Farnham Green Primary SchoolOfsted inspection, 29 Nov 2012

Farnham Green Primary School Royal Close, Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, IG3 8UY

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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

 Recent improvements in teaching have not yet ensured learning activities are always well matched to the needs of pupils, especially the more able.  Teachers do not always ensure that pupils have the opportunities to assess their own work and know how to reach their targets.  Pupils’ attainment across the key stages has been below national averages since the last inspection because, until recently, the rates of pupils’ progress have been too slow.  Pupils’ attendance is below average because the school’s efforts to engage parents to improve on attendance and punctuality have not been successful.  Leaders in charge of subjects have not been fully involved in checking the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement in all subjects.  The high staff turnover over recent years has slowed the rate of improvements.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher has worked well with the school’s leadership team to ensure that inadequate teaching has been removed.  Pupils feel safe because they are well looked after. They know how to keep themselves safe.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. Pupils respond to each other well and accept differences.  The governors support and challenge the senior leaders to share out responsibilities effectively in order to improve all aspects of the school’s work.  Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are well taught and make good progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 27 lessons taught by 18 teachers. Twelve of the lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher and three senior leaders. In addition, inspectors undertook a number of short visits to several lessons.  Inspectors scrutinised teachers’ marking of pupils’ work. They looked at displays around the school and listened to pupils reading in Years 1, 2 and 5.  Inspectors observed two school assemblies.  Pupils’ behaviour at break and lunch times was observed.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, the Chair of the Governing Body, a representative from the local authority, senior leaders and those in charge of subjects. Further discussions were held with a group of teachers and three groups of pupils.  Inspectors examined and discussed the school’s self-evaluation report with the headteacher and scrutinised the information on the achievement of pupils across the school and over the past

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Information about this inspection

three years. Monitoring records relating to the quality of teaching and learning were also looked at. Safeguarding records and attendance figures were examined.  Inspectors took account of responses from 45 parents to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View).

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Inspection team

Samuel Ofori-Kyereh, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Michael Elson Additional Inspector Jill Threwils Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Farnham Green is a much-larger-than-average-size primary school.  The vast majority of pupils come from Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi backgrounds.  The proportions of pupils who speak English as additional language is much higher than seen nationally. However, the proportion of those who are at the early stages of learning English is high.  The proportion of pupils who are supported by pupil premium, the additional funding for those eligible for free school meals, and children in public care, is well above the national average.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs supported at school action is in line with national average. The proportion of pupils who are supported at school action plus or have a statement of special educational needs is average.  Since the previous inspection, the school building has been extended to accommodate the increasing pupil population. There have been several changes to staffing. A large number of

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Information about this school

teachers have left the school and new ones have joined.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There is no alternative provision at the school.

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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 across the school by ensuring that: – marking across the school is consistent and provides pupils with clear steps on how they can improve their work and provides opportunities to respond to comments – activities engage pupils’ interest and motivation and keep pupils actively involved in their learning – other adults are effectively deployed to support pupils who require help with their learning, particularly disabled pupils and those with special educational needs – existing best practice in teaching is shared throughout the school.   Raise pupils' achievement in all subjects, especially English and mathematics, across the school by: – ensuring that teachers use accurate assessment information on pupils to plan challenging activities that are matched to the pupils’ daily learning needs, especially the more able – involving pupils in assessing their learning so they know how well they are doing and setting

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

learning targets so that they can take more responsibility for their progress – fully establishing the new changes to the literacy and numeracy programme in order to increase the rate at which all pupils acquire skills in reading, writing, communication and mathematics.  Improve pupils’ attendance and punctuality across the school by engaging with parents and carers and holding them accountable in ensuring that their children attend school regularly and on time.  Improve the effectiveness of school leadership by: – ensuring that newly appointed leaders in charge of subjects play a greater role in monitoring the quality of teaching – ensuring that responsibilities are carefully shared out in order to develop and maintain a team of high calibre staff.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment has been on a downward trajectory at the end of Years 2 for the past three years and is below average. At the end of year 6, however, trends had been fluctuating but have risen in 2012 and is now above average. The recent improvements in the quality of teaching have enabled pupils to begin to make better progress across the different subjects. Remaining weaknesses in teaching mean that, overall, pupils make less progress than expected.  Until very recently, the progress made by pupils at the end of Reception has not been sustained in Years 1 and 2 and so their achievement in reading, writing and mathematics has fallen to below average over the last few years. The current changes to the subjects that pupils learn and improved teaching in Years 1 and 2 have ensured that pupils are now beginning to make at least the expected progress in lessons.  Pupils make slower progress in lower Key Stage 2 in all subjects because, until recently, teachers

