Hensingham Primary School’s improvement journey leads to Good rating

Hensingham Primary School, which is part of Cumbria Education Trust (CET), has been graded Good overall with the same rating across the five areas of inspection - quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision.

It was the first inspection at the 140-pupil, Main Street school since it joined CET, the county’s largest multi academy trust, in 2019.

Hensingham Primary School has been given a 'Good' rating by Ofsted (Image: Submitted)

In that time the school has been focusing on school improvement, attendance, behaviour and its curriculum and developing its relationship with CET’s nearby secondary, The Whitehaven Academy, for which it is a feeder school.

Ofsted inspectors said pupils were happy and proud to belong to their school, which is welcoming and friendly.

Inspectors recognised the school expects all pupils to succeed academically and it has an ‘ambitious curriculum’. They also noted that staff place a high priority on reading and that older pupils develop ‘sophisticated tastes’ in reading.

In the two-day inspection in April, they found: “Pupils, especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), flourish at the school and they grow in confidence.”

Hensingham Primary School has been praised by Ofsted inspectors (Image: Submitted)

The school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience shone through with pupils learning to ‘celebrate’ diversity, supported to understand the ‘richness of their local and wider community’, with disruption to learning rare.

It is both the trust’s and the school’s mission to provide children with opportunities that will support them in the future and inspectors said staff ensure that the curriculum provides ample opportunities for pupils’ wider development.

Young people are supported to build their understanding of how to stay safe and healthy and they learn how to recognise and develop healthy relationships.

In order to improve further, inspectors say the school should make sure that teachers are equipped to support pupils to build up a secure body of knowledge across the curriculum and ensure that assessment strategies support teachers to identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge quickly and well.

Staff and pupils at Hensingham Primary School are delighted with their Ofsted report (Image: Submitted)

Headteacher Amanda Brotherhood said: “We thank our staff, parents, children, and community for their ongoing support. We will continue this school improvement journey, to give our young people the best opportunities within the heart of our community.”

Lorrayne Hughes, Chief Executive of CET, said: “This is a positive outcome for Hensingham Primary School and I am delighted for Amanda and her team; they have all worked so hard and this outcome recognises their achievements.”