St Paul's CofE Primary School

School report St Paul's CofE Primary School

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher and her leadership team, supported very effectively by the governing body, diocese and local authority, have demonstrated unwavering determination to drive up standards since the last inspection. As a result, teaching and achievement across the school have improved rapidly.  Achievement is outstanding and the school’s records show that excellent progress is being made by pupils in all year groups across reading, writing and mathematics, as well as in other subjects such as history, geography and religious education.  Children get off to a good start in the early years because a majority reach good levels of development by the end of the Reception Year, due to effective teaching. Occasionally, teaching does not provide children with sufficient challenge.  Pupils are challenged exceptionally well to make very fast progress in lessons across the school. The teaching of phonics (the linking of sounds and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

letters) is particularly effective.  All staff are now held fully accountable for progress. Staff strongly support the leadership in its drive for continuous improvement.  Pupils behave very well in lessons and around the school. They very much enjoy learning and the school gives them excellent care and support.  The safety of the pupils is outstanding. Adults ensure pupils are highly aware of how to keep themselves safe in different situations. Leaders and governors ensure the site is extremely safe.  The curriculum enables all pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in, and contribute very positively to, life in modern Britain.  The exceptional growth of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is shaped by leaders work to thread this through all aspects of school life. This includes their in-depth study of different religions, very strong links with the local

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

community groups and charitable work with ‘Water Aid’.  Senior and middle leaders are rigorous in their checking of teaching and learning. They very quickly identify any dips in standards and resolve issues with appropriate training or interventions.  Governance is very effective. Governors are supportive of the school and routinely challenge leaders. As a result, the school has rapidly improved and has a wide range of highly effective processes, including performance management, to sustain these improvements.  The headteacher and leadership team have set very specific expectations for outstanding teaching. They provide highly focused support for staff to quickly improve their practice that can be sustained to provide good and outstanding teaching in all key stages.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons, of which four were joint observations with senior leaders. In addition, inspectors made short visits to lessons and observed an assembly.  Inspectors scrutinised the quality of work in pupils’ books.  Inspectors talked with groups of pupils to seek their views about the school and listened to the views of many other pupils during lessons, playtimes and lunchtimes.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, three assistant headteachers, other school leaders, staff, two governors, and representatives from the local authority and the diocese. Inspectors took into consideration the responses of 26 questionnaires completed by staff.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including: the school development plan; the school’s view of its own performance; data relating to pupils’ attainment and progress; governors’ minutes; records about behaviour and safeguarding; and school policies.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors took account of the 35 responses to the online Parent View survey. Inspectors also spoke with parents at the end of the school day.

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Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average. The proportion of those who speak English as an additional language is also above average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding to give extra support to those known to be eligible for free school meals and to children who are looked after) is above average.  In 2014, the school met the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school provides part-time and full-time early years provision for children in Nursery in one morning class and one afternoon class. Provision for children in Reception is full time.

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Information about this school

 The school provides a breakfast club and an after-school club each day.  Nearly all the teaching staff have started at the school since the last inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching in the early years by ensuring that:  teachers challenge children, using questions that make them think harder, and that children’s responses are used by staff to adapt learning and speed up the rate of progress they make.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher, working with leaders, managers and governors, has made sure that key priorities for improvement have been tackled very effectively since the previous inspection. As a result, the school has made significant improvements to teaching and raised pupils’ achievement so that the quality of these aspects is now outstanding.  Senior and middle leaders monitor teaching exceptionally closely, set precise targets for staff and accurately evaluate teachers’ performance. They use the results to make decisions about pay rises and promotion. Staff, including teachers at an early stage of their careers, report that staff development is highly focused and relevant to their individual needs, and specialist training is readily available.  Subject leaders have been very successful in driving improvements, for example to the way phonics is taught. They have made sure that training for staff is of high quality and leads to pupils’ much better

