Crowland Primary School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 21–22 March 2012 Inspection number 376670 Crowland Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 102129 Local authority Haringey Inspection number 376670 Inspection dates 21−22 March 2012 Lead inspector Nasim Butt

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 412 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Roger Knight Headteacher Melisha Trotman Date of previous school inspection 14–15 October 2008 School address Crowland Road London N15 6UX Telephone number 020 8800 4553 Fax number 020 8211 7473 Email address head@crowland.haringey.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors observed the teaching of 16 teachers in 23 lessons. In addition, meetings were held with pupils, members of the governing body and school staff, including senior and middle leaders. Inspectors listened to pupils read and looked at pupils’ work. Inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s improvement plan, safeguarding documents and assessment tracking information. Inspectors analysed questionnaire responses from 195 parents and carers, and those from pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

The school is larger than most primary schools. Most pupils come from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds. The largest groups are represented by pupils of Black Caribbean or African heritage, as well as pupils from a range of White backgrounds whose families come from outside the United Kingdom. The majority of pupils speak English as an additional language, although few are at the early stages of language acquisition. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is slightly above average, these being mainly behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, and speech, language and communication needs. More pupils than usual enter and leave the school at other than the usual times. The Early Years Foundation Stage comprises full-time and part-time Nursery provision and two Reception classes. The school does not meet the government’s current floor

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Information about the school

standard, which sets the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. The school has a breakfast club and an after-school club managed by the governing body.

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Information about the school

The current headteacher joined the school in January 2011 as a substantive deputy headteacher, assuming the post of acting headteacher in September 2011. She was appointed as the substantive headteacher in February 2012. The school had two interim headteachers between November 2010 and August 2011. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 In accordance with section 13(3) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement.

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Key findings

 This is not a satisfactory school because key areas identified in the previous inspection report relating to raising standards and improving the quality of teaching have not been addressed. Although the school has seen some rapid improvements in the rates of pupils’ progress in recent months under the leadership of the new headteacher, attainment in reading, writing and mathematics remains low in both key stages.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ achievement is inadequate. The gaps in attainment between all key groups and national averages in English and mathematics have widened over the past few years. Recent improvements are fragile and have not been sustained over a long enough period to eradicate underachievement.

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Key findings

 Teaching is inadequate and pupils have made too little progress over time. Too much teaching is satisfactory and not enough is good to tackle underachievement robustly. Often, teachers do not check pupils’ acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding rigorously enough and children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are given insufficient opportunities to develop their literacy skills. There are too many inconsistencies in the quality and regularity of teachers’ marking. The curriculum is inadequate as it is not matched well enough to the learning needs of all groups of pupils.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ satisfactory behaviour reflects the fact that most show willingness and eagerness to learn in lessons. Pupils are kept safe in school but the single central record for safe recruitment and safeguarding do not meet statutory requirements. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 The headteacher, with external support, has begun to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching. However, this is not rigorous enough and does not take sufficient account of the quality and depth of pupils’ learning and rates of progress. Although a review cycle has been introduced, self-evaluation is generally inaccurate and is not established well enough at all levels in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress and raise attainment to at least national expectations in English and mathematics in Key Stages 1 and 2, by ensuring that: − all teaching is of consistently good quality − teachers’ planning of lessons builds carefully on assessments of pupils’ prior learning and is closely matched to the needs of pupils of all ability levels − appropriate pace, challenge and high expectations are features of every lesson − all teachers help pupils to know how to improve through consistently good quality marking linked to pupils’ individual learning targets in literacy and numeracy − pupils have more planned opportunities to practise their reading, writing and numeracy skills across all areas of the curriculum.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the effectiveness of leadership and management in driving and sustaining school improvement by ensuring that: − leaders at all levels are effective in checking and improving teaching and learning so that all pupils make rapid progress − school improvement plans and subject action plans have clear success criteria by which their impact on pupils’ outcomes can be measured − the school’s single central record is complete and meets all the statutory requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of the Early Years Foundation Stage by ensuring that:  all adults develop their skills in questioning to support and encourage children’s use of language  the monitoring of teaching is more rigorous by always focusing on children’s learning and rates of progress when observing lessons  the curriculum provides sufficient adult input to extend children’s learning, particularly in their development of language and literacy skills. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Years 2 and 6 has been consistently low for several years and this represents inadequate achievement. Children’s attainment by the end of Reception is well below the levels expected across most areas of learning but is now beginning to improve although they are not making enough progress in early language and communication skills

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Achievement of pupils

While the large majority of parents and carers who returned the inspection questionnaire say that their children make good progress, inspection findings show that pupils’ learning is no better than satisfactory in most lessons and their progress over time is inadequate. The recent trend of improvement in pupils’ learning is not strong enough to combat the legacy of deep-rooted underachievement that these pupils have experienced over an extended period of time.

