Fryent Primary School

Fryent Primary School Church Lane, London, NW9 8JD

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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

 There is not enough good or outstanding teaching to ensure that all pupils achieve well.  The progress pupils make as they move up through the year groups is uneven because the quality of teaching varies too much.  Some teachers do not expect enough of pupils in lessons and provide work that is too easy, which slows pupils’ progress.  Too many of the more-able pupils do not make the progress they should in English.  Senior leaders’ and governors’ planned strategies have not improved teaching or pupils’ achievement quickly enough in the past.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders are now taking more effective steps to improve teaching and accelerate progress.  Pupils work hard in lessons, listen carefully to one another’s ideas and behave well as they move around school.  Pupils make good progress in Year 6.  Pupils know what they have to do to improve their work because teachers give them clear feedback in their books.  The school has an effective strategy to keep adults and children safe while building work is going on. The school remains safe and secure.  Attendance has risen to above average and pupils enjoy coming to school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 30 lessons, of which three were joint observations with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and two parent governors, the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and an assistant headteacher, subject leaders, and the leaders of the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Inspectors met with two groups of pupils and spoke to other pupils in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors listened to pupils reading and looked at their written work.  A discussion was held with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of 33 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View), together with discussions with parents and carers as they arrived at school in the morning and left in the evening.  Inspectors took account of 34 questionnaires returned by staff.  A number of the school’s documents was examined and included the school’s most recent data

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Information about this inspection

about pupils’ progress, the school’s self-evaluation and its development plan, evidence about monitoring and evaluating teaching, and records relating to behaviour, safeguarding and attendance and punctuality.

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Inspection team

Jim McVeigh, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Gill Walley Additional Inspector Margaret Wolf Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 A building project, which will double the size of the school, is currently in progress and will be so for the remainder of the year. It has reduced the outside area available for children to play and has disrupted the daily life of the school.  The school is larger than average. Its population has grown and there will eventually be around twice as many pupils.  The school population comprises pupils from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds. The largest groups are Asian or Asian British, most of whom are of Pakistani heritage, followed by Black or Black British. A very high number of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in the care of the local authority and for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, is above average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported at school

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Information about this school

action is high. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with statements of special educational needs is above average.  The school runs a nursery on site as part of its Early Years Foundation Stage.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school does not currently use alternative provision for any pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better by ensuring that all teachers:  have high expectations of what pupils can achieve in a lesson and set work that is demanding enough, especially for the more-able pupils in English  increase the pace of lessons so that pupils do not spend too long listening to the teacher and get started on the main activity more quickly.  Increase the impact of leaders, managers and governors on the quality of teaching by:  ensuring that the monitoring and evaluation of teaching is carried out regularly and includes a more prominent role for subject leaders  ensuring that the good and outstanding teaching practice that exists at the school is shared with all teachers.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because pupils make uneven progress in English and mathematics due to variations in the quality of teaching. Scrutiny of pupils’ written work and school data show that pupils make better progress in Year 6, particularly in mathematics, than in the other year groups of Key Stage 2.  The more-able pupils do not always make enough progress in English because the work they are given is not hard enough.  Pupils’ attainment fell below the national average in mathematics and English in 2011, but recovered to average levels in 2012. Fewer pupils reached the higher levels of attainment in English than in schools nationally.  Significant numbers of children enter the nursery below or well below national expectations. They make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage due to the provision of stimulating activities and resources and good support from teachers. On entry to Year 1, pupils

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

are slightly below national averages and make the expected progress during Key Stage 1.  Boys now make better progress in their writing and the gap that had existed between the quality of their writing and that of the girls has closed. However, progress in writing for all pupils is not consistently good.  Weaker readers in Years 5 and 6 can read simple texts and have effective strategies to break up unfamiliar words into separate letter groups, but they are less sure about the sounds that different groups of letters make.  There is some inconsistency in the quality of teaching letters and the sounds they make in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to other pupils in school and reach standards that are in line with similar pupils nationally.  The school supports pupils learning English as an additional language well so that they make

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

similar progress to their peers in English and mathematics.  The progress made by pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium is similar to that of other pupils in the school and the gap between how well they and other pupils attain is closing. The extra funding is mainly used to pay for teachers in Years 5 and 6 to give support to eligible pupils in class, but it also provides training for parents to help their children with school work at home.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because it does not promote consistently good achievement in all year groups and it does not help more-able pupils to do well enough in English.  Teachers do not always give pupils tasks that are difficult enough for them, so they make less progress than they could. For example, pupils in a Year 3 mathematics lesson were given very similar worksheets on addition and subtraction, which were too easy for the most-able pupils.  Sometimes teachers talk for too long when introducing a lesson, or the lesson is not brisk enough, so that pupils become restless and have too little time left to work on the main tasks. In a Year 4 mathematics lesson, the teacher’s explanation of the task was over long and too detailed so that pupils did not have to think enough for themselves and a few became restless.  Teachers do not always explain what they expect pupils to be able to do by the end of the

