Stag Lane Primary School

Age group 3–7 Inspection date(s) 10–11 May 2012 Inspection number 376681 Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 102209 Local authority Harrow Inspection number 376681 Inspection dates 10–11 May 2012 Lead inspector David Radomsky

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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 Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 3–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 346 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair The Rev’d. Matthew Stone Headteacher Nina Will Date of previous school inspection 11–12 December 2008 School address Collier Drive Edgware HA8 5RU Telephone number 020 8952 1475 Fax number 020 8905 6039 Email address office@staglaneinfant.harrow.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 24 lessons taught by 11 teachers. In addition, inspectors made short observations of six sessions on the teaching of phonics (letter patterns and the sounds they represent) and four support sessions. Many of these observations were made jointly with either the headteacher or the deputy headteacher of the school. Account was taken of the responses to the on-line Parent View survey in planning the inspection. Meetings were held with members of the governing body, staff and groups of pupils. Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at school documentation including teachers’ planning, the school and coordinators’ development plans, assessment information, safeguarding documentation and samples of pupils’ work. In addition, inspectors listened to pupils read and talked with them about their enjoyment of books. Inspectors analysed 137 questionnaires from parents and carers.

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Information about the school

Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School is larger than most primary schools. The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those known to be eligible for free school meals are well above average. Almost 90% of the pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is average. Most of this group have speech, language and communication difficulties. The school has a number of awards, including the International School award, and is currently working towards achieving the UNICEF Rights Respecting School accreditation. The school runs a breakfast club and after-school clubs. Since the previous inspection, there has been a local authority schools’ reorganisation, resulting in Year 3 pupils no longer remaining in the school and the Nursery expanding from 52 to 76 places. The headteacher is a Local Leader of Education. The school was designated as a local

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Information about the school

Knowledge Centre in 2009 for outstanding practice in Early Years Foundation Stage, providing support and professional development to other schools in the local authority. 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. The school’s drive for further improvement is consistent and constant so that since the time of the previous inspection, progress has accelerated rapidly and pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics has improved each year. Because the school promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well, pupils grow in self- confidence and achieve extremely well.  Pupils achieve exceptionally well from their very low starting points so that by the end of Key Stage, 1 their attainment is above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Outstanding provision for those pupils who have barriers to learning ensures that there are no significant or consistent differences between the achievements of any groups of pupils.  Teaching is outstanding, as teachers use their excellent skills and expertise to plan lessons that successfully enthuse, motivate and meet the interests and

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Key findings

learning needs of all pupils extremely well. Occasionally teachers do not ensure that pupils respond to and learn from their verbal or written developmental comments for improvement.  Pupils and their parents and carers overwhelmingly confirm inspectors’ findings that pupils feel extremely safe, behave very well and develop exceptionally positive attitudes towards learning.  Exemplary leadership at all levels drives a relentless focus on improving all aspects of the school’s work. Leaders rigorously and successfully monitor the quality of teaching and its contribution to pupils’ progress and set challenging improvement targets. Leaders develop teachers’ skills through effective monitoring and feedback, coaching and sharing of best practice. Termly pupil progress meetings held with all teachers and senior leaders ensure that they are accountable for the progress of every pupil. Leaders ensure that both the

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Key findings

indoor and outdoor setting provide a highly stimulating learning environment, and that the curriculum provides pupils with many enjoyable and memorable experiences. 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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate progress further by building on the existing best practice to ensure that all pupils consistently respond to and learn from their teachers’ comments for improvement.

