Paxton Primary School

Paxton Primary School Woodland Road, London, SE19 1PA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 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 an outstanding school.  All pupils achieve outstandingly well in their academic and personal skills. They make rapid and sustained progress from starting points that are generally below those expected for their age. Their attainment in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6 is significantly above average.  Staff are passionate about giving pupils the best opportunities they can in order to make sure they are excellently well prepared for the next stage in their education.  Since the previous inspection, the headteacher, executive headteacher and cross-federation leadership teams have worked extremely closely with staff and governors to make absolutely sure that the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement are outstanding.  Pupils thrive at the school and are very motivated to learn because expectations of them are consistently high. The school has excellent systems to check the progress individual pupils make. Teachers use

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

information about their progress very effectively to plan interesting and fun work. Pupils’ understanding is promoted exceptionally well and they are encouraged to work very hard.  Pupils behave outstandingly well in lessons and around the school. They are well mannered, friendly and welcoming because respectful relationships and social skills are promoted extremely well. Adults make their expectations consistently clear and provide excellent role models.  Pupils attend school very regularly and on time. They feel extremely safe in school and have a very clear understanding about keeping themselves safe from harm. Older pupils thoroughly enjoy taking on responsibility as peer mediators and prefects.  Very effective leadership of teaching and frequent monitoring of staff performance have driven lasting improvements to teaching and pupils’ achievement. Senior leaders have made sure that teaching staff receive very high-

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

quality training and guidance so that the school continues to improve even further and meets ambitious targets.  Through highly organised federation partnerships, pupils benefit very strongly from additional sessions with specialist teachers and therapists. Together with pupils from other federation schools, they take part in a vast range of exciting cultural activities and visits that deepen their interests and experiences very effectively.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes and undertook some joint observations with senior leaders. They visited 17 lessons.  Inspectors held discussions with groups of pupils, staff, members of the governing body and with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors listened to groups of pupils reading. They looked at work in pupils’ books and the school’s information showing pupils’ progress.  The school website, development plans and records relating to safeguarding pupils were also seen.  The inspection took account of 20 responses to the online survey (Parent View), the school’s own analysis of a recent survey of parental views and 20 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Madeleine Gerard, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Noureddin Khassal Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Paxton is an average-sized primary school.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in one Reception class and two part- time Nursery classes. A few children attend the Nursery full time.  An above-average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average. Pupils from Caribbean and African backgrounds are the largest groups.  The proportion of pupils who are supported through school action is below the national average. An above average proportion is supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs. Most of these pupils have a specific learning difficulty, behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, or speech, language and communication needs.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are looked after by the local authority, known to be eligible for free

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Information about this school

school meals and the children of service families) is above the national average. There are currently no children of service families at the school.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school is part of the Gipsy Hill Federation, a group of five primary schools that work closely together. Each school has its own headteacher as well as cross-federation leadership and management teams. The five schools are led overall by an executive headteacher and have a single governing body. The federation is designated as a National Support School by the National College for School Leadership. Two other federation schools were inspected at the same time as Paxton Primary by separate inspection teams.  Breakfast and after-school clubs are not managed by the school and were not included in this inspection.  The children’s centre that shares the school site was not part of the inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure teachers consistently plan activities that fully involve all pupils during whole-class teaching.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 All pupils, including those speaking English as an additional language, those from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, make outstanding gains in their learning.  Over recent years, standards have been well above average in English and mathematics by the time pupils leave the school at the end of Year 6. The most-able pupils also achieve exceptionally well – significantly more pupils at the school attain high levels in reading, writing and mathematics than pupils nationally.  The pupil premium is used to boost the achievement of all those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and as a result, they also attain significantly higher average points scores in English and mathematics than all pupils nationally.  Pupils make exceptional progress in reading and writing through the school. Regular sessions on letters and the sounds they make (phonics) for children in Nursery and Reception classes and for

