Hitherfield Primary School

Hitherfield Primary School Hitherfield Road, Streatham, London, SW16 2JQ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  School leaders have improved the school outstandingly well since the previous inspection. Pupils now make good progress in their learning, and attainment has risen year- on-year.  Pupils achieve well because teaching has improved and is good. Some teaching is of high quality. Pupils enjoy their lessons and are keen to learn.  Teachers are careful to set work at exactly the right level to match pupils’ abilities. Specialist extra staff make a good contribution to the learning of pupils with particular needs.  Very strong action by leaders, including the governing body, has set high expectations about the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.  All teachers, additional staff, pupils and parents are involved in the drive for improvement.  Pupils’ behaviour around the school and in lessons is good. They are polite, well mannered and friendly. They attend school regularly. They and their parents say they are

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

happy, feel safe and well looked after at school.  Leaders and managers at all levels are united in improving their professional skills so that the school can go from strength to strength.  The governing body works very closely with the school leaders. It ensures resources are deployed effectively to secure maximum benefits for all pupils and to improve the quality of teaching.  Together with leaders, governors have made sure the school’s work continues to improve during extensive building work and while the school grows in size.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Although teachers’ helpful guidance and feedback on pupils’ work often make clear how pupils can improve further, they do not always plan time for pupils to reflect and act on their comments and suggestions in order to make the necessary improvements.  At times, pupils’ progress in developing fluent and neat handwriting slows because opportunities for them to practise their handwriting skills are not as consistently well planned as other aspects of the school’s work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes and undertook some joint observations. They visited 26 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 112 responses to the online survey (Parent View).

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Inspection team

Madeleine Gerard, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Janice Thomas Additional Inspector Roger Fenwick Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Hitherfield is larger than the average-sized primary school.  More pupils than the national average speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average. Caribbean and African are the largest groups.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs who are supported through school action is below the national average. The proportion with a statement of special educational needs or at school action plus is slightly above average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding given to schools for pupils who are looked after by the local authority, known to be eligible for free school meals and for children of service families) is above the national average. School records show 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

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in two Nursery classes, and three Reception classes.  The school has been undergoing a period of expansion. There are currently two classes in each year from Years 4 to 6, and three classes in Years 1 to 3. There has been a very substantial amount of building work at the school over recent years.  Breakfast and after-school clubs are managed by the school.  There have been a number of changes in teaching staff since the previous inspection.  The children’s centre that shares the school site was not part of this inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure teachers plan regular opportunities for pupils to respond to their marking and feedback on their work.  Ensure school strategies for pupils’ systematic development of neat and fluent handwriting skills are applied consistently in every class.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils learn well as they progress through the school. Attainment at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics is broadly average and improving because pupils are making good progress.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because they benefit from carefully planned extra help. This additional support and guidance from well-trained staff help them to develop their basic literacy and numeracy as well as speaking and listening skills.  The achievement of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is also good. They 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. Pupils eligible for the premium were about two terms behind the others in English and half a term in mathematics. In reading and mathematics they did as well as all pupils nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Leaders and managers, together with staff, make sure all pupils, including those from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language, make similar good progress. This shows the school successfully promotes equality and tackles discrimination.  Regular sessions on letters and the sounds they make (phonics) for children in Nursery and Reception classes and for pupils in Key Stage 1 help them to develop their reading skills well. The results of the phonics screening check for six year olds show pupils’ growing fluency in reading familiar and new words.  Pupils’ confidence in mathematics grows strongly because they learn basic number facts and regularly practise solving real-life number problems using a variety of equipment.  Progress in handwriting skills is good but in some classes it is not as consistently good as it could be. In these classes, although pupils’ work is always careful, presentation is not always neat

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The achievement of pupils is good

because opportunities for pupils to practise fluent handwriting skills are more limited.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are happy and make good gains in their learning as a result of good teaching and well-resourced play-areas. Very strong relationships with parents help them to support their children’s learning effectively. Children settle readily when they join the Nursery and Reception classes because parents are encouraged to spend time choosing activities with their children each morning in the classrooms.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have high expectations of pupils and provide interesting activities that engage and motivate them. Positive relationships contribute to a very stimulating atmosphere for learning across the school.  Pupils enjoy learning through fun and challenging activities. Teachers make effective connections in lessons between different subjects. For example, pupils in a literacy lesson were writing newspaper reports using information they had gathered about life in prehistoric London.  Rigorous checks are made on the progress pupils make and the information is used carefully to set work that is at the right level of difficulty for pupils’ abilities. Teachers in the Nursery and Reception classes use careful observations of children’s developing interests to plan further activities that enable them to develop their understanding, broaden their knowledge and build on what they know and can do already.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Additional adults support pupils’ learning well in lessons because they work closely with teachers when activities and tasks are planned and they know pupils well as individuals. Specialist therapists and well-trained additional staff help identified pupils to boost speaking and listening, and literacy and numeracy skills in small-group and individualised sessions outside the classroom.  Teachers and bilingual staff make sure that all pupils speaking English as an additional language increase their proficiency in spoken English, and succeed in other subjects.  Marking is regular and gives pupils feedback on how to improve the quality of their work. However, teachers do not routinely make sure pupils reflect on their guidance to correct mistakes or attempt further challenges in order to strengthen their learning.  Leaders have worked with staff to improve teaching of reading, writing and mathematics and

