Edgebury Primary School

Edgebury Primary School Belmont Lane, Chislehurst, BR7 6BL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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:

 Expectations of pupils’ achievement are not high enough. While pupils generally make the expected progress from their starting points, too few make strong gains in their learning, particularly in mathematics.  Teaching is not consistently good enough to make sure pupils always achieve well.  Information on the progress pupils make is not checked effectively enough to inform senior leaders about their current progress.  Marking and feedback in pupils’ books do not always make clear to them how they might improve their work further.  Teachers do not always use information about pupils’ progress to plan lessons that cater appropriately for pupils of different abilities.  The school’s leaders have not taken quick enough action to improve teaching and raise levels of achievement in mathematics.  The governing body does not challenge the school sufficiently to ensure it improves quickly.

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The school has the following strengths:

 Children learn well in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Improvements in the way English is taught, particularly reading, help pupils make better progress and enjoy books.  Pupils behave well and have good attitudes to learning. They attend school very regularly. They and their parents and carers say that they are happy, enjoy school and feel safe.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes and undertook some joint observations. They visited 17 lessons.  Inspectors held discussions with groups of pupils, staff, members of the governing body and 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 were also scrutinised.  The inspection took account of 51 responses to the online survey (Parent View), the school’s own analysis of a recent survey of parental views, and 23 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Madeleine Gerard, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Samuel Ofori-Kyereh Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Edgebury is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in one Reception class.  Fewer pupils than average speak English as an additional language. Very few of these pupils are at an early stage of learning English.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs who are supported through school action is below the national average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or at school action plus is slightly above average. Most of these pupils have speech, language and communication needs.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are looked after by the local authority, those known to be eligible for free school meals and the children of service families) is much lower than the national average. There are currently no

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Information about this school

pupils who are looked after by the local authority and 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.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of good or better teaching by:  making sure teachers match work closely to the learning needs of individuals  making sure teachers’ explanations consistently help pupils to understand new topics quickly  ensuring that marking and feedback make clear to pupils how they can improve further  focusing the monitoring of teaching sharply on how well teachers promote learning and improve pupils’ achievement.  Raise pupils’ levels of attainment in mathematics by:  identifying and sharing the most appropriate strategies for teaching mathematics through the school.  Improve the effectiveness of leaders, managers and governors, by:  ensuring that higher pupil targets are set across the school that will result in good progress for all  increasing the rigour with which pupils’ progress is checked to make sure that all pupils fulfil their potential and reach the highest standards  rigorously evaluating the success of initiatives to secure improvement in mathematics by

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

focusing on their impact on raising standards.  An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement because, over time, pupils make inconsistent progress in Years 1 to 6. This reflects the uneven quality of teaching. Pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 fluctuates from one year to the next and is broadly average overall.  The rates of progress made by pupils in different subjects are uneven. Pupils make better progress in English than in mathematics. There are also inconsistencies in achievement between year groups.  Pupils do less well in mathematics than in English because the work they are asked to do is not matched closely enough to their individual abilities and planning has not ensured that pupils quickly develop the skills to work out sums in their heads as they progress through the school.  Improvements to the way literacy is taught are securing increased rates of progress in English. Changes to the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) are successfully raising

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

attainment in reading at the end of Key Stage 1. The results of the phonics check for six-year- olds demonstrate pupils’ growing confidence in reading familiar and unfamiliar words.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make progress in line with their peers because they benefit from working with class teachers and additional adults in small groups during lessons. Additional sessions outside the classroom are effective in helping them to develop their basic skills and their speaking and listening.  The attainment of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding also shows variability, although overall these pupils make similar progress to other pupils. In last summer’s national assessments, the gap in attainment between Year 6 pupils who benefited from the pupil premium and other Year 6 pupils narrowed in reading, but widened in writing and mathematics. These gaps were larger than those found nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Overall, the achievement of pupils from minority ethnic groups, including pupils speaking English as an additional language, is broadly similar to that of other pupils. The school ensures that pupils have an equal chance to learn and access all the school has to offer.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good gains from levels of skills that are generally those expected for their age. They do particularly well in literacy, mathematics and expressive arts and design.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because it does not ensure that pupils make fast enough progress, particularly in mathematics. Inspectors saw some good teaching, but, overall, teaching is of inconsistent quality.  Teachers do not always plan activities in lessons that match pupils’ abilities closely enough and so work is not always at the right level of difficulty for them. During whole-class sessions, teachers were sometimes observed setting the same tasks for all pupils despite the range of abilities. This means that pupils found the work too easy or too hard.  When teachers spend time at the start of lessons going over what pupils have learned already, the pace of progress for higher-attaining pupils slows because they are already confident and ready to get on with new work.  Sometimes, teachers’ explanations of new topics are not clear enough to help pupils to understand quickly in order to complete independent tasks successfully.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough. For example, when pupils repeatedly complete similar mathematics calculations, teaching is not helping them to develop their problem solving skills and move on.  Regular opportunities to read help pupils to develop an enjoyment of books. Reading aloud very regularly to staff and visiting volunteers helps pupils to practise their phonics skills and develop fluency with good understanding.  During small-group and individual sessions outside the classroom, well-trained and dedicated additional adults support pupils effectively to practise their basic skills, including speaking and listening, and develop their self-confidence.  Teachers’ helpful comments and feedback on pupils’ work in literacy often make clear how they can improve further. Such good guidance is less evident in mathematics.  Relationships between teachers, additional adults and pupils are good so that pupils are eager to

