Cranford Park Academy

Cranford Park Academy Phelps Way, Harlington, Hayes, UB3 4LQ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils make good progress across the year groups, especially in reading and mathematics.  Children in Reception make good progress from their low starting points because of strong support from adults and good teaching.  Pupils who find work difficult are fully included in the life of the school and receive high-quality care and support from teachers and teaching assistants. As a result, they make good progress.  Teaching is good overall. Teachers’ good questioning, marking and written feedback in pupils’ books on how to improve extends pupils’ learning and helps them to make good progress.  Pupils’ behaviour is good around the school; they feel safe and display strong attitudes to their learning.  The school has clear understanding of the needs of its local community and parents and carers report that communications are good between school and home.  The school is well led and managed and the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

morale in the school is high. The strong team of leaders and mangers works effectively to bring about improvements.  The governing body is ambitious and knows the academy well, including its strengths and areas for development. Governors work with senior leaders effectively and provide the appropriate support and challenge to bring about improvements.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 The proportion of outstanding teaching is not yet high enough to ensure rapid progress.  Progress in writing is not as strong as in reading and mathematics. There are insufficient opportunities for pupils to practise their writing skills across different subject areas.  Higher attaining pupils are not challenged consistently in all lessons to enable them to reach their potential.  There are too few opportunities for pupils to respond to teachers’ comments in their books to extend their understanding.  Pupils are not always given sufficient opportunities to be actively involved in their own learning, and sometimes they lose concentration in lessons.  Attendance is not yet high enough to ensure no pupil falls behind in their learning.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 34 lessons, of which 11 were joint observations with the Principal, and senior leaders.  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 Principal, senior leaders and managers, subject coordinators, the Chief Executive, the Chair of the Board of Directors and Chair of the academy council. In addition, inspectors spoke to members of the parent council and parents and carers in the playground at the start of the school day.  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

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Information about this inspection

and the coverage of the curriculum.  The inspectors considered 55 questionnaires completed by staff.  The inspectors took account of 19 responses received from parents and carers to the online questionnaire, Parent View.

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Inspection team

Avtar Sherri, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Clementina Aina Additional Inspector Phil Hibbs Additional Inspector Bimla Thakur Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Cranford Park Academy converted to an academy on 1 September 2012 and is part of a multi- academy Trust, which includes two other academies, Wood End Park Academy and James Elliman Academy. The Chief Executive and a Board of Directors are responsible for all three academies. An academy council is responsible for the governance of each of the schools.  The Chief Executive is a National Leader of Education.  When the academy’s predecessor school, Cranford Park Primary, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding overall.  The academy is a larger-than-average sized primary school.  Pupils come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The majority of pupils are from Asian or Asian British background, mainly from Indian and Pakistani backgrounds, with pupils of Black African heritage forming the next sizeable ethnic group.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above average, as is the

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Information about this school

proportion of pupils whose first language is not English.  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 above average. The school currently has no children who are looked after by the local authority or children of service families.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is average. The proportion of those supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The academy runs a daily breakfast club and after-school club  Currently, no pupils attend off-site alternative provision.  The academy is a National Support School and a strategic partner of a teaching school.  The academy meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum

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Information about this school

expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, building on the good models already found in the school to enable pupils to make even more rapid progress across all year groups by:  ensuring that high-attaining pupils are sufficiently challenged in all lessons  providing sufficient opportunities for pupils to respond to teachers’ written comments in their books to help them extend their understanding and improve their work  reducing the amount of teacher-talk in some lessons to enable pupils to be more actively involved in their learning.  Raise attainment in writing by giving pupils more opportunities to practise and develop their writing skills in subjects other than English.  Improve attendance further so that it is above average by creating stronger links with all groups of parents and carers, so that they are fully supportive of the academy’s policy on attendance.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils, regardless of their ability or ethnic backgrounds, make good progress overall, and progress is particularly strong in Key Stage 1 and in Year 6 because this is where the best teaching is. Progress in writing is weaker than it is in reading and mathematics because pupils do not always have sufficient opportunities to write in subjects other than English. However, pupils’ books show that they make good progress in English and mathematics and the school’s data show that pupils are attaining the standards typically expected for their age.  The school promotes equal opportunities effectively. Monitoring and tracking systems are used well to identify weaker learners quickly and to provide targeted support to meet their needs.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress because they receive high-quality support from their teachers and teaching assistants, including additional