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

failed to use assessment information to plan challenging activities that are matched to the pupils’ learning needs, especially the more able, so that they are engaged and make good progress.  The school has strengthened its approach to identifying pupils who are lagging behind for early and specific interventions. Focused activities to accelerate pupils’ progress in Years 5 and 6 have helped to improve achievement. Support sessions for pupils who are supported by pupil premium, those who speak English as additional language, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are generally matched to their learning needs so that they now make the expected progress. Occasionally, additional adults are not used as well as they could be to support disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and their progress slows as a result.  Recent whole-school efforts to improve on the quality of teaching across the school have

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

enabled the large majority of pupils to make better progress across Key Stage 2. However, pupils are not always involved in assessing their learning so they know how well they are doing. Equally, opportunities for pupils to set targets for themselves so that they can take responsibility in checking their learning is limited.  The large majority of pupils read a wide range of books and with some fluency. They like to talk about and discuss their books and explain why they choose specific authors. The recent structured approach to teaching the different subjects, particularly literacy and numeracy, has not helped some pupils to make accelerated progress in acquiring good skills in reading, writing, mathematics and communication.  Children enter Nursery with skills and abilities that are generally well below the levels expected of their age. Good teaching within a stimulating environment across the Early Years Foundation

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

Stage ensures that the children get off to a very good start and make at least good progress in most aspects of their development. The well-developed outdoor learning area is particularly used well to support children’s development.  By the end of the Reception Year, most children have developed their social and fine motor skills and are able to write simple words and phrases. The children are taught well to improve their confidence with letters and sounds. Almost all of them are able to count confidently. They are happy and they get on well together and with adults because they are well cared for.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching varies too much from class to class and across year groups. The recent emphasis on improving the quality of teaching has helped to eradicate inadequate teaching.  Where teaching has less impact it is because activities fail to fully engage pupils’ interest and motivation and ensure that pupils are actively involved in completing learning activities. Occasionally, the work set does not always meet pupils’ learning needs. Additional adults are not effectively deployed to support pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs and, as such, they do not always make good progress.  Marking is regular, but the quality is inconsistent across the school. In some instances, marking provides feedback to pupils on how to improve. Mostly, however, marking fails to provide pupils with clear comments on how well they are doing, how to improve on their work and opportunities to respond to comments are often missing. This does not help pupils to learn from

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

their mistakes because they have no opportunities to correct their work.  The recent efforts to improve on the quality of teaching have ensured that many teachers plan lessons that provide opportunities for pupils to develop reading, writing, communication and mathematical skills across the different subjects. For example, in an outstanding Year 2 mathematics lessons, the teacher adopted the story of Guy Fawkes to explain the concept of directional movement very well so that all pupils were challenged, fully engaged and achieved well. However, opportunities for sharing such good and outstanding practices in teaching throughout the school are missing.  Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage has been consistently strong over the past years. For example, in two outstanding lessons seen in the Nursery and Reception, many practical and interactive activities were set that enabled children to be actively engaged and involved in their

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

learning so they made outstanding progress.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Years 1 and 2, where teaching is now good overall, teachers plan lessons well to ensure that all pupils are challenged to acquire skills, knowledge and understanding at a faster rate and develop a love for learning. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and they adopt innovative approaches to teaching pupils to link letters and sounds (phonics), write and to count, so that they acquire a good level of basic skills quickly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. The school adopts positive behaviour strategies that reward good behaviour and therefore encourage pupils to behave well. Pupils are clear about the school’s expectation of behaviour and they respond positively.  Generally, pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive, but where teaching fails to engage their interest and enthusiasm fully, some pupils get distracted and sit passively.  Pupils show that they possess good manners by holding the door for others and responding politely to each other and adults within lessons and around the school. The majority of pupils and parents indicate that behaviour is good in the school.  In discussions with inspectors, pupils displayed a good understanding of the different types of bullying including cyber bullying. They indicate that bullying does occur, but that it is rare and the school deals with such incidents effectively. The pupils indicated that the ‘playground squad’,

