Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation

School report Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation The Priory, 1st Floor, 277 St Ann’s Road, London, N15 5RG

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement 3

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

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

 The quality of teaching is variable across the school, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Recently introduced initiatives, such as a framework for providing feedback to pupils, are inconsistently applied.  Provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage requires improvement because planned activities do not ensure that there is sufficient challenge in place for children of all abilities. The outdoor learning environment, which is used by children aged three to five years, is insufficiently adapted for use by different ages and ability groups.  The attainment of pupils at Key Stages 1 and 2 is below that which is expected for their age. In Key Stage 2 no pupils are working above age-related expectations in writing or mathematics.  New assessment systems are not embedded in practice. The information they provide is not used consistently to plan activities focused on each pupil’s needs.  Despite having robust risk assessments in place,

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

the school does not always respond swiftly when unforeseen hazards occur in the environment.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders and managers have worked tirelessly to address the concerns raised at the last inspection. They have reviewed their policies and practice, and implemented many improvements. All of the independent school standards and requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are met.  Pupils behave well. They listen carefully in lessons and respond well to teachers. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage develop self-confidence and social skills as they move around their learning environment.  Trustees have taken the concerns raised at the previous inspection seriously and visit the school regularly to check on improvements made.  The school has a range of deepening links with the local community, working with primary schools, the local authority and a nearby children’s centre. These further the knowledge and understanding of pupils and the community in which they live.  The school’s information shows that, in recent

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The school has the following strengths

months, pupils have made at least expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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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

 This inspection took place on the last three days of the summer term.  Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 17 lessons, including five longer observations and some shorter visits to classrooms. Several of these observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also carried out a detailed scrutiny of pupils’ work and learning journals.  Meetings were held with senior leaders, trustees and the local authority adviser for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Inspectors also had short conversations with the deputy headteacher of a neighbouring primary school and a member of staff from the local children’s centre.  Inspectors met with two small groups of pupils to talk about their work and hear them read. A member of staff was present during these meetings. Inspectors also spoke informally to pupils during lessons, break times and lunch times. An inspector observed an assembly and the school’s celebrations for the start of

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Information about this inspection

Ramadan.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation including records of pupils’ achievement, information about safeguarding arrangements, risk assessments, curriculum information and policies.  There were no responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, as this page is currently inaccessible. Inspectors did speak to a number of parents at the start and end of the school day. They also considered 13 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Gaynor Roberts, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 The Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation School is registered for 88 pupils aged three to 11 years. It is an Islamic school with an alternative personalised education ethos. The Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation Trust also manages a partner school in Slough. Each school has its own headteacher, but they share the same board of trustees.  There are 127 pupils on roll, with 48 children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Of these, 26 attend part time.  Provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage consists of two full-time classes. There is also part-time provision called Tifly Daycare which is in a separate part of the building. Children in this provision range in age from two to four. All three classes share the outdoor learning area adjacent to the Tifly provision.  Pupils come from many ethnic groups. Around four fifths of the pupils speak English as an additional language. Around a tenth is new to speaking English. A very small number of pupils have special

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Information about this school

educational needs, but none has a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.  The school does not place pupils in off-site alternative provision.  The school’s main aim is to develop each child’s Islamic Shakhsiyah (personality) in partnership with parents. Both the director of education and headteacher are trustees. Four members of the board of trustees are independent of the day-to-day running of the school.  The school was last inspected in October 2014 and judged to be inadequate.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and raise achievement by ensuring that: teachers use assessment information to devise lessons which are focused precisely on the needs of all pupils teachers consistently use effective questioning techniques which encourage pupils to think more deeply feedback to pupils about their work is consistently in place, and sharply focused on telling pupils how they can improve their work all pupils are provided with work that challenges them and extends their learning in all curriculum areas leaders use assessment information to identify areas for improvement, and act effectively to address these.  Improve the quality of the early years provision by ensuring that: the outdoor provision is fully adapted to meet the needs of all the children who access it opportunities for all children to attempt challenging activities are embedded in daily practice.  Ensure that any potential hazards identified within the school environment are removed or minimised

