Bedfont Primary School

Bedfont Primary School Hatton Road, London, TW14 9QZ

p.1

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school has improved since the previous inspection. The quality of teaching, leadership and pupils’ achievement is now good.  Leaders have tackled previous areas of underperformance effectively and with energy. Their plans cover the right priorities. The school is well placed to continue to improve.  Pupils’ progress is carefully checked to make sure that no group falls behind.  The achievement of disadvantaged pupils and those eligible for additional funding has improved strongly.  Governance is strong. Governors know the school well and share the leaders’ drive for improvement. They work in effective partnership with leaders to raise pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development strongly.  Behaviour is good. Pupils from a wide variety of heritages and backgrounds get on well together. Pupils are attentive in lessons and considerate

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

when moving round the school.  The school keeps pupils safe. Safeguarding requirements are effectively met. Pupils report that they feel safe.  Teaching is consistently good. Work in pupils’ books shows that pupils make good progress in their learning.  Marking is very successful in raising pupils’ achievement. All teachers mark pupils’ books thoroughly, giving pupils plenty of advice on how to improve. Pupils respond thoughtfully. This speeds up their progress.  Pupils achieve well throughout the school. Progress is good in each year group.  There are stimulating activities for the children in the Nursery and Reception classes. Tasks, particularly in the indoor play areas, help children to learn well.  Adults encourage children in the early years provision to develop good speaking and listening skills.

p.1

It is not yet an outstanding school because

 In their classroom visits, leaders and managers occasionally focus too much on teachers’ individual styles of teaching rather than on how well pupils are learning. They do not always make sure that their advice is followed up.  Occasionally, pupils are set tasks that are either too difficult or too easy for them and, as a result, they do not always achieve as well as they could.  Outdoor play areas in the Nursery and Reception classes do not give children enough chances to learn a wide enough range of skills.

p.1

Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 30 lessons across a range of subjects. Most were observed jointly with the headteacher or the deputy headteachers.  Inspectors spoke to a number of pupils, listened to them read and looked at samples of their work. An inspector met a group of pupils to hear how they felt about the school.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, including those who hold responsibility for specific subjects. A meeting was held with a senior primary adviser from the local authority. A meeting was held with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors.  Inspectors took account of the views of staff in 27 questionnaires.  Inspectors spoke to a number of parents during the inspection, and took the school’s own parent questionnaire into account. Inspectors took account of the 47 responses to the online survey, Parent View.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents. These included the school’s

p.2

Information about this inspection

own views of how well it is doing, its plans for the future and the minutes of meetings of the governing body.  Inspectors considered a range of evidence on pupils’ attainment and progress. Inspectors also examined safeguarding information, and records relating to behaviour and safety.

p.2

Inspection team

Natalia Power, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

p.2

Information about this school

 Bedfont Primary is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  Around a quarter of the pupils are described as disadvantaged, indicating that they are eligible for the pupil premium. This proportion is average. The additional government funding is used to support pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.  Two thirds of pupils come from minority ethnic heritages. This proportion is higher than average. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds, with no one group predominating.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language, at around three pupils in five, is higher than average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs varies between five and seven pupils in a hundred, and this proportion is broadly average.  The school runs a breakfast club and provides after-school care.

p.3

Information about this school

 Children attend the Nursery either in the morning or in the afternoon sessions. Children in Reception attend all day.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that leaders secure a higher proportion of outstanding teaching by:  putting the main emphasis on how well pupils are learning and how they can be helped to learn better  making sure that their advice on improving pupils’ learning is always followed up.  Help pupils to do their very best by ensuring that tasks are always set at the right level, neither too easy for the most able nor too difficult for those who struggle.  Improve the quality of the equipment and the activities provided in the outdoor play areas of the Nursery and Reception classes.

p.3

The leadership and management are good

 Since the previous inspection, leaders and managers have tackled the areas of the school’s performance needing improvement with vigour. As a result, all important areas of performance are now good.  Leaders have created a strong team who fully support their drive for improvement. This is clear from the wholly positive responses to the staff questionnaire.  Leaders have an accurate understanding of where the school is and where they want it to be. They are ambitious to make it outstanding. Their plans cover the right priorities and are focused on improvement.  Pupils’ progress is carefully checked to ensure that no group falls behind. Those from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds make good progress. This shows the effectiveness of the school’s commitment to ensuring equal opportunity for all its pupils.  Gaps in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils at the school have significantly

