Clifton Primary School

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 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 her recently appointed senior team and governing body work resolutely and successfully to improve the quality of teaching and ensure pupils achieve well. There is a very strong family ethos, which ensures that pupils learn and play happily together.  The quality of teaching is good. Teachers and support staff are well trained and work hard to ensure all pupils do well.  Children settle quickly into the early years, where they are well cared for. Many of these children start with little English, but are helped to acquire the language rapidly.  Pupils achieve well from starting points that are sometimes below those expected for their age. They leave the school achieving standards above the national average.  Disadvantaged pupils make very good progress, matching and sometimes exceeding that of their peers. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress in line with

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

that of other pupils.  Pupils behave very well, are extremely caring towards each other and respectful at all times. They attend very regularly and have exemplary attitudes to their learning.  The school provides excellent support for parents and works very effectively with other agencies to keep pupils safe.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There have been a high number of staff changes recently. While school leaders provide good support for new staff, this has yet to ensure that all teaching is consistently good in every class.  The marking of pupils’ work, particularly in writing, is not fully effective in helping pupils, including the most able, to improve their work.  While children in the early years are provided with good learning activities, staff do not work alongside them enough to develop their ideas, skills and understanding.  Pupils are not given enough opportunities to apply the skills they acquire in mathematics to the kind of problems they might encounter in real life.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of 15 lessons, six of which were jointly observed with the headteacher or one of the assistant headteachers. Inspectors undertook a series of short visits to other lessons across the school and listened to a sample of readers from Years 2 and 4. Inspectors also visited an assembly and observed pupils at break and lunchtimes.  Meetings were held with staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors and with a consultant attending on behalf of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 16 responses to the online survey, Parent View, three emails or calls from parents, and the views of the parents they met. Inspectors also considered the 42 responses to the staff questionnaire.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including national test results and the school’s own information about the assessment of pupils and their achievement. They looked at the school’s own

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Information about this inspection

checks on how well it is doing, the school’s development plan, safeguarding policies, and records and documents relating to the work of the governing body.  The inspection team scrutinised samples of pupils’ work in English and mathematics and records relating to behaviour, attendance and punctuality.  Inspectors took account of information on the school’s website and the data dashboard.

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Inspection team

Robert Eyre-Brook, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average primary school. It is expanding from one-and-a-half to two forms of entry. The school has two full-time Reception classes and two part-time Nursery classes.  The proportion of pupils from ethnic minority groups, including those who speak English as an additional language, is much higher than average. Most pupils are of Indian, Pakistani or Somali heritage.  Just over a third of pupils are supported by the pupil premium. This is higher than average. This is government funding provided to give additional support to those eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is three in a hundred. This is well below average. One fifth of pupils are supported at school action or with a statement of special educational needs. This is well above the national average.

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Information about this school

 The number of pupils joining or leaving the school during the course of the school year is higher than normally would be expected.  The headteacher is supported by two assistant headteachers, both of whom were recently promoted from within the staff team. There have been a several staff changes since the last academic year.  The governing body was re-constituted recently, with a smaller number of governors. The Chair of Governors was recently elected to the post.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for the pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  making sure all teachers consistently apply the school’s new systems for marking and providing feedback to pupils, especially the most able, in their writing  continuing to support and train teachers who are new to the school or to an age group  making sure there is sufficient support provided by adults working in the early years and that this builds on the children’s existing skills  ensuring pupils have sufficient opportunities to apply their skills in mathematics to solve real-life problems.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is passionate about the school and wholly committed to the welfare of the pupils and their families. She and her new leadership team provide strong leadership of teaching and show determination and resolve to improve the school further.  School leaders have successfully secured their vision for the ‘Clifton family’ in creating a ‘calm, safe and positive school which nurtures friendships’. This is reflected in the day-to-day running of the school and in the very positive attitudes and behaviour of the pupils. Consequently, equal opportunities are promoted, any kind of discrimination is tackled highly effectively and relationships within the school are very strong.  The recently appointed assistant headteachers have strengthened the school’s leadership. They work well with the headteacher to build robust systems to ensure that teachers are well supported and are held to account for the progress made by the pupils they teach.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle leaders carry out their responsibilities well. Several are new to their roles and so, in some cases, have yet to become fully effective. The school provides well for their professional development, putting them in a good position to build their expertise.  The management of the performance of teachers and support staff is rigorous. Advancement is dependent on the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make. Teachers’ performance is carefully judged against the national ‘Teachers’ Standards’.  Staff are provided with high-quality training. This is planned in response to the checks on their work. Teachers new to the profession feel well supported. A good balance is struck between in-house training, courses provided by the local authority and other providers, and more in-depth study, including at Masters level.  The school sets challenging targets for the pupils. Their progress toward these targets is monitored

