St Paul's CofE Primary School

St Paul’s Church of England Primary School Worlidge Street, Hammersmith, London, W6 9BP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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

 Pupils do not make enough progress in English and mathematics. Test results at the end of Year 6 have fallen since the previous inspection and in 2012 they were below the national average.  In mathematics, pupils are not able to assess their own progress because they are not given individual targets. They do not have enough opportunities to improve their mathematics skills across the different subjects.  In some lessons, the more able pupils are not sufficiently stretched to enable them to reach their potential.  Teachers do not always use the information available about pupils’ progress to inform their planning and fine-tune their teaching to meet the needs of different learners.  Teachers do not always monitor learning closely enough to pick up any mistakes or misconceptions made by pupils to move their learning on quickly.  Pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to respond to teachers’ marking in order to

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

improve their work and deepen their understanding.  Leaders do not always focus sharply enough on the quality of pupils’ learning when observing lessons. As a result some recommendations for improvement are missed.

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The school has the following strengths

 The behaviour and safety of pupils are good, as are their attitudes to learning. Attendance has improved and is now above average.  Pupils make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Leaders and managers have taken effective steps to improve the progress of current pupils, especially in Years 5 and 6.  There is strong support for the leadership from staff and morale in the school is high.  Governors know the school well and offer appropriate support and challenge.  Careful tracking and recording of pupils’ progress help the school to quickly identify and support pupils at risk of falling behind.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 18 lessons, of which five were joint observations with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils, and inspectors listened to pupils read and discussed their reading with them.  Discussions were held with the Chair of the Governing Body, senior leaders and managers, and a representative from the local authority. In addition, inspectors spoke to parents and carers in the playground at the start of school.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and examined a range of documentation, including the school’s own performance data, an analysis of its strengths and areas for development, improvement plans, records of monitoring the quality of teaching, and records relating to exclusions, behaviour and safeguarding.  Pupils’ work was also scrutinised to look at their progress, the quality of marking and feedback, and curriculum coverage.  The inspectors considered 32 questionnaires completed by staff.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors took account of 17 responses received from parents and carers to the online questionnaire (Parent View), including four letters received from parents and carers.

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Inspection team

Avtar Sherri, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Liz Kissane Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  Pupils come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The largest group is White British, with pupils from Black/Black British Caribbean background forming the next sizeable ethnic group.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after by the local authority and children of service families) is well above average. The school currently has no children who are looked after by the local authority or children of service families.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above the average, as is the proportion of pupils whose first language is not English.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs who are supported by school action is well above average, as is the proportion supported at school action

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Information about this school

plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  The school offers a breakfast club.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ achievement through consistently good or better teaching by:  providing pupils with further opportunities to respond to teachers’ written feedback so that they are able to improve their work and deepen their understanding  planning lessons using the detailed information available on pupils’ progress so that teaching meets the needs of different learners  ensuring that pupils’ progress in lessons is always closely monitored to pick up and correct any mistakes or misconceptions they may have and to then move their learning on quickly  ensuring that higher ability pupils are sufficiently stretched so that they reach their potential.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ attainment in mathematics in Key Stage 2 by:  giving pupils regular opportunities to use their mathematical skills in all subjects  providing training so that teachers become more confident in using a range of different strategies and that they learn from the best practice in school  giving pupils individual targets for mathematics so that they can assess their own progress against these targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of lesson observation by focusing more sharply on the quality of pupils’ learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6 has been below the national average and too few pupils made the expected progress. Attainment in mathematics declined in 2012 compared to the two previous years.  The school has taken effective steps to speed up the current pupils’ progress, especially in Years 5 and 6. School data for the current year show improvement in progress in reading, writing and mathematics. However, progress still requires improvement as it is not consistently good across all year groups.  Results in Key Stage 1 have improved, and in 2012 they were broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils do well in reading and pupils in Year 1 attained above average scores in the phonics screening check.  Most children start school with skills that are below those typically expected for their age. As a result of good teaching, children make good progress by the end of Reception with attainment

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

that is broadly average. Effective teaching of phonics (the links between letters and sounds) gives children confidence to read difficult and unfamiliar words by the time they go into Year 1.  Current school data show that disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to other pupils. This is because of the high quality support they receive from committed and skilled teaching assistants.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language do well and sometimes make better progress than their peers. They receive good support in the classroom with appropriate opportunities for speaking and listening to improve their English.  Those pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium have been making less progress in Key Stage 2 than their peers. In the 2012 Year 6 tests, the gap in attainment between pupils who benefited from the pupil premium and other pupils in the school reduced significantly in English

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

compared to 2011 and was very small. However, in mathematics the gap widened and represented about two thirds of a National Curriculum level lower, compared to other pupils. The school data show that currently pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium are making similar progress overall to other pupils. The improved tracking of their progress is having a positive impact.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the previous two years, the quality of teaching in Years 5 and 6 was not good enough and as a result pupils’ progress slowed considerably. The school has now taken decisive action to improve the quality of teaching here and inspection evidence shows that this action has had a positive impact.  There is not enough good teaching in both of the key stages. Teaching was good in just over half of the lessons visited by inspectors, but with no outstanding lessons seen. Across the school there are several specific areas of teaching which require improvement.  In mathematics, pupils do not have individual mathematics targets in their books to help them to know what they have achieved and what to focus on next. Existing good practice in the school is not systematically shared and some teachers are not confident in using a range of different teaching strategies. For example, teachers sometimes miss opportunities to use a range of visual

