De Bohun Primary School

De Bohun Primary School Green Road, London, N14 4AD

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching Inadequate 4 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Inadequate 4

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires special measures.  Pupils are not making enough progress in lessons and over time because the work is often not demanding enough and not well matched to their needs.  Standards in reading, writing and mathematics are too low in both key stages. In some classes, pupils are not spending enough time on the things they should.  Leaders do not make close enough checks nor take rapid action to improve achievement and teaching.  Teachers’ expectations of what children can achieve are too low. There is no sense of urgency in lessons and time is wasted.  Attendance has improved but is still too low.  Leaders do not plan for improvement well enough nor evaluate how well their plans have worked.  Leaders’ priorities have been on securing pupils’ welfare and not enough on improving academic achievement.  Governors are not doing enough to make sure the school is improving.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school is well liked by parents and carers. It provides a caring and secure environment for the pupils, who are courteous and polite and feel safe.  Pupils are making accelerated progress towards the end of Key Stage 2 where the teaching is often good.  Teaching in the Nursery and Reception classes is good and sometimes excellent. Children learn in a creative and stimulating environment that enables them to make good progress in all areas of learning, with outstanding progress in their personal and social development.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection took place over two days with a team of three inspectors, one of whom was present on the first day only.  Inspectors observed 19 lessons or part lessons and two assemblies.  They held discussions with pupils during lessons, around the school and in two organised meetings. Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the local authority adviser, the inclusion manager, governors, parents and carers, the education welfare officer, parent support adviser, learning mentor, teachers and support staff.  Responses to a recent staff questionnaire issued by the school were analysed.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents provided by the school including the minutes of the governors’ meetings, the school improvement plan, the draft self-evaluation form, the local authority annual report on the school, tracking data, policies, pupils’ work from last year and records of the monitoring of lessons.

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Information about this inspection

 The views of 21 parents and carers, from the online questionniare (Parent View), were taken into account along with two letters.  The school did not meet the government’s floor standard for Year 6 pupils’ attainment and progress in 2011, the latest year for which confirmed results are available.

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Inspection team

Helena McVeigh, Lead inspector Additional inspector Clifford Walker Additional inspector Olson Davis Additional inspector

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this school

 The school is of average size for a primary. The roll has increased steadily in the last few years and there are now two forms of entry in Reception Year and Years 1, 2 and 3.  The proportion from minority ethnic groups is well above the national average at 82%. Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups. The largest ethnic groups are White Other at 33%, African at 13% and White British at 17%. Half of the pupils are learning English as an additional language.  One-third of the pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. This is higher than average, both for pupils on the school’s register for School Action (about 24%) and for pupils who have statements of special educational needs or are on the school’s register for School Action Plus (about 9%).  The school has a specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs. It caters for pupils with communication disorders; there are currently three children in this resource

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Information about this school

base.  About half of the pupils are known to be eligible for the Pupil Premium (additional government funding). This group includes pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and is higher than in most schools.  Every year, the school experiences significant numbers of pupils joining and leaving at times other than the start of the Reception class. Around 20 children joined the school during the inspection week; many of these pupils had little English.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that none is inadequate and most is good by: – establishing much higher expectations for what pupils can achieve – providing more challenging work, particularly for the more able pupils – improving the match of work to pupils’ different needs and prior attainment, particularly in the teaching of phonics (the links between sounds and letters) – reviewing the deployment of support staff in lessons to maximise their impact – increasing the pace of pupils’ working so that no time is wasted in lessons – giving pupils more responsibility for their learning, including understanding how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve – improving the consistency of the use of assessment in lessons and written feedback so that it is all of the same high quality seen in a few classes.  Improve the progress made by all pupils in English and mathematics, so that it is at least in line