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

pupils in Key Stage 1 help them to make rapid progress in reading and spelling.  More pupils than nationally reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 is above average and improving. There are regular opportunities for independent and shared reading in class. Pupils have books available to them that inspire their curiosity and parents spend time in school every week reading with their children. These features foster pupils’ enjoyment of reading and develop their extremely good reading skills.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make rapid progress because they receive extra help that is extremely carefully tailored to suit them individually. Staff, who are trained very well, work closely with them to develop their basic literacy and numeracy skills, and promote their social and emotional development, as well as speaking and listening. Pupils’ self-

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

confidence and resilience grow strongly because they benefit from additional sessions, including music therapy and horse riding, led by specialist teachers, therapists and other highly skilled staff.  The outstanding achievement of all pupils shows the school’s striking success in promoting equality and tackling discrimination.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers have exceptionally high expectations of what pupils can achieve and this, together with their very encouraging responses to pupils’ efforts, helps to really motivate them.  Extremely engaging activities, and the wide variety of resources teachers use, capture pupils’ interest in the work they are doing. For example, children working with an adult in the Nursery were confidently developing their knowledge of numbers by counting the fruit and vegetables that were for sale in the Gipsy Hill role-play market set up in the classroom.  The progress each individual pupil makes is very carefully checked and the information used by teaching staff, leaders and managers to make sure all pupils are making the rapid progress that they should.  Teachers’ particularly detailed planning draws upon the information from assessments to tailor work in lessons to what pupils need to learn next. Teachers set tasks at the right level of

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

difficulty for the full range of pupils’ abilities to extend their learning.  A typical example of this was observed in a Year 4 mathematics lesson. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the challenging activities the teacher set to build on their knowledge of fractions. They worked quickly to complete the tasks in the time given, including additional exercises that encouraged them to draw further upon their knowledge to solve problems.  Pupils develop excellent writing strengths because they write regularly and at length using a wide variety of different styles. Pupils understand how to use the features of high quality writing because teachers present these clearly and pupils enthusiastically practise using them through writing about a wide range of topics.  One example of these activities was during a Year 2 English lesson focused on writing about the Great Fire of London. Pupils were very keen to write key facts about the Great Fire based on the

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

research they had previously done in history lessons. They made excellent use of ‘Did you know…?’ questions in their writing because they understood how these help to keep the reader interested.  Pupils in Years 1 to 6 take great pride in presenting their work neatly because teachers help them to develop neat, fluent handwriting through very regular practice of joined-up writing. They are equally painstaking to set out their mathematics calculations neatly, helping them to work methodically and accurately.  Together with additional adults, teachers very ably support disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs so that they make outstanding progress from their starting points.  Teachers often make sure all pupils take part fully in lessons, for example by planning opportunities for pupils to discuss their ideas in pairs, and encouraging all pupils to answer questions by writing their answers on mini-whiteboards.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 In a few lessons, during whole class sessions, teachers involve only a small number of pupils in answering questions. On these occasions, the progress of other pupils is not as consistently brisk.  Teachers’ highly effective marking in books, thorough feedback on pupils’ work, advice on how to improve further and additional tasks to move them up to the next level help pupils to know clearly what the next steps are in their learning. Pupils routinely take responsibility for responding to teachers’ comments and completing additional challenges.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils from diverse backgrounds get on exceptionally well together. Pupils respect one another and are caring because the school fosters excellent relationships and places an extremely strong emphasis on developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are highly courteous and polite so that the atmosphere through the school is very calm and friendly.  Staff in the Early Years Foundation Stage create an environment where children are very happy. They quickly grow in confidence and develop extremely good personal and social skills.  Pupils respond extremely positively to the high expectations of them in lessons and around the school. Their behaviour and attitudes make a particularly powerful contribution to their own learning in lessons. Pupils are very keen to receive a ‘Rainbow award’ in recognition of their exemplary conduct.  Older pupils thoroughly enjoy helping the younger ones. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 are

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

outstandingly confident and capable peer mediators and other pupils value highly their contribution to the smooth running of break-times. Year 6 prefects take their roles to help in the dining hall, or set up computing equipment, extremely seriously.  In Parent View, 19 out of 20 parents who responded were confident that their child is happy and feels safe at the school. Advice and guidance on keeping safe, including anti-bullying assemblies, visitors from the emergency services, and road and bicycle safety workshops all help pupils develop an excellent awareness of how to keep safe. Pupils are extremely confident that any problems are sorted out thoroughly, as the school’s records also clearly show.  Pupils are very punctual to school. Soaring attendance rates illustrate that since the previous inspection, the school’s leaders have successfully worked with the whole school community to drive previously average attendance rates up. The contest for the best class attendance each

