Mayfield Primary School

Mayfield Primary School High Lane, Hanwell, London, W7 3RT

p.1

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

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher’s high expectations for pupil outcomes and her aspirational vision for the school are shared by all leaders, including governors.  Leaders work closely and effectively as a team to bring about improvements. As a result, the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement are good, and improving.  Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and standards are in line with the national average by the end of Key Stages 1 and 2. Current pupils are on track to do well in this year’s national tests.  There is effective support for pupils to ensure that they do well in their learning. As a result, all groups of pupils make good progress.  Staff are highly supportive of the school’s leadership and morale is high.  The early years provision is good. Leaders have been effective in bring about improvements to ensure that teaching is good. Children make good progress and are well prepared for Year 1.

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Teachers and teaching assistants work effectively as a team to support pupils’ learning and to ensure there are effective working relationships with pupils.  Pupils’ behaviour and safety are good. Pupils are polite, courteous and respectful, and staff and governors ensure that pupils are safe in school.  The school is highly effective in promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain, and have a secure understanding of British values.  The governing body is effective in its role, and ensures that the school continues to develop and improve.

p.1

It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The attainment in writing over time is not as strong as in reading and mathematics.  Pupils are not always encouraged to develop their thinking and reasoning skills to deepen their understanding, particularly the most able pupils in mathematics.  Pupils are not always given time to act upon teachers’ marking of their work to make improvements.  Although attendance is improving, it is below the national average.

p.1

Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 21 lessons, six of them jointly with the headteacher or the senior leaders. Inspectors also observed pupils’ behaviour and attitudes in classrooms, and at break and lunchtimes.  A meeting was held with different groups of pupils, and inspectors listened to pupils read in Years 1 and 6 and discussed their reading with them.  The inspectors held discussions with senior and middle leaders and four governors including the Chair of the Governing Body. A telephone discussion was also held with a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors examined a range of documents, including information on pupils’ progress across the school, improvement plans and checks on the quality of teaching. They also examined the school records relating to behaviour, safety and attendance.  The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books and written work to see what progress pupils make and the

p.2

Information about this inspection

quality of teachers’ marking and feedback to pupils.  The inspectors took account of 47 responses received from parents to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. In addition, inspectors spoke to parents in the playground at the start of the school day.  The inspectors also considered 31 questionnaires completed by staff.

p.2

Inspection team

Avtar Sherri, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

p.2

Information about this school

 Mayfield Primary School is larger than an average-sized primary school.  The school has a part-time Nursery class and two full-time Reception classes.  Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups, with the largest group being from a White British background.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic heritages is well above average, the largest being from a Black or Black British African background.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is above average. This is additional government funding provided to give extra support to disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and to those who are looked after.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching from good to outstanding by ensuring that:  teachers always provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to extend their thinking and reasoning skills to deepen their understanding, particularly for the most able pupils in mathematics  pupils are always given sufficient time to act upon teachers’ comments in marking to improve their work and deepen their understanding.  Improve the attainment in writing by ensuring that pupils write more in English, and have sufficient opportunities to practise and develop their writing skills in other subjects and topics.  Improve attendance by working more closely with some parents so that they are all fully supportive of the school’s effort to bring about improvements.

p.3

The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides strong and effective leadership for the school. Her ambition for pupils and her vision for the school are shared by other senior leaders, middle managers and governors. Together they have secured improvements in teaching so that pupils achieve and behave well.  Middle leaders are involved in senior management meetings, and know the main strengths and areas for development in the school. They are effective in their roles and have a range of opportunities to check the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make in their subject areas. As a result, they are able to hold teachers to account for the progress their pupils make and provide effective support for teachers to improve the quality of teaching.  The leadership of teaching is good, and there are effective systems for managing and improving teachers’ performance. Leaders carry out detailed checks on the quality of teaching and learning and provide

p.4

The leadership and management are good

teachers with clear guidance and support to bring about improvements.  The leaders’ view about the school’s effectiveness is generally accurate in relation to its strengths and areas for development. The school’s development plan identifies the main priorities of the school. However, the timescales for actions are not always sharp enough and the roles of governors are not always identified in monitoring and evaluating these actions to enable them to hold senior leaders more accountable for the work they do.  Leaders have ensured that there are very effective systems in place to check the progress of different groups of pupils. Pupils who are not making good progress are quickly identified and provided with timely and effective support. This ensures that weaker learners, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, make good progress. This reflects the school’s strong commitment to removing