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

which comprises a group of pupils who are trained to deal with any incidents of bullying, has been effective in preventing bullying.  The majority of parents and carers indicate that their children feel safe at school and are well looked after. Pupils demonstrated that they understand the different types of risks they could be exposed to and they know how to respond to them in order to keep themselves safe. Pupils say that they enjoy coming to school because, in many lessons, learning is fun.  Pupils’ attendance is below average despite the school’s effort to secure the support of parents to improve on attendance. Attendance has not improved because many parents still take their children on holiday during school times, despite the fact that many have been fined for doing so.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s leadership and management are not yet good because it is too early for the school to have completely eradicated inconsistencies in teaching and sustained improvements in pupils’ achievement. The overwhelming majority of staff say that they have full confidence in the leadership of the school to improve standards.  Many of the subject leaders who are new to their roles are fully committed to their work. These leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They are focused on supporting teachers through training sessions in order to improve on the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ achievement. However, there are not yet enough opportunities for these newly appointed leaders to monitor the quality of teaching and share good practice regularly so that weaknesses in teaching can be eradicated.  The headteacher received support from the local authority and the governors during the recent

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The leadership and management requires improvement

period of considerable change. This collaboration has focused on ensuring that the school’s building project was completed on time. In addition, the support focused on improving the quality of teaching and raising pupils’ achievement through rigorous monitoring of teaching and learning. As a result, there have been recent improvements in these aspects of the school’s work.  The school’s evaluation is generally robust and accurate and closely linked with the school improvement plan which focused on the correct priorities for the school. The improvement plan clearly shows how resources are allocated, persons responsible for specific actions and the criteria for measuring success.  The school’s performance management systems have been revised and are now closely linked to teachers’ performance targets and pay progression. These targets are focused on improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. However, the different roles for leaders are not yet

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The leadership and management requires improvement

clearly defined and responsibilities are not shared effectively amongst staff.  The subjects that pupils learn have been revised to ensure that they are based on themes that provide opportunities for pupils to develop their reading, writing and communication skills across the different subjects. The changes to the subjects are focused on providing equal opportunities for all pupils, especially the disabled and those who have special educational needs, so that they make at least the expected progress. However, it is too early for these changes to have had a strong impact on pupils’ achievement. The new changes made to the literacy and numeracy programme is not yet fully established, although there are early signs that this is beginning to support pupils’ progress.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is developed through school assemblies, a wide range of art, sport and music activities and trips to places of worship and other educational

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The leadership and management requires improvement

centres.  The governance of the school: – Governors participate in a wide range of relevant training which equips them with knowledge and understanding to perform their duties effectively. They undertake a week-long monitoring visit to the school each term that helps them to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the school, including how it compares with other schools. During this visit, they monitor lessons, and gain and interpret information about the school’s work and its performance. Additionally, governors visit the school frequently so that they are well informed on the day- to-day activities within the school and understand the pace of improvement. As a result, governors are now able to ask probing questions that are essential for supporting and challenging the headteacher and the senior leaders to bring about improvements in the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. The finance committee of the governing body ensures

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The leadership and management requires improvement

that the school’s finances are used appropriately. The committee ensures that the pupil premium is used to recruit staff to provide support to pupils who require additional help with their learning and this has enabled them to make progress at a similar rate to their peers in the school. Additionally, the pupil premium is spent on educational visits and after-school clubs and has proved to be useful in engaging vulnerable pupils in their education. Governors are involved in oversight of the pay progression and its links with performance management. Governors have also received training in safer recruitment and child protection in order to ensure that pupils are safe. They fulfill their statutory duties.

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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 102801 Local authority Redbridge Inspection number 404842

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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 531 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jackie Hardie Headteacher Erica Quirk Date of previous school inspection 12  13 October 2010 Telephone number 0208 599 1206 Fax number 0208 599 9558 Email address admin.farnhamgreen@redbridge.gov.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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