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Achievement of pupils

Inspection evidence confirms the view of parents and carers that achievement overall is outstanding. From starting points that are well below age-related expectations, especially in communication and social skills, children make outstanding progress in Nursery and Reception. As one parent, representing the view of many said, ‘The learning system they have in place is brilliant and my child has come on in leaps and bounds.’ Children enter Year 1 with confidence and enthusiasm having developed skills in all areas of learning and reached above age-related expectations. Children have many opportunities to develop a wide range of skills because of a well-planned, vibrant and exciting learning environment linked to excellent teaching and planning. Inspectors saw children digging together for objects in the sandpit. One boy explained to the inspector that they were sorting and collecting the objects in two

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Achievement of pupils

piles, one of 2D and one of 3D shapes. Children’s speaking, listening and writing skills develop exceptionally well because adults use every opportunity to extend them. For example, inspectors saw children encouraged to discuss and write down their plans for a mini beast hotel and similarly an adult joined a girl in the ‘restaurant’ and engaged her in a conversation about what she would recommend she order from the menu that the girl had just written.

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Achievement of pupils

Evidence from lessons and pupils’ work confirms that pupils continue to make exceptional progress in Key Stage 1. For example, in a lesson in Year 2 typical of other lessons seen, pupils made rapid progress in developing their language and vocabulary skills through the analysis of character descriptions from a story. Pupils of all abilities were very effectively challenged because the teacher planned the lesson based on a close understanding of every pupil’s needs and by employing a wide range of teaching strategies, including the use of video clips, spidergrams and a word sort activity. Pupils’ understanding was tested and they were challenged further as a result of carefully targeted questions to individuals. Pupils independently used dictionaries and thesauruses to improve the quality of their written character descriptions and supported each other well in pairs and in groups. By the end of the

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Achievement of pupils

lesson, all had extended their vocabulary very well which they used in their own written descriptions of ‘Grandma’s’ character. They could also clearly explain the differences found in the text between “Grandma’s” personality and descriptions.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is above average overall. Pupils’ reading abilities are consistently above average for pupils of a similar age and pupils talk about how they learn to read and their favourite books with considerable 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

enthusiasm. This is because the school very effectively uses a systematic programme for the teaching of letters and sounds (phonics) and because pupils are encouraged to read regularly at school and at home. Through extremely effective support systems, the school ensures that disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language make the same outstanding progress as all others.

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Quality of teaching

Parents are keen to express their views that teaching is of exceptional quality. As one parent told the inspectors, ‘I would like to mention that my child has only had outstanding teachers that are highly dedicated to their work and the children. I always felt that they do their best in teaching and supporting the children.’ These views were fully endorsed by the inspection.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is outstanding. It has many consistently strong features and results in all pupils making rapid progress. Teachers plan for the learning needs of all pupils; they set a good pace and extend thinking through highly effective questioning. Teachers explain very clearly to pupils what they will learn and the steps that they need to take in order to be successful. Teachers and skilled teaching assistants give particularly well targeted support to pupils, especially those with special educational needs, individually and in small groups in lessons to help them overcome difficulties. The marking of pupils’ work and oral feedback are well developed in most classes and effectively help pupils to improve their work as they follow up on their teachers’ comments for improvement or tackle additional challenging tasks. This is not, however, consistently replicated across all areas of the curriculum which occasionally

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Quality of teaching

hinders the progress pupils make. Teaching of early reading skills is systematic and thorough. It is based on a structured scheme fully adopted by teachers and teaching assistants, who are skilled in the correct articulation of sounds when teaching reading. Pupils therefore make outstanding progress and show interest, including choosing their own books to read for pleasure, and a desire to succeed.

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Quality of teaching

Planned cross-curricular work is highly effective in developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. At the same time, it contributes well to the development of their literacy, numeracy and information and communication (ICT) skills. In the nursery, for instance, children are learning about the Olympics with displays of the flags of the various participating countries; they use medals to practise their counting and, in the ‘ticket office’, write out tickets for the various events. Year 1 pupils are enthralled with the current theme of outer space. Inspectors saw pupils using illustrations of flying saucers, space rockets and astronauts as props for solving numerical problems, while others were solving mathematical equations on a computer. Additionally, pupils developed their creative skills really well by using recyclable materials to make space rockets, but only after they had written a list of the materials they wished to use and had sketched their

