Setting

Mr K Johnson Headteacher Deptford Park Primary School Evelyn Street London SE8 5RJ

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Park Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I and my colleague inspected your school on 30 March 2011, for the time you gave to our phone discussions and for the information which you provided before and during the inspection. Please pass on our thanks to your pupils, who were so welcoming, polite, keen to talk and helpful – we very much enjoyed the day we spent with them and the staff.

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Park Primary School

Following the previous inspection, a new chair of governors took up post and some members of the governing body changed. The acting deputy head covering the deputy head’s maternity leave and the externally appointed assistant head for Key Stage 2 took, up post in January 2011. The acting assistant head for Key Stage 1 took up post a few days before the monitoring inspection. A new school business manager started in November 2010. Pupil mobility continues to much higher than in most primary schools; for example, over half the pupils in Year 6 did not join the school in Reception and one in three did not enter until Year 5 or 6.

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Park Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 26 November 2009, the school was asked to address the most important areas for improvement, which are set out in the annex to this letter.

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Park Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school has made good progress in making improvements, and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

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Park Primary School

You rightly observed that there has not yet been a sea change in the quality of pupils’ writing, but the 2010 Year 6 standards were better than those attained in 2009; more pupils reached Level 5, above the expected level, in reading and writing Tribal 1–4 Portland Square BRISTOL BS2 8RR T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0845 123 6001 Direct F 0117 315 0430 email :sarah.cartlidge@tribalgroup.com Page 2 and your assessment data suggest a slightly higher percentage will do so in 2011. Attainment in mathematics has also improved since the last inspection. The high profile given to writing is seen in the exciting displays of writing tips, definitions, word lists and pupils’ work, covering a wide range of styles, in all classrooms and corridors.

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Park Primary School

Analysis of Year 6 attainment, past and present, reveals that pupils who attend the school for at least three years do as well in writing as in reading, and that the very large majority of them make the expected progress in English from Key Stage 1. Pupils who enter the school later than Key Stage 1 make very good progress in their reading but their writing takes longer to develop; for some of them this is because English is not their first language or they have not experienced formal schooling before.

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Park Primary School

Another reason attainment is improving is that, in addition to intervention strategies, one-to-one tuition started in September 2010. Although they are aware that they must assess the value of any initiatives, senior leaders and governors have yet to probe why one-to-one sessions are having more impact in Year 5 than in Year 6, and make adjustments.

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Park Primary School

Teachers are now more skilful at planning work for pupils’ different abilities and levels, one reason why higher-attaining students are doing better, particularly in writing. One teacher marked pupils’ work from the day before the monitoring visit and adjusted the grouping and the work pupils did in the next lesson; this is exemplary practice which could serve as a model for other teachers. Learning was good in practically all the lessons observed during the monitoring visit and the school correctly evaluates that teaching has improved in the last 16 months.

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Park Primary School

Pupils’ attendance is now above average. Most of them concentrate and work hard in lessons and enjoy explaining their work to visitors. They are keen to do well and know exactly what level they are at in their work and what they need to do to improve. This is largely because teachers have improved the accuracy of their assessments and the quality of their marking. They write encouraging and helpful feedback by highlighting what pupils have done well and by giving specific advice about what they must focus on next. Pupils take note of these written comments and it is good that some of them respond as well. Stuck into the front of their exercise books, ‘Ladders’, describing national curriculum levels, help pupils to see their progress.

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Park Primary School

The chair of governors has a clear understanding of the school’s areas for improvement and more governors are involved in the life of the school and in writing the school’s development plan. The chair is keen that governors ask probing questions. Senior leaders analyse the data generated by teachers’ sharper assessment of attainment and progress in considerable depth, so governors are now deciding how much detail they need to have an overview and to ask the right questions. Page 3 The local authority and the school improvement partner support the school well.

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Park Primary School

I hope that you have found the inspection helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

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 Strengthen leadership and management by ensuring that:

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 governors target their monitoring and evaluation activities more accurately on the impact of initiatives on pupils’ performance.

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 Raise standards in English, by ensuring that:

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 work is better matched to the needs of the more able pupils in English, particularly in writing, in order to accelerate progress still further.

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 Improve teaching and assessment so that they are consistently good enough by:

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 ensuring that teachers make good use of assessment information to set work at the correct level to match the ability of all pupils

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 providing clear feedback to ensure that all pupils understand how well they are doing and how to improve.

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