Holy Trinity CofE Primary School

Holy Trinity C of E Primary School Rickmansworth Road, Northwood, HA6 2RH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary and pupils feel safe and make others safe around them because of the school leaders’ outstanding focus on the school’s ethos and values.  Attendance is consistently high and reflects pupils’ enjoyment of school.  The curriculum is rich and vibrant with opportunities for the pupils to learn new information and develop skills, as well as practise ways to work together and develop caring relationships.  Pupils achieve well across the school. There is no gap in attainment between different groups of pupils, for example those pupils entitled to free school meals and those that are not. Pupils get very good help when they need to improve quickly.  The headteacher and other leaders work hard with staff and governors to ensure that teaching is good and continuing to improve.  Since the last inspection the leadership of subject areas has improved notably.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching is not yet outstanding to ensure that all pupils make exceptional progress as they move through the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons or parts of lessons, some of which were joint observations with the headteacher.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of school documents, including school development plans, policies, pupil progress information, records of the checks the school carries out on the quality of teaching, safeguarding documents, local authority reports, pupils’ work and information for families such as that found on the school website.  Inspectors heard pupils read, attended an assembly and visited several clubs including a breakfast club. They scrutinised work from all year groups.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, the leadership team, a representative of the local authority, governors, class teachers and a range of pupils chosen at random as well as a group chosen by the school.  Inspectors took account of parent surveys made by the school and 96 views on the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) as well as views that parents and carers shared with inspectors

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Inspection team

Christine Fogg, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Jacqueline Marshall Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This school is a smaller than the average sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives additional funding (pupil premium), including those known to be eligible for free school meals, is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action, school action plus or with a statement of special needs is below average.  The school meets the current floor standards which set the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school has received an award for its work in developing international partnerships.  For one day a week the headteacher supports local schools as a primary adviser and an inspector for the Diocese of London, carrying out statutory inspections of Anglican schools.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the progress of pupils across the school and raise standards still further through raising the quality of teaching to outstanding by ensuring that:  the planning of lessons provides more frequent opportunities for all parts of the lesson to have work precisely matched to all abilities to engage and motivate pupils  current feedback and marking in all classes match the best practice seen so that pupils are always actively engaged in knowing what they need to do to improve  staffing structures and teachers’ planning enable additional adults to be deployed so that their time is used as effectively and efficiently in classrooms as it is when working with smaller focused groups.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children make good progress in the Nursery because of good and outstanding teaching and the well resourced learning environment especially in the indoor classroom. Children join the Reception class with skills and abilities that are above average. They continue to make very good progress as they express themselves well with confidence and develop good social skills as well as beginning to read, write and use mathematics effectively.  For the past three years Year 2 pupils have consistently ended the year with attainment that is well above average in reading, writing and mathematics. The excellent progress made in Key Stage 1 is built on by good progress in Key Stage 2. Although, Year 6 pupils reached average standards in their 2012 national tests for English and mathematics, this represented good progress from their starting points and rapid progress from 2010. The gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement in the school has closed. Scrutiny of pupils’ books and lesson observations

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The achievement of pupils is good

clearly indicate good, and at times better, progress is embedded across the school.  The school is effective in supporting pupils who need to catch up quickly through additional well targeted individual and small group support. Some underachievement from past staffing changes has been tackled well and current information demonstrates the current good progress of pupils across the school. Similarly, pupils who have special educational needs make good progress because their teachers carefully plan the correct support and teaching assistants are skilful and effective in one-to-one sessions and small groups.  The pupil premium is used effectively to ensure those pupils receiving the funding make good, and for some even better, progress. The school uses a carefully tailored range of resources so that pupils achieve well in mathematics as well as English.  Pupils’ work, kept in sample folders, shows good progress in writing and across a wide range of

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The achievement of pupils is good

subjects, with excellent marking. However, this high quality marking with comments about how to improve is not consistently used in all books in all subjects and, as a result, opportunities are missed to accelerate progress even further.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers plan lessons carefully and effectively consider the needs of all pupils by telling them what is expected by the end of the lesson. They contain aspects that are challenging and stimulating for all pupils. However, sometimes the introduction to lessons does not help all pupils engage quickly or it is too easy for them and they do not make enough progress in this time.  Teachers manage learning well in a variety of ways by using talk partners and group work to share ideas and plan answers to challenging questions. As a result, pupils work with interest and classroom talk is about what they are learning.  Teacher subject knowledge is good and teachers use their expertise well. Consequently, pupils in all year groups can use a range of grammatical and technical vocabulary confidently. This demonstrates that teaching has been good over time because pupils can apply what they learned previously to the new work that they are doing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is taught well in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Years 1 and 2. Older pupils continue to have a love of reading and develop higher order reading skills in their independent reading.  Information and communication technology (ICT) is used very effectively to engage pupils and support progress. All pupils can use tablet computers with confidence in a variety of ways. They save evidence of good work made on whiteboards before it is rubbed off and research images and text to help their work. The use of technology provides quick access to stimulating resources that teachers have planned for the pupils to use.  In many books effective marking helps pupils understand how well they are doing. Sometimes pupils continue the written dialogue with their own comments, showing that this is helpful and important to them. All teachers tell pupils how well they have done and some are very effective

