St Stephen's C E Primary School

School report St Stephen’s Church of England Primary School Winchester Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1 1LF

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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

 Pupils achieve well and make good progress. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is significantly above the national average.  The provision for early years is good. Children in Reception are taught well and receive good care and support from staff. As a result, they make good progress from their starting points.  Disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language make similar progress to their classmates.  Teaching is good. This contributes strongly to the progress pupils make.  Teachers and teaching assistants work effectively together. They create a very positive working environment that motivates and engages pupils in their learning.  The headteacher provides strong and effective leadership and is highly ambitious for the school.  Leaders and managers work effectively as a team to bring about improvements in the quality of

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

teaching and raise achievement.  Pupils are courteous and respectful. Their behaviour is good. Staff ensure that pupils feel safe in the school. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their work and this supports their good progress.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and this is reflected in their high attendance.  The school’s promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is highly effective. This prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.  Governors have high expectations for pupils. They are skilful and provide effective support and challenge to bring about improvements.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The disadvantaged pupils do not make enough progress across the different year groups in mathematics.  The additional support that disadvantaged pupils receive is not always monitored frequently enough to assess its impact to bring about rapid and sustained progress.  In some year groups, teachers do not have high enough expectations of the quality and quantity of work that some disadvantaged pupils are expected to produce.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 21 lessons of which four were joint observations with the headteacher or assistant headteacher. Inspectors also observed pupils at breaks and lunchtimes and attended two assemblies.  Meetings were held with different groups of pupils. The inspectors listened to pupils in Years 1 and 2 read and discussed their reading with them.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, the Chair of the Governing Body and four other governors. A discussion was also held with a local authority representative and a representative of the school’s diocese.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and examined a range of documentation, including the school’s information on how well pupils are doing, improvement plans and checks on the quality of teaching. They also looked at records relating to behaviour, safety, attendance and safeguarding.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work to see what progress they make and to judge the quality of marking and

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Information about this inspection

feedback.  The inspectors took account of the responses received from 260 parents to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and several letters received from parents. In addition, inspectors spoke to parents in the playground at the start of the school day.  The inspectors also considered the 39 questionnaires completed by staff.

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Inspection team

Avtar Sheri, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St Stephen’s Church of England Primary School is an above-average-sized primary school.  Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups with the largest group being from a White British background.  The number of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is below average. This is additional government funding provided to give extra support to those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and to children who are looked after by the local authority.  Six per cent of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs and are supported by school action. Three per cent of pupils are supported at school action plus or have a statement of special educational needs. Both proportions are below the national average.  The school is going through the process of significant change from being a junior school with three classes

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Information about this school

in each year group to becoming a primary school with two classes in each year group. The school became an all-through primary school in September 2012, with two Reception classes. The first cohort of children entered Year 2 in September 2014, so there are no Key Stage 1 test results for the school yet.  Currently, the school has two classes from Reception to the end of Year 5. The school still has three classes in Year 6.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the progress that disadvantaged pupils make in mathematics so that it is rapid and sustained across the year groups by ensuring that:  teachers always have high expectations of the quality and quantity of the work they are required to produce  the support they receive is always closely monitored and evaluated to check that it is having the best possible impact on their learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and managers are strongly committed to improving the quality of teaching and raising achievement. The headteacher is highly ambitious and communicates high expectations of staff and pupils. There is strong support for leadership among the staff and the morale in the school is high. As a result, there is a strong culture of mutual respect and purposeful atmosphere for pupils to learn and thrive.  The headteacher and senior leaders have been successful in improving the quality of teaching through monitoring teaching and providing the appropriate support and training opportunities to share effective practice.  Subject leaders monitor their subjects well through observing lessons and carrying out book scrutinies. They know how well pupils are doing and hold teachers accountable for the progress they make. They know the strengths and areas for development for the school, and contribute to the development of the

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The leadership and management are good

school’s improvement plan.  Leaders and managers know the main priorities for the school. Actions to bring about improvements are clear and well planned. The school’s view of its strengths and areas for development is accurate and secure. Leaders and managers demonstrate the capacity to sustain improvement.  Leaders and managers have been successful in narrowing the attainment gaps between the disadvantaged pupils and their peers in reading and writing. However, this has not been successful in mathematics. Although disadvantaged pupils are targeted for one-to-one and small-group support, the impact of these actions is not always monitored frequently enough.  Leaders and managers promote equality of opportunity well and ensure that there is no discrimination. However, they have not yet ensured equal opportunities for disadvantaged pupils through mathematical skills.  Subjects are planned well with a broad range of themed and practical activities that engage pupils in their