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The leadership and management are outstanding

learning. They use information about how well pupils make progress excellently to check that teaching is securing pupils’ very fast rate of achievement.  The school has prepared well for the implementation of the new National Curriculum. The vibrant school displays indicate that pupils experience all subjects in detail and use a range of interesting resources to promote achievement and British values. The school has maintained its existing assessment system alongside a new approach that is developing very well to provide detailed information about pupils’ progress.  Pupils develop a very clear understanding of British values through everything they do, both through the curriculum and through the impressive range of extra-curricular activities and clubs. For example, exciting singing and other musical activities, events such as the recent book week and the specialist teaching of music and religious education contribute very well to pupils’ cultural development. Elections to the school

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The leadership and management are outstanding

council are used exceptionally well to foster appreciation of democratic values.  The school’s strong religious ethos strongly underpins pupils’ outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepares them fully for life in modern Britain and to play a full part in school and community life. Pupils understand that everyone has the right to be respected. They learn from the adults they work with about how to be kind and caring towards others. As a result, pupils show great tolerance towards others, including those from different faiths.  The government’s sports funding has been used effectively. Specialist coaches are helping class teachers to improve their skills in teaching gymnastics and dance. Pupils of all ages now experience better quality physical education and this has had a positive impact on their enthusiasm for joining after-school sports clubs.  Performance management procedures are used very effectively to hold all staff to account and to support

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The leadership and management are outstanding

their ongoing training and development. Review meetings are carefully planned throughout the year to monitor progress. Teaching is consistently of a high calibre as a result.  The school meets its statutory requirements for safeguarding pupils. There is a tight and robust culture of safeguarding in the school. This is monitored by the headteacher and governing body with exceptional rigour, ensuring the utmost safety of pupils. For example, the school record of checks on staff and volunteers is checked by a governor every month to confirm it is fully up to date.  The local authority has provided very good support to improve teaching and boost achievement. This, coupled with excellent support from the Diocese of London, has supported the school with the analysis of achievement data.  Because all groups of pupils achieve outstandingly well, greatly enjoy school and feel very safe and well cared for, they have an equal opportunity to learn in an orderly and supportive atmosphere, one in which

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The leadership and management are outstanding

no discrimination is tolerated and good relations are encouraged. Funding to support disadvantaged pupils is used effectively on strategies to help pupils catch up in their learning, and fully involve them in the wider life of the school. The impact of the spending is seen in the effectiveness of small-group teaching, which in turn has contributed to a sharp improvement in the rate of disadvantaged pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school: Governors, expertly led by the chair, have worked very closely and effectively with the senior leadership team to help make sure that the school improves quickly but also ensuring that improvements will be maintained. They attend training to make sure they are well informed about current educational policy and have a very sharp understanding of performance data in order to carry out their roles. This also ensures that they are in a position to frequently ask challenging and detailed questions of the headteacher and other senior leaders about pupils’ attainment, progress of all groups of pupils within the school, the quality of teaching and the impact of the pupil premium. Consequently, they hold leaders closely to account for the school’s performance. Through ‘focus days’ which include visits to classes, talking to pupils and meeting with leaders, governors know the positive impact of initiatives such as the pupil premium and the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

primary school physical education and sport funding on pupils’ progress and opportunities. It also enables them to be very clear about how good teaching is and to ensure that any salary progression is merited and that this judgement is closely linked to teachers’ performance.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Their attitudes are very positive and they cooperate respectfully with each other in and outside class. Pupils who attend the before- and after-school club also behave exceptionally well and greatly enjoy the wide-ranging opportunities and support to complete school work and play. Pupils have confidence in the way that behaviour is managed and explained this in great detail to the inspectors.  The rapidly improving attendance levels, which are currently broadly average, reflect a marked improvement over time and for individuals and groups of pupils. The school does much to promote the regular attendance of pupils by working closely with families and agencies to ensure regular and punctual attendance. Records indicate the school has been highly successful in improving the attendance of pupils who have been persistently absent in the past. Pupils speak very enthusiastically about all aspects of