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

aids and practical resources to reinforce learning and make learning more interesting. There are not enough opportunities in other areas of the curriculum for pupils to practise their mathematics skills.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work is good and pupils are given guidance on how to improve their work. However, there are insufficient opportunities for pupils to respond to teachers’ comments to deepen their understanding of how to improve their work.  Teachers do not always make good use of the progress data that is available to inform their planning and fine tune their teaching to meet the needs of different learners, so that they all make good progress in lessons.  In some lessons, the more able pupils are not sufficiently stretched. Sometimes, these pupils do the same work as other pupils at the beginning of lessons when they could be doing other challenging tasks.  In a small minority of lessons, teachers do not always monitor pupils’ work closely and quickly

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

enough to pick up any mistakes and misconceptions to move their learning on. For example, in one lesson on working out distances between two landmarks on a map using a string some pupils were not sure about which distance they should measure, and so came up with different answers.  There is good emphasis on building pupils’ literacy and communication skills. Teachers use a wide variety of probing questions and pupils are given opportunities to share their ideas and assess each other’s work. The opportunities provided for speaking and listening are particularly helpful for pupils who speak English as an additional language.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, those eligible for support through the pupil premium funding, and those who speak English as an additional language are supported well in lessons by teachers and skilled teaching assistants. As a result, their progress in lessons

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

is at least similar to their peers and equal opportunities are promoted successfully.  Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good and children make good progress. There is a good balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Children are given opportunities to interact well with each other and develop their social and linguistic skills through structured activities. There is appropriate adult intervention and modelling to support children’s learning with a good balance of indoor and outdoor learning experiences

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are good and they are eager to learn. They are polite, courteous and respectful of each other and of other adults.  They enjoy coming to school, and this is reflected in their above-average and improving attendance.  Pupils from all backgrounds get on well with each other, both in the classroom and around the school. They say bullying is rare, as are incidents of racism and homophobia. Diversity is valued and pupils have the opportunity to learn about different religions. However, they do not have sufficient opportunities to visit different places of worship to deepen their understanding of other faiths.  They say the school keeps them safe through the strong security around the school, learning about unsafe situations and how to keep themselves safe, including discussion of internet safety and the dangers of cyber-bullying.  Good behaviour and attendance are acknowledged through rewards given at celebration

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

assemblies and pupils respond to these positively. Behaviour over time has improved through the effective work of the inclusion team which supports a small number of pupils with behavioural issues. Restorative justice approaches are used to enable pupils to take more responsibility for their own behaviour.  Pupils say that a minority of pupils sometimes talk during lessons and ‘we waste time’. The inspectors found just a few lessons, particularly when the work was not engaging enough, where behaviour was less than good and there was background chatter.  All parents and carers responding to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and most staff responding to the staff questionnaire agree that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The leadership and management of the school are not good because pupils do not make good progress over time and not enough of the teaching is good or better.  Senior leaders are fully aware that the overall quality of teaching needs improvement. Lesson observations are carried out regularly, but there is not always a sharp enough focus on the quality of pupils’ learning. As a result, some specific areas of teaching that need improvement have not been clearly identified.  The headteacher and leaders, including governors, are committed to bring about improvements. Middle leaders are now more involved in monitoring the work of the school, observing lessons and giving feedback to enable teachers to improve the quality of teaching. This is supported by effective performance management and training, which are closely linked to improving pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching. Teachers’ progress on the upper pay scale is linked to the

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The leadership and management require improvement

quality of their teaching and pupils’ progress.  The curriculum is broad and balanced and engages pupils in their learning, and provides them with opportunities to develop their skills in a range of subjects and supports their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. This, together with the introduction of the creative curriculum to promote literacy skills, is beginning to have a positive impact on improving the progress of pupils. However, the curriculum does not always meet the needs of high attainers.  Self-evaluation is mainly accurate and the school improvement plan has sufficient focus on the appropriate priorities for the school, including the emphasis on improving the quality of teaching and raising achievement.  The school’s assessment data have improved and there is more robust monitoring and tracking of pupils’ progress, both of individuals and of different groups. This information is used well to

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The leadership and management require improvement

identify pupils who need specific individual support. However, this information is not always used by teachers for planning and to inform their teaching to ensure all learners are making rapid progress.  The school works effectively with parents and carers with good communication through newsletters and highly visible and approachable staff. Parents and carers who responded to the online questionnaire commented positively about the school.  The local authority has provided support to the school on developing tracking systems to monitor pupils’ progress and, more recently, support in lesson observations. However, it is too soon to see the impact of this work on improving the quality of teaching.  The school meets all the statutory safeguarding requirements.  The governance of the school:  Governors are challenging, supportive and have a good grasp of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They know how well the school is doing, including how it compares to

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The leadership and management require improvement

similar schools and schools nationally. They are beginning to visit the school more frequently and have been involved in strengthening middle leadership of the school and improving the quality of teaching by channelling more resources towards weaker year groups to address the decline in results in Key Stage 2. Governors are aware of the quality of teaching in the school. They are involved in the headteacher’s performance management and ensure there is a strong link with this and improving the quality of teaching and raising achievement. Financial management is effective and they keep a good control of the school’s budget. Governors attend the training provided by the local authority and ensure that safeguarding procedures are robust to keep pupils safe in school. However, although governors have some knowledge of how the pupil premium is used, they are not fully secure on the impact of this funding on

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The leadership and management require improvement

narrowing the gaps in attainment between the targeted pupils and their peers.

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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 100351 Local authority Hammersmith and Fulham Inspection number 412960

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3 – 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 230 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Richard Walton Headteacher Claire Fletcher Date of previous school inspection 9 – 10 December 2008 Telephone number 020 87484951 Fax number 020 87483144 Email address admin@stpaulsce.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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