p.4

The leadership and management are good

narrowed. This is because leaders and governors have prioritised closing the gaps, and have made sure that pupils receive support that accurately meets their needs.  The quality of teaching has improved since the previous inspection when it was judged to require improvement. It is now consistently good. However, the proportion of outstanding teaching is not high. This is because leaders, in their programme of classroom visits, tend to concentrate on how the teachers are teaching, but do not always give enough attention to how well the pupils are learning. In subsequent visits, leaders do not always ensure that their good advice on how teachers can improve has been followed up.  Subject leaders are fairly new to post and, helped by senior leaders, are settling quickly into their duties. They play an effective part in ensuring that pupils gain good numeracy and literacy skills, for example by checking the work in their books to make sure that they are learning well.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The additional funding for sports is used wisely by senior leaders, middle leaders and governors. The sports coordinator makes sure that the funding is used to attract new participants to a variety of sporting activities, including tri-golf and street dance. Leaders check that girls and boys participate equally, and that disadvantaged pupils are benefiting.  The local authority has been helpful in providing support to leaders and managers. It has been particularly effective in providing advice that has raised the quality of the early years provision.  The subjects pupils learn are balanced well between academic and creative subjects. Displays in classrooms and throughout the school show the breadth of topics pupils learn and celebrate the charities they support. Pupils gain good skills in reading, writing and mathematics, and are prepared well for the next stage of schooling.  Pupils are prepared well for life in modern democratic Britain. For example, they learn first hand about

p.4

The leadership and management are good

democracy through involvement in the school council. They learn about other people’s faiths and cultures, and this helps them to feel part of multicultural Britain and to respect the values of others.  The governance of the school:  Governance has significantly improved since the previous inspection. Governors now have a strong grasp of how pupils are achieving compared with those in the country as a whole. They use school figures and those published nationally to ask constructive, searching questions. As a result of their close attention, all groups do well in their learning.  Governors work in effective partnership with the school to improve important areas of its work. They have an accurate understanding of the quality of the teaching and this has helped them to raise its overall quality since the previous inspection. They ensure that teachers’ performance is carefully managed. They work closely with senior leaders to ensure that good teaching and management skills

p.4

The leadership and management are good

are appropriately rewarded. In this way they secure good value for money.  Governors make sure that the school keeps pupils completely safe and that those who work with them are rigorously checked. Safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements and are effective.

p.4

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They are polite, friendly and welcoming to visitors. They are considerate to one another when moving around the school. They respect the values and cultures of others. School records confirm that there is no discrimination against others.  Pupils want to learn and are cooperative in class. Their behaviour is not, however, outstanding, because they do not show an exceptional thirst for learning and, sometimes, become a little restless if the pace drops.  Pupils told inspectors that behaviour is good. There are very few exclusions. School records confirm that incidents of unkindness by pupils are rare.  Pupils show their enjoyment of school through their regular attendance which is on a rising trend and is now above average.  Breakfast club and after-school care both provide those who attend with nourishing food and a range of useful activities.  Pupils’ good behaviour reflects the school’s strong promotion of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural

p.5

Behaviour

development. Assemblies, for example, create a community feel where pupils celebrate the achievements of their fellow pupils and come together in song.

p.5

Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Adults who work with the children are rigorously checked. The site is safe and secure.  Most parents who spoke to inspectors, or who responded to Parent View or the school’s survey of their views, agreed that the school keeps their children safe, happy and looked after well. Pupils reported that there was hardly any bullying. Adults deal effectively with any rare instances where pupils call one another names.  Pupils are taught to keep themselves safe. They understand how to deal with possible dangers from strangers or from drugs or when using computers.  School records show that pupils are kept safe and that any possible risks are thought about before school trips are taken.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching over time is consistently good. This leads to pupils making good progress in their learning throughout their time at the school.  A particular strength of the teaching is the quality of marking in pupils’ books. This plays an important part in securing their good achievement in all subjects. Marking provides pupils with full advice on how to improve. Pupils reflect on this advice and use it to make corrections and to improve the next piece of work they submit. The active dialogue between teacher and pupil helps to clear up any misconceptions the pupils might have and enables them do better next time.  Teaching generally meets the needs of pupils of all levels of ability. This is because teachers are ready to adapt their questioning to pupils’ differing capabilities. Occasionally, however, tasks are set which the most able find too easy or which are too demanding for those who struggle with their work. In these

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

cases, pupils make less progress in their learning than they could.  Support teachers and teaching assistants work effectively within lessons and in small groups to support those with a range of additional needs. As a result of such care, pupils in these groups make good progress in their learning.  The teaching of mathematics is effective in helping pupils make good progress in understanding mathematical concepts. For example, in one Year 6 mathematics session for those who struggle with the subject, pupils learned what is meant by equivalent ratio, for example 12:8 being equivalent to 3:2. They did this through approaches that were tailored to their individual understanding. In this way, the pupils were all effectively engaged in the task and all made good progress.  Pupils’ literacy skills are developed well throughout the school. Pupils in Year 1 regularly do better than average in the checks of their ability to read familiar and unfamiliar words. Pupils in Year 6 do as well or