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The leadership and management are good

learning. They promote British values and prepare pupils effectively for a life in modern Britain. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively. Pupils learn about mutual respect, tolerance and appreciation of cultural and religious diversity. Pupils have opportunities to learn Spanish and French, including visiting different countries in Europe to widen their experiences. The school has embraced the new curriculum for primary schools and leaders, managers and staff are working well to implement it.  There is effective use of the primary sports funding to provide a range of sporting activities for pupils, including successfully competing in sports with other schools. Pupils value the sporting activities on offer and their participation in sports has increased. Teachers take full opportunities of this funding to increase their skills in teaching physical education more effectively, particularly through the use of sports coaches.

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The leadership and management are good

 There are strong links with parents and the school works effectively with them to ensure pupils are supported and well cared for. Nearly all of the parents who responded to the Parent View questionnaire, including those who gave their written responses, feel the school is well led and managed, and all staff responding to the staff questionnaire agree with them.  The school meets statutory requirements of safeguarding.  The local authority only has to provide limited support for this good school.  The governance of the school:  Governors know the school well, including its strengths and areas for development. They are ambitious and want the very best for the pupils. They have the appropriate skills and knowledge to support senior leaders and to challenge them on the work they do, particularly in relation to raising achievement.  Governors are trained in the use of performance information and know how pupils are performing in the

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The leadership and management are good

school, and how the school’s performance compares with similar schools and schools nationally. Governors have a secure knowledge of performance management, including how decisions are made on teachers’ pay scales.  Governors ensure the efficient management of financial resources. They have a secure understanding of how pupil premium funding is spent and its impact on raising achievement for disadvantaged pupils. They know that leaders and managers have to do more work to secure consistently good progress for this group of pupils.  Governors know how the additional primary funding is used, and its impact on increasing pupils’ enjoyment and participation in sports and enhancing the quality of teaching in physical education.  Governors have been trained on safeguarding and carry out all statutory safeguarding checks effectively.

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Behaviour

 Behaviour of pupils is good. In lessons, pupils show good attitudes to learning and are keen to do their best. They are highly respectful to each other and to staff, and relationships are strong. Pupils are friendly and courteous and keen to talk about their learning to adults, including visitors. For example, they were confident to approach inspectors to share, with great pride, the work they had done in the classroom.  Behaviour at breaks and during lunchtimes is consistently good and sometimes better. Pupils from all backgrounds get on well with each other. They collect their dinners in an orderly way and take responsibility for putting away used plates and cutlery. They take care not to drop any food on the floor. The school environment is attractive with impressive displays of pupils’ work.  Pupils say that behaviour is good and that the few small incidents that occur are dealt with quickly by

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Behaviour

staff. The school keeps records of any behaviour incidents and these indicate that pupils’ behaviour over time is good. There are no exclusions and punctuality is good.  Almost all parents who responded to Parent View consider pupils are well behaved in school.  Behaviour is not outstanding because pupils say that there are occasions, both in the playground and in lessons, when a few pupils do not behave as well as they should. Some pupils do not always ensure that their work is well presented in their books.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils, parents and staff strongly agree that the school is a very safe place in which to learn.  The school ensures that pupils know about unsafe situations and how to keep themselves safe. For example, they know about road and fire safety and how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. They are knowledgeable about different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying. Pupils say that bullying and incidents of racism and homophobia are rare.  Pupils say that they are well cared for and if they have any concerns about their safety and well-being they can easily approach a member of staff who would listen to them.  Pupils themselves take responsibility to ensure safety is good by acting as ‘safety officers’ to explore any potential risks around the school and assess site security.  Pupils’ enjoyment of school and their enthusiasm for learning are reflected in attendance rates, which are

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Safety

consistently higher than the national average.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is consistently good and improving. As a result, pupils make good and more often better progress from their starting points and achieve well.  Teaching includes effective use of questioning to test and extend pupils’ understanding. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and plan interesting and engaging activities. Teachers ensure that classrooms are calm and well managed with strong relationships. They display pupils’ work to celebrate their achievements and to motivate them to do well.  Teachers use daily reading sessions effectively to develop pupils’ reading skills. They listen to pupils read and encourage them to reflect on their reading to deepen their understanding of the text. The school library is adequately resourced and pupils say they have access to a range of books to capture their interest and help them to become better readers.  Teachers use their mathematical knowledge effectively to explore pupils’ understanding of the language of

