Bird In Bush School

Camelot Primary School Bird-in-Bush Road, London, SE15 1QP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 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 all make good enough progress especially boys in writing and not enough pupils attain the higher levels at the end of both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  Teaching requires improvement because it is not consistently good across all classes and there is not enough outstanding teaching in the school.  Sometimes, teachers expectations are not high enough and the pace of learning swift enough. Pupils who can do harder work or work independently are often given the same tasks as everyone else or have to sit and listen about things that they already know.  Teachers’ marking does not always inform pupils how to improve their work in order to move on to the next level in their learning.  Teachers do not check often enough during lessons how well pupils are learning.  Leaders monitor teaching regularly but they do not focus thoroughly enough on the underachievement of particular groups such as the more able or boys.

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

 Most middle leaders are new to their post of responsibility and as such are not yet playing a full part in leading school improvement.  Turbulence in staffing since the last inspection has resulted in changes to staffing at all levels of leadership, including key changes to the membership of the governing body. A sizeable group of parents and carers say that they do not know who the governors are and there are few opportunities for them to engage with the governing body.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils’ attainment in all subjects at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 has improved.  The interim acting headteacher has communicated a clear vision in supporting senior leaders to eradicate inadequate teaching and raise pupils’ achievement in all subjects.  Teaching is good in some classes and some groups of pupils, such as those who are supported through the pupil premium funding or who have special educational needs, usually make good progress because they are well supported.  Pupils enjoy their time at school, get on well together and understand how to keep safe.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in 24 lessons or parts of lessons. Four of these were jointly observed with senior leaders.  Inspectors heard pupils read, looked at samples of pupils’ work and attended school assemblies.  There were not enough responses to the online Parent View questionnaire for the views of parents and carers to be secured so inspectors talked to some of them before school and also considered the school’s most recent questionnaire for parents and carers. They also took into account the views of staff expressed in 14 questionnaires.  Discussions were held with representatives from the local authority’s advisory service, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governing Body, and members of the school staff.  Inspectors examined pupils’ progress data and other school documentation including safeguarding information.  A formal discussion was held with a group of pupils and inspectors also talked to pupils at breaks

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Inspection team

Barbara Firth, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Olson Davis Additional Inspector Victoria Turner Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Camelot is a larger than average-sized primary school.  The vast majority of pupils come from a range of minority ethnic heritages. Almost three quarters of pupils speak English as an additional language.  A lower than average proportion of pupils are supported through school action or school action plus or have a statement of special educational needs.  Just over half of the pupils are known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium, which is additional funding given to schools for children in specific groups including those in the care of the local authority and those known to be eligible for free school meals. At Camelot the pupils eligible for the pupil premium are those known to be entitled to free school meals, and this proportion is twice the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 The school has experienced a great deal of turbulence in staffing since the last inspection and since April 2013 the deputy headteacher has led the school in the capacity of acting headteacher. In September 2013 the senior leadership team was strengthened with the addition of an acting deputy headteacher and an additional assistant headteacher. The school also welcomed nine new teachers to the staff including four newly qualified teachers. The school is supported by a National Leader of Education and a consultant headteacher.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate pupils’ progress and raise attainment across the school for more-able pupils and for boys in writing by:  raising teachers’ expectations so that they challenge and motivate pupils to achieve more, especially boys and more-able learners  increasing the opportunities for pupils to write with purpose and at length in all subjects  making sure that the teaching of spelling, punctuation and sentence structure helps improve the quality of pupils’ writing  providing more support with sentence structure to enable pupils to work by themselves when constructing longer pieces of work.  Improve leadership and management by:  increasing the focus on the achievement of groups of pupils and in particular that of the more able and boys when monitoring the quality of teaching  supporting the development of middle leaders new to their responsibilities so that they can play a full part in checking and improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress in their

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

area of responsibility  finding ways for governors to engage more frequently and effectively with parents and carers to achieve improved outcomes for pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement because not enough pupils, especially boys and the more- able pupils, make fast enough progress in writing across the school or attain the higher levels in the national tests at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 that they are capable of. In 2013, in Year 6, boys’ attainment in writing was approximately 11 months behind that of girls. This is because teachers do not always provide enough guidance on how pupils can improve the structure of their writing or set tasks challenging enough to engage and inspire boys or the most-able pupils to write independently or at length.  Children enter Nursery with skills that are below those expected for their age, especially in language and communication. They often make at least good progress because of the good range of activities that promote good levels of engagement and imaginative play.  Most children continue to make good progress in the Reception classes because there is a good

