about sport and the arts provision. Staff ensure that there are many clubs for pupils to attend and many visits to places of interest that inspire and enhance pupils’ learning. For example, on the day of the inspection year 5 pupils were visiting the National Portrait Gallery. Pupils are keen to learn and thoroughly enjoy school. They are especially positive about sport and the arts provision. Staff prepare pupils well for the next stage of their education and for later life. The school successfully nurtures the whole child which is evidenced in the levels of confidence pupils show. Teachers model and teach key values, such as tolerance, respect and kindness. They give pupils many opportunities to take responsibility by being school councillors and health, playground and classroom helpers. Pupils take these responsibilities seriously and carry them out conscientiously. Parents are mostly very positive about the school, especially about their children’s progress, the quality of care and the good start to school life in the early years. Parents typically told me that they like the school because it provides a ‘great start’ for their children and has a ‘harmonious and calming atmosphere’. You continue to improve all aspects of the school’s external communications to further improve relationships with parents and the local community. Safeguarding is effective. Senior leaders and the governing body ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders at all levels give safeguarding the highest priority. They ensure that staff are well trained and know what to do if they have a concern. The school is diligent in utilising outside agencies when necessary to support vulnerable pupils. You regularly review procedures and make changes if needed. For example, the school has improved site security and access arrangements for adults for the pre-school provision. Pupils are clear about what the school does to keep them safe. They talk knowledgeably about e-safety. Pupils express full confidence in the response of staff if they have a concern and feel that they can always go to an adult if they have a problem. Inspection findings For this inspection, we agreed on a number of key lines of enquiry to examine the progress made since the previous inspection when the school was judged good. The first of these concerned the attainment and progress of pupils in mathematics, especially the most able and in the early years. The school’s accurate assessment records show that pupils in most year groups currently at the school are making secure progress in mathematics. The information about pupils in key stage 1 shows that proportions reaching greater depth have improved, including those with average and higher starting points. Lesson visits showed that most teaching, especially for older pupils in key stage 2, challenges pupils of different abilities. As a result, pupils make effective use of their knowledge by tackling complex arithmetic and calculations and applying their knowledge to number rules. Teachers ensure that activities frequently require pupils to make use of mathematical equipment to test their thinking and develop their reasoning. However, despite these improvements, scrutiny of pupils’ work indicates that mathematics teaching is not consistent across all year groups. Consequently, some pupils are not fluent in their understanding of key mathematical concepts and have few opportunities to develop their mathematical reasoning. The second line of enquiry looked at pupils’ progress in writing. This was because raising writing attainment and improving handwriting were priorities in the previous inspection report. The school’s own assessment information shows that there has been a sustained improvement in the progress that current pupils are making in writing. The proportion of pupils working at greater depth in writing is increasing. This is because leaders have checked that teachers’ assessments are accurate and have put in place successful strategies to improve writing. Pupils’ written work shows that they have increased opportunities to write at depth within a range of topics and subjects. Their work is presented neatly and there are no gaps in learning. Leaders carefully monitor the quality of teaching, learning and assessment of writing. Leaders ensure that support, guidance and training are made available for staff to improve the teaching of writing. Teachers model writing and give pupils open-ended tasks. As a result, pupils produce high-quality writing. Pupils’ books show improving standards of writing throughout the school. However, writing in subjects other than English is not yet as strong. The third line of enquiry focused on the impact of middle leaders because as the school has grown some subject leaders are new to their roles. Leaders of English and mathematics have a clear picture of strengths and weaknesses across the school. They are playing a good part in driving improvement. Recent initiatives are based on clear identification of the next steps for improving their subjects. For example, the introduction mathematics mastery programme is having a good effect on pupils’ confidence in solving problems. Other subject leaders are less experienced and have less impact on the outcomes across all subjects. They have audited their subjects and provide support for teachers in planning foundation subjects, including providing some professional development. However, assessment structures in these subjects do not match those in reading, writing and mathematics, which limits the feedback that teachers and leaders receive on the progress pupils are making.