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The leadership and management are good

carefully. School leaders are alert to signs of any groups or individuals underperforming and take swift action to address this.  The school provides a rich and varied curriculum. Pupils are consequently enthusiastic about their learning. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. They have a strong sense of responsibility and justice. They value the work of the School Council and feel that their views are heard.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. Pupils are thoughtful and considerate; those from different cultures work and play together harmoniously and they show pride in the school and in their achievements.  The difficulties faced by the families of many of the pupils mean that some rely a great deal on the school for support. School leaders work hard to communicate with parents and make themselves available.  Leaders take a firm line over parental responsibility for safeguarding their children, ensuring homework is

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The leadership and management are good

completed and pupils attend very regularly. While very many parents are keen to express their appreciation for this, there are a small number who feel the school is too robust in its approach.  Safeguarding arrangements fully meet statutory requirements and are highly effective. Staff are well trained to carry out their responsibilities. There is a thorough and rigorous approach to safeguarding, which does much to ensure the safety of the school’s most vulnerable pupils.  The school uses the pupil premium well to provide additional teaching and learning support, to enrich the curriculum and enable pupils to go on educational trips. Careful use of this funding has resulted in disadvantaged pupils making very good progress.  The primary physical education and sport premium is used well to provide specialist teaching and membership of the Featherstone School Sports Partnership. Consequently, pupils acquire skills quickly, are

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The leadership and management are good

active and enjoy a wide range of sports. School staff also benefit from high-quality training in physical education.  The school works well with other schools and is well supported by the local authority. Leaders seek help and advice where this is needed and are rigorously self-critical. They show an admirable determination to achieve the best for their pupils.  The governance of the school:  The governing body was recently reconstituted. This has meant a smaller but more effective governing body. New governors have been recruited, bringing with them specific skills from other areas of education and from business. The Chair and Vice-Chair of Governors provide good leadership.  Governors know the school’s strengths and areas for development well, including the quality of the teaching and the progress and attainment of the pupils, including those receiving pupil premium funding in each part of the school. They ensure they visit the school frequently to find out firsthand what is

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The leadership and management are good

going on.  Governors have good oversight of the performance management of the staff and are rigorous in their approach to challenging and managing the performance of the headteacher. They ensure that good teaching is rewarded and any underperformance is tackled. They are self-critical and committed to their own professional development.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. They behave very well in lessons and are eager to learn. This makes a strong contribution to the good progress they make at each stage of their primary education. They have exemplary attitudes to learning and disruption to lessons is extremely rare.  Pupils, especially the older ones, use a good range of strategies to enable them to overcome difficulties in their work, without having to wait for an adult’s attention. They make good use of prompts on display boards and assistance from their classmates, which is given readily. Pupils work together to overcome difficulties and assess each other’s work.  Pupils’ behaviour around the school is of a consistently high standard. They are respectful of each other and of adults and understand and appreciate the reasons for the boundaries that are set for them. Behaviour on the playground is extremely good. Pupils play very well together and collaborate in their

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Behaviour

games. New, exciting play equipment has further improved behaviour at playtimes.  Parents are supportive of the school’s consistent efforts to maintain the highest standards of behaviour, and express confidence in them.  There have been no permanent exclusions since the last inspection and the number of fixed-term exclusions has fallen to very low levels. The behaviour records maintained by the school show that incidents of poor behaviour are rare and declining over time.  Clear systems of rewards and sanctions work well. Emphasis is placed on celebration of effort, consideration and good behaviour. A delightful atmosphere was created in the weekly whole-school celebration assembly as individual teachers spoke with passion about the qualities individual pupils had shown, resulting in the award of a ‘Well Done’ certificate.  Pupils have many opportunities to contribute to the life of the school. They spoke of the role of the School

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Behaviour

Council and the ways it has influenced the decisions made by school leaders.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. School leaders maintain very robust and thorough systems to ensure this is so.  The school works very hard and effectively to keep pupils safe beyond the school gates. They provide excellent support to families.  Attendance is consistently high and very few pupils are persistently absent. Punctuality is also very good. All this is due to the diligence and persistent of the school, well-developed reward systems and the very clear messages that are given to parents about the importance of regular attendance.  The school works very well with outside agencies and other professionals to ensure pupils are kept safe. This is made more complex by the larger-than-average proportion of pupils who move onto and off the school roll as families move to other areas within the United Kingdom and beyond. The school is highly aware of the risks this could pose and ensures such risks are minimised.