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

learn. Teachers manage classes effectively and well-established routines make sure time is not wasted when pupils move from one activity to another.  Activities in the Reception class are well planned to help children to develop their skills in the inside and outdoor areas. For example, children using recycled materials to make a model of a house from a story thought carefully about how to create a building using the materials they had available. They shared resources together well. Another group, working with an adult, used puppets to retell the story, The Three Little Pigs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school. Their positive attitudes make a good contribution to learning in lessons. Pupils’ behaviour is typically good.  The school’s records show that sometimes a few pupils need reminders from staff about the behaviour that is expected, for example during break times.  The school is calm, orderly and safe. Pupils are confident that incidents of bullying are rare. They say that there are some unkind comments but that staff deal with these effectively.  Anti-bullying events, guidance about safe practices when using computers, and road safety and bicycle training help pupils to develop an awareness of unsafe situations and how to keep themselves from harm.  Pupils are courteous and polite to adults and one another. Pupils from different backgrounds get on well together because the school fosters good relations and tackles discrimination effectively.  All pupils learn about water safety and benefit from learning to swim during the summer term in

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

the school’s outdoor, heated swimming pool.  Since the previous inspection, the school has worked successfully to ensure that the whole school community is clear about the importance of attending school regularly. Attendance has steadily improved and is now above average.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leaders and managers have not yet done enough to make sure that the best practice in teaching is shared across the school. They do not always focus on making sure that teachers set work at the right level of difficulty for the pupils, particularly in mathematics. As a result, the quality of teaching is variable and not enough is consistently good or better, and for these reasons pupils’ achievement is not yet good.  Leaders and governors are sometimes overgenerous in appraising the quality of the school’s effectiveness. This is because whole-school achievement targets are not always ambitious enough and the information on pupils’ current progress from their starting points is not checked effectively enough and used to measure the school’s work.  Leaders and managers regularly monitor teaching but do not always rigorously look at how and what pupils are learning. They sometimes do not notice quickly enough that some pupils are not

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The leadership and management require improvement

doing as well as they should. This contributes to the variations in teaching quality.  The school demonstrates its capacity to improve. Training and coaching for all staff on phonics and teaching English have had a demonstrable impact. Improvements, such as the emphasis on boosting pupils’ phonics knowledge, reading fluency, understanding of the key features of high- quality writing and handwriting skills, are helping to raise achievement. Improvements to the curriculum for mathematics have not been as well implemented.  Leaders and managers have made sustained improvements to children’s learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage and maintained pupils’ positive behaviour. Attendance rates have risen strongly as a result of promoting of regular attendance.  The headteacher, supported by the other school leaders, has created a safe, calm and secure environment for pupils to learn in. Through a strong pastoral care system, leaders have ensured

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The leadership and management require improvement

that all pupils settle quickly into school life.  Celebrations of festivals, lessons on musical instruments and singing, charity fund raising, visitors from local places of worship and discussion of monthly moral themes all help to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development strongly.  Support from local authority specialists has helped develop teaching and learning in English. However, the local authority has not challenged the school to improve pupils’ achievement in mathematics.  The governance of the school:  The governing body works supportively with school leaders and staff, but shares their somewhat overgenerous view of pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. As a result, they have not held school leaders sufficiently to account for weaker areas of the school’s performance. Governors have undertaken some helpful professional training but this has not ensured they are fully conversant with pupil achievement information, making comparisons

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The leadership and management require improvement

against achievement nationally and ways of challenging the school to do better. Governors visit the school to observe lessons, meet staff and join training activities, but do not do enough to check the performance of all groups of pupils. Governors are aware of teachers’ salaries but performance management procedures are not always robust in sustaining high- quality teaching and pupils’ rapid progress. Governors do not fully understand the uses to which the pupil premium funding is put and are not yet checking how effectively the funding is helping eligible pupils to catch up.  Governors are careful to ensure that the school site is secure and well maintained. Procedures to keep pupils safe meet requirements and are effective.

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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 101635 Local authority Bromley Inspection number 413227

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 226 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Angela Warren Headteacher Janice Box Date of previous school inspection 27 January 2009 Telephone number 020 8467 4119 Fax number 020 8295 4513 Email address admin@edgebury.bromley.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

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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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