The James Oglethorpe Primary School

The James Oglethorpe Primary School Ashvale Gardens, Upminster, RM14 3NB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Pupils’ progress in Key Stage 2 has fluctuated in recent years. A dip in achievement for Year 6 pupils in 2011 was followed by an improvement in 2012.  There is not enough good teaching. Inconsistencies are often linked to planning that does not take accurate account of what pupils need to learn next.  Pupils do not always know their targets and are often unclear about what they are aiming for in a piece of work. Targets are not routinely referred to when work is marked and there are insufficient opportunities for pupils to correct their mistakes and to reflect on what they need to do next.  Systems for managing the performance of staff are not yet consistently applied, particularly in linking teaching to pupils’ progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 Children are well taught in the Early Years Foundation Stage. They make good progress in Reception, reaching standards that are well above national expectations in most areas of their development.  Children’s behaviour in and out of lessons is good. Pupils contribute confidently to group work and are able to work independently. They are courteous and polite, both to adults and to each other.  Since the last inspection, the governing body has become better at challenging and supporting the school and in finding out what parents and carers think about it.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 17 lessons, six of which were carried out with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. They also carried out a series of short visits to other lessons across the school, observed an assembly and listened to children read.  Meetings were held with staff, pupils, members of the governing body, including the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from the local authority. Inspectors took account of 49 responses to the on-line Parent View questionnaire as well as any views communicated by letter.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation, including nationally-published data and the school’s own data, the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plans, safeguarding policies and records and documents relating to performance management.

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Inspection team

Lesley Leak, Lead inspector Additional inspector Peter McCarthy Additional inspector Victoria Turner Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The James Oglethorpe Primary School is larger than the average primary school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for additional support based on funding through the government pupil premium initiative is well below average.  Most pupils are of White British heritage. A very small number of pupils are recent arrivals in the country and are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language.  The proportions of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action and school action plus, or who have a statement of special educational needs, are below average.  The school meets the government’s floor targets, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality and consistency of teaching across the school by ensuring that:  work set is sufficiently challenging to meet the needs of all pupils, especially the most able  teachers consistently use their knowledge of pupils’ capabilities to plan for their next stages of learning  staff routinely create structured opportunities for pupils to reflect on how well they have done against learning goals, enabling them to correct any misconceptions and to understand what they have to achieve next.  Ensure that leaders and managers are effective at identifying and resolving issues of underperformance in teaching by:  consistently and regularly holding all teachers and other adults to account for pupils’ outcomes through tightly managed, ambitious performance management targets linked to the quality of teaching  evaluating the impact of teachers’ professional development on pupils’ progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress at the end of Key Stage 2 has fluctuated in recent years. A dip in achievement for Year 6 pupils in 2011 was followed by an improvement in 2012 .  The school’s data show that the rate of progress is now increasing. The school has identified some slow progress in two mathematics groups and is now tackling this. Children are well taught in the Early Years Foundation Stage. They make good progress in Reception, reaching standards above national expectation in most areas of their development.  The majority of pupils continue to make good progress in writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. However, a small minority of pupils are not making as much progress as they should in the core subjects.  Standards in reading are broadly average at Key Stage 1 and pupils are now beginning to make faster progress in reading throughout the school. Strengthened teaching of phonics – the sounds

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

that letters make – is beginning to have an impact on children’s ability to read unfamiliar words with increased confidence.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs progress at a similar rate to other groups of pupils, as do those for whom the school receives extra funding.  There is too much inconsistency in marking. Pupils are not always aware of their targets and are sometimes unclear about the aims of their work.  Literacy and numeracy intervention programmes are generally effective at supporting pupils who need extra help and have contributed to the improvement in attainment.  The school is effective in fostering pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development through its creative curriculum. Opportunities for pupils to use and apply their writing and numeracy skills across the curriculum are beginning to take effect.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 There is not enough good teaching. Inconsistencies are often linked to planning that does not take accurate account of what pupils need to learn next. The work set is not always challenging enough, particularly for some of the most able pupils. Where teaching needed improvement teachers tended to set tasks which were sometimes too easy and occasionally too hard for the pupils.  The school is aware that some children are not doing as well as they could and provides a range of activities to improve the situation. Additional support has been provided to boost the progress of children in Year 6.  Teachers do not always ensure that pupils are clear about the steps that they have to take to progress. This is especially true for the more able pupils, where there is often insufficient guidance provided to ensure that they are appropriately challenged. In a Years 5 and 6 mathematics lesson, pupils were allowed to choose which ‘nets of 3D shapes’ to make. While

