Earlham Primary School

Overall effectiveness

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

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

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress, and attainment at Key Stage 2 was below average in 2014.  Leaders, managers and those responsible for governance have not made sure that teaching and achievement have improved so that they are good.  Teachers do not always have high enough expectations of pupils’ learning in lessons. They do not make sure that pupils act on the feedback they receive to improve their work.  Teaching assistants are not always used effectively by teachers to support pupils’ learning in classes.  Attendance is below average and has remained so since the previous inspection. The school has not worked closely enough with parents to promote pupils attending well.  There are too few middle leaders to be able to develop the school’s work across all areas. Those that are new to their posts have had insufficient training to make a difference in improving teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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

 Disadvantaged pupils do not make good progress and the gaps in their attainment compared with others nationally are too wide.

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The school has the following strengths

 The executive headteacher, well supported by other senior leaders, has quickly identified areas for improvement and their actions have already started to make a difference. Teaching is improving and pupils’ progress is accelerating.  The interim executive board has strengthened governance in the school and rigorously holds leaders to account for improvements.  Pupils are well behaved and relationships between pupils and staff are positive. Pupils say that they feel safe in the school and that teachers are helpful.  The early years is good. Children are well supported and make good progress which ensures they are well prepared for Key Stage 1.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 23 lesssons to observe learning. Seven of these visits were carried out with members of the senior leadership team.  Inspectors held meetings with the Chair of the Interim Executive Board and another board member who is also a National Leader of Governance, school leaders, pupils and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and attended two assemblies.  There were not enough responses to the online survey, Parent View, for these to be noted. Inspectors considered the responses to the school’s own parental survey and written correspondence from a parent and spoke to parents when they brought their children to school and in a meeting.  The inspection team looked at information relating to attendance, behaviour and safeguarding. They also considered information about how well pupils are doing, plans for improvement and minutes of meetings

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Inspection team

Susan Williams, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Earlham Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds, including many who speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  In the early years, provision in the Nursery is part time; there are two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There are two Reception classes which are full time.  The proportion of pupils supported by the government’s pupil premium, which is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority, is above average.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  An interim executive board took over the governance of the school in October 2014. An executive

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Information about this school

headteacher joined the school in January 2015 followed by the appointment of an acting headteacher and an acting deputy headteacher in February 2015. There have been significant changes to teaching staff since the previous inspection.  The school has received support from the outstanding teaching school alliance of Eversley, Oakthorpe and Worcesters Alliance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is consistently good or better, and achievement rises, by making sure that:  teachers have higher expectations of pupils’ learning  pupils consistently act upon teachers’ feedback to improve their work  teachers use teaching assistants more effectively to support pupils’ learning in all classes.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Work closely with parents so that they understand the importance of attendance and raise this so it is close to the national average.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop middle leadership by ensuring that:  there are leaders to support the development of the school’s work across more areas  new leaders are given training in their roles so that actions can make a difference to improving teaching and pupils’ achievement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leaders and managers have not ensured that teaching and achievement have improved enough since the previous inspection to be good. There are not enough middle leaders to support the school’s work across a range of areas, and some are new to their roles. They have not received enough support to ensure that their actions make a difference to improving teaching and pupils’ achievement.  The pupil premium funding is used to improve progress for disadvantaged pupils in subject areas and for pupils’ personal development. This has not been fully successful in ensuring that disadvantaged pupils do as well as others in all classes in the school and that these pupils do as well as other pupils nationally.  The executive headteacher, well supported by the acting headteacher and other senior leaders, has raised expectations and established a culture where good teaching is promoted and pupils are making faster

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The leadership and management require improvement

progress.  Procedures for the management of the performance of staff have been made more rigorous. Teachers are now challenged in regular meetings about the performance of their pupils to ensure they make better progress. There are examples where the support provided has improved teaching. This is particularly striking for teachers new to the profession.  Support from the teaching alliance has been effective in improving teaching and developing the leadership of mathematics. There has also been support provided to improve the quality of leadership before the executive headteacher took up her post.  The leadership of the early years is good. Children enjoy learning in a rich, colourful environment enjoying a range of different activities which support their development. This ensures that children make good progress in the early years.  The school’s plans for the future have identified accurately priorities for improvement and show clearly