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

week is highly competitive and all pupils anticipate the announcement of the ‘top dining table’ honour each week with eagerness.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Since the previous inspection, the headteacher, executive headteacher, cross-federation leadership and management teams, and governors have worked with resolve and determination to ensure the school has continued to make sustained and rapid improvements. Their success in securing the school’s outstanding overall effectiveness demonstrates the school’s capacity for further improvement.  They have worked together with staff, and in very close partnership with the other schools within the federation, as a very effective team to make sure expectations of what pupils can achieve are consistently high. The school’s leaders and managers also make sure that other schools within the federation benefit from their expertise through sharing and modelling the school’s very good practice to support others.  In Parent View, all the parents who responded evaluated the school’s outstanding leadership and management very positively.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The way the school knows itself is rigorous and accurate involving senior leaders, cross- federation leadership and management teams and governors. Regular and very well-targeted training for staff, in partnership with the federated schools, has secured significant improvements to many key aspects of the school’s performance, including the quality of teaching, and pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.  Through very regular monitoring of teaching against national teaching standards, and systematic checks on the impact teaching has on pupils’ progress and attainment, leaders and managers secure and maintain excellent teaching quality.  Performance is managed very tightly. There is a very clear link made between performance and salary progression, pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching.  Developments to the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics make sure pupils build on

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The leadership and management are outstanding

their skills very securely as they move up through the classes. Inspiring topic-based homework projects, creative workshops with visiting artists, and high quality musical experiences, are very well selected to capture pupils’ interest and feed their enjoyment of learning.  Working together with the federation schools, the school offers exceptional experiences including a residential journey for all pupils in Year 4 to an activity centre in Kent. In Year 5, pupils across the federation spend a week together in France.  The wide range of extra-curricular clubs, including drama, instrumental music lessons, French club and early morning times-tables club, very successfully promote pupils’ social skills and their wider interests.  The school consistently and very successfully gives high priority to the promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Charity fund raising, learning Mandarin Chinese,

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The leadership and management are outstanding

celebrating festivals from a variety of cultures, visits to local places of worship, and opportunities to reflect on the lives of influential historical figures help pupils to develop very reflective, caring and tolerant attitudes.  The local authority provides light-touch support for this outstanding school.  The governance of the school:  The governing body works closely with the senior leaders in their pursuit of excellence to bring about the highest levels of achievement and personal development for pupils. Governors meet regularly to monitor the school’s performance. They review the quality of teaching by visiting lessons with senior leaders and check the information the school gathers about pupils’ progress. They know that the school is highly successful in comparison to other schools locally and nationally, and hold leaders fully to account. They are very aware of the school’s strengths, including the high quality of teaching. Continually striving for further improvement,

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The leadership and management are outstanding

they set ambitious targets to increase the school’s effectiveness further. Through robust procedures to manage performance, senior leaders are challenged to sustain high quality teaching and pupils’ rapid progress. Governors make sure that salary progression and promotion of staff are linked to pupils’ progress and teaching quality.  Governors have considerable financial expertise and use this to set and monitor the budget closely. They supplement the funding available for pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium to provide a wide range of provision. They check that eligible pupils achieve as highly as other pupils at the school, and do better in average point scores than all pupils nationally. Governors make sure they receive the professional training they need to become even more effective. Statutory duties are met including those relating to safeguarding pupils. The school site is secure and very well maintained. Governors make sure that the learning environment at

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The leadership and management are outstanding

the school is consistently as high as at other schools within the federation.

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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 100577 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 411382

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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 232 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Pervin Sivanathan Headteacher Lucy Robins Executive Headteacher Craig Tunstall Date of previous school inspection 27–28 April 2010 Telephone number 020 8670 2935 Fax number 020 766 6843 Email address info@gipsyhillfederation.org.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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