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

some children gave themselves the challenge of making a dodecahedron, most settled for the easiest option of ‘netting a cube’.  Misconceptions are not always anticipated or corrected as they arise in lessons. In an otherwise effective literacy lesson, Years 3 and 4 pupils were enjoying finding adjectives to describe the feelings of the competitors and the spectators in photographs of Olympic events. As pupils enthusiastically collected and recorded word banks of apt, descriptive words, it became apparent that some did not know the difference between adverbs and adjectives, but the teacher did not tackle this. Therefore, the pupils continued to be confused.  Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. A well-planned mixture of teaching and play, both inside and outside the classroom, contributes well to the children’s good learning and progress. In one lesson, children learned the correct letter formation by practising writing the

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

letter ‘a’ in the air. This multi-sensory approach supported their learning well.  Reading is increasingly well taught. Phonics is successfully taught to younger pupils. Older pupils have good opportunities to read and talk about books they are reading with other adults as well as their teachers.  Teachers assess and check pupils’ understanding in lessons and record their weaknesses as well as their strengths in specially designed ‘assessment notebooks’. However, this potentially useful strategy is not consistently followed up to show children how they can improve next time.  The marking of pupils’ work is inconsistently applied, especially in Key Stage 2, and there are insufficient structured opportunities for pupils to correct their mistakes, clear up any misconceptions and reflect on how they could improve.  Many pupils do not know their targets. In the best lessons, pupils have targets which set out

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

what they have to do to reach their learning levels, but these are not routinely referred to in Key Stage 2 when their work is marked, or when it is planned.  Pupils make confident contributions when engaged in interactive group work and they are able to work independently. Pupils are skilled at making connections across subjects. They work well together to solve problems.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say that the good behaviour inspectors saw in class is typical. They say that pupils get on with each other and that incidents of bullying are rare. On the odd occasion when bullying occurs, pupils and parents and carers say that matters are dealt with swiftly and effectively.  Pupils know how to stay safe and are well aware of e-safety. Exclusion rates are very low.  The vast majority of pupils behave well in lessons, even where work set fails to challenge them sufficiently. They work diligently to complete tasks and try to do their best. They listen well and engage in tasks and activities. Lessons are never interrupted and attitudes to learning are always good.  The atmosphere of the school is extremely positive and behaviour is good out of lessons and in the playground. Pupils are courteous and polite to adults and to each other. They work together constructively.  Pupils who are new to the school who do not speak English are warmly welcomed and cared for

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

by their classmates. The school is promoting equality of opportunity, fostering good relations and fostering pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Pupils’ behaviour is well managed by staff and attendance is broadly in line with national averages.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The headteacher, the school governors and leaders at all levels are committed to the school’s success and are keen to build on the improved attainment seen at Key Stage 2 in 2012. Staff questionnaires showed that staff have confidence in leadership and management. There is secure capacity for further improvement.  The quality of teaching and learning is monitored through lesson observations as well as scrutiny of planning and pupils’ work. Nonetheless, areas requiring improvement, relating to teaching, both at whole-school level and for individual teachers, are not always clearly identified or followed up.  Systems for managing the performance of staff are not yet consistently applied by all reviewers, particularly in terms of writing review statements that reflect rigour and hold all teachers to account for the impact of their teaching on pupils’ learning and progress.  The curriculum is broad and balanced and there is a good range of extra-curricular

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The leadership and management require improvement

opportunities. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively.  The school is working well with parents and carers to ensure that they are fully aware of how they can support their children’s learning at home. All of the parents and carers who responded to the Parent View questionnaire were very supportive of the school.  Curricular targets in the core subjects are not ambitious enough to secure good progress by the time pupils leave school.  Following the last inspection report, the local authority has provided light touch support for the school.  The governance of the school:  Since the school was last inspected, there have been changes in the governing body and a new Chair was appointed in April 2012. The governors took urgent action to help improve Key Stage 2 results by appointing an additional teacher to manage an intervention programme for a defined period of time. This was successful in identifying Year 6 pupils who needed extra

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The leadership and management require improvement

support and enabling them to reach their targets. Well trained by the local authority, the governing body has devised effective strategies to challenge the school’s data on pupils’ progress. Governors recognise that, while they are informed about the school’s monitoring of teaching and performance management targets, there is scope for a sharper focus on the impact of these systems on pupils’ achievement.  The governing body has developed good links with parents and carers to find out their views about the school and fulfils all of its statutory duties, including those relating to safeguarding.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 102268 Local authority Havering Inspection number 404813

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 305 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mrs Cathy Rogers Headteacher Deborah Rowles Date of previous school inspection 21–22 October 2010 Telephone number 01708 225202 Fax number 01708 641050 Email address office@jamesoglethorpe.havering.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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