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Quality of teaching

design ideas. In a Year 2 history lesson, pupils were learning about what people in the Victorian era wore at the seaside. Pupils’ vocabulary and skills of contrasting and comparing were developed extremely well as they thought about and discussed 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

Victorian, current and religious dress codes.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Inspectors found the pupils to be polite, extremely well behaved and welcoming, emulating the excellent role models of the adults in the school. The vast majority of parents and carers believe that their children are safe and that the school deals effectively with any challenging behaviours. Exemplary behaviour was evident in the lessons, assembly and playtimes observed during the inspection and pupils told inspectors this was typical behaviour in their school. At the start of the academic year, pupils in each class agree with their teacher a charter of rights and responsibilities to which they all adhere consistently. Pupils’ extremely positive attitudes are a major contributory factor to the outstanding progress that they make in their learning.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils said that they feel safe and know that the teachers and other adults in school will help with any problems if they arise. Pupils are aware that there are different types of bullying, such as physical, name calling and prejudicial, but such occurrences are extremely rare. They are well aware of fire, road and internet safety. Pupils say they are very happy to come to school and demonstrate this through their above-average levels of attendance.

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Leadership and management

The school benefits from the motivational leadership provided by the headteacher and senior staff. Along with governors, leaders communicate a shared vision that is highly ambitious, aspiring for excellence in achievement and personal development for every pupil. Staff morale is high and all are proud to be members of this school community which willingly shares its expertise with local schools and has contributed to national research as an exemplar of highly effective engagement with parents.

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Leadership and management

The school’s capacity to improve is outstanding. Teaching has improved strongly since the previous inspection and is now outstanding, attainment has risen, attendance has improved and persistent absenteeism has become virtually non- existent. All staff and leaders work together to ensure that pupils’ needs are addressed on an individual basis, that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed and that there is no discrimination of any kind. The governing body monitors the work of the school closely and provides strong support and challenge in helping to drive improvement. Leaders ensure that arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust and fully meet statutory requirements.

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Leadership and management

All leaders support teachers extremely well through classroom observation, mentoring and training, and through collaborative work with outstanding schools. Leaders very effectively hold teachers to account for pupils’ progress through the termly ‘no child left behind’ meetings. The school development plan is comprehensive and aspirational. It targets improvement in all aspects of the school’s work, including aspiring towards even more outstanding teaching. 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

The excellent curriculum is broad and balanced, with a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities. Extremely well-planned enrichment activities such as visits to museums and theatres and visitors to the school ensure that provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. For example, the recent visit to a monocultural school in Essex where pupils made a presentation on their diverse cultures and religions served to highlight the harmonious relationships evident in the school.

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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 Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School, Edgware HA8 5RU

Thank you for the warm welcome that you gave us when we visited your school. We greatly enjoyed talking to many of you. Yours is an outstanding school and these are some of the reasons why.

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Inspection of Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School, Edgware HA8 5RU

 Your headteacher, staff and governing body help you achieve your very best in all that you do.  You clearly enjoy school. You feel very safe at school, work really well together in your lessons and behave extremely well.  The school provides you with many enjoyable and fun learning opportunities during the school day as well as after school, including visiting so many interesting places.  Your teachers prepare excellent lessons and work with you to make your learning fun and very exciting.

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Inspection of Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School, Edgware HA8 5RU

Even outstanding schools have things that could be better. We have asked the school to ensure that teachers always give you enough opportunities to correct your work so that you can learn from your mistakes, following marking and oral feedback, and make even more progress.

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Inspection of Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School, Edgware HA8 5RU

All of you can help to improve your school by continuing to work hard and making sure you always try to do as well as you can. We wish you all the best for the future and thank you again for your help.

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Inspection of Stag Lane Infant and Nursery School, Edgware HA8 5RU

David Radomsky 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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