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The quality of teaching is good

help pupils build upon their skills as they progress through the years. Teachers follow a consistent approach to teaching phonics so reading and spelling skills are developing well, and improving. Approaches to teaching mathematics are well chosen to capture pupils’ interest, and boost their abilities to calculate quickly. Strategies to help pupils develop fluent handwriting and present their work neatly are not as rigorously implemented.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils from a wide variety of different backgrounds get on well together because the school places a strong emphasis on developing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and fosters good relationships. As a result, they respect one another and show caring attitudes.  Pupils are polite and courteous and make a constructive contribution to the calm and friendly atmosphere around the school. They respond quickly to any reminders from staff about the behaviour that is expected.  They feel safe in school. Road safety, guidance on keeping safe when using computers, visitors from the local emergency services and workshops for older pupils help pupils develop a strong awareness of how to keep themselves safe.  Pupils are confident that bullying of any form is very rare and dealt with effectively, as the school’s records confirm. They are also confident that staff will help them should any problems

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

occur.  They have positive attitudes to learning, although they do not always take responsibility for routinely following teachers’ comments and suggestions as to how to improve their work.  The breakfast and after-school clubs are popular. Pupils who attend make friends and play games with pupils in other classes.  Attendance is broadly average and improving because the school makes sure the whole school community is abundantly clear about the importance of regular attendance and good punctuality.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Outstanding leadership and management at all levels have secured significant and lasting improvements to all aspects of the school’s work while the school has continued to grow in size and undergone almost continuous building work since the previous inspection. The school demonstrates exemplary capacity to improve further.  The headteacher, leaders, managers and the governing body work exceptionally closely together with staff and form an ambitious and cohesive unit. Pupils, and their families, are outstandingly well supported by the school.  Extremely effective monitoring of teaching and other aspects of the school’s work ensures that self-evaluation is very accurate. This has been key in helping the leadership team to accurately identify the most appropriate priorities for improvement.  The team has successfully enhanced the quality of teaching and raised pupils’ academic achievement since the previous inspection through expertly targeted training and other highly

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The leadership and management are outstanding

effective staff development and coaching.  The performance of staff is managed very closely and measured against carefully selected improvement targets linked to pupils’ achievement. Leaders rigorously ensure any salary increases are justified by consistently strong, quality teaching, improved progress and raised standards for pupils.  Pupils have access to an exceptionally wide range of experiences in lessons and through an exciting programme of enrichment activities. Music is a particular highlight. Pupils enormously enjoy the broad opportunities for outdoor learning within the school’s extensive grounds. Learning is further enhanced through outings and visits to local places of interest including a residential visit to an activity centre for pupils in Year 6.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very strongly promoted. Charity fundraising and supporting a school in Africa help pupils develop consideration for others. Members of the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

eco and school councils are keen to contribute to the whole school community and enjoy taking responsibility.  The school offers many opportunities to parents to broaden their own learning, as well as offering workshops to help them understand how they can support their children’s learning.  The local authority provides effective light-touch support for this good school.  The governance of the school:  The governing body takes a very active interest in all the school’s work. Governors have an extremely accurate view of the school’s performance compared with other schools because they have a very precise understanding of the information the school gathers about pupils’ achievement as well as national performance data. Governors fulfil their role in managing performance extremely well. They measure the progress that is made against agreed success criteria, and scrutinise closely the links between performance and salary progression. They use

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The leadership and management are outstanding

information from monitoring, together with progress data for each class, to check the quality of teaching and set ambitious targets for further whole-school improvement.  The governing body is outstandingly clear about how the school uses additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium. It evaluates the impact of this money against the results these pupils achieve compared with other pupils at the school and nationally. Governors are highly skilled, and make a point of keeping up to date with current developments in education and attend professional training. As a result, they are outstandingly confident in challenging the school to improve further. Governors take their statutory duties exceedingly seriously and make sure that safeguarding duties, site safety and maintenance are checked very regularly and meet requirements. They maintain a strong control of the school’s budget and together with the school’s senior leaders, have steered the school through a

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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 131824 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 406454

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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 570 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Simon Hooberman Headteacher Chris Ashley-Jones Date of previous school inspection 8–9 November 2010 Telephone number 020 8769 8428 Fax number 020 8677 8857 Email address admin@hitherfield.lambeth.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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