What others say about us
Quotes from our school community
We are proud of our school, and are always looking to improve further. We seek the views of members of our community on a regular basis to make sure that we really understand how everyone we work with views Hanover. As well as being open to informal feedback, we do the following each year:
- Conduct a comprehensive parent survey
- Conduct a survey of all children
- Conduct a survey of all staff
- Commission a behavioural audit from Islington's Behaviour Support team
- Commission a school review from our School Improvement Partner - an independent, experienced headteacher who looks at teaching, learning and outcomes
- Work with our excellent governors and the local authority on our whole-school priorities
- Seek feedback from visitors and prospective parents
Ofsted
Pupils feel safe and are kept safe in school. They know that they can share any worries they may have with trusted adults.
Leaders foster pupils’ love of reading.... Teachers have also been trained to implement the new phonics programme with precision.
Pupils’ wider development is well considered. The curriculum has been designed to help pupils to understand important ideas such as democracy and how to vote.
Latest Ofsted report can be downloaded here.
Hanover in the media
Moving on to Key Stage 1, Improving transition to primary school, Prof. Julie Fisher, OUP, 2021
As an experienced headteacher, adviser and inspector, there are few schools I currently visit that fill me with the joy of learning and teaching. Hanover is one of those schools. Everywhere you look children are happily engaged and involved in their learning. This is because staff expertly plan environments and activities that are entirely appropriate to the age of the children and their stage of development. This is especially important post-Covid when government research says how much children have missed opportunities to engage socially with each other, to talk and communicate with a range of people outside the home and to be physical and active in their learning. Instead of a concrete jungle, the outdoors is rich in opportunities to explore, to investigate, to question and to play. As a result behaviour is exemplary. Children are never bored, never involved in activities that are meaningless to them and, consequently, are happy to be at school - and fortunate to be at Hanover. Prof. Julie Fisher describing Hanover's provision, 2023
PLAY BASED LEARNING IN YEAR 1: A practical guide for schools, South London Teaching Schools Alliance, 2020
If the children can achieve in a play-based environment just as much as children in a highly directed environment, then why are we not doing play-based learning? The children seem happier and more independent than children in our school. It’s a no-brainer! (Year 1 teacher talking about Hanover)
Researching play-based pedagogy in Year 1, Sarah Seleznyov, Impact Magazine (Chartered College of Teaching), 2020
One of the most impressive schools teachers visited in terms of play based learning in Year 1 was Hanover Primary in Islington, which has been working for several years now to embed and refine the approach.
How can we get our children playing outside again? Harriet Grant, Guardian, 2019
Out in the yard backing on to the canal, children can play with large pieces of wood, tyres and other simple things. The reception class has been stripped back, with almost all the toys taken away. Instead, children can move freely around, choosing what to do for most of the day, from carpentry to building cars out of junk.
Ofsted reports
All current and historical Ofsted reports can be downloaded here