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

balance of children making purposeful choices and adult-led activities. The proportion achieving a good level of development by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage in all areas of learning is increasing and is now just below the national average.  Progress in Key Stage 1 is not quick enough and although attainment at the end of Year 2 has improved and is now just below the national average, not enough pupils attain the higher levels in all subjects.  In 2013, pupils’ attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 is an improvement on previous years being broadly the same as the national average in both English and mathematics.  In 2013, the proportion of pupils attaining the required standard in the government’s phonics screening check (linking sounds and letters) improved substantially on the previous year. Throughout the school pupils make at least expected progress in reading with many making good progress so that by the end of Year 6, reading standards are in line with the national

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

average.  Pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language make similar progress to their peers in all subjects.  Pupil premium funding is used well for extra staffing, one-to-one tuition, group support and resources and is helping to accelerate pupils’ progress. As a result, the gap in attainment, in terms of average point scores, has narrowed both in school and as compared with similar pupils nationally. In 2013, the attainment of Year 6 pupils known to be eligible for free school meals was approximately one month behind their peers in English and five months behind in mathematics. The gap is narrowing quickly in Key Stage 1.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although the quality of teaching has improved over time, there is still not enough consistently good teaching and there remain pockets of inadequate teaching. Many teachers are new to teaching and are still developing their skills. There are, however, examples of good teaching in the school which can be used to model good practice. Recent improvements to the progress pupils make are testament to this.  Although pupils’ work is marked frequently the quality of marking and feedback is not consistently good across the school. The advice given to pupils on how to improve their work does not always provide clear advice and next steps so that pupils can improve their learning. Only in a few instances do pupils respond to teachers’ comments and there is little evidence of pupils taking responsibility for their learning by marking their own or other pupils’ work.  Where teaching is weak, it is because teachers’ expectations of pupils are not always high

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

enough and lessons are not always planned carefully enough to enable pupils to learn independently of the teacher.  In weaker lessons, teachers do not check on pupils’ understanding regularly enough during lessons and too often, all pupils start with the same work. This means that the most-able pupils are given work that is either too easy or is about something they already know well; consequently, they are not pushed hard enough to make even better progress.  Opportunities are missed to engage boys in writing; for example, in a literacy lesson where pupils were working in pairs, recording their thoughts on a shared whiteboard, the pupil doing the recording in most instances was a girl, resulting in the boys not being actively engaged in the writing task.  Teachers do not provide enough structured opportunities for pupils to write at length and independently in subjects other than in literacy. Consequently, pupils and especially boys do not

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

put as much effort into their writing in other subjects.  In the good lessons, teachers effectively question pupils and ask searching questions that allow pupils to reflect; teachers plan work that meets the needs of all pupils and deploy other adults effectively to support pupils. For example, in a good Year 6 mathematics lesson in which pupils were completing number sentences, the most-able pupils were expected to independently solve more challenging problems, with the teacher providing support as and when appropriate. At the same time lower-ability pupils received well-targeted support from the teaching assistant enabling them to also make good progress with their learning.  Children get off to a good start in the Nursery and Reception classes. Activities are themed so that whatever the child chooses to do it strengthens their understanding of the focus of learning. For example, in a Reception class where the children were learning the sound ‘b’, they were

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

engaged in a range of activities which included building boats out of ‘Duplo’; practising writing the letter ‘b’; playing with balloons, and sounding out simple words beginning with ‘b’.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs receive good support individually, in groups and in class from well-trained and experienced teaching assistants and other support staff, which helps them to make the same progress as their peers. Their progress is carefully and regularly checked so that work is planned to build on what they already know.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Behaviour and safety require improvement because pupils’ attitudes to learning are variable. When they are not given enough opportunities to be fully involved in their learning a minority of pupils become fidgety and distracted, especially when tasks are uninteresting or do not provide a sufficiently high enough level of challenge.  There is a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the school and one of its strengths is the way all pupils are accepted and included, regardless of their backgrounds or abilities. Most pupils behave well around the school, including at break-times. They get on well together and play happily with others, with many of those spoken to during the inspection saying they like school and know how to keep themselves safe.  The small number of pupils with behavioural difficulties is well supported through the school’s Fresh Start programme and as a result, exclusions have reduced significantly since the last

