Wendell Park Primary School

Wendell Park Primary School Cobbold Road, London, W12 9LB

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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 Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils achieve well. They make good progress from starting points that are generally low to achieve broadly average standards by the end of Year 6.  Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 have risen since the previous inspection.  The quality of teaching has been improved through the use of carefully chosen training opportunities which teachers have welcomed.  Pupils behave well. They treat each other with courtesy and respect. They particularly enjoy playtimes because there is a lot to do and the well-organised playground ensures everyone has access to stimulating activities.  Attendance has a high profile and parents and carers, and pupils, have responded well to the school’s work to encourage full attendance. As a consequence, attendance has risen since the previous inspection and is now average.  Leaders and managers are vigilant in ensuring all pupils make at least expected progress.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

They regularly refine the way in which they check on this.  Leaders manage the performance of teachers well because they set clear and relevant targets for improvement.  The governing body plays a critical role in challenging the school to ensure the needs of all pupils are met as well as they can be.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The proportion of outstanding teaching, although increasing, is not yet high enough to ensure pupils make and sustain the most rapid possible progress in all subjects.  Comments in marking usually indicate how pupils can improve their learning, but teachers do not regularly provide opportunities for pupils to respond to these comments in lessons.  Subject leaders are not sufficiently involved in checking the effectiveness of marking in the subjects for which they are responsible.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 26 lessons or parts of lessons, including the teaching of phonics (letter patterns and the sounds they represent) and guided reading. Nearly all the teaching staff were observed, including those who teach specialist groups.  Inspectors attended assembly, listened to pupils read and held meetings with pupils, staff and representatives from the governing body and the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 50 responses to the online Parent View survey and other correspondence from, and conversations with, parents and carers during the inspection.  Inspectors looked closely at pupils’ work in lessons, as well as the work pupils have completed over time in their books.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents including those relating to safeguarding and child protection, the governing body minutes, the school’s self-evaluation and development planning, data relating to pupils’ academic performance, documents on the overview and monitoring of

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Information about this inspection

teaching, logs relating to behaviour and attendance figures.

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Inspection team

Jeanie Jovanova, Lead inspector Additional inspector Raymond Prentice Additional inspector Lynne Kauffman Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average primary school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is in line with the national average. The proportion supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is slightly higher than the national average.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for looked after pupils, those entitled to free school meals and the children of service families, is much higher than the national average.  Pupils come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, with White British and Black African forming the largest groups.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is more than double the national average, and many of these pupils are at an early stage of learning English when they join the school.  A high number of pupils join and leave the school at other than the usual times.

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative provision for its pupils.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  A new deputy headteacher has taken up post since the previous inspection.  The school runs a family centre on the same site which was not inspected at this time.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching so that pupils make and sustain the most rapid possible progress in all subjects by:  ensuring the marking of pupils’ books always includes useful comments to help pupils improve their work and that pupils have opportunities to respond to these comments in lessons  ensuring subject leaders evaluate the quality of marking in the subjects for which they are responsible.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start school with skills that are often lower than those expected for their age. They are given a very good start to their schooling because staff in the Early Years Foundation Stage place great emphasis on developing language skills and creating a secure, stimulating environment.  This good progress continues into Key Stage 1 where standards have risen since the previous inspection. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 is in line with the national average, as is attainment in English and mathematics at the end of Year 2.  The proportion of pupils making expected progress across Key Stage 2 is high in comparison to national figures. Skills in reading, writing, communication and mathematics are carefully tracked to ensure no pupil falls behind.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs achieve well because careful

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The achievement of pupils is good

attention is paid to ensure their specific needs are met.  Pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium often make better progress than other pupils in the school because the funding provides highly specialised tuition which accelerates progress. In this way, the school is narrowing the gap between the attainment of this group and that of other pupils. Leaders monitor this by measuring both groups against similar groups nationally, based on pupils’ average point scores in national tests.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress because staff use an individualised approach to meeting their needs and understand the importance of reinforcing language use through real-life examples in supporting learning.  Pupils enjoy reading. Their good grounding in phonics ensures they make progress, and volunteer readers are used well to give pupils plenty of opportunities for individual attention.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from different ethnic backgrounds, including Black African and White British, achieve equally well because the school is a cohesive, inclusive community which is firmly committed to ensuring all pupils have an equal chance of gaining success.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching overall is good, with some that is outstanding. For example, careful planning based on children’s needs, interests and stages of development leads to outstanding provision in the Nursery, which gives children a really positive start to their education.  Phonics is taught well. For example, in a good lesson in Reception, teachers used actions and sounds to reinforce the new words being taught and involved children to see how much they had understood.  When teaching writing, teachers focus on stimulating pupils’ imaginations with pictures or real- life experiences. There is also a strong focus on vocabulary. Consequently, pupils’ work contains vivid descriptions and wonderful turns of phrase. This contributes to their good achievement in English.  In Year 6, pupils are taught in smaller groups for mathematics. This enables teachers to plan very detailed lessons aimed at the specific needs of their group. Inspectors observed lessons on