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Achievement of pupils

The school’s tracking data show that, although accelerated progress has been made in reading, writing and mathematics across all year groups in the past six months, pupils’ attainment in each year group is still well below that expected for their age. Key groups such as girls, boys and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals have all made rapid progress in recent months. Likewise, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs have also made some rapid gains but their progress is not as strong as it is for other groups. The long and deep-rooted legacy of underachievement means that recent gains in pupils’ progress are not sufficient to narrow the gap in attainment between key groups and national expectations in Key Stages 1 and 2.

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Achievement of pupils

The majority of pupils enjoy learning, particularly when tasks are engaging. For example, pupils in Year 6 made good progress when evaluating their own descriptive writing using complex sentences. Less able pupils in a Year 2 mathematics lesson developed a secure understanding of halving and dividing into four parts through the teacher’s effective demonstration and clear instructions. More able pupils in the same lesson, on the other hand, made slow progress because the work was insufficiently challenging and failed to probe their thinking skills deeply enough. The link between what children learn in the Early Years Foundation Stage and the free-flow activities set up to capture their interest is not planned well enough to ensure good progress and purposeful engagement. Although attainment in reading is low in both key stages, it is beginning to improve as pupils develop strategies like linking sounds to

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Quality of teaching

Inspectors found that, despite some recent improvements, the quality of teaching is inadequate. Although the large majority of parents and carers who responded to the inspection questionnaire feel that teaching in the school is good, inspection findings Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

show that almost all of the teaching observed was only satisfactory and too little was of good enough quality to reverse the pattern of underachievement rapidly. Very occasionally the curriculum includes exciting activities that are designed to motivate and involve most pupils in their learning. In some lessons teachers’ expectations are high and activities are successful in developing pupils’ speaking, listening and thinking skills. In addition, on these few occasions, pupils are involved in their learning through self- and peer-assessment and group and paired discussion. These approaches have a positive influence on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as was seen, for example, in a Year 4 art and design lesson. However, pace, challenge and high expectations are not common or widespread features of lessons and teachers do not use assessment well enough to plan work that builds on

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Quality of teaching

what pupils have already learned. Questions are not always targeted well to check pupils’ understanding or extend their learning further. In too many cases, teachers do not plan work that matches the needs of pupils of different abilities. For example, more able pupils are not sufficiently challenged and teachers do not use effective teaching strategies and visual resources to support pupils in the early stages of learning English. In addition, too many opportunities are missed in the Early Years Foundation Stage for adults to ask stimulating questions and demonstrate the effective use of language. As a result, children’s learning and progress are held back.

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Quality of teaching

Occasionally, teachers’ marking in literacy and numeracy is suitably diagnostic and helps pupils to make improvements. However, there are too many inconsistencies in the quality of marking and the links made to pupils’ individual targets. This results in pupils getting insufficient guidance on how they can improve their work and move forward in their learning. Key words and concepts are developed appropriately in many lessons. This was observed, for example, when Year 6 pupils considered the strengths and limitations of different materials for building bridges. In general, however, there is a lack of planned opportunities for pupils to practise their literacy and numeracy skills across all areas of the curriculum. Teachers and teaching assistants usually work well together and provide positive role models: they encourage pupils to work cooperatively and to respect the views of others.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Inspectors found that pupils’ behaviour is satisfactory overall. In lessons, it is generally good and around school pupils present themselves as open, friendly and polite to visitors. Self-discipline, however, is less secure. Observations in lessons and discussions with pupils reveal that when lessons lack pace and variety, pupils’ attention wavers. As a result, the subsequent disruption can occasionally lead to minor interruptions in learning. Pupils say that they feel safe in school and that bullying of any type rarely occurs. Although a significant minority feel that behaviour in lessons is not always as good as it could be, most are confident that any poor behaviour is dealt with promptly and effectively. A very small minority of parents and carers expressed some concern about behaviour and how effectively the school deals with poor behaviour. Inspection findings show that the school has appropriate

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

procedures in place to deal with any poor behaviour. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils have a clear understanding of the risks to which they may be exposed, both within and outside school, and they know how to keep themselves safe. Older pupils have a sound awareness of different types of bullying, for example, cyber bullying, and most pupils understand why racist name-calling is not acceptable. They are aware of what they should do to keep themselves safe when working on personal computers at home. Attendance has risen to the national average as a result of the school’s persistent work with pupils and their families. Although punctuality in the morning has improved, a very small minority of pupils continue to arrive late to school.