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The achievement of pupils is good

small-group and individual support outside lessons.  Pupils eligible for the pupil premium make good progress along with their peers. This funding is used effectively to meet the needs of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals through additional adult support, learning mentors and extra teaching time. As a new academy, no pupils have yet sat national tests at the end of Year 6.  Higher attaining pupils are not always sufficiently challenged to enable them to reach their potential and opportunities are sometimes missed to move their learning on quickly.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress because of additional support and the opportunities in lessons for speaking and listening. This helps them to learn English and build up their vocabulary quickly. This also helps other pupils to improve their communication and literacy skills.  Children begin the school with skills and knowledge at lower levels than those typically expected

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The achievement of pupils is good

for their age. They make good progress by the time they leave Reception because they are taught well and receive good support and care from adults.  There is good emphasis on developing children’s phonic skills (links between letters and sounds). As a result, they are able to use these skills to read unfamiliar and difficult words. Pupils are encouraged to read through good home-school links with records of their reading, and their progress in reading is good across the year groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching is good overall and teachers have generally high expectations of the pupils. As a result, pupils make good progress. The best teaching is found in the Early Years Foundation Stage, in Key Stage 1 and in Year 6.  Where teaching is not better than good, it is because teachers sometimes spend too long talking and pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to be actively involved in and take responsibility for their learning. This slows the progress pupils make in some lessons.  Children in Early Years Foundation Stage receive effective support from adults. Activities are well planned to engage children with a good balance between indoor and outdoor learning. There are plenty of opportunities for children to talk, pick up new vocabulary and to practise their phonics skills. In one Reception class, children had opportunities to practise counting and relate this to an everyday situation through buying items from a ‘supermarket’.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers question pupils well to test their understanding and extend their thinking. There are good opportunities for pupils to hear good models of speech, to extend their vocabulary and develop their communication skills through small-group discussions. For example, in a Year 6 lesson on Macbeth pupils were able to learn new vocabulary, make sense of unfamiliar phrases and reflect on the character’s role as result of the teacher’s thorough explanation. They also developed their understanding of the character’s feelings, motives and the rights and wrongs of the situation.  Teachers and teaching assistants monitor the progress of pupils carefully and provide effective support when needed. For example, in a Year 2 mathematics lesson, the teacher’s close monitoring of pupils’ work on measuring liquids meant that she was able to very quickly pick up misconceptions about the accuracy of reading the volume of a liquid and point these out to the

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The quality of teaching is good

rest of the class.  In some lessons, the more-able pupils are insufficiently stretched and they do not reach their potential. These pupils sometimes have to sit through some lengthy introductions to a lesson with the rest of the class, and opportunities are missed to give them challenging tasks early on in lessons.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work is good with appropriate feedback to pupils on how to improve. It is particularly good in Years 5 and 6, where it is more consistent and rigorous. However, there are insufficient opportunities for pupils to respond to teachers’ comments so that they take responsibility for their own learning and do not repeat the mistakes they have made.  Pupils enjoy reading and they are supported well by their teachers and teaching assistants to become confident readers through guided reading lessons and through the effective teaching of phonics to help them read unfamiliar or difficult words.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are courteous, polite, friendly and show respect for each other and adults. They have positive attitudes to learning and want to do their best. They are very confident and proud to show off what they can do, as seen in the school assembly when Year 3 pupils gave an engaging performance on ‘Perseus and Medusa’ from Greek mythology and showed great confidence, independence and teamwork.  Pupils from all back grounds get on well with each other, in lessons in the well-run breakfast club and around the school. They say they feel safe and can approach an adult easily if they have any concerns. Pupils are also able to raise concerns through the school council. Older pupils act as playground mediators to sort out some minor issues and disagreements.  The school keeps pupils safe through involving pupils in the anti-bullying week and teaching them about how to keep themselves safe from the potential risks of the internet, including cyber

