Wimbledon Chase Primary School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 2–3 May 2012 Inspection number 376749 Wimbledon Chase Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 102662 Local authority Merton Inspection number 376749 Inspection dates 2–3 May 2012 Lead inspector Penny Spencer

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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 549 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr Phillip Webb Headteacher Mrs Susan Tomes Date of previous school inspection 6 November 2008 School address Merton Hall Road London SW19 3QB Telephone number 020 8542 1413 Fax number 020 8542 1668 Email address wcps@wimbledonchase.mertonsch.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 24 lessons seeing all staff. They also listened to pupils read, observed assembly and undertook several learning walks. Inspectors also observed pupils within the additionally resourced provision funded by the local authority. In addition meetings were held with the headteacher, the senior leadership team, the chair of governors, pupils from the school council and some parents and carers. Inspectors took account of the responses to the online Parent View survey in planning the inspection. They observed the school’s work, looked at its self-evaluation documents and development plans. They also scrutinised the school’s own data analysis of pupils’ achievement, the headteacher’s records of the monitoring of teachers’ performance, safeguarding information, behaviour records and the minutes of governing body meetings. They considered the 368 responses from parents and carers to the questionnaires and

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Information about the school

The school is much larger than the average-size primary and the number of pupils on roll is rising. The school increased to three forms of entry in 2009 and there are now three classes of pupils from Reception to Year 3. A new wing has been added to the school to accommodate the extra pupils. Approximately half of the pupils are of White British heritage. The remainder are from a variety of minority ethnic groups, the largest proportion being of Other White heritage. The proportion of pupils who are at the early stages of learning English is small but rising, especially in the Early Years Foundation Stage as the school’s catchment area widens with the larger intake. The proportion of pupils believed to be eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. The school has a local authority, additionally-resourced provision for 16 pupils with language and communication difficulties, known as the

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Information about the school

Ark and Study. The school has the Artsmark Gold award in recognition of its contribution to the performing arts. The school has its own breakfast club managed by the governing body. There is a separate provision that provides wrap-around care, run by private providers, which was not subject to this inspection. The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. 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

 This is an outstanding school which fully lives up to its mission to provide ‘opportunity, inspiration and celebration’ for its pupils and their families. Its highly inclusive approach ensures that all pupils work well together and respect each other. The overwhelming majority of the parents and carers agree that the school provides an exceptional learning environment for their children.   Pupils’ achievement is outstanding. When children join the Early Years Foundation Stage, they make rapid progress and this is sustained as they move through the school. Consequently, by the end of Year 6, all groups of pupils have levels of attainment that are significantly above average.   Pupils in the Ark and Study make very good progress from their starting points as a result of carefully planned lessons that are well taught. Pupils’ integration into mainstream classes and lessons is well managed and all pupils gain

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Key findings

valuable experience from the sessions.   Excellent behaviour in and out of lessons, very positive attitudes to learning and their consideration for each other contribute to pupils’ outstanding behaviour. Pupils say they feel safe and secure; parents and carers agree and inspectors endorse these views.   Outstanding teaching ensures pupils are motivated to learn. The imaginative and stimulating curriculum further enhances pupils’ enjoyment and leads to their high achievement, including in reading. Accurate assessment systems allow teachers to plan lessons that match pupils’ needs effectively, although this could be further improved with a greater consistency of approach across the key stages.   The drive and commitment of leaders and managers have ensured that high levels of achievement for all pupils have been sustained over time. The move to three forms of entry has been ‘seamless’ according to many parents and carers.

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Key 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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Key findings

The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ attainment and progress by ensuring that the good practice in assessment, marking and feedback is shared consistently across all classes and key stages leading to more sharply-focused targets for all pupils.

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Achievement of pupils

Children currently enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with levels of skill that are slightly below those typical for their age. They then make rapid progress across all areas of learning so that, by the end of the Reception Year, their levels of skill are above those expected for their age, particularly in communication, language and literacy, problem solving, reasoning and numeracy and in their personal development.

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Achievement of pupils

At the time of the previous inspection, pupils’ attainment was high at the end of Key Stage 2 and this has been sustained and improved. All groups of pupils, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, make progress which is never less than good and which is significantly above average for most pupils. Where the school has identified small differences, swift and effective intervention ensures pupils quickly catch up with their peers. The proportion of pupils attaining the higher levels is significantly greater than average. Parents and carers agree that their children achieve highly.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils within the additionally resourced provision, the Ark and Study, also make at least good progress from their starting points and their achievement is good and sometimes outstanding.

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Achievement of pupils

A systematic approach to the teaching of reading ensures that all pupils read well by the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Pupils who read to inspectors were enthusiastic and showed well-developed skills for their age. Younger pupils demonstrated a good understanding of phonics which helped them decode unfamiliar words. The best readers in both key stages could confidently discuss favourite genres and authors. Examples of writing observed in lessons and during work scrutiny showed pupils of all abilities making good or better progress against their targets. This was particularly evident in upper Key Stage 2, where pupils’ responses to marking and feedback frequently led to sustained improvement in the quality of the work.