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

with the national averages in both key stages, by: – changing the curriculum in Key Stage 1 so that it is broader and better meets pupils needs – carefully checking the progress of different groups of pupils and taking action when they underachieve – checking that all pupils spend the right amount of learning time on each subject – taking steps to develop pupils’ literacy skills across the curriculum.  Improve the effectiveness of the leadership and management of the school, including governance, by: – raising expectations of what teachers and pupils can achieve – detailed checking and assessment of the quality of teaching and learning – more accurate self-evaluation and more detailed and thorough improvement planning, with measurable success criteria, timelines and links to pupils’ outcomes – more rigorous recording and scrutiny of any bullying or racist incidents – ensuring governors challenge leaders and managers when provision or outcomes are not

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

good enough.  Improve attendance so that it is at least in line with the national average, by continuing to seek ways to ensure that children attend school, including more explicit and frequent awards in school and learning from other schools that have been successful in similar contexts.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Progress is too slow in Key Stage 1. Standards in reading, writing and mathematics have been well below the national average for some time with boys’ results much lower than girls’ except in mathematics.  Progress is too slow in Key Stage 2. National test results have been well below average and particularly low for pupils eligible for free school meals, for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and for those who are learning English as an additional language. Results for 2012 are better due to good teaching towards the end of Key Stage 2. This has started to reduce the gap between the performance of pupils of different backgrounds and abilities.  Pupils do not make enough progress in lessons and over time because teachers’ expectations are often too low and the work is not demanding enough. Younger children told inspectors that their work is ‘easy, peasy’.  Pupils’ attainment in reading is improving, but too slowly, due to the wide variation in the quality

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

of teaching reading and phonics.  Pupils are not developing as independent learners. They are over-reliant on teachers to tell them what to do. Their targets for English and mathematics are often too vague and not challenging enough, such as ‘Write numbers neatly.’ Some pupils are aware of their targets but do not use them to improve their work.  There is good practice in Nursery and Reception. Pupils start in these classes with skills that are at lower than expected levels for their age. They make outstanding progress in their personal, social and emotional development and good progress in all other aspects of their learning due to the high quality of teaching and excellent environment inside and out. They leave Reception with attainment that is broadly in line with that found nationally.  The school has a large number of support staff in each class. Sometimes these support staff are deployed well and help pupils who have special educational needs or who are new to learning

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

English to make good progress. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson teaching assistants helped two groups of children to achieve success in identifying and describing the features of different two-dimensional shapes. In many other classes, the teaching assistants were far less effective because they had little to do during lengthy introductions to the whole class. The less able pupils and those who had special educational needs or were learning English struggled in these sessions or simply did not take part.  Pupils in the resource base are well cared for and make satisfactory progress although teaching is not always relevant to their needs.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 Too much teaching requires improvement or is inadequate. It has not been effective in helping all pupils to make the necessary progress in lessons and over time.  Teachers’ expectations are often too low. The work is not challenging enough for many pupils. Praise is given for low level work. A sense of urgency is lacking in many lessons and pupils are allowed to work at a very slow undemanding pace, which reduces the progress they make.  The teaching of phonics is variable in quality and sometimes is ineffective mainly because the level is not matched to the stage and needs of the group, so work is too easy for some and too hard for others.  Opportunities to develop pupils’ literacy skills across the curriculum are missed. For example, in a Key Stage 1 assembly, pupils were read a story without any visual display of the words or pictures to reinforce their learning and help them to understand, particularly those new to

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

English.  Teachers share learning outcomes with children at the beginning of lessons. Pupils sometimes have to copy these out, which takes slow writers far too long and detracts from their learning in the subject. The learning objectives are often simply the activity rather than what skills will be learned and are sometimes confusing and unhelpful, as was seen in a mathematics lesson.  Teaching in the early years is consistently good and often outstanding. Staff work well as a team and provide an excellent range of stimulating resources and activities for children. Planning arises out of children’s interests and needs and covers all learning areas. The focus has been on developing pupils’ personal and social skills, but children are helped to develop early literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills through a range of opportunities to ‘write’ inside and outside. Staff interact well with children by talking, questioning and modelling good behaviour and