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

bullying. Pupils also attend special events on fire and road safety.  Pupils are aware of different forms of bullying and they say bullying is rare, including the use of discriminatory or racist language. This is reflected in low levels of incidents recorded in the school’s behaviour log with no exclusions. The school’s behaviour policy is applied consistently across the school. However, there are occasions when the behaviour of a small minority of pupils is not always good, particularly in lessons where they spend too much time listening to the teacher and, as a result, become restless and lose concentration.  Attendance is steadily improving and is now average. The school tracks attendance closely and poor attendance is followed up by the attendance officer and the school’s family support workers. However, there is still more work to be done with small numbers of parents and carers who, despite the school’s efforts, still take their children out of school during term time for

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

holidays.  A large majority of staff responding to the staff questionnaire agree that behaviour is good in the school and a large majority of parents and carers responding to the online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved and that behaviour is typically good.

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The leadership and management are good

 The Chief Executive and the academy’s Principal have high expectations and their high ambition to raise achievement is shared by leaders, managers and council and board members. They have created a stable staff with high morale who share the vision for the school.  There are rigorous systems in place to monitor the quality of teaching and learning involving all leaders and managers. As a result, teachers know their strengths and areas for improvement. Where teachers need to improve, a clear plan of action is put in place with targeted support and professional development opportunities. The academy benefits through its federation by providing joint training for middle managers and newly qualified teachers.  Team leaders are given increasing responsibility to improve the quality of teaching in their year group and hold teachers accountable for the progress of their pupils. This is strengthening leadership and management and the capacity of the school to bring about further improvements,

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The leadership and management are good

but some initiatives are too new to be proven as outstanding.  Performance management is effective because it links well with quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. This influences decisions on teachers’ pay and promotion. There are more challenging expectations for more senior and experienced staff to demonstrate that the school is providing value for money.  The school’s monitoring and tracking data are effectively used to pinpoint underachievement and target support accordingly through effective use of resources. As a result, there is very little difference in the progress of different groups of learners. This reflects the school’s strong commitment to equal opportunities.  The academy has an accurate picture of how well it is doing and what needs to improve. The academy development plan identifies appropriate priorities for improvement. All staff are involved in the development of this plan and, as a result, there is a real sense of ownership and

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The leadership and management are good

shared vision for the academy among staff.  The curriculum is broad and balanced and is enriched through the use of specialist teachers in information and communication technology, music and physical education. A wide range of activities, clubs and visits contributes greatly to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The school knows its culturally diverse community well and uses this knowledge to engage parents and carers and promote community cohesion. The parent council provides opportunities for parents and carers to be involved in the life of the school and to raise any concerns that they may have. Most parents and carers responding to Parent View agree that the school is well led and managed.  The governance of the school:  The Board of Directors and academy council, along with the Chief Executive, have high expectations for the academy. They are closely involved in driving improvements, contribute

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The leadership and management are good

fully to the academy development plan and set the academy’s strategic direction. They are knowledgeable about the strengths and areas for development and are kept well informed by the Principal on how well pupils are doing. They are aware of how pupils in their academy are performing compared to those in similar schools nationally. They ask searching questions about the progress of pupils. As a result, they are in a good position to be able to hold senior leaders to account. Council and board members are well informed about the links between pay, performance of teachers and pupils’ achievement. They have experienced members with financial backgrounds to ensure financial management is effective and they maintain a firm control of the academy’s budget. They know how the pupil premium funding is used and its impact on pupils’ progress. They have had some training from the local authority on the use of

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The leadership and management are good

data and safeguarding. They ensure that safeguarding procedures are robust and meet the statutory requirements to keep pupils safe in school.

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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 138613 Local authority Hillingdon Inspection number 412440

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 850 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Peter Dollimore Principal Sarah Evans Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 020 85733453 Fax number 020 88136189 Email address cranfordpk@hillingdongrid.org 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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