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

lesson, which limits pupils’ progress. For example, in a Year 5 lesson in which pupils had to produce a poster about the solar system, the teacher did not explain what a good poster would look like and pupils made little progress, spending too much time embellishing the poster rather than adding scientific facts.  In many lessons, teachers provide children with good opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills. Pupils are encouraged to talk to their partners and, in the Early Years Foundation Stage; they take part in role play and the retelling of stories.  Learning support assistants are usually well informed about their roles in lessons and support the pupils who need extra help well.  Some teaching is outstanding. In a Year 6 English lesson about writing in the style of a journalist, the teacher skilfully extended pupils’ knowledge of different words related to a crime scene through very effective questioning and whole-class and paired discussion. Pupils were

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

inspired to contribute enthusiastically and made excellent progress, culminating in a good piece of independent writing about a crime.  Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and pupils understand and can explain the system used. The marking shows pupils how well they have done and what they have to do to improve.  Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and manage it well. They follow the school’s system for promoting good behaviour closely and, as a consequence, pupils are familiar with class rules and respond quickly to teachers’ instructions.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy their learning. They stick to the tasks teachers have set them, present the work in their books neatly and most behave well in lessons. They listen considerately to one another when they are sharing their ideas and collaborate well in pairs or small groups.  Pupils feel safe and well looked after at school and they know how to stay safe when on the internet. They learn about local hazards, such as crossing the road or playing in the park. They are very aware of the need to be careful when moving around the school while the building work is going on.  The play areas are well supervised by adults and pupils play sensibly.  Pupils do not consider bullying to be a problem and know that any incidents that do occur will be resolved quickly by staff.  Children value the Place2Be room, where those who have social or emotional problems can get effective support and counselling.  The number of exclusions and incidents of poor behaviour is low.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Staff, parents and governors believe behaviour and safety at the school are good.  Pupils like their school. Last year, attendance figures rose to above average and those figures have been maintained this term.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The way the senior leadership team monitors and evaluates teaching has not led to rapid enough improvement in the past.  Since the dip in pupils’ performance at Key Stage 2 in 2011, the senior leadership team has shown greater urgency in improving the quality of teaching. It has made good use of local authority advisers to evaluate the quality of teaching and to provide further training for school leaders in ways of evaluating the school’s performance.  The school has now put in place a more rigorous procedure to check the work of teachers and makes good use of national guidance about the features of good teaching. The training that is planned for teachers is now more effective because it is tailored to the needs of each individual teacher. Senior leaders ensure that the progress teachers make up the pay scales is closely linked to the progress pupils make in class.  The senior leadership team has compiled a thorough and accurate evaluation of the school’s

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The leadership and management requires improvement

work and the judgements made on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement agree with those of the inspection team. Senior leaders know where the strengths in teaching lie and have introduced initiatives to improve teachers’ performance, particularly in English and mathematics.  Senior leaders now focus teachers’ work on key areas for improvement. They generate a termly action plan which clearly spells out the high expectations the school has of both teachers and pupils.  The school is training key subject and middle leaders who now help to check the work of other teachers. An experienced deputy headteacher trained the coordinators effectively for a term. The subject leaders have begun to support teachers well by offering advice and teaching alongside them. There are good indications, from the local authority reviews and the senior leaders’ own observations of lessons, that the proportion of good or better teaching has

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The leadership and management requires improvement

increased.  Leaders efficiently collect and analyse data about pupils’ achievements. For example, they are aware of the uneven progress made by pupils in different year groups and that the achievement of disadvantaged pupils is improving.  The school is using its partnership with other schools, including outstanding ones, to evaluate the quality of its work and to check the accuracy of its assessments of pupils’ attainment.  The school’s curriculum is suitably broad and involves an element of choice for pupils. There are good links between subjects which give pupils opportunities to develop their literacy and numeracy skills. The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. However, the current building work restricts the range of clubs that can be offered to pupils.  Since the last inspection, the leadership and management have driven up attendance figures from low to above average. They have improved pupils’ achievement in mathematics, the

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The leadership and management requires improvement

quality of boys’ writing and pupils’ behaviour. This demonstrates their capacity to sustain improvement.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is aware of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement through reports from, and meetings with, the headteacher, external reviews by the local authority and governors’ own visits to observe pupils’ learning. Governors are well aware that teaching and pupils’ achievement need to be improved. The governing body understands the system for performance management and ensures that teachers’ progression up the pay scale is linked to how well pupils perform. Governors manage the budget well and know that the way the school uses pupil premium funding to raise the achievement of disadvantaged pupils has been successful in closing the achievement gap between these pupils and the rest. They ensure that safeguarding requirements are fully met.

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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 101531 Local authority London Borough of Brent Inspection number 404767

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 536 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bob Wharton Headteacher Jean Thwaites Date of previous school inspection 22–23 November 2012 Telephone number 020 8205 4047 Fax number 020 8205 3480 Email address admin@fryent.brent.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

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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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