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

learning habits. They regularly assess and record pupils’ achievements in an unobtrusive way.  Teaching is good in a few Key Stage 1 and 2 classes where teachers set work that is appropriately matched to pupils’ different needs. They make effective use of the support staff to work with groups. They use assessment to plan next steps or change direction during a lesson. Some of the marking in books at the top end of Key Stage 2 is good with constructive comments and clear next steps for children. This good practice is not commonplace throughout the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils require improvement

 Pupils are polite and courteous. They generally get on well with each other. Most pupils behave well inside and outside of classrooms. The school manages incidents of misbehaviour effectively, with good involvement of the learning mentor. There have been very few fixed-term exclusions in the past few years.  In lessons pupils are over-reliant on teachers for help with their work. They often work at too leisurely a pace.  Parents and carers and staff feel that pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils feel safe but indicated that there is misbehaviour in lessons and that some bullying is not always dealt with effectively. A few parents and carers do not know how well the school responds to bullying. The school policy on behaviour on the school’s website makes scant reference to bullying. The school does not keep a record of different forms of bullying including racist incidents.  Attendance has been low for some time and this is exacerbated by the long distances that some

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The behaviour and safety of pupils require improvement

pupils have to travel to the school. There has been a concerted effort to improve attendance, by, for example, the school’s parent support adviser and the local authority’s education welfare officer. It has improved but is still well below the national average for primary schools.  The school has done a lot to improve attendance, but could do more. For example, pupils were not clear whether rewards are given for good attendance. In neither of the two assemblies where awards were given for good behaviour and learning, was similar emphasis given to attendance.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Leaders and managers have not demonstrated sufficient ambition for pupils’ academic achievement. Since the last inspection intensive support and intervention by the local authority has not resulted in rapid enough action and has not had enough impact across the school.  Monitoring by the leadership team is not rigorous or sufficiently challenging to drive improvement at a pace. Records of the monitoring of lessons show that judgements are over- generous and areas for improvement vague and unhelpful.  The curriculum in Year 1 is appropriately planned to provide a good changeover from the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, two-thirds of the week during the first term is devoted to ‘free flow’ where children choose their own activity as in the early years. This approach results in children not receiving a broad and balanced curriculum and slows down the progress of some children who are ready for the National Curriculum Key Stage 1 work.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The use of records of pupils’ progress is inadequate and this means the school cannot ensure equal opportunities. The school’s records of pupils’ progress do not track the achievements of different groups of pupils carefully enough. The school could not provide records to show how well disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are making progress.  The school’s self-evaluation is not accurate and improvement planning is weak. Plans lack success criteria, targets and timelines and are not focused enough on outcomes for pupils.  School leaders have ensured that pupils are well looked after and cared for. Pupils are helped to develop good social skills and to feel safe and secure. Staff care for pupils and pupils are respectful and courteous in return.  The school has to manage regular influxes of new pupils. For example, during the inspection several pupils joined classes throughout the school. The school copes with this by looking after

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The leadership and management are inadequate

the welfare of these new pupils well. The systems for responding to the learning and language needs of the new pupils are less effective.  Pupils from different ethnic groups get on well together and learn about other cultures. The early years staff provide exceptionally well for pupils’ personal development. Pupils’ experiences at school contribute to their social and moral development more strongly than to their spiritual or cultural awareness.  Arrangements for performance management, which are in the process of being reviewed, are not having enough impact on improving the overall quality of teaching and learning or individual teachers’ classroom practice.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The governance of the school – The governing body does not challenge school leaders strongly enough given the clear weaknesses in the school’s performance. – Governors are increasingly aware of their strengths and weaknesses. – The governing body has been strengthened recently by support from the local authority and some new governors with very relevant expertise. These changes have yet to make an impact on the quality of provision and outcomes.

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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 102022 Local authority London Borough of Enfield Inspection number 404801

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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 300 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair John Salloway Headteacher Terence Scott Date of previous school inspection 14–15 June 2011 Telephone number 020 8449 4402 Fax number 020 8364 8375 Email address office@debohun.enfield.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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