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The quality of teaching is good

probability in two of those groups and it was clear that this approach ensured pupils made good gains in their mathematical understanding.  Teachers gauge pupils’ responses to the intended learning and adapt it accordingly. Teachers also take all available opportunities to ensure learning is rooted in real-life experiences. In an outstanding lesson for a group of pupils at the early stages of learning English, the teacher changed the planning when it started snowing. Pupils produced some excellent writing and found it easy to learn new vocabulary because they were highly motivated and involved in the subject matter.  Teachers mark pupils’ work in books regularly, clearly indicating whether they have met their learning objectives and what they need to do next to improve. However, there are not enough opportunities for pupils to respond to these comments, so their impact on pupils’ progress is limited.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils behave well in and around the school. Playtimes are a high point because these are well organised to ensure there is plenty to do and everyone gets an equal chance of enjoying different pastimes. The clearly demarcated zones ensure all are safe and the well-trained supervisors deal with any issues promptly and efficiently.  Incidents of bullying are extremely rare because the school is a highly cohesive community with members who value its diversity. However, pupils trust that staff would deal immediately and effectively with any bullying because they manage behaviour consistently well.  The school keeps its pupils safe and ensures they learn how to keep themselves safe. The very large majority of parents and carers who completed the online survey agreed that their children feel safe.  Pupils understand what constitutes bullying. They can talk about cyber-bullying and are very clear what kind of language is considered inflammatory or offensive.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have positive attitudes to learning because the good teaching engages and enthuses them and teachers model appropriate behaviour.  Support for pupils who have particular behavioural needs is good and this ensures that they can access learning as well as develop positive behaviour strategies.  The school works closely with parents and carers, and this has helped secure higher attendance figures since the previous inspection.  The school has a commitment to fostering responsible, mature attitudes to conflict resolution so problems rarely escalate. This has contributed to a very low rate of fixed-term exclusions.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths. Similarly, they understand what the school as a whole, and individual staff within it, need to do to improve. They use this understanding to set sharp performance targets for staff. Staff are highly motivated to achieve their targets and understand the implications of not meeting them.  Senior leaders are astute at judging the quality of teaching. They are clear about what is needed to move teachers’ practice to the next level and employ a variety of solutions to bring about improvement, such as whole-school training and opportunities to visit other schools to get a fresh perspective.  Leaders hold in-depth discussions with class teachers at regular intervals about the progress individual pupils are making. This enables them to highlight any pupils whose progress has slowed and put measures in place to get them back on track.  All leaders track the progress pupils make carefully and produce appropriate action plans to

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The leadership and management are good

promote school improvement. However, subject leaders are not as effective as they could be in monitoring standards in their subjects, particularly through checking marking and feedback, in order to improve the quality of teaching.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. There are well-thought-out whole-school projects that create a sense of unity and common purpose, such as creating mosaics to celebrate Olympic ideals. Assemblies celebrate diversity and achievement and offer a forum to debate philosophical questions about tolerance and justice. Trips and visitors to the school enrich the curriculum and broaden pupils’ cultural horizons.The local authority judges the school to be good and offers light-touch support when requested.  The governance of the school:  Governors analyse data rigorously so that they are well able to challenge school leaders to

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The leadership and management are good

ensure high outcomes for all pupils. For instance, it was members of the governing body who tabled questions about offering higher-level mathematics lessons for the most-able pupils. In the same vein, they keep close tabs on how the pupil premium funding is spent. For example, they are happy to continue to fund specialist tuition in both mathematics and English because it doubles the rate of progress for those pupils receiving it. They liaise closely with senior leaders about the quality of teaching and play an active role in both recruiting high calibre staff and in setting and awarding pay increments based on performance outcomes. They would have no compunction in withholding increments where performance is lacking. They ensure safeguarding procedures are in line with requirements. Governors have received training and are well equipped to carry out their roles. They have a secure understanding of

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The leadership and management are good

data and a clear awareness of how the school is performing in relation to others.

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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 100340 Local authority Hammersmith and Fulham Inspection number 402824

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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 471 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rachel Jerrome Headteacher Sheila Mears Date of previous school inspection 30–31 January 2008 Telephone number 020 8743 1372 Fax number 020 8746 0298 Email address head@wendellpark.lbhf.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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