Setting

Mrs Geraldine Waterman The Headteacher Bruce Grove Primary School Sperling Road Tottenham London N17 6UH

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Grove Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 16 November 2011, for the time you gave to our discussions and for the information which you provided before and during the inspection. Please pass on my particular thanks to the Chair of the Governing Body who spoke to me and to those Year 6 pupils whose work I discussed and who showed me their writing books.

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Grove Primary School

Although a new deputy headteacher started in September, staffing has been relatively stable since the school was last inspected. In other respects there have been few contextual changes.

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Grove Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 10 December 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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Grove Primary School

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

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Grove Primary School

When the school was last inspected attainment was judged to be low but pupils’ progress was good. The attainment of pupils at the end of Year 6 fell in 2011 so that it was significantly lower than the national average overall, and low in English. The proportion of pupils reaching Level 4 for both English and mathematics fell, and was below the minimum expected nationally. Boys did particularly poorly in English. Attainment at the end of Year 2 rose in 2011 but remains significantly below 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 Direct email : rebecca.jackson@tribalgroup.com average. Attainment in Year 2 has been significantly below average in reading, writing and mathematics in each of the last five years.

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Grove Primary School

In its draft self-evaluation the school recognises that pupils need to make accelerated progress if they are to do as well as they should. While pupils make good progress in mathematics, they make satisfactory progress overall and satisfactory progress in English. This is insufficient to close the gap on attainment nationally. The overall fall in attainment at the end of Year 6, coupled with attainment which is low in English, means that the school has made inadequate progress in raising attainment and in enabling pupils at Bruce Grove to do as well as others nationally.

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Grove Primary School

When the school was last inspected the quality of teaching was judged to be satisfactory. During the inspection, satisfactory and outstanding teaching was observed. Teaching is particularly strong in Year 6. Some very effective collaborative teaching was seen, which enabled teachers to share expertise and experience. However, if pupils’ progress is to accelerate, more teaching needs to be good or outstanding throughout the school in order to promote better learning for pupils. The best teaching is characterised by high, explicit and consistent expectations. In an outstanding lesson pupils were reminded of their National Curriculum targets and were confident about what they had to do to achieve them. In satisfactory lessons the pace of learning slows when pupils take too long to settle and expectations are not firmly reinforced. In some lessons teachers’ comments on pupils’ work were explicitly referred to so that the value of the marking was enhanced. Pupils knew

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Grove Primary School

how well they were doing and what they needed to do to improve. In some classes the work planned lacks sufficient challenge and expectations are not high enough. Too little work is done, standards are lower than they should be, and pieces of writing are too brief.

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Grove Primary School

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage listen well and respond eagerly. They move to a range of outside and independent learning opportunities quickly and sensibly and generally play and learn together well. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes have access to a range of resources and activities to encourage collaborative learning and independence.

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Grove Primary School

Pupils’ behaviour, which was good at the time of the last inspection, remains a strength. Pupils get along well together, are polite and friendly, move around the building sensibly and play well when outside. The school is bright, clean and well kept, indicating that pupils take pride in their surroundings. Corridors and classrooms are enlivened by good displays of work linked to current topics and some high- quality art work.

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Grove Primary School

The recently restructured senior management team aims to raise achievement and improve the quality of teaching and learning so that it is consistently good. To achieve this a number of new initiatives have been put in place to accelerate pupils’ progress, particularly in English and mathematics, and to strengthen the school’s partnership with home. Much of this work is at an early stage and it is too early to see the impact on pupils’ achievement. School improvement planning is not always accurate in its analysis of data and lacks a sufficiently sharp focus on measurable outcomes for pupils. While proposed changes to provision are clearly set out, the anticipated impact of these on pupils’ achievement is unclear. The school’s self- evaluation has identified a number of strengths, but evidence to underpin these judgements is not benchmarked against how well pupils are doing. For example, provision for pupils with special educational needs is identified as a strength, but

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Grove Primary School

there is limited evidence to support this. This makes it more difficult for the school to know what has gone well and for the governing body to hold it properly to account. Safeguarding arrangements fully comply with statutory requirements. Checks on adults who work with children are timely and are carefully recorded. Child protection training for staff is up to date.

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Grove Primary School

The school has valued the support of the local authority through the work of the school’s improvement partner and other colleagues and appreciates the work of the local authority in facilitating school support networks.

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Grove 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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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

 Raise the overall quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better, by sharing good practice, modelling lessons and supporting planning.  Plan more challenging and effective independent learning activities in the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly to develop children’s language, literacy and mathematical skills.  Raise attainment through the more rigorous use of assessment to:  plan work that meets pupils’ differing learning needs  show pupils how to improve their work and make them aware of the next steps in their learning, particularly through the more consistent use of individual targets and constructive marking.

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