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The quality of teaching is good

mathematics and to develop their skills in solving mathematical problems.  Teachers make good use of resources to support pupils’ learning. For example, in a Year 3 lesson pupils used computers to find out facts about practices and beliefs of Muslims and to make comparisons between Islam and Christianity. In a Year 6 lesson, pupils viewed a video clip on the life of Rosa Parks to discuss and learn about issues to do with injustice and discrimination.  Teaching assistants are skilful and play an effective role in supporting the learning of pupils, both in lessons and in small groups outside of the classroom. As a result, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress.  Although there is a wide range of support for disadvantaged pupils, some of them do not always make good progress with their learning, particularly in mathematics. This is because the support they receive is

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The quality of teaching is good

not always monitored closely and frequently enough to see if it is effective in bringing about rapid progress across the year groups.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work in books is good. They give pupils guidance on how to improve their work and pupils are encouraged to respond to the teachers’ comments in their books to further their understanding. However, teachers do not have consistently high expectations of the quality and quantity of the work produced by some of the disadvantaged pupils. As a result, they do not always make enough progress with their learning.  There are rich opportunities for pupils to interact with each other and use their listening and speaking skills. This particularly helps pupils who speak English as an additional language to make at least good progress with their learning.  Most parents are very pleased with the quality of teaching in the school, including the progress their

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The quality of teaching is good

children make and the homework they receive.

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is good

 In 2013, pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing, mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling is high and significantly above average. The unvalidated information of pupils’ overall attainment at the end of Year 6 in 2014 shows that attainment in all of these subjects improved further.  The quality of work seen in lessons, books and displayed on walls confirms the school’s own information that pupils make good and more often better progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  However, some of the disadvantaged pupils do not always make enough progress across the year groups, particularly in mathematics. This is because teaching over time has not been strong enough to enable these pupils to make rapid and sustained progress. Although the support for disadvantaged pupils is in place, it is not consistently evaluated for its effectiveness in raising their achievement.

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is good

 In the national phonics (the sounds letters make) check at the end of Year 1, the proportion of pupils who reached the expected level is above the national average. This is helping pupils to enjoy and improve their reading.  The most-able pupils make good and sometimes better progress in reading, writing and mathematics. They receive sufficient challenge by teachers in lessons and do higher level work. As a result, their attainment at higher levels in all of the subjects is much greater than the national average.  Disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and those from minority ethnic groups make the same good progress as their classmates because of the effective support they receive from both teachers and teaching assistants.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language make at least good, and sometimes rapid, progress with their learning because of the high quality support they receive, both in and out of lessons.

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is good

 In 2013, the disadvantaged pupils attained below other pupils nationally by about two months in mathematics and reading; they were ahead of other pupils nationally by about two months in writing. However, when compared with other pupils in the school, their attainment was about 22 months behind that of their classmates in mathematics, and about 20 months behind in reading and writing. The unvalidated information of pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in 2014 shows that disadvantaged pupils are still about 22 months behind other pupils in the school in mathematics. However, the differences have been reduced to four months in reading and eight months in writing.

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is good

 Children join Reception with skills and understanding that are typical for their age. They learn quickly and make at least good progress so that by the time they leave Reception, most achieve a good level of development and are well prepared for Year 1. Children make the strongest progress in communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and reading.  The leadership of the early years is good and the senior leader with this responsibility has a clear understanding of achievement and the quality of teaching. Staff work effectively with parents to ensure that children make a good start to school. As a result, children settle quickly into routines. They develop their social skills rapidly and learn to share, listen, take turns and act on instructions.  Activities are well planned to build on the previous experiences of the children and to engage them in their learning. Children learn well through play and in teacher-led activities because teaching is good. For

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is good

example, in one of the activities the children made strong progress with their learning of similarities and differences through watching a video clip on the story of ‘Elmer’ the elephant. They were gripped by the story and were keen to share their views with each other and staff.  Staff have good knowledge of the individual needs and interests of children. Observations and planning are effective, and assessments accurately identify any gaps in individuals’ learning so that targeted support is quickly put in place. As a result, different groups of children, including disabled children and those who have special educational needs, make similar progress.  Children’s behaviour and attitudes to learning are good. They are happy, interact well with each other and are eager to share their work with staff and visitors. They are kept safe by caring and supportive staff. Safeguarding procedures comply with statutory requirements.

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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 102915 Local authority Richmond Inspection number 434597

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 405 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul McDonald Headteacher Elizabeth Stubbs Date of previous school inspection 16–17 September 2010 Telephone number 020 88923462 Fax number 020 87449121 Email address info@st-stephens.richmond.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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