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Behaviour

school and value the opportunities that broaden their experience and learning. They told inspectors that they are very proud of their school.  Pupils are very positive about their work. During the inspection, inspectors did not see any pupils lose focus in lessons. They listen very carefully to their teachers. Pupils are highly engaged by activities and concentrate well and for sustained periods. They cooperate exceptionally well with partners to share ideas, which helps them to learn rapidly from one another. The vast majority of parents believe that the pupils behave well.  Pupils collaborate very well and settle to work very promptly. They take much pride in their books, and always present their work neatly. Pupils show respect to adults, and respond promptly to staff requests. Older pupils have a good understanding of how their attitudes can contribute to academic success.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils say there is very little bullying but if it occurs, the school’s staff act very quickly and effectively to address any problems, as the school’s records show. Pupils are sure they can sort out any small problems for themselves through discussion. They are confident that the adults will help them if need be.  Exceptionally well organised systems to keep pupils safe are embedded fully. Staff work successfully with pupils to identify risky situations and teach pupils how to deal with these through e-safety and road awareness activities.  The school works excellently with other agencies to protect vulnerable pupils, including being alert to any pupils’ exposure to extremist views. The school checks all staff rigorously prior to appointment, and those who visit the school site.  Excellent pastoral care means that any safety issues for pupils or decline in behaviour are quickly

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Safety

recognised and addressed. Staff respond very quickly, making changes to the level and type of support needed in order to best meet the needs of individual pupils.  There is a lot of emphasis on personal development so that pupils feel confident in all situations, both inside and outside school. Consequently, pupils of all ages know how to stay safe. They receive clear guidance through lessons and assemblies to develop skills that will keep them safe, for example when using the internet.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Rising standards and much more rapid progress across the school reflect the improvements in teaching, particularly of reading. Teachers’ expectations of the quality of pupils’ work are consistently high and pupils readily respond with concerted effort being sustained even when tasks are challenging.  A consistently strong feature of the excellent teaching across the school is the deep knowledge of every pupil that is a result of the very warm and genuine relationships that are established between all adults and pupils in the classrooms. Consequently, pupils are confident enough to get fully involved, offer answers with confidence and learn very quickly from any mistakes.  Teaching assistants contribute positively to pupils’ learning. They are well trained and very effective in helping selected pupils make rapid progress, including lower and higher attaining pupils. Together with teachers, they also ensure that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

supported to make outstanding progress.  In mathematics, lessons have clear and very precise objectives so that pupils know exactly what they should be learning. Teachers are very capable and confident in using assessment data in order to pitch activities at just the right level. Activities in mathematics are designed well to help pupils to apply their skills to practical problems and to consolidate their understanding of chosen methods.  In literacy, teachers use their very good subject knowledge to plan activities that excite pupils and promote very swift learning and sustained progress. For example, in Year 1, pupils were totally gripped by the teacher’s use of the journey of a seed to create adventurous words and phrases to explain the journey in detail. All teachers routinely set aside time for pupils to improve their writing and explain their choice of vocabulary. This is because leaders recognised the need to train all staff to do this and, as a

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

result, pupils make excellent progress in reading and writing.  Teachers’ marking is of high quality and accurate.. Feedback to pupils on how they can make their work better is consistently applied across the school. As a result, pupils always know how to improve their work and learn from their errors. The success of this is seen in pupils’ books that show how, for example, the pupils’ extended writing has quickly improved over a short series of tasks.  The teaching of phonics is excellent in all classes where pupils need support with early reading skills. Pupils who struggle to understand the sounds that letters make have specialist input, with additional support for pupils who are not making the rate of progress that leaders expect. The teaching of reading provides pupils with a high level of technical skills and this systematically extends their understanding of spelling and use of language.  Parents and carers spoken to by inspectors believe that teaching is much better than previously.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