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Achievement of pupils

Inspectors noted pupils’ enthusiasm for their learning and their cooperation with 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

their peers. In a Year 6 science lesson, pupils’ ability to discuss with each other the reasons why a spinner might react differently with the addition of extra weight and how they might record their findings was impressive.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and the interesting, creative curriculum engages and motivates pupils. Teachers’ thorough knowledge of their pupils enables them to plan lessons that fully meet their needs and interests. In the Nursery, children were enthusiastically developing several areas of learning through carefully planned activities, based on the book Going on a Bear Hunt, that involved the use of musical instruments, a physical trail that went over, under and through objects, and the recitation by the children of repeated phrases in the story.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers and teaching assistants in all classes regularly check pupils’ understanding through the effective use of questioning. As the relationships between adults and children are excellent, pupils are willing and able to seek guidance. Teaching assistants’ professionalism and their effective deployment in group sessions contribute significantly to pupils’ learning. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported and work is differentiated carefully to allow them to succeed. The vast majority of parents and carers think that their children are well taught and inspection evidence supports this view.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers mark work regularly and pupils have targets that they understand. Slight inconsistencies in approach across the key stages mean that some targets are too general for higher-ability pupils and, while they make at least good progress, they could do even better if their targets were more specific.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching in the Ark and Study is skilled and pupils have a high level of individual support. Careful assessment leads to appropriate and challenging small-step targets. Well-planned and tailored interventions are skilfully delivered by well-trained staff. Parents and carers of pupils within the provision speak overwhelmingly positively of the progress of their children and how much they enjoy coming to school. Support staff are used very effectively to ensure pupils can access mainstream sessions where appropriate.

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Quality of teaching

Opportunities for writing in all areas of the curriculum are well developed. This was evident during a Year 4 lesson where pupils were writing an adventure story, based on their topic of Africa, that had to incorporate some of their knowledge of the terrain and the animals they might encounter on the way.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils make an exceptional contribution to the atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration for others that make this school a calm and orderly learning community. This reflects the school’s excellent promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and pupils’ application of it. Observations in lessons 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

show that pupils have a strong sense of their place within their community. The school has links with several schools in the developing world and pupils were keen to explain how they had collected both funds and gifts to support their education. Pupils are friendly, polite and welcoming to visitors. As pupils on the school council noted, ‘Nobody is left out here and everyone is given a chance.’

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils in mainstream classes who may have emotional or behavioural issues are well integrated through the use of a consistent approach to behaviour management and, as a result, learning is very rarely disrupted. Almost all the parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire agreed, or strongly agreed, that there was a good standard of behaviour in the school and that lessons were not disrupted. Inspectors judged behaviour to be outstanding.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils have an excellent understanding of how to assess risks and keep themselves safe in a variety of situations including when using the internet. They know who to turn to if they have any concerns. They have a good understanding of the different forms of bullying, including cyber bullying. Attendance is well-above average and pupils are punctual; the school is keen to improve attendance further by encouraging families not to take holidays in term time.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

An analysis of the comprehensive records kept by the school, a scrutiny of risk assessments and observations during the inspection all confirmed that the behaviour and safety of pupils are strengths of the school and this conclusion was reflected in pupils’ highly positive attitudes observed in all activities.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, senior leaders, managers and staff, including the governing body, share high aspirations for sustained and continuing improvement in pupils’ achievement. The professional expertise and commitment of the governing body provide a high level of informed support and challenge. The vast majority of the parents and carers were pleased that the headteacher and her team have maintained the strong community feeling within the school despite its growing size.

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Leadership and management

An outstanding curriculum provides a wide range of exciting, memorable experiences and opportunities for high-quality learning for all pupils. There is a wide range of sporting, music and creative opportunities for pupils that particularly promote pupils’ social and cultural development. The curriculum encompasses all pupils and ensures equality of opportunity. It is regularly reviewed to ensure it is up to date and fully reflects the school community.

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Leadership and management

Since the previous inspection, regular monitoring and effective professional development strategies have continued to raise the achievement of all pupils in all subjects and ensured that teachers are held to account. Consequently, senior leaders have demonstrated excellent capacity to improve.

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Leadership and management

Partnerships with other schools are strong and the headteacher leads a cluster of 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

schools that share expertise, knowledge and training opportunities to their mutual benefit. Links with the local children’s centre have ensured that parents and carers have a good understanding of how they can support their children’s learning through workshops and visits. The vast majority of parents and carers agreed that the school works in effective partnership with them and encourages them in supporting their children’s learning. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements and child-protection procedures are exemplary.

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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 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 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 to 31 December 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

Floor standards: the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.

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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 Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

Thank you very much for the friendly welcome you gave us when we visited your school. We enjoyed talking with you and seeing you at work and play. It was lovely to see you going on a bear hunt in the Nursery. We particularly enjoyed talking to you about what it is like to be a pupil in your school, hearing you read and coming to see your lessons. Your parents and carers are very pleased with the school. This letter is to tell you that we found that Wimbledon Chase Primary School is an outstanding school. Some of the things that make it outstanding are that:

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Inspection of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

 you behave extremely well and you are very helpful, thoughtful and polite  you work hard and you make outstanding progress all the way through school and reach high standards  you enjoy your lessons and your curriculum topics are interesting and exciting  you have excellent school leaders, managers and teachers who make sure you are safe.

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Inspection of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

To help your school to be even better we have asked your headteacher and senior leaders to make sure that all your teachers use the same approach to marking and setting targets to help you move on even faster in your learning.

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Inspection of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

You can help by continuing your very good work and enjoying everything you do at school.

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Inspection of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

We send you our best wishes for the future.

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Inspection of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, London SW19 3QB

Penny Spencer 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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