Madani Academy

School report Madani Primary School Merefield House, Nutfield Place, Portsmouth, PO1 4JZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement 3

Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3

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

 Leadership and management at all levels are underdeveloped. At present the headteacher, who is also the proprietor, takes responsibility for all aspects of the school’s work.  Teaching requires improvement. Some pupils in Years 1 and 2 are not making enough progress because teaching is not matched closely enough to their abilities.  Teachers do not provide pupils with enough information about what they are doing well and what their next steps should be. As a result, pupils are not clear enough about how to improve.  Teachers have not had access to training to help them improve their teaching.  The leadership of the school has not established robust enough systems for checking the quality of teaching or rates of pupils’ progress.  Although the school’s policies meet the minimum independent school standards, they are not tailored closely enough to the context and needs of the pupils.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils behave well. They are polite, happy and clearly enjoy their work and play in school.  Pupils in Years 3 and 4 make good progress and are taught well.  The headteacher and staff actively promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and their involvement in the wider community.  The curriculum is planned well, with an appropriate balance between National Curriculum subjects and Islamic studies. Pupils study a wide range of topics that prepares them well for life in modern Britain.  Pupils are safe and well cared for.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school meets the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with one day’s notice.  Inspectors observed teaching in nine lessons and made a number of shorter visits to classes. Two lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, staff and a group of pupils.  There were not enough responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, to register parents’ views. Inspectors spoke to a number of parents at the beginning of the school day.  Inspectors took into account views of staff and the four responses to the staff questionnaire.  Inspectors evaluated pupils’ books and information about their current attainment and progress.  Inspectors checked the school’s documentation and policies, including those relating to safeguarding, the curriculum and schemes of work.

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Inspection team

Janet Pearce, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Hilary Macdonald Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 The Madani Primary School is an independent Islamic day school. It is registered for up to 45 pupils, aged five to 11.  There are currently 18 pupils on roll, aged between five and eight.  The school aims to ‘create an independent faith school which will deliver high quality education of the national curriculum and Islam’.  Pupils are taught in two classes of Years 1 and 2 and Years 3 and 4.  The pupils come from a range of ethnic backgrounds. All current pupils are Muslim, although the school admits pupils from any faith.  There are no pupils with special educational needs or disabilities at the school.  There are no disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The proprietor is the headteacher of the school. No other staff hold leadership positions.  The proprietor and trustees provide governance for the school.  This was the first full inspection since the school opened in September 2014.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by:  ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of the proprietor and trustees are clearly identified and that they know how to hold the school to account for pupils’ achievement and well-being  establishing a systematic programme of monitoring and evaluation, including regular scrutiny of teaching and analysis of pupils’ progress and attainment  providing appropriate training for teachers and teaching assistants  amending and implementing policies to take into account the particular context of the school.  Improve teaching and pupils’ achievement, especially in Years 1 and 2, by:  making sure that lesson planning and schemes of work are effectively adapted to match the abilities of pupils  adapting teaching in response to pupils’ progress in lessons  providing pupils with more specific guidance about what they need to do to improve their work.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The roles and responsibilities of the proprietor and trustees of the school are not defined sufficiently well. Meetings and discussions about the school are not strategic or systematic. As a result, it is not clear how the school is governed and held to account for the quality of its work.  Plans to improve the school are too general and do not take enough account of the context of the school.  Teaching and pupils’ rates of progress are not monitored closely enough because the headteacher has to check everything himself. No other staff hold middle leadership responsibilities, for example for subjects or year groups.  The headteacher takes responsibility for checking teachers’ work and providing feedback on what to improve. However, there is no formal performance management structure in place. Some staff members are volunteers.  The school’s policies meet the minimum independent school standards. However, they are too generic

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The leadership and management require improvement

and do not outline specific procedures related to the particular context of the school.  The headteacher conveys his vision, ambition and sense of moral purpose with tireless passion and determination. He has successfully gained support from the community and local services, including the police.  Parents appreciate what the school offers. They are supportive and pleased with the progress their children are making. Parents told inspectors that they had chosen the school because it enabled their children to achieve high levels of literacy and numeracy, study the National Curriculum and benefit from instruction in Islamic studies.  The school’s curriculum is well balanced between the National Curriculum and Islamic studies, with a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy. Pupils are prepared well for life in Britain by studying a wide range of topics in science, geography, history, design and technology, physical education, personal, social

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The leadership and management require improvement

and health education and arts subjects.  A strength of the school is its active promotion of British values. The headteacher is wholly committed to providing active opportunities for pupils to learn about democracy and the law of the land. For example, pupils have taken part in elections for the school council. The headteacher has worked closely and productively with the police and other agencies working to protect children and young people from extremist views.  The headteacher and staff are rightly determined to ensure that pupils acquire and uphold strong principles about tolerance and respect for all people. They have opportunities to learn about other faiths as part of their religious education and through extra-curricular activities. For example, pupils visited a local church in December 2014 and also took part in creating lanterns for the Festival of Light.  The headteacher benefits from informal support and advice from local school leaders, other Islamic

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The leadership and management require improvement

schools and the Association of Muslim Schools. However, support and advisory arrangements are not formally or systematically planned.  All safeguarding requirements meet statutory requirements. All staff understand their duties to keep pupils safe and they act promptly and effectively if there are concerns.  The governance of the school  A team of three trustees, including the headteacher, oversee the work of the school and provide a degree of challenge. The headteacher relies on the support of the community and volunteers.  At present there is no formal performance management structure or system for teachers to progress up the pay scales. The headteacher checks teaching every day and monitors the quality of marking. He takes full responsibility for ensuring that pupils are safe, policies are up to date, the independent school standards are met and that the school is financially viable. He shares this information with the

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The leadership and management require improvement

other trustees, providing regular, informal updates.  Local school leaders and colleagues from the Association of Muslim Schools have supported the headteacher with curriculum planning, assessment of the pupils and his monitoring of teaching. Consequently, the school is too reliant on external support.  The headteacher has put together a structure for a more formal governing body, with due regard to appointing members with the appropriate expertise and experience.

