Staple Hill Primary School is a community school on the border with South Gloucestershire and Bristol. As such we have children on roll from both local authorities. We are an inclusive school with the pupils attending coming from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. We value the diversity that our community brings and try and ensure that is at the heart of our curriculum and all aspects of school life, reflecting all our learners. The impact of this was seen in June 2022 when we were awarded Good by OFSTED in all areas, they stated, ’Staple Hill is a welcoming school where pupils’ different cultures, experiences and abilities are celebrated. Leaders and staff share a vision to ensure pupils become confident and independent learners who can ‘make a difference’ in the future.’
Our teaching team is made up of committed professionals, including specialist teachers in early years, reading and maths. Through focused high quality CPD, we ensure our teachers are encouraged to develop the process of action research around elements of the curriculum they feel inspired about .This then has a clear impact on their class or specific groups of children. In the Senior Leadership team we also ensure that we coach others using metacognitive strategies and then through observation and discussion we refine and reinforce all our teachers practice.
We have a strong Early Year’s offer, which is demonstrated through the implementation of our pedagogical approach and this has been celebrated through the award of the Bristol Standard. This ensures our children make strong progress and that the teaching is developmentally appropriate and learning is joyful. The expertise of our staff and leaders is recognised by others to be good enough to replicate and share. This has meant our EFYS lead is now an area lead for OFSTED in a Covid recovery programme. Also our EYFS practice is now a place other schools visit for both provision and teaching and is seen as exemplary practice by visiting professionals.
We are so proud of our early years offer that we have taken this practice of continuous and enhanced provision as well as direct teaching throughout Key Stage One. At Staple Hill we believe this approach makes our children happy, independent and settled as they move up from EYFS. In Key Stage 2, our children move to a wide and accessible curriculum which remains oracy and experience rich. We also provide a range of opportunities, through the recruitment of specialist teachers to develop our children’s talents and passions and ensure the curriculum is vibrant for all pupils.
As part of our commitment to collaboration, Staple Hill works closely with our partner school Kings Forest together forming the Forest Hill Partnership and we would welcome the opportunity to continue and extend this work. The use of this networking with other schools enables leaders at all levels to learn from others and share good practice.
Our involvement with the local community was also recognised in our OFSTED report, along with the work of our Family Link worker who offers guidance and support for our parents. The excellent work of our wider pastoral support team ensures that our pupils feel safe in school. The impact of this was shown in the positive parental feedback that we received during our recent OFSTED inspection. ‘Pupils and parents often comment on the community spirit of Staple Hill. As a parent put it, ’Honestly it feels like a family’.