Inspectors agree that it has improved significantly and is of high quality. Teachers are now much better equipped to provide exactly the right sort of challenge to all pupils so that they learn very quickly.  The breakfast club offers a good start to the day for pupils and supports their attendance and punctuality well. In addition to providing a healthy breakfast, the staff give good support to pupils’ learning. They provide well-focused activities, for example to consolidate knowledge of religious festivals and different cultures through very interesting art activities.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Outstanding teaching over a sustained period since the last inspection has secured significantly better achievement for all groups of pupils. Pupils make excellent progress. Progress through the school in mathematics, a weaker aspect of pupils’ achievement at the time of the last inspection, has increased over the last two years and is now very rapid. This is also the case in reading and writing, where progress has accelerated quickly and is being sustained.  Attainment has improved by the end of Year 6 over the last two years, rising to the national average in reading, writing and mathematics in the 2014 national tests. Current school records and pupils’ work show that this has continued to rise further in all core subjects and pupils are reaching standards that are above average.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make the same excellent progress as their classmates. This is particularly evident in Key Stages 1 and 2, where some pupils make better progress

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

than their peers in school because of exceptionally well-planned extra support that they receive. Pupils in a small group observed during the inspection made rapid progress because the balance between support and challenge for the three pupils was excellent.  The most able pupils, both boys and girls, make excellent progress in all subjects. Those who attained Level 3 at the end of Key Stage 1 are well on track to achieve the higher levels in English and mathematics by the time they leave school, with an above average proportion set to reach Level 6. For example, in a mathematics lesson in Year 6, this group made very fast progress because the teacher checked their understanding of the data within the compound bar chart they were studying and then set them tasks that further challenged them.  Since the last inspection, disadvantaged pupils have not been more than a term behind other pupils at the

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

school overall. In 2014, disadvantaged pupils ended Year 6 a term behind other pupils at the school in reading and mathematics. In writing, they were slightly ahead of other pupils at the school. In relation to other pupils nationally, pupils in this group left Year 6 approximately a term behind in reading, writing and mathematics. This gap is rapidly reducing further, due to very well focused work in reading and mathematics with individual pupils.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language and those from minority ethnic backgrounds make outstanding progress as they benefit from the very effective additional support provided during lessons and extra lessons in small groups. These support is tailored exceptionally well to the needs of individual pupils.

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The early years provision is good

 Children arriving in the early years have highly varying skill levels but they are generally below those typical for their age. As a result of very good teaching, children make quick progress in the Nursery and Reception classes, particularly in reading, because of the excellent teaching of phonics by the teachers and support staff. By the time they leave the early years, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development is in line with the national figure.  Relationships between staff and children are excellent and are established early and quickly through effective arrangements before the start of the year and regular opportunities for parents to ‘stay and play’ at the start of the school day. This allows parents to help with their child’s learning and helps children to settle quickly into school life, grow in confidence and make good progress in developing personal and social skills.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years setting provides a very safe environment both inside the classroom and the extremely stimulating outdoor area. Staff promote children’s moral and social education by establishing clear routines, and managing their behaviour in a highly consistent, positive manner. As a result, children play and work together exceedingly well.  The quality of teaching is good in the Nursery and Reception classes. Adults know the children very well, observe them carefully, and skilfully encourage them to extend their understanding and abilities. Children who achieve particularly well are directed towards taking up challenging activities, including in the teaching of early writing skills. However, occasionally teachers in the early years do not always use questioning effectively to stretch children’s understanding and use responses to adapt teaching to promote outstanding learning.  Staff plan carefully to help children make good progress through a range of engaging activities. Their

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The early years provision is good

progress is carefully recorded and leaders make sure that any children who may need additional help receive appropriate support.  Leadership and management of the early years provision are excellent because the leader has an exceptionally clear understanding of the strengths and areas for development. For example, leaders are aware of the need to speed up progress by challenging pupils with questions that make children think more deeply, and use any errors in responses to help children to learn outstandingly well.

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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 100351 Local authority Hammersmith and Fulham Inspection number 462163

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 230 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Richard Walton Headteacher Clare Fletcher Date of previous school inspection 18 April 2013 Telephone number 020 87484951 Fax number 020 87483144 Email address admin@stpaulsce.lbhf.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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