Botwell House Catholic Primary School

School report Botwell House Catholic Primary School

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher and senior leaders, well supported by governors, keep all staff focused on improving the quality of their teaching and raising achievement. This has ensured recent improvements.  Teaching is consistently good. This enables pupils to make good progress. Their above average attainment ensures they are well prepared for learning at secondary school.  The role played by the governing body in checking that the school is meeting its aims has improved in recent years. It balances support for the school with challenging it to do better.  Reading is taught well. Children develop a good knowledge of letters and their sounds in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Pupils in Key Stage 2 develop wider reading skills such as comprehension and inference.  Children thrive in the Nursery and Reception because they are helped to settle in thoughtfully and activities fire their imaginations.  Pupils’ progress is carefully monitored and their

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

needs identified. This enables additional support to be provided so that disadvantaged pupils or any who have special educational needs are able to achieve well.  Pupils behave well and move sensibly around the buildings, helping to make the school a very orderly place in which to learn.  Pupils’ positive attitudes and improved attendance contribute to their good learning and progress.  The Christian ethos permeates school life, and provision is also made well for pupils to learn about and respect the customs and beliefs of other major world religions.  Pupils feel safe and happy in school because staff pay close attention to their welfare.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 The assessment of the children’s learning in Nursery and Reception is not always accurate enough to recognise their achievements.  Teachers do not always provide sufficient challenge for the more able pupils in each class. This can lead to their progress slowing at times.  Subject leadership teams are not checking the quality of teaching and learning in order to use their expertise to bring about improvements.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 32 lessons, six of which were seen together with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.  Inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books retained by the school from the last academic year. These included records of the learning of children in the Nursery and Reception.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, school staff, the Chair of the Governing Body and other governors, and a representative from the local authority.  As there were only 12 responses to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire, Parent View, inspectors took account of the 228 responses to a recent parent questionnaire undertaken by the school.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own information on pupils’ current progress, planning and monitoring information, records relating to behaviour and attendance, and documents relating to safeguarding.  Inspectors also took account of the 54 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Martin Beale, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much larger than most primary schools.  Three-quarters of the pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average, although only a few are at the early stages of learning English.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for funding through the pupil premium is well below average. This is additional government funding which, in this school, supports pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs on the school roll is about 7%. This is much lower than that found in most schools.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school hosts extended school provision before and after school. This is privately run and so is

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching by ensuring that teachers consistently set work that challenges the more able pupils.  Ensure that assessments of the children in the Nursery and Reception classes accurately identify their learning and achievements.  Strengthen leadership and management by providing opportunities for subject leadership teams to check teaching and learning in classrooms and bring about further improvements in teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 Firm leadership from the headteacher and his senior team drives a culture of high expectations of teaching, the pupils’ achievement and their behaviour. Planned actions following careful evaluation of the school’s performance have led to improvement since the last inspection. This gives the school the capacity to improve further.  The focus on improving teaching is based on regularly checking where each teacher might be able to improve and providing support, guidance and training for this to be achieved. The headteacher maintains a strong link between good classroom performance and salary increase.  Subject leadership teams are making a significant impact on driving forward improvement in their areas. One example is how the reading team has helped raise standards in reading since its formation. However, the role of these teams does not extend to gathering first-hand information about teaching and

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The leadership and management are good

achievement in their subjects. As a result, action is not always sharply refined and targeted to where it is needed most.  Engagement with the local authority has been light touch. However, training from the local authority since the last inspection played a major part in governors becoming more effective in their role.  The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum that supports well the pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and to tackling any discrimination. The school’s values such as perseverance, respect and tolerance are continually promoted, including through assemblies. Pupils learn about life in modern Britain through community activities such as working towards a ‘greener, cleaner Hayes’. Provision for music is particularly strong. Pupils also benefit from specialist teaching in

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The leadership and management are good

physical education.  The school uses its new sports funding well. Working alongside specialist sports coaches has widened teachers’ expertise in physical education. This funding has also enabled the school to add a well-attended gymnastics club to its range of sports activities and a fitness club for parents, carers and their children.  The governance of the school:  Governors bring a wide range of experience and valuable expertise to their role. They have become much more involved in supporting the drive for improvement since the last inspection. Governor training has increased their understanding of the role of governance and is helping them to scrutinise school assessment data more closely. They challenge and support the school’s senior leaders well. Governors have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths. They know what is needed for the school to improve, including action senior leaders are taking to improve teaching. Governors check carefully the