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Behaviour

 Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils are happy, friendly and courteous towards adults and each other.  Pupils are attentive in class. They take pride in being diligent and studious, developing good concentration and self-discipline.  Pupils enjoy school. They work together well. Pupils understand right and wrong and that it is their duty to respect everyone, regardless of background or faith.  Pupils understand about different types of bullying and the consequences. The school’s behaviour log shows no incidents of poor behaviour.  Pupils present their work well. They take a pride in their work and in their school.  Attendance is good and above average for the majority of pupils.  A very few pupils are not as attentive as they could be when the teaching does not match their abilities. Some are too noisy when they should be working quietly because they have not been encouraged to develop helpful working habits.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good.  The headteacher and staff ensure pupils’ safe arrival and departure from school and the site is well supervised and secure. Staff respond promptly if pupils are unwell or hurt themselves.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and where to go for help if needed. They have been provided with helpful guidance on safe use of the internet.  All staff have been trained in safeguarding and child protection procedures and are aware of up-to-date guidance on keeping children safe in education.  Staff are vigilant and visible around the school buildings and site. As a result, pupils feel safe and cared for.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Work set for pupils in Years 1 and 2 is not matched well enough to their abilities. Some work is too easy for able pupils and other tasks are too difficult and complicated for younger or lower attaining pupils. As a result, pupils in these year groups make slower progress in many subject areas than they could.  Some marking does not help pupils to make progress. Books are marked and up to date, with clear recording of progress. However, marking does not tell pupils precisely what they need to do to improve and they are not always given time to correct work or act on advice. This is particularly the case for younger pupils.  Teaching is better in the Year 3 and 4 class than in the Year 1 and 2 group. Tasks are set that match pupils’ different abilities. Close questioning challenges pupils and helps them to progress. Pupils work hard, are productive and have good working relationships with staff and each other. These help them to

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

learn well.  Good teaching enables pupils in Years 3 and 4 to make rapid progress in mathematics. A few able pupils are working well above national expectations for their age.  Reading and writing are taught effectively, enabling pupils to apply their skills in other subjects. Pupils read fluently and with understanding of the content and the way that writers use language to entertain the reader. Pupils enjoy writing and storytelling, including stories from other cultures and British traditions, such as fairy tales. Examples of pupils’ expressive creative writing are displayed in classrooms, celebrating pupils’ enjoyment of the English language.  Pupils are encouraged to write neatly and improve their handwriting. However, some younger pupils’ spelling is not routinely corrected and there are gaps in their knowledge of letters and sounds.  School leaders have made sure that there are sufficient resources for pupils to use, including a varied and

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

interesting selection of reading books, art materials and up-to-date text books. School leaders have also ensured that the resources used to support Islamic studies are up to date and endorse the values they wish to inculcate in pupils.  Pupils are set useful homework tasks to support their learning in school and they complete these conscientiously.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 At the time of the inspection, pupils had been at the school for approximately four months. Pupils joined the school with varying starting points. A few pupils had not attended school or any early years provision.  At the end of the autumn term in 2014, pupils were assessed according to National Curriculum levels and were set realistic, but challenging, targets using national expectations of rates of progress. From scrutinising the work in pupils’ books and their current attainment, inspectors identified that the school’s assessments are accurate, but that some pupils, especially those in the younger years, have not made rapid enough progress from their starting points when joining the school.  Overall attainment and progress are better in mathematics than in literacy, particularly writing.  At this early stage, there is no identifiable difference in progress between pupils from different ethnic

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

groups.  The most able pupils in Years 3 and 4 are set challenging work and evidence so far indicates that they are achieving well and in line with national expectations.  Pupils of middle and lower ability are also progressing well towards their targets in Years 3 and 4. However, in Years 1 and 2, pupils are not making enough progress, particularly in writing. In a very few cases, their sentence structures, spelling and punctuation are not very much improved from when they started in September 2014.  Pupils’ learning in science, history and geography shows that pupils are making gains in their knowledge of the world around them.  All pupils approach their lessons in Islamic studies seriously and with commitment and are acquiring knowledge and understanding at a reasonable rate for their age and stage.

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Grade Judgement

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Requires improvement Grade 4 Inadequate

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Grade Judgement

Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Non-association independent school inspection handbook which is published on the Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/non- association-independent-school-inspection-handbook .

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School details

Unique reference number 140624 Inspection number 4540624 DfE registration number 851/6000 This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Type of school Islamic day school School status Independent school Age range of pupils 5 − 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 18 Number of part time pupils 0 Proprietor Mr Mohammed Rahman Chair N/A Headteacher Mr Mohammad Rahman Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Annual fees (day pupils) £2000 Telephone number 02392 830764 Fax number 02392 830764 Email address info@madani-academy.org guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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School details

inspects to 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

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School details

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our website for news, information and updates at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/user .

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School details

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

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