p.4

The leadership and management are good

any barriers to pupils’ learning, tackling discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity for all pupils.  Leaders work effectively with early years staff and have been successful in improving the early years provision. As a result, teaching is good and children achieve well.  Leaders, including governors, ensure that additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively. As a result of good teaching and effective support, disadvantaged pupils make good progress.  The school is making effective use of the primary physical education and sport premium. There is a wider range of clubs on offer, including competitive sports with other schools, to increase pupils’ participation and performance in sport. The school has made good use of sports coaches to provide coaching and training to teachers to improve the quality of teaching in physical education. As a result, the quality of teaching in physical education is improving.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The subjects taught in the school are broad and balanced and are increasingly based on the primary National Curriculum. They engage pupils, capture their interests and provide them with wider experiences. For example, the day before the inspection a ‘spaceship’ landed in the playground to mark the school’s theme on Space. During the inspection, several authors visited the school to talk to pupils about writing and poetry to mark the book week. Pupils have good opportunities to develop their basic skills of literacy and numeracy.  There are good opportunities for pupils to be involved in a range of trips, visits, artistic events and sporting activities. The curriculum is highly effective in promoting respect for diversity and preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. The promotion of British values is effective. For example, the school council was involved in mock elections and ‘hustings’ to highlight the democratic process and the rule of law.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. Assemblies provide time for reflection and for pupils to learn about what is right and what is wrong. Pupils learn about respect for different cultures and religions represented in the school and in the wider society.  Safeguarding arrangements meet all current requirements and are secure and effective. Leaders, including governors, ensure that all staff are fully trained, and carry out all the required checks on new staff to the school.  Most parents responding to Parent View agree that the school is well led and managed.  The local authority provides light touch support for this good school. The local authority has worked effectively with senior leaders on analysing pupil progress data and conducting book scrutinies to track pupils’ progress. This has helped the school to improve.  The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. Governors are ambitious and are committed to school improvement and

p.4

The leadership and management are good

bringing about the best possible outcomes for pupils.  Governors know the school well. They visit the school regularly and receive good quality information from the headteacher. As a result, they know the school’s main strengths and areas for development.  Governors attend all the appropriate training, including sessions on safeguarding and understanding data on pupil performance. As a result, they know how well the pupils are performing in the school compared to pupils in similar schools and schools nationally.  Governors are clear about the quality of teaching, and the system for setting targets for staff are in place to tackle underperformance and improve the quality of teaching. They are secure about the link between the quality of teaching and pupil progress and teachers’ pay scales. They know how teachers’ salaries are linked to teachers meeting challenging performance targets.  Governors ensure that financial management is effective and know how pupil premium and sport

p.4

The leadership and management are good

funding are used and the impact on improving pupil outcomes.

p.5

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite, friendly and respectful of adults and each other. Pupils from all backgrounds get on very well with each other.  Breaktimes and lunchtimes are very harmonious and orderly, and pupils are supervised well. Pupils show respect for the school environment through ensuring it is litter free.  Pupils demonstrate good attitudes to learning, and this makes a strong contribution to the good progress they make. Pupils engage well in lessons, but attention and work rate can slip a little for a few when teaching does not hold their interest. Some pupils do not always take the responsibility for correcting and improving their work.  Pupils say that behaviour is good. However, they say that there are a few incidents when children lose concentration in lessons. Pupils have a secure understanding of the school’s behaviour policy and say that behaviour is improving.

p.5

Behaviour

 Although attendance is improving, it is below average. A small minority of parents are yet to be persuaded of the importance of their children attending school more regularly.  All the parents responding to the Parent View said that the school ensures that pupils are well behaved.

p.5

Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they feel safe at school, and trust the staff fully to look after them, keep them safe and sort out their problems effectively.  Pupils are taught well about unsafe situations and know how to keep themselves safe. For example, they know about road and fire safety and how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.  Pupils know about different types of bullying, including racist, homophobic and cyber bullying. Pupils say that there is very little bullying and that any that occurs is dealt with effectively by staff. This is supported by the very detailed school records on behaviour that show that the number of incidents of poor behaviour is very low, including incidents of exclusion.  Almost all parents responding to Parent View agree that their child feels safe at school.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching over time is good, and is effective in developing pupils’ skills and understanding in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, pupils make good progress with their learning. Senior leaders provide teachers with effective training and support to bring about improvements in teaching.  A striking feature in all lessons is the strong relationships between staff and pupils, which help pupils feel motivated and to do their very best. Pupils value their teachers and say they are a strength of the school. As one pupil said to the inspector, ‘They never give up on us when it comes to learning.’  The teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) is taught well, and pupils are able to use their knowledge and understanding of phonics to read difficult or unfamiliar words, as was demonstrated by readers who read to inspectors. This contributes well to pupils’ enjoyment of reading.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers use assessment data effectively to check the progress of pupils, and identify those in need of further support to ensure they make good progress. The school is in the process of fully implementing the assessment system for the primary National Curriculum.  Teaching assistants work closely with teachers and are effective in supporting the learning of pupils, particularly of the weaker learners, through one-to-one and small-group support. Their positive contribution to pupils’ learning ensures that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, those who speak English as an additional language and those who are disadvantaged make good progress with their learning.  Teachers have good subject knowledge in mathematics. Pupils are taught a range of calculation skills to help them solve mathematical problems and investigations. However, sometimes pupils, particularly the most able pupils, do not always have sufficient opportunities to extend their thinking and reasoning skills

