Olga Primary School

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Early years provision Requires improvement Requires improvement

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

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement because over time it has not been good enough across the school. This includes in the early years provision.  Children’s reading, writing and mathematics skills are not promoted effectively enough in Nursery and Reception. They do not always engage fully with all activities.  Standards in all subjects are not high enough at the end of Key Stage 1.  Pupils in receipt of additional funded support do not attain as well as their peers in school at the the higher levels.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough. The work set is not always sufficiently challenging, especially for the most able learners.  Support staff in the classroom are not consistently deployed effectively enough to help pupils make good progress.  Marking does not consistently support pupils in making good progress.  When learning lacks challenge, some pupils become

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

restless and they do not always concentrate or work hard. On occasion, poor presentation and scruffy handwriting are accepted by teachers.  Over time, leaders, including middle leaders and governors, have not checked pupils’ progress well enough to be able to judge accurately the school’s effectiveness. They have not always identified areas that need improvement in a timely manner, including underachievement of particular groups of pupils.  The plans for development of the early years provision are not detailed enough to ensure they will lead to improvement and good outcomes for all children.

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The school has the following strengths:

 The recently appointed headteacher has had an immediate effect in improving systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.  Leaders at all levels have now evaluated the school’s current strengths and areas for development accurately.  Staff are supportive of the culture of high expectation that is being created.  Owing to better quality teaching, the progress made by pupils in Key Stage 2 is improving.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs usually make good progress because they are well supported.  Pupils get on well together at break times and support each other well. They report that they feel safe.  Parents and carers are positive about the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons or part-lessons, including those focused on support for pupils who are disabled and those with special educational needs. Six of these were jointly observed with senior leaders.  Inspectors talked to pupils both informally and formally, including a group of the most able pupils. They heard pupils read and looked at samples of their work.  Inspectors took account of the views of parents and carers, including the 22 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire. They also talked to several parents and carers before school and considered the views of staff expressed in 15 inspection questionnaires.  Discussions were held with representatives from the local authority’s advisory service and members of the governing body including the Chair of the Governing Body. The inspectors held discussions with members of the senior and extended leadership teams, other staff and parents and carers.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors examined pupils’ progress information and the work of a randomly selected group of pupils supported by additional funding. They talked to pupils informally and had discussions with two groups of pupils, including those pupils identified by the school as being most able. In addition, other school documentation, including the minutes of governors’ meetings, policies and information relating to targets set for teachers and safeguarding, was scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Barbara Firth, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Olga Primary School is an average-sized primary school. Three quarters of pupils belong to minority ethnic groups and just over half speak English as an additional language.  The proportions of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action are above the national average. Those supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs are also above the national average.  All children in the Early Years Foundation Stage attend full time.  Almost two thirds of pupils are eligible for support through pupil premium funding, which is well above the national average. The pupil premium is additional government funding given to schools for pupils who are looked after and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6 in English and mathematics.

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Information about this school

 The headship of the school has changed twice since the previous inspection. After a two year period of an acting leadership team, the current headteacher took up her post in September 2014. The two deputy headteachers and the assistant headteacher are in an acting capacity. There are currently no newly qualified teachers employed at the school.  The school is on schedule to expand to a three form entry school in September 2015.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching across the school and especially in Key Stage 1 and Years 3 and 4 so that it is consistently at least good by ensuring that:  all staff have high expectations of the quality and quantity of work that pupils are required to produce  work in lessons accurately reflects pupils’ abilities, effectively challenges them and engages them fully in their learning  teaching assistants in the classroom make a full contribution to pupils’ learning, especially at the start of lessons  all marking in the school is brought up to the standard of the best so that it makes an effective contribution to pupils’ progress.  Improve the achievement of pupils in the early years provision, especially in literacy and mathematics, by ensuring that:  all children in the Nursery and Reception classes regularly engage fully in all activities, especially those which will help develop their reading, writing and number skills

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 the development plan for the Early Years Foundation Stage is tightly focused on raising children’s achievement and has clear targets for improvement so that progress can be measured and tracked.  Improve behaviour by making sure that pupils’ learning is stimulating and holds their attention.  Strengthen the impact of leadership, including that of middle leaders and the governing body, on raising standards by:  ensuring that monitoring has a clear and rigorous focus on the progress of different groups, especially the most able and those pupils supported through additional funding.  An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.  An external review of pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because leaders and managers over time have not successfully ensured that the quality of teaching is consistently good across the school. Systems for monitoring teaching and the performance of teachers have lacked rigour. They have not been closely enough linked to the achievement of groups of pupils or particular year groups.  Despite being new to the school, the headteacher has quickly gained the confidence and respect of her staff. She has taken significant steps to raise expectations and move the school forward. Through early checks on the quality of teaching across the school, the senior team have now correctly identified clear priorities for improvement. These have been set out in the new school development plan that is focused strongly on improving the quality of teaching and raising achievement. However, it is too soon yet to see the full impact of their actions.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leaders have put in place more rigorous procedures for monitoring pupils’ progress than existed in the past. However, over time this information has not been used fully to ensure those pupils supported by additional funding achieve as highly as their peers in the school. This is especially the case for those in this group that are capable of attaining the highest levels.  Middle leaders are not fully involved in the monitoring of the quality of teaching. They do not systematically use the information they have about pupils’ progress to check on progress of individuals or groups within their areas of responsibility.  The school’s policy for the management of staff performance has not been rigorously or consistently applied. School information indicates that in the past, staff have been given pay increases despite poor achievement of pupils. There is currently a detailed plan in place to ensure that all staff will now benefit