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Leadership and management

There has been a considerable legacy of underachievement and the key changes required to reverse the direction of travel are not sufficiently well established. There has been a fruitful partnership recently with the local primary school led by a national leader of education, but the school’s leadership and management remains inadequate because it has not brought about enough improvement to pupils’ attainment or the quality of teaching. Following a period of considerable turbulence, the new headteacher and the governing body are starting to provide clear direction for the school. Staff have responded positively to the restructuring of the senior leadership team and support the headteacher and the governors in their intention to raise pupils’ attainment and accelerate progress. As a result, the school now has more effective systems in place to track pupils’ progress and undertake self-review. However, leaders do not have an accurate picture of the quality of teaching. For

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Leadership and management

example, there is too little emphasis on children’s learning outcomes when the quality of teaching is evaluated in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Although the provision of appropriate professional development has led to an improving teaching profile, the constant diet of mainly satisfactory teaching now evident does not allow all groups of pupils to make the maximum progress needed to ensure that they all achieve as well as they can.

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Leadership and management

The school improvement plan has clear and appropriate priorities for action, but the success criteria against which progress is judged are not sharp enough to evaluate impact rigorously. Middle leadership is not well developed. Staff responsible for managing different subjects do not have the capacity to bring about the necessary improvements in their curriculum areas. Leaders at this level show a lack of rigour in the way in which they interrogate pupil performance data in order to check and support teaching and learning. Significant underachievement in mathematics also reflects a lack of strategic oversight by senior leaders. Recent improvements in pupils’ attainment and progress are not sufficiently secure to demonstrate that they can be sustained over a longer period. In these respects, the school shows that it does not have the capacity to improve further.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is well informed about the attainment and progress of different groups, but has not been robust enough in challenging persistent underperformance since the last inspection. Governors have successfully set up a productive partnership with a local primary school. Although safeguarding in practice is sound and poses no Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

cause for concern, the school’s single central record does not fulfil all the statutory requirements. The school’s curriculum is inadequate because it is not responsive enough to the needs of all pupils, for example, those who are more able and those who are at the very early stages of language acquisition. In addition, the balance of the curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage does not provide sufficient adult input. Therefore, although diversity is celebrated and discrimination tackled, the school fails to promote equality of opportunity adequately as too many individuals and groups of pupils do not reach their full potential. However, the promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is sound, for example, through the opportunities they get to develop their social and emotional skills and well-being.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour: how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety: how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Crowland Primary School, London, N15 6UX

Thank you for the welcome you extended to us and for taking the time to talk to inspectors when we recently visited your school. We visited many lessons, looked at some of your work and talked to some of the adults in your school. We found that most of you want to learn and have good relationships with your teachers. Many of you have made more rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics over the past few months. However, your attainment remains low in English and mathematics and this has been the case for several years. Inspectors have found that your school is not doing as well as it should and needs extra support called ‘special measures’ to help it improve quickly. This means that inspectors will visit the school regularly in the coming months to see how well it is making progress.

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Inspection of Crowland Primary School, London, N15 6UX

We have asked the school’s leaders and governors to work urgently to make sure that you all do as well as you should in English and mathematics. To make this happen, we have asked that teachers always check regularly how well you learn in lessons and over longer periods of time. In addition, we have asked teachers to provide more opportunities for Nursery and Reception children to develop their speaking and listening skills.

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Inspection of Crowland Primary School, London, N15 6UX

You can help by working hard in lessons. Also, it is important that all of you attend school on time first thing in the morning as punctuality is an important life skill.

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Inspection of Crowland Primary School, London, N15 6UX

I wish you and your school the very best for the future.

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Inspection of Crowland Primary School, London, N15 6UX

Nasim Butt Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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