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Safety

 Pupils have a very well-developed understanding of how to keep safe. With Diwali approaching, pupils were reminded of the dangers of fireworks. They show a well-developed understanding of e-safety and talk knowledgably about how to stay safe online.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching, particularly of reading, writing and mathematics, is good. Consequently, all groups of pupils make good progress as they move through the school.  Teachers have high expectations of their pupils and these are communicated well. As a result, pupils develop a love of learning and a strong drive to succeed.  Many of the teachers are new to the school or to the area of the school in which they now teach. In some cases, this means that the quality of teaching currently is not as consistently high as the school’s monitoring records and previous pupil progress indicate it was previously.  Teachers plan activities well to meet the very diverse needs of the pupils in each class. They make good use of assessment information to match work to the right level for pupils, including those new to the school. This contributes to the good progress made by all groups of pupils.  Teachers challenge the most able to achieve highly. However, not enough opportunities are provided for

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The quality of teaching is good

pupils to write at length in their work across different subjects, and consequently fewer pupils reach the highest levels in writing than is the case in reading and mathematics.  Homework is well planned and extra provision made to help pupils, including an occasional ‘Saturday School’ and an ‘Easter School’. Parents respond well to the school’s high expectations of the help they should give to their children, including with regular reading at home.  The many pupils who join the school with little or no spoken English are helped to acquire these skills rapidly and consequently they make very good progress. The school is focusing on extending these pupils’ vocabulary and communication skills, recognising the importance of this to enable them to reach the highest standards in their writing.  Teaching support staff are well deployed and contribute well to the progress of pupils. They support pupils

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The quality of teaching is good

effectively at each stage of lessons and have good strategies to support learning.  The school has developed well-judged systems for marking and providing feedback. Pupils respond well to the ‘two ticks and a boom’, where teachers specify aspects of their work that have been highly successful and the next step they now need to make. These approaches are not fully consistent and occasionally pupils do not successfully tackle their ‘next steps’ and errors are not picked up.

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is good

 Children in the early years make good progress. Consequently, nearly three quarters reach a good level of development.  The proportion of pupils reaching the expected levels in phonics (letters and the sounds they make) at the screening check at the end of Year 1 has risen and is now in line with the national average.  Pupils make good progress across Key Stage 1 and the standards reached at the end of Year 2 in reading are consistently high. Those in mathematics and more recently in writing have now also reached these high levels.  Progress continues to be strong across Key Stage 2 and pupils leave the school well prepared for the next stage of their education. Fewer pupils reach the higher Level 5 in writing than in the other subjects.  Pupils supported by the pupil premium make excellent progress and reach standards that are often above those of their peers. Typically, these pupils are about a month ahead of their peers within the school and

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is good

a term ahead of other pupils nationally. This is due to very good use by the school of the pupil premium and to good teaching. Fewer disadvantaged pupils, however, reach the highest levels in writing.  Pupils make good progress in reading across the school. There is a strong focus on reading at school and at home. Pupils read widely and often.  Pupils make good progress in mastering calculation strategies. However, there is not enough focus on the use of mathematics to solve problems in order for pupils to practise their skills in real-life contexts.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress as work is well pitched to their needs and individual help is carefully targeted.  The most able pupils make good progress, especially in reading and mathematics, and consequently the proportions reaching the highest levels in these areas are high. However, not as many able pupils reach

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is good

 Children typically join the Nursery and Reception classes with abilities close to those typical for their age, but below in their communication and language skills. They achieve well and the proportion reaching a good level of development is higher than that seen nationally. Consequently, they are well prepared for starting Year 1.  Those children joining with little spoken English or with poorly developed skills make rapid progress because of good teaching and a learning environment that is well designed to promote children’s acquisition of language.  Children have access to a good range of learning opportunities, both indoors and outdoors. These support good progress in all the seven areas of learning. Adults encourage the children and ensure they play and explore safely. However, they sometimes do not do enough to join in their play and discuss their ideas in order to move their learning forwards.

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is good

 Teaching is good, which leads to good progress. Children are taught in whole classes, groups and individually.  Children behave very well and are thoughtful and considerate to each other. This is due to clear guidance from adults, and established routines and expectations within which children feel safe and secure.  The early years provision is under new leadership and there have been other staff changes. The new leader is working hard to ensure provision is of the highest quality and has made a good start.  A new electronic method of recording assessment of children’s learning and progress has been introduced and is helping staff with planning the next steps for each child’s learning. However, while adults are getting used to the new system they sometimes spend too much time using the hand-held devices, and not enough time working alongside children to move their learning forwards.  Parents are welcomed into the early years and feel very well supported. Home visits before children start

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is good

mean information is shared well. Staff provide guidance for parents to help them to support their children’s learning at home.

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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 101893 Local authority Ealing Inspection number 448229

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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 392 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bill Griffiths Headteacher Polly Bennett Date of previous school inspection 22 June 2010 Telephone number 020 8574 5712 Fax number 020 8843 9097 Email address admin@cliftonprimary.ealing.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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