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The leadership and management require improvement

from high-quality training. This is closely tied to the school’s priorities for improvement and individual teachers’ personal development.  The newly modified curriculum is broad and balanced and meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. Clear information about the subjects covered is shared with parents and carers on the school’s website. There is a good range of visits and visitors and opportunities for sport and music which further enrich pupils’ experiences. Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is supported adequately. The school promotes tolerance and respect for people of all faiths, cultures and lifestyles through a planned programme of assemblies and religious education. The school is a UNICEF ‘Rights Respecting School’ which ensures that British values of democracy and responsibility are encouraged.  The school has used the primary school sports funding to improve the quality of the teaching of physical

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The leadership and management require improvement

education. It has increased the opportunities for pupils to prepare for and take part in inter-school tournaments and develop their skills, particularly in swimming. Leaders are in the process of analysing the impact of the effectiveness of this provision.  The school has a range of strategies for engaging with parents and carers, including regular newsletters and the school’s website. There are coffee mornings and pupil achievement meetings. It supports well those parents and carers who are harder to reach. This has contributed to pupils’ more regular attendance, which has improved since the last inspection.  The school’s recent more rigorous approach to monitoring progress is beginning to promote equality of opportunity more effectively. The school rejects all forms of discrimination and records and logs show that the very few instances of poor behaviour are appropriately followed through.  The school safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 In the past, the local authority has given the school a light touch review, which has mainly been confined to checking on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. During the last year, the local authority’s involvement with the school increased and included supporting the early years leader. It also worked closely with the governing body in the appointment of the new headteacher. The level of support is set to rise.  The governance of the school:  Over time the governing body has not held the school to account well enough for pupils’ progress and, in particular, the underachievement of particular groups. Following recent training, governors are now in a better position to compare school data with national averages and identify areas for improvement more accurately. Governors use headteacher appraisal targets to set objectives for the headteacher and are supported by the local authority in this process. However, they do not have a good understanding

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The leadership and management require improvement

of how pupils’ progress is linked to pay progression for other staff in the school and in the past have not linked this well enough to the quality of teaching. The Chair of the Governing Body visits the school regularly and increasingly governors attached to different subjects and areas also make routine visits. Governors ensure that statutory safeguarding duties are met.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. The majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent View believe that behaviour is good. However, there are too many times when pupils lose focus in their learning and become restless. Pupils’ books also show that here are too many instances where work is presented without care.  Pupils have increasingly positive attitudes to learning as they move through the school. However, their behaviour deteriorates when lessons do not provide sufficient interest and challenge.  Pupils are polite and courteous to visitors. They work cooperatively together in class and play well together at break times. They take care of their surroundings and move around the building in an orderly manner. They like to take on responsibility, for example, in the playground pupils ‘buddy’ younger children and support them in their play.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The site is safe and secure; pupils know their boundaries and take care when moving around the school. The vast majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent View or spoke to an inspector said that their children are safe.  Pupils are well aware of the different types of bullying such as cyber bullying and name calling. They say that there is always an adult to go to if there is a problem and any issues are quickly resolved. School records and logs show that there are effective responses by adults when required.  Attendance is improving and is now broadly in line with the national average.  All staff and governors are trained in child protection procedures and senior staff and relevant governors have attended appropriate training for recruiting new staff.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching across the school and in reading, writing and mathematics is not consistently good; it does not ensure that all pupils are challenged to make rapid progress. Expectations of what pupils can achieve are not consistently high enough across the school. Standards of handwriting and presentation of work are uneven; untidy work is sometimes accepted by teachers.  Teachers do not always make full use of the information they have about pupils to ensure that work is pitched at the right level. More challenging work is not always provided from the start of the lesson for those who require it. The most able pupils are expected to complete work that is too easy for them before moving on to work at a more suitably demanding level. When this happens pupils can become restless and disengage with the activity. This prevents them from making the progress of which they are capable.  Teaching assistants generally make a useful contribution in supporting the learning of less-able pupils,

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

those learning English as an additional language, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This enables these pupils to make at least good progress, especially in small groups.  The organisation of additional adults at the start of lessons does not always support pupils’ learning. For example, in a Year 3 mathematics lesson in which pupils were learning how to partition, additional adults waited too long for the teacher’s direction before supporting a group of pupils who were struggling. There was also too much delay in providing additional challenge for those pupils who were finding the task far too easy.  Where learning is best, pupils work hard because teachers provide tasks that are challenging and relevant and extra support is very well deployed. This helps them to concentrate and achieve well, especially the most able pupils.  Although senior leaders’ efforts to improve the quality of marking are beginning to bear fruit, there are still

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

inconsistencies across the school. Where marking is most effective, teachers describe to pupils what they have done well and the next steps they need to make to improve their work even more. The pupils are required to act on the teacher’s advice, make appropriate corrections and learn from their mistakes. However, not all teachers’ comments are useful and pupils are not always expected to respond and thus learn from their mistakes.