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

better than average in the Year 6 tests of their ability to spell, punctuate and use grammar correctly.  Reading is a major focus of school improvement. Until recently, pupils made a little less progress in reading than in writing and mathematics. The school now promotes reading actively, taking pupils regularly to the new and well-stocked school library and making sure that reading is an important part of their learning. Pupils who read aloud to inspectors spoke of their love of reading and said they were encouraged to read at home. As a result of these initiatives, pupils’ reading skills have improved throughout the school.

p.5

is good

 Pupils from all backgrounds and heritages achieve well and make good progress in their learning throughout the school. Progress within each year group and across subjects is consistently good.  Most pupils arrive with skills in reading, writing and mathematics that are below those typical of their age. Through consistently good teaching, pupils make good progress, leaving Year 6 with attainment that is at least average, and sometimes above. Achievement since the previous inspection is on a rising trend.  No group falls behind. This is because pupils receive the support they need at the time they need it. As a result of the leaders’ watchfulness in checking their learning, all groups make similarly good progress.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language receive the right amount of support and do as well or better than others.  Disabled pupils and those who have a range of special educational needs are supported well and perform

p.6

is good

as well or better than similar pupils nationally.  The most-able pupils achieve well. They make good progress, and achieve as well as the most-able pupils in other schools across the country. Those who aim for Level 6, a high level for primary school pupils, are given additional support. This has enabled a higher than average proportion to reach Level 6 in 2014, with mathematics being particularly strong.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils is carefully checked by teachers, leaders and governors. This has secured considerable improvement since the last inspection. These pupils now typically make similar progress to others in the school in all subjects. Their progress is similar to that of disadvantaged pupils in other schools across the country.  The attainment of disadvantaged pupils shows a similar pattern of improvement. Gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils are closing. In summer 2013, disadvantaged pupils were two years

p.6

is good

behind others in the school in mathematics, a year behind in writing and two terms behind in reading. By summer 2014, gaps had narrowed markedly and disadvantaged pupils were around two terms behind in reading, writing and mathematics. Current school figures show that differences within the school are now small and can be accounted for by the special educational needs of some disadvantaged pupils.  In their attainment, disadvantaged pupils at the school are around a term ahead of their counterparts in other schools in all subjects.

p.6

is good

 Children are looked after well in the Nursery and Reception classes. Parents who spoke to inspectors said that their children, who had recently joined the school, soon felt at home and settled quickly into their new routines.  Leadership of the early years provision is good. The coordinator is new to post and is being very well supported by senior leaders.  Leaders and managers have an accurate understanding of what needs to be done. They recognise that the outdoor play areas do not give children enough chances to learn a wide enough range of skills including number, reading and writing skills. In particular, the somewhat cramped outdoor spaces do not give children enough scope for climbing, riding wheeled vehicles and testing their muscles to the full.  Leaders make sure that children’s individual needs are quickly identified. They check carefully how well each child is learning and provide effective support. Children whose language development is slow are

p.6

is good

given effective support by speech and communication specialists. Children who arrive speaking English as an additional language receive effective support and quickly catch up in learning the language.  Children’s behaviour is good. Children are ready to play together peaceably and share the play equipment. For example, children cooperated in transporting sand and stones in wheelbarrows, an activity stimulated by the building work currently taking place in the school.  Children are kept safe. The site is secure and adults who work with the children are properly checked.  Adults make sure that the activities provided have a strong appeal to the children’s imagination. For example, good use was made of the children’s reading of Julia Donaldson’s The Scarecrows’ Wedding to make scarecrows, dress up appropriately and make invitation cards. In this way, children learned a range of skills whilst entering a fairy-tale world.

p.6

is good

 Adults give children plenty of chances to learn numbers, for example through the use of attractive wooden trains with spaces for specific numbers of toy passengers.  Adults help children to use language. For example, snack times are used successfully to encourage children to talk about what interests them.  Reading is a strong focus of the early years provision. Children are carefully introduced to books, learning to use such words as ‘author’ and ‘illustration’, as well as reading the books for the content. Children learn their sounds and letters (phonics) in groups that successfully suit their needs and abilities.  Children make good progress in their learning. They enter the Nursery or Reception classes with very varied language, number and social skills. They leave Reception with skills that are broadly typical for children of their age. They are prepared well for the next stage of school and are ready to move

p.7

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

p.8

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.

p.8

School details

Unique reference number 135831 Local authority Hounslow Inspection number 449056

p.9

School details

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

p.9

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 608 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Catherine Pinto Headteacher Ann Broughton Date of previous school inspection 23 January 2013 Telephone number 020 88904755 Fax number 020 88441293 Email address office@bedfont.hounslow.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 .

p.9

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.

p.10

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

p.10

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

p.10

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’.

p.10

School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10