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

inspection.  Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying. They say that any disruptions in lessons or bullying incidents are dealt with appropriately.  The school’s most recent questionnaire indicates that most parents and carers agree that behaviour in the school is good and that their children are kept safe. The large majority thought their children were happy and well looked after. Attendance is average and improved last year as a result of the school’s more rigorous approach to improving attendance and the work of the school’s parent support advisor and learning mentor.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because actions to improve achievement have not been effective in accelerating progress of all groups of learners, especially for boys and the most-able learners and writing across the school. In addition, middle leaders are new to their responsibilities and as yet have not had time to play their part and impact on improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The interim acting headteacher and the recently strengthened leadership team are strongly supported by governors and staff. Together they have made a rigorous evaluation of the school to provide an accurate picture of its performance and identify the right priorities. All leaders and managers, including governors, now have an accurate understanding of what the school does well and what it needs to do to improve. The school’s plans set out priorities and actions for improvement and clearly show what has to be done, who will deal with each action and how

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The leadership and management requires improvement

impact will be measured.  The school has improved the rigour and frequency with which it monitors the quality of teaching and tracks pupils’ progress. However, the school has not used the information it has about underachieving groups, for example boys and the most-able pupils, as a focus when monitoring the quality of teaching. Consequently, their progress has not been as swift as it could be.  The school is not able to currently ensure it is promoting equal opportunities well because some pupils do not make good enough progress in writing.  Literacy coordinators are aware of the slow progress in writing and there is now a greater focus on good quality extended writing across the curriculum. However, there are still some inconsistencies in teachers’ expectations and, as a result improvements in writing have been slow, especially for boys.  The vast majority of parents and carers say that they are well informed by the school; more are

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The leadership and management requires improvement

gaining in confidence in engaging with the school and an increasing proportion say that they can approach the school if they have a problem.  Teachers’ performance is closely linked to their pay, the Teachers’ Standards and priority areas of the school. Leaders have ensured that training is provided for teachers, focused on both the school’s priorities and individual needs. The school is working closely with local schools to ensure that staff, including newly qualified teachers, have experience of outstanding practice.  The local authority has provided intensive support since October 2012 with ongoing support for the leadership of the school and consultancy support to develop the quality of teaching. As the school improves the level of support is being reduced.  The curriculum offers many links between subjects and ensures that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development progresses well. It is enriched through a good programme of

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The leadership and management requires improvement

visits including to art galleries and places of religious worship. The school has appointed a new physical education (PE) coordinator who is working with the leadership team to plan the use of the school’s sports funding which will include a programme of after-school clubs and professional coaching to support pupils’ development in PE. This is still at the planning stage so, as yet, there is no evidence of impact.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is an experienced group of individuals who bring a good range of relevant skills to the school. Despite key members being new to the role, they are already fully aware of the issues at the school and are well equipped to ensure that progress is made. They have a good understanding of data and an accurate view of the school’s performance and the quality of teaching. They have already contributed to strategic plans for improvement and evidence gathered during the inspection suggests that they provide both challenge and

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The leadership and management requires improvement

support. Training for safer recruitment and safeguarding has been undertaken. Governors are kept well informed about the impact of the use of the pupil premium and plans for the use of the primary sports funding on pupils’ achievement. They hold the acting headteacher to account through a robust performance management system and help to ensure that good decisions are made in allocating finances and rewarding teachers appropriately for their work. They are aware that their engagement with parents and carers is not as strong as it should be and have plans and actions in place to address this.

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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 100780 Local authority Southwark Inspection number 425512

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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 497 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Juliette Young Headteacher Franca Lamalfa Date of previous school inspection 22–23 February 2012 Telephone number 020 76390431 Fax number 020 72778832 Email address general@camelot.southwark.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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