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The quality of teaching is good

in explaining what is needed next. However, this is not yet a consistent feature of all teachers’ marking and opportunities are missed to ensure that every pupil knows exactly how to improve and make accelerated progress.  Teachers plan effective and focused activities for small groups and they support teaching assistants well so that these pupils receiving such help, including those receiving the pupil premium funding as well as those with special educational needs, make good and sometimes better progress.  In whole class lessons there are occasions when teaching assistants are not as effectively directed and this means that their time is not always used efficiently to support pupils’ learning and accelerate achievement. For example, during teachers’ introductions to lessons, some teaching assistants talked little to the pupils and sat waiting to help as pupils settled down to their tasks.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour in class and around the school is excellent. Pupils greatly enjoy school and are extremely positive about the interesting learning activities, the many extra-curricular activities run by staff and the popular breakfast and after school clubs. Parents and carers are unanimous that children are happy at school, well looked after and kept safe. They report that behaviour is excellent and that the school deals with any bullying quickly, the staff agree. Attendance has improved and is high.  Bullying is very rare and dealt with quickly. Pupils agreed they feel safe, know who to go to if they need help and are proactive in looking after others. Pupils are playful at the appropriate times, they are lively and alert, while being caring and observant of each other’s rights. One pupil explained that he was helping his classmate to behave well and gain more stickers that day. The young pupils can be seen trying very hard to behave well and older pupils consistently

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

show the respect that they have for others.  Pupils understand how to work safely with ICT and the school’s policy for eSafety works exceptionally well. Pupils know exactly what to do if they have any concerns when they use the internet and the school monitors this really carefully. This means that pupils are interested in what they can find, but are safely using ICT in lessons and clubs.  The school works particularly hard to develop caring young people who understand the meaning of waste and how to use limited resources wisely. As a result of carrying out joint projects, pupils talk with real empathy and confidence about the daily life of children attending a school in Malawi that they link with. They are developing a very good understanding of how others live through knowing these children’s lives.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher is a highly effective and inspirational leader. He has been instrumental in prioritising the values of the school which are shared with all and, as a result, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding and their behaviour exemplary.  All leaders are committed to working together with all staff to try and ensure that the school becomes outstanding. They are clear about exactly what they need to do next and do not make changes without careful planning, ensuring that this is what is best for the pupils in the school. School leaders at all levels play a significant and highly effective role in monitoring and improving teaching, learning and achievement for example the art curriculum is inspirational and leadership in science has been awarded a quality mark.  There are excellent systems to track the progress of pupils. One example of how effectively this

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The leadership and management are outstanding

has been used is in checking the difference made to pupils’ achievement of pupil premium funding. This is carefully targeted to provide pupils with access to additional small group sessions and one to one sessions. As a result, pupils who receive this premium do as well or better than those who do not. This is an example of how the school promotes equality and tackles any discrimination robustly.  The curriculum provides a wealth of interesting topics and very good links to make the most of pupils’ skills in order to reinforce learning. Extra-curricular activities add to the extremely strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural dimension that lessons provide.  Performance management is used very well to develop all staff and to set targets that will improve the quality of teaching so that pupil progress will improve. The school has a very good track record of developing staff’s effectiveness. The main priority is working to increase the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

proportion of outstanding teaching across the school in order to accelerate pupils’ achievement and raise standards still further.  There are good links with parents and carers. For example, the school website is clear and informative and parents and carers are informed about school development planning in an easily understood document. The local authority has provided effective, light touch support for this good school where requested.  The governance of the school: – Governors are fully involved in checking the progress the school makes towards achieving its key development priorities. They have a clear understanding of the strengths and weakness in teaching, and how performance management is being used to develop teaching further and improve pupil standards. Governors regularly attend training events and have an astute awareness of how teacher performance is aligned to salary progression. Through challenge

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The leadership and management are outstanding

and professional debate before major changes are carried out, they hold the headteacher and other school leaders to account very effectively. As part of this they ensure that the headteacher’s work supporting other schools does not affect the school adversely but enables him to develop his professional expertise to the school’s benefit. Governors are clear about the use of pupil premium. They can explain how the budget has been planned to enable a wider range of strategies to be provided to accelerate the progress of pupils.

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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 102418 Local authority Hillingdon Inspection number 402884

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 231 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dr Kirsty Moore Headteacher Daniel Norris Date of previous school inspection 2–3 July 2008 Telephone number 01923 822529 Email address holytrin@hillingdongrid.org 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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