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The leadership and management require improvement

how these will be improved. These are recent following the appointment of the executive headteacher. Staff welcome the new leadership and some made very positive comments about the recent improvements.  Parents raised some concerns about the changes in teaching staff since the previous inspection but recognise this situation has improved recently. Other work with parents is being developed. For example, parents of children in the early years attend regular sessions to help them learn how to support their children at home. This is driving faster progress for these children.  English and mathematics are taught separately and other subjects are taught through topics such as ‘The Stone Age’ or ‘chocolate’. Trips enhance the curriculum and support pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development, including visits to the National Portrait Gallery and the Science Museum. There are also visits to places of worship including a church, a mosque and a Greek Orthodox church. Opportunities

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The leadership and management require improvement

to enhance the curriculum with music events develop pupils culturally – for example, a string quartet gave a performance – and pupils get the opportunity to learn a musical instrument during their time at the school.  Positive relations are promoted and this supports pupils’ good behaviour. Pupils understand their class rules. They have a voice through the school council, which has been instrumental in changes to the playground with tree benches and the purchase of equipment including hula hoops and skipping. The school supports pupils to respect each other’s differences, and this is a strength. Equal opportunities are promoted and discrimination is not tolerated. The school promotes British values well and this supports pupils being well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The primary physical education and sport premium is used effectively. A sports development officer has been employed who works with other staff to develop the teaching of sport. New equipment has been

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The leadership and management require improvement

purchased and there are a wide range of extra-curricular activities on offer which rotate throughout the year. These have included football, cheer-leading and karate. Competitive sport is encouraged and pupils now take part in more competitive events with other schools.  The local authority intervened following the disappointing results in 2014 and put in place an interim executive board to challenge leaders more robustly and to hold them to account for improvements in the school. The local authority has provided more support from an adviser since the start of the autumn term and brokered support from outstanding schools. It has also held project board meetings to monitor the school’s performance. The support provided this academic year has been effective in driving forward improvement.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective. The school works well with outside agencies to support pupils and their families.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The governance of the school:  The interim executive board is effective. It has increased the rigour and challenge for senior leaders. Members are aware that previous data did not compare well with that of schools nationally, and receive regular updates from leaders about how well pupils are doing now. They challenge leaders to ensure pupils make better progress and hold them to account for their actions.  Board members know about the quality of teaching and that this is improving. They ensure rigour with finances and although they have not yet signed off pay awards, they understand their link to strong performance. They know that the management of staff performance is being made more rigorous and have also supported underperformance being challenged.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Behaviour in lessons is good. Pupils enjoy their learning and want to learn. Pupils are sensible in how they behave around the school. They enjoy playtime with the new equipment, including the benches, hula hoops and skipping ropes. Exclusions are rare and there have been none recently.  Pupils say that behaviour is good. They say that there is very little disruption to lessons. Pupils talked about behaviour having improved and also about improvements of the behaviour of individuals who had had problems in the past. School records confirm that their view is accurate. There are fewer incidents. Almost all staff say that behaviour is good and parents say that behaviour has improved.  Pupils take pride in their school. They usually present their work neatly, although in some classes presentation varies as expectations are not high enough.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. Attendance is low and has remained so. Not enough has been done to raise the profile of good attendance and recent initiatives have not had time to make a difference.  Pupils spoken to say that they feel safe in the school and all staff returning questionnaires agree that this is the case. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe and have talks from organisations such as the police about ‘stranger danger’. They are also taught about internet safety, and most recently, in assemblies, about keeping safe from the sun and the importance of applying sunscreen.  The school works closely with the local authority and other agencies in the area to guard against risks of extremism. All staff and members of the interim executive board have received training to understand how to identify risks and to safeguard pupils. Other aspects of safeguarding are also strong and the school

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Safety

works well with agencies to support pupils facing difficulties.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is not consistently good and pupils do not make good progress in all year groups. Expectations are not always high enough for how much progress pupils can make in lessons. In these classes, books are less well presented and show less work over time, with slower progress for pupils.  Teaching assistants are not always used effectively in all classes so this does not support pupils learning in the best way. Sometimes they do not adapt the work for the pupils, or on occasions do too much for them, which slows their progress.  The teaching of reading has improved this year. Phonics (linking letters to sounds) is well taught so children can listen to the sounds in words and learn how to break up words. Nursery children learn how to link letters to their sounds and are developing correct letter formation. These skills are now being taught more thoroughly in other year groups and pupils are able to apply them. New reading books have been