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The leadership and management are good

impact of their spending decisions and are fully conversant with the effectiveness of additional funding such as the pupil premium. They ensure pay awards for staff are linked to pupils making good progress. Safeguarding arrangements are secure.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Parents, carers and staff agree. Pupils are courteous and polite. They are clear about the importance of good behaviour and how this can influence their learning. They take a pride in their school and try their hardest to keep their areas very tidy.  Pupils are keen to do well. Pupils of all backgrounds work and play happily together showing each other respect and consideration. They work hard in lessons and listen carefully to their teachers. Although some occasionally lose concentration this does not disrupt the flow of learning for others.  Attendance has risen since the school’s last inspection because the headteacher and governors have made it clear that holidays should not be taken during the school term.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. Pupils say they feel safe in school. Parents and carers strongly agree that the

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

school successfully promotes all aspects of their children’s welfare.  Pupils have a clear understanding of different forms of bullying and say that incidents are rare. Parents and carers judge that the school deals well with any problems that do occur. Records show that the school deals swiftly with the very small number of incidents that have occurred.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching is leading to pupils learning well and making good progress over time. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ work and behaviour and that pupils will strive to do their best. Teachers command the pupils’ respect so that classrooms are calm and there is a hard-working atmosphere. Homework is set regularly to build on work in lessons and promote reading at home.  Teaching develops the pupils’ language skills quickly, including for those new to English. This is because of the focus by teachers on developing their speaking and accepting only detailed responses rather than one- word answers. Teachers probe the pupils’ understanding carefully through their questioning and adapt their teaching accordingly.  Teachers use assessment information from the online reading scheme well to plan work at the right level for pupils. They become skilled at extracting meaning from the texts they read because teachers challenge

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The quality of teaching is good

them to use quotes to justify their answers to questions posed.  The assessment of pupils is generally accurate and used effectively when planning lessons. Progress over time is checked carefully so that any pupil falling behind their targets is identified quickly and given further support. This and the skilled guidance of support staff enable disabled pupils and those with special educational needs to participate fully in lessons.  Teaching focuses carefully on the most able in each year group through probing questioning and activities that make them think deeply. However, there are times when they are not sufficiently challenged. In mathematics, for example, they are often given repetitive questions that they answer correctly but which do not deepen their understanding sufficiently.

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is good

 Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Their attainment is above average in all three aspects.  Year 6 test results rose in all subjects in 2013, having fallen sharply the year before. They rose further in 2014, particularly in reading, in response to action taken by the school to develop the pupils’ wider reading skills more effectively.  The most able pupils make good progress and reach very high levels, particularly in mathematics. However, in some classes, the most able pupils do not always make the same good progress because their learning is not consistently extended.  Pupils make rapid progress in phonics (sounds that letters make). Results of the phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils have consistently been much higher than the national average over the last three years.  The new online reading scheme with its rewards for completing books and answering questions correctly

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is good

is greatly enjoyed by pupils. This has added considerably to their enjoyment of books and their wider reading skills.  Pupils speaking English as an additional language make equally good progress as others in their classes. Their attainment by the end of Year 6 matches and often exceeds others.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make progress similar to other pupils. Teachers are able to give them close attention because they have a very clear understanding of the support they need based on an accurate assessment of their needs.  The school uses the pupil premium well to ensure the good progress of eligible pupils and close gaps between their attainment and that of others in their year groups. This is achieved through support for reading, small groups to develop writing, and individual mentoring. There was no difference between the Year 6 test results of eligible pupils and others in mathematics in 2013 and a gap of just over one term in

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is good

each of reading and writing. Their results were above the national average for all pupils in mathematics and in line with the national average in reading and writing. Any gaps this year between eligible pupils and others in the year group were also minimal.

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is good

 Children make good progress in the Nursery and Reception classes from skills on entry that are lower than expected for their age. Their attainment by the end of Reception is broadly average. Children develop a firm foundation for success in their learning in preparation for Key Stage 1.  Teaching is good and activities quickly engage the interest of the children and retain their attention. All adults in the Nursery and Reception classes focus carefully on developing the children’s language and communication skills by making sure the whole area is rich in opportunities for discussion. The children’s love of reading begins here and their understanding of phonics progresses quickly.  Children make good gains in their personal and social development. There is a strong emphasis on ensuring the children are happy and safe, with their welfare a high priority for everyone. Staff ensure that children treat each other kindly, work together constructively and learn to share resources and take

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is good

turns.  Good leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage has led to improvements in teaching and the children’s achievement since the last inspection. Teamwork between classes is now strong as reflected in shared planning and common experiences for the children. However, the assessment of the children from their entry to leaving Reception does not always recognise their achievements fully. This means leaders are not always sharply aware of the impact of actions they take on the progress of the children.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 102422 Local authority Hillingdon Inspection number 448237

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 704 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Christopher Green Headteacher Sean Reilly Date of previous school inspection 22 June 2010 Telephone number 020 8573 2229 Fax number 020 8569 0286 Email address botwell@hgfl.org.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 and 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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