Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School

School report Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School Dartmouth Road, London, SE23 3HZ

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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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This is a good school

 The vision and energy of the headteacher and the deputy headteacher have maintained the school’s good performance since the last inspection.  A range of very carefully planned changes have strengthened the overall quality of teaching and learning, which is good. Pupils achieve well throughout the school.  Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning are good and are a major strength of the school. Pupils are very proud of their school.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well.  The school has embedded rigorous checks on learning which provide a clear picture of pupils’ progress.  Governors have a good understanding of the school’s performance and priorities for improvement.  The quality of teaching continues to improve. This has resulted in the faster progress achieved in English and mathematics.  The early years provision is good. The curriculum is well planned to take account of children’s skills and to

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This is a good school

develop them further.  There are strong working relationships between adults and pupils. As a result, pupils feel safe and have a good understanding about how to keep safe. Pupils are very helpful to one another.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not always set challenges for pupils, including for those who are most able, to motivate them to reach the higher skill levels in English and mathematics.  The quality of marking varies and at times pupils are not given enough advice on how to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 17 lessons or parts of lessons and were accompanied by the headteacher and deputy headteacher during the majority of these observations.  Inspectors observed morning playtime and lunch breaks and also attended an assembly.  Meetings were held with a group of pupils, and many other pupils were spoken to during lessons and informally at break times.  Inspectors met members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority, middle managers and a group of recently qualified staff.  There were 11 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. There were 71 parental written responses and the inspectors took account of the views of the parents that they met at the start of the school day.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work and heard pupils from different year groups read.  The 20 responses to the staff questionnaire were analysed.  Inspectors observed the school’s work, and looked at a range of documents including school improvement

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Information about this inspection

plans, achievement data, the school’s data on pupils’ current progress and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

David Nebesnuick, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Holy Trinity is a smaller than average sized primary school serving an inner-city area of London.  The school has one Reception class of full-time pupils.  The large majority of pupils are from minority ethnic groups, mostly Black British (Caribbean and African).  An above average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is well above average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is well above average. This is additional government funding given to the school to support pupils eligible for free school meals and those in the care of the local authority.  The school meets the government’s current floor targets, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The headteacher took up her post in September 2012 and the deputy headteacher started at the school in

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Information about this school

January 2013.  The school has a breakfast club, which was part of the inspection.  A section 48 inspection took place on the first day of the inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to outstanding by making sure that:  teachers set genuine challenges, including for the most able, to motivate pupils to reach the highest skill levels in English and mathematics  marking consistently gives enough advice on how to improve.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher have a clear vision for improving standards and for overall school improvement. Following some changes in staffing, their ambition is supported by all members of the school community. Staff support the considerable range of improvements taking place. As a result of this energetic leadership, pupils’ achievement has improved.  The school has dealt well with a dip, since the last inspection, in overall teaching quality. It now provides effective and extensive staff training to help improve teaching further. This training has increased the skills of both teachers and teaching assistants.  The success of the school lies in the strong systems and procedures that facilitate and guide its work. Self- evaluation is incisive so that no opportunity is missed for improving the school’s work.  Evidence from rigorous checks of pupils’ progress, scrutiny of their work, of teachers’ planning and lesson

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The leadership and management are good

observations is used well to improve teachers’ performance and its impact on achievement. The school makes good use of external moderation to test its own assessments and judgments of pupils’ progress.  The school has made good use of the primary school sport funding. An additional range of after-school clubs are delivered, some by an outside agency and some by school staff. Years 4 and 6 benefit from street dance sessions and the pupils have demonstrated their new skills at the Lewisham People’s Day.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very well. This is evident in how well pupils get on with each other, irrespective of background. The school strongly promotes values such as tolerance and respect and all classes discuss what these mean to their own lives. Pupils are taught the value of, and reasons behind, rules and laws, and about the consequences when they are broken.

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The leadership and management are good

 The range of activities taught meets the needs of the Reception children and older pupils well, providing good guidance on developing important literacy and numeracy skills. A good range of visitors and outside trips promote positive behaviour and a good understanding of the world in which the pupils live. These have included visits to the O2 Arena, the Horniman Museum and a residential experience in Suffolk.  Senior leaders are very clear about the needs of the pupils. They direct additional pupil premium funding carefully to support pupils’ learning; this has had a notably positive impact. An inclusion manager and a family support worker work closely with families to improve attendance and to provide additional small group support.  The recent rapid progress evident for all groups of pupils, whatever their needs, shows that the school promotes equality of opportunity well and does not tolerate any discrimination.