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

purchased and reading corners developed in classrooms so there is a bright, welcoming place to read.  Pupils are starting to have opportunities to write in different styles and also to write longer pieces. Where expectations are high, pupils make better progress and complete more work.  In mathematics the school uses a purchased scheme to support teachers. They are teaching different skills and pupils have opportunities to apply these. Practical resources such as counters and blocks were seen being used effectively to help pupils visualise mathematical concepts. On occasions, expectations are not high enough, particularly for the most able pupils to have work that stretches them.  Marking has improved and is carried out regularly with next steps for pupils. However, pupils do not routinely use these to do corrections or to improve their work. However, one boy who had made very strong progress in his writing explained how he had done this by focusing on the targets set by the

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

teacher in his next piece of work and he was proud of the improvement he had made.  There are positive relationships in all classes. Routines are well established and pupils do not waste time inbetween activities or when changing between lessons. Pupils say that teachers are helpful to them.  The environment has been improved to make classrooms bright and cheerful with displays that support learning. Corridors show the wide range of work the school covers and celebrate examples of pupils’ work.

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requires improvement

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress. Progress for different ethnic groups of pupils, including those who speak English as an additional language, is mixed. Expectations of how much pupils can learn are not always high enough to drive the fastest progress. The gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others nationally are too high.  In the national tests in 2014, disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 were approximately four terms behind other pupils nationally in reading and mathematics and two-and-a-half terms behind in writing. Gaps had closed marginally in writing and mathematics, although they widened in reading. Progress was slower for disadvantaged pupils in the school than other pupils nationally, particularly in reading and mathematics.  The gaps closed slightly for disadvantaged pupils in the school compared with their classmates. In reading, disadvantaged pupils were six months ahead of the others, and in writing and mathematics they

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requires improvement

were two months ahead. However, other pupils did less well. The progress for disadvantaged pupils currently in the school is mixed and they are not always catching up with other pupils.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make similarly mixed progress to other pupils. Although they are supported in classes, teachers do not always ensure that teaching assistants are used effectively to help pupils make the fastest progress. There are examples where support works well and teaching assistants intervene effectively to support pupils’ learning, but this is not consistent in all classes.  The most able pupils did not do well in the tests in 2014. Progress for this group of pupils is accelerating similarly to others’ but is not consistently good. In Year 6, these pupils are currently making rapid progress and are challenged with work that stretches them and makes them think, as expectations are

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requires improvement

high. In other classes, pupils sometimes have work to do that is too easy or that does not challenge them.  Children’s skills and knowledge on entry to the school are below levels typical for their age. They are well supported by staff in the early years, leaving with attainment which is just below average.  Key Stage 1 attainment was broadly average in writing and mathematics, and below average in reading in 2014. In the Year 1 phonics check, the proportion of pupils reaching the standard for the check was just below the national average. There has been a focus on developing reading this year and this has been successful, with pupils making better progress across the school.  Attainment at Key Stage 2 was disappointing in 2014 and below average in all areas. Progress is starting to accelerate this year. In some areas of the school, where there has been a particular focus to address the underachievement from the past, such as in Year 6, progress is good. School projections for

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requires improvement

attainment by the end of the year are much better than in 2014 and work in books shows pupils are achieving well in Year 6. However, although improving, progress is not consistent across the school.

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is good

 Children join the Nursery with skills and knowledge below levels typical for their age. Outcomes have improved at the end of Reception and in 2014 the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was just below the national average. This represents good progress from their starting points and means that children are generally well prepared for Year 1.  Teaching is good. Teachers have a good knowledge of what children need to learn and provide rich experiences which motivate children. Teachers check on how well children are doing and plan work that interests them. Children in the Nursery enjoyed making up poems for their paintings and stepping through the obstacles on the circular obstacle course.  There is strong involvement of parents in their children’s learning. Sessions are provided to help them support their children. These include current themes children are studying and phonics, so that parents

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is good

know how to help their children at home.  There are highly positive relationships and children are well looked after and safe. Children’s behaviour is good. Children take turns with equipment and listen to each other when talking about their work.  Leadership and management are good. There is a key person to work with each child who knows them well. Staff track children’s progress carefully and this ensures that any children at risk of falling behind get extra help. There is an accurate understanding of strengths and areas for improvement. The leader gives training in the local area to support other schools.

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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 131478 Local authority Haringey Inspection number 462160

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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 Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 423 Appropriate authority Interim executive board Chair Euan Macdonald Headteacher Angela Ryan (executive headteacher) Laurence Clarke (acting headteacher) Date of previous school inspection 19–20 June 2013 Telephone number 020 8888 2780 Fax number 020 8365 8993 Email address admin@earlham.haringey.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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