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requires improvement

 Pupils do not consistently make good progress across all year groups and standards at the end of Key Stage 1 have been too low over time. Too few pupils attain higher levels at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 and especially those pupils supported through the pupil premium funding.  Children enter Nursery with skills at below the levels typical for their age, especially in language and communication. They make insufficient progress through Nursery and Reception and in 2013 standards were below the national average in all areas of learning. School information indicates that in 2014 there was an improvement in outcomes in literacy and mathematics. However, less than half of the children achieved a good level development in all areas of learning.  By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils’ attainment is well below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics; too few pupils reach the higher levels in all subjects. Progress across the key stage is not

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requires improvement

rapid enough for pupils to catch up and achieve the best that they are capable of. Unvalidated school information indicates that in 2014 although overall attainment is low, an increasing proportion of pupils have attained the higher levels in all subjects.  Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 in mathematics and reading has been consistently in line with national averages. However, attainment in writing has been erratic and was well below the nationally expected standard in 2013. Due to a concerted effort to improve writing, standards are now back in line with those expected. The proportion of pupils that make expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics compares favourably with that in other schools and an increasing proportion of pupils are making better than expected progress.  Other than in Years 5 and 6, there are missed opportunities for the most able pupils to make good or better progress. This is because teachers do not always consider what skills and knowledge the pupils

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requires improvement

already have when planning their work. The proportion of pupils that attained the higher levels in all subjects at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 was below the national average in 2013. Unvalidated school information shows that in 2014 the proportion has increased at the end of both key stages.  In 2013 and 2014, the proportion of pupils that reached the expected standard in the Year 1 check on their knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics) was in line with the national average. Pupils’ achievement in reading in 2013 at the end of Year 2 was well below the national average.  Progress and attainment in reading were better by the end of Year 6 when they were in line with the national average. As a result of an increased emphasis by leaders on reading across subjects and the school, the levels pupils reach are improving. Children say that they enjoy the daily opportunities to read to an adult, which is helping them improve their skills. Targeted reading support is having a good impact

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requires improvement

on the progress of those pupils with the most need.  The school actively promotes equal opportunities and tackles discrimination. Pupils identified as requiring extra help with their work are effectively supported. Consequently, most disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and those with English as an additional language, including those from ethnic minority groups, make at least the same progress as their peers and fulfil their potential. Careful and regular checks are kept on their progress to ensure that appropriate support and well-delivered provision are in place to meet their individual needs.  Additional funding is used to provide extra staff and a range of support, including that of a learning mentor and a residential trip for Year 6 pupils. When compared to similar pupils nationally, there is little difference in rates of progress or in attainment in reading, writing or mathematics between those pupils

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requires improvement

supported through the funding and those that are not. However, the gap between Year 6 pupils in this group and those Year 6 pupils not supported by additional funding in the school was equivalent to six months in 2013. Pupils supported by additional funding do not attain as well at the higher levels as their peers in school in any subject.

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requires improvement

 Too few children, including those who have special educational needs, make good enough progress from their starting points. Progress is particularly slow for some children in literacy and mathematics. In 2014, unvalidated school information indicated that over half the children were not ready for learning in Year 1.  Although there is some good teaching, it is not consistently so. Teachers and other staff do not have consistently high enough expectations for all children. Activities both inside the classrooms and in the outdoor area are suitably planned to promote all areas of learning. However, adults do not ensure that all children regularly engage with those activities that are intended to improve their literacy and mathematics skills. Opportunities to support the most able learners are sometimes missed.  The environment is welcoming and displays support learning. There are positive relationships between

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requires improvement

adults and children. Adults were observed promoting language very well and asking questions that encourage children to think carefully and extend their understanding.  Relationships with parents and carers are very good. They are involved in the process of checking their child's progress from the outset. There are many opportunities for them to be involved in their child’s learning so that they settle quickly.  The school has been working closely with the local authority to improve provision. The latest information indicates that although still low, there have been some improvements in outcomes in some areas of learning.  The leadership of the early years provision requires improvement. Although the leader has an understanding of the provision’s strengths and areas for development, planning is not detailed or sharply focused enough on raising children’s achievement and especially that of particular groups.

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requires improvement

 Staff have appropriate training, and safeguarding requirements are all met.

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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 100916 Local authority Tower Hamlets Inspection number 448876

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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 235 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Clare Brutton Headteacher Linda Ewers Date of previous school inspection 11–14 October 2009 Telephone number 020 8981 7127 Fax number 020 8980 5018 Email address admin@olga.towerhamlets.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 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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