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The leadership and management are good

 The middle leaders responsible for English, mathematics and early years are encouraged to widen their management skills through visits to neighbouring schools and through further subject training. As a consequence, they make a significant contribution to the effectiveness of other teachers at Holy Trinity.  The school is not yet outstanding because although standards are rising as a result of recent improvements, some initiatives are relatively recent. They have yet to impact on improving the school’s effectivenness still further.  Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements. The careful vetting of staff and the robust child protection procedures ensure that pupils are well cared for.  The local authority provides good support to aid the school in its drive for further improvement.  The governance of the school:  Governors are actively involved in driving the school’s progress. They have established an effective

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The leadership and management are good

working relationship with staff.  The governing body knows the school and its development priorities well. It has strong systems to manage the school’s finances so that the money is spent in the best possible way to improve pupils’ achievement.  The governors have all the necessary skills to thoroughly check information on pupils’ progress and to ask searching questions when they think it necessary. They regularly compare the progress of Holy Trinity pupils with that of pupils nationally.  Governors are both supportive and suitably challenging and, as seen in the minutes of their meetings, diligently hold the school to account through sharp questioning of senior staff.  They ensure that considerations of teachers’ performance are linked to areas for development and school improvement. They work to make sure that support is provided to tackle pupils’ previous underperformance and to quicken current pupils’ progress.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils, parents and carers, and staff are positive about the standards of behaviour both in lessons and around the school.  Pupils demonstrate good attitudes and were fully engaged in learning in the overwhelming majority of the lessons seen. Pupils are generally excited, eager to learn and highly motivated. Only occasionally do they show any sign of disengagement.  Behaviour records indicate that incidents of bullying and racism are rare and pupils’ views support this . A small number of parents indicated that they thought that there was bullying in the school, but these views are not endorsed by inspection findings. Pupils felt that behaviour had improved considerably in the last two years.  The pupils are warm, friendly and confident towards visitors, welcoming them and opening doors. Pupils are clearly very proud of their school and wish to share their experiences with other people.

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Behaviour

 Attendance has improved and is now average. This is due to the diligence of the staff who work closely with pupils and parents and carers to encourage better attendance.  A positive start to the school day in the well-run breakfast club helps to ensure a readiness to learn in those pupils attending the club.  All pupils are made to feel special and high quality relationships are fostered. Relationships are very good both amongst pupils and between pupils and adults. Pupils interact well with each other and their varied social, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds do not get in the way of friendships or their ability to mix and interact meaningfully. All pupils are made to feel welcome.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  All pupils who spoke to inspectors feel safe and are confident that they could go to any adult for help if they needed it. Pupils report that they are confident that adults will deal quickly and effectively with any problems they may have.  The school site is secure and visitors are thoroughly vetted before being allowed into school.  The recently introduced staggered break times and lunch times for the two key stages have greatly improved the outdoor experience for all pupils.  Pupils are aware of how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. They are well aware from their lessons that they should not give personal information to strangers on the internet, nor post inappropriate messages.  Parents agree that the school provides a caring and supportive environment within which their children are well looked after.  External agencies come in to talk to pupils about a wide range of safety issues. This helps to ensure that

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Safety

the pupils not only feel safe but are also prepared well for any likely dangers that they might face.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good. Following the last inspection, the quality of teaching declined because of many changes in staff. The headteacher has worked hard to raise it back to good levels. These improvements are due to rigorous monitoring and support, and an extensive programme for staff development.  Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour effectively, value pupils’ efforts and sustain strong relationships to underpin good learning.  In many lessons, there is good challenge for pupils, with work being provided at the right level. Occasionally teaching does not ensure that the challenge is sufficient for some groups of pupils, including the most able. This means that they are unable to reach the highest skill levels of which they are capable in English and mathematics.  All staff are excellent role models and provide consistent and well-organised care for individuals, especially for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers work closely with teaching assistants to plan effective lessons. They work well together, in most classes, to give targeted support where it is most needed.  There is a varied programme of individual and small-group support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. This intervention programme is well supported by the teaching assistants.  There has been an increased focus on the teaching of phonics to improve pupils’ reading skills. Additional reading resources have been provided in all classes to aid this process. In the last year, a new guided reading scheme has been introduced and its impact has begun to be seen.  The introduction of new curriculum materials has strengthened the teaching of mathematics. There is now a greater emphasis on problem solving.  Teachers’ marking is mostly good. However, it does not consistently give sufficient advice to pupils on how