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

to deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts. This slows their progress.  Teachers and teaching assistants ensure that pupils have plenty of opportunities for speaking and listening, either in pairs or in small groups. This helps pupils to develop their social and communication skills quickly. This particularly helps those who speak English as an additional language to make good progress with their English.  Writing is improving across the school. However, opportunities are sometimes missed for pupils to improve their writing skills by writing at length, both in English and in a range of subjects and topics. Teachers sometimes over-use printed resources that only require short answers; this further limits the opportunities for pupils to write at length.  Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work has improved over time, and pupils are usually given guidance on how they can improve their work further in line with the school’s marking policy. However, pupils are not

p.6

The quality of teaching is good

always given the time to act on the advice given in marking. This restricts how well their work improves.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 In 2014, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 was in line with the national average. From their low starting points, pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics across both of the key stages. In 2014, most pupils at the end of Year 6 national tests made the expected progress in mathematics, reading and writing, and a higher proportion than average made more than expected progress.  In 2014, the proportion of pupils reaching the higher Level 5 standard of attainment at Key Stage 2 was in line with the national average in mathematics, reading and writing. However, fewer pupils achieved the higher level in mathematics.  Attainment in writing has been below average over the last three years at the end of Key Stage 2. However, the school’s recent information shows that the current Year 6 pupils are on track to achieve better results in writing in the end of Key Stage 2 tests in 2015.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 The results of the Year 1 phonic screening check, which checks children’s understanding of letters and the sounds that they make, were above average in 2014. The teaching of phonics has a positive impact on pupils’ ability to read, and is promoting their confidence in, and enjoyment of, reading. Pupils read at home and are listened to reading by their teachers and teaching assistants. Their growing love for reading came through when pupils read to inspectors, and this is reflected in the good progress they make in reading across the school.  The most able pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. However, their attainment in mathematics at higher levels in Key Stages 1 and 2 is below average. The school’s most recent information shows that the targeted and additional support that the most able pupils are receiving is having a positive impact on the progress they make.  The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good in reading, writing

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

and mathematics. Their progress is checked closely and frequently and these pupils are provided with high quality care and support to meet their needs and move their learning on.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language receive effective support, including in developing their confidence and fluency in English. As a result, they make good progress, like their classmates, in reading, writing and mathematics. There are no marked differences in the achievement of different ethnic groups of pupils in the school.  In the end of Year 6 tests in 2014, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates narrowed in reading, writing and mathematics. Compared to their classmates, the attainment gap for the disadvantaged pupils in reading was almost four months behind, in writing it was almost six months behind and in mathematics it was about two months behind. Compared to other pupils nationally, the

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

attainment gap for the disadvantaged pupils in reading was almost two months behind, in writing it was almost four months behind and in mathematics it was almost five months behind. Scrutiny of pupils’ work and analysis of school information indicate that disadvantaged pupils are making good progress, with attainment gaps closing fast because of the increasingly effective support these pupils receive.

p.6

The early years provision is good

 Senior leaders have worked effectively with early years staff to bring about improvements since the previous inspection. As a result, the early years provision has improved, and is good, and effectively led and managed. The early years leader has a secure understanding of what is working well and what needs to be improved further.  There are strong links with parents to ensure that children settle down to routines quickly and get off to a good start. Parents are involved in children’s learning and are kept updated on the progress their children make.  Children show independence and engage with adults well. They have good attitudes to learning and behave well. Their enthusiasm for learning was evident in one of the Reception classes, where a group of children built a rocket using a variety of shapes linked to the school’s theme on Space. They were able to explain the process they went through. There is a good balance of adult-led and children-chosen activities,

p.7

The early years provision is good

both inside and in the outdoor learning area.  There are effective systems in place to assess children’s knowledge and understanding when children join the Nursery or the Reception classes. Staff use information effectively to plan activities and motivate and engage children in their learning. Children’s progress is closely tracked to ensure their needs are met and that different groups of children, including the disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language and the most able, make good progress.  Teaching is good, and children make good progress from their different starting points. Children join the school with skills and knowledge that are mainly well below what is typical for their age. By the end of the Reception year, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development is below the national average, with aspects of literacy and mathematics being weaker than other areas of learning.

p.7

The early years provision is good

 Current information shows that the proportion of children who are on track to achieve a good level of development by the end of Reception in 2015 is likely to be above average. As a result, children are prepared well for when they move into Year 1.  Children are kept safe and secure by very caring and supportive staff. Children feel safe and all the safeguarding requirements are met and are effective.

p.7

Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing

p.8

Grade Judgement Description

to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

p.8

School details

Unique reference number 101877 Local authority Ealing Inspection number 448234

p.9

School details

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

p.9

School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3−11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 361 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Scully Headteacher Belinda Ewart Date of previous school inspection 16−17 March 2010 Telephone number 020 8575 9885 Fax number 020 8813 1108 Email address admin@mayfield.ealing.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.9

School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

p.10

School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10

School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

p.10

School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

p.10

School details

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

p.10