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The quality of teaching is good

to improve and quicken their progress.  Teachers use displays creatively to celebrate pupils’ written work, especially their imaginative writing. Pupils appreciate, and are guided by, the displays which adorn the walls in classrooms and corridors. These help to motivate pupils to achieve more.  Pupils like and respect their teachers and they want to do well. Teachers strive to make their lessons interesting and pupils say that the majority of their lessons are fun, so they enjoy learning. As a result, they work hard both when together as a whole class and when working in pairs or on their own.

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is good

 Pupils’ attainment when they start in Year 1 is broadly average. Currently pupils are making good progress throughout the school, because of the enhanced monitoring of pupils’ performance every six weeks. The progress of the current pupils has rapidly increased because the quality of the teaching has improved.  Pupils make faster progress in Key Stage 1 than in Key Stage 2 because following the last inspection, there were dips in the quality of teaching in some areas. There has been rapid progress over the last two years, making up lost ground in learning. As a result, pupils are close to reaching average levels by the time they leave the school.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are given good support, which is suited to their specific needs, by teachers and teaching assistants. This is also the case for those who speak English as an additional language. They are currently making, at least, good progress from their individual starting

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is good

points. Teachers are keen to include these pupils fully in lessons, demonstrating that the school strongly promotes equality of opportunity.  Pupils’ speaking and listening skills, and increasingly their ability to write expressively, are developed effectively. Many examples of good writing are displayed throughout the school.  In the last two years, a new mathematics scheme has improved the standards attained. A stronger focus on mental mathematics has encouraged pupils to be more confident about their calculations and their problem solving skills. They are now making good progress throughout the school. Opportunities for using information technology have enriched the learning in mathematics and several pupils cited mathematics as their favourite area of learning.  The teaching of phonics (linking letters and sounds) has improved in Key Stage 1. In the last phonics check, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard was below the national average. Current

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is good

tracking information suggests that this will improve this year.  In 2014, for disadvantaged pupils in the school, attainment was below those of their non-disadvantaged counterparts nationally. Disadvantaged pupils were half a term behind in writing and two terms behind in mathematics and reading. This gap is closing fast and in 2015 the pupils are projected to achieve as well as, if not better than, others nationally. Within the school, in 2014, disadvantaged pupils attained less well than other pupils in reading and mathematics by one term but were half a term ahead in writing. This year they are projected to do better than the other pupils in the school. At both levels, the gap is rapidly closing.  The most able pupils generally make good progress in both key stages. The school recognises, however, that some pupils could do even better and has identified this as an area for improvement. Senior leaders

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is good

are conducting monitoring and assessment of these pupils. The current predictions indicate rapid progress towards the majority achieving the higher levels.

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is good

 The school works closely with a range of nursery providers to ensure that there is a smooth transition for the children to Holy Trinity. All the children are full-time when they come to the school.  On entry to the Reception class, children display skills and knowledge that vary year on year but are typically a little below those expected for their age. They achieve well from their starting points so that they are well prepared when they transfer to Year 1.  Progress across all specific and prime learning areas is good, with the majority of children achieving a good level of development. Achievement is mainly consistent across all areas.  Phonics teaching is good because the staff use different strategies to engage and stimulate the children.  Teaching is good because the staff have a sharp focus on providing well-planned activities that help the children to grow in confidence and to rapidly develop their learning.

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is good

 Assessment is used well in planning the curriculum. The curriculum takes account of the individual interests of the children. Early assessments successfully identify areas to be developed in each child.  Behaviour is good. Children develop good social skills through sharing and taking turns with the equipment. They demonstrate real excitement during the activities. Their attitudes to learning are good.  The leadership of the early years provision is good. Staff engage well with parents through the Friday book of parental comments, the ‘wow walls’ and the comprehensive learning journals that record the children’s milestones.  The outside play area, although small, is well planned and effectively used. The children show high levels of responsibility, ensuring they put on their own coats before going outside.

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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 100723 Local authority Lewisham Inspection number 444157

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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 192 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jacqueline Paschoud Headteacher Judith Standing Date of previous school inspection 11 March 2010 Telephone number 020 86999023 Fax number 020 82914461 Email address headteacher@holytrinity.lewisham.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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