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides strong leadership. She is supported by the head of early years, trustees and a staff team who share her determination for improvement. Decisive action has been taken since the previous inspection to meet the independent school standards and requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders have adapted and extended their thematic approach, mapping teaching activities to opportunities for progression across subjects. Therefore, pupils are able to make progress in the required areas of learning: linguistic; mathematical; scientific; technological; human and social; physical; and aesthetic and creative; as they move through the school. In particular, leaders have secured the use of the playground of a nearby Roman Catholic primary school for the teaching of physical education to all year groups.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. Checks made on the

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The leadership and management are good

suitability of staff to work with children are in place and recorded centrally. Members of staff are appropriately trained. Recently, staff members received additional training on the issues around female genital mutilation to ensure that any possible cases are identified swiftly and acted upon. The headteacher, as designated lead person for safeguarding, keeps detailed and robust records of any concerns regarding child protection. Any visiting speakers or presenters coming into school are carefully vetted to make sure the content of their presentation is suitable.  The curriculum promotes the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through daily ‘Halaqah’ sessions. The ‘Halaqah’ curriculum has been adapted to further promote pupils’ personal, social and health development and ensure that pupils are presented with a balanced view. Assemblies, the school’s ‘Shura council’ and other lessons support this work. As a result, pupils develop

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The leadership and management are good

respect for different faiths, cultures and lifestyles and are prepared for life in a diverse and modern democratic Britain. For example, pupils have learnt about the General Election and they mixed freely with pupils from the local Roman Catholic primary school at a picnic.  Leaders have taken a strong stance with respect to occasional incidents of unkind behaviour between pupils. They promote an atmosphere of equal opportunity for all, which is demonstrated through the fact that boys and girls get on well together, playing and working alongside each other.  School leaders use a range of information to reach judgements about the quality of teaching. These include formal lesson observations, shorter visits to lessons, scrutiny of pupils’ books and consideration of information about pupils’ achievement. Leaders identify appropriate strengths and areas to develop with regard to teaching and use these to inform their management of teachers’ performance.

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The leadership and management are good

 This small school is ably led by the headteacher and head of early years. There is currently no tier of middle leadership. Therefore, no judgement can be made as to the quality of middle leaders.  Parents are fully involved in the life of the school. They attend fun days, parent workshops and sports days. Parents receive reports about their child’s progress. They talked to inspectors about the school’s work to teach children to ‘be British’, but respecting an Islamic culture.  The governance of the school: Following the previous inspection, trustees have grasped the nettle and are working hard to improve their oversight of the school. They each have assigned roles, with differing levels of involvement in school life. They have instigated annual audits of the school’s work around safeguarding and the first of these has been completed. Trustees have addressed issues regarding the capacity of the school leadership team, ensuring that

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The leadership and management are good

the headteacher is able to focus on improving the school quickly. Trustees know where the strengths and areas of development in the school lie. They are knowledgeable about the quality of teaching and the progress made by pupils because they look at pupils’ books and receive reports from the headteacher. They have not received quantitative information about the achievement of pupils. The Director of Education is responsible for ensuring that the performance management of the headteacher is carried out effectively and reporting back to the Board of Trustees. Trustees receive information regarding the performance of teachers. Trustees have enlisted support from a range of external sources in order to confirm their judgements about the school’s improvements and identify the next steps they need to take. They challenge leaders robustly regarding their work to improve the school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils engage well with their learning and demonstrated an eagerness to talk about it with inspectors.  The school has developed a clearly-stated anti-bullying strategy, which is displayed throughout the school. Behaviour logs identify very few instances of bullying, and parents and pupils say that it is rare.  Pupils are courteous and treat each other, adults and visitors with respect. From the time they first enter the school, pupils are taught to be polite. During the inspection, one pupil in Tifly Daycare was heard to say to another, ‘Can I go past, please?’ as she tried to move to a different outdoor activity.  Teachers have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, and pupils rise to these. Pupils could explain to inspectors how they are rewarded for good work. They also explained the system for assessing their own work, which has been introduced in recent months. They are rightly proud of their ‘learning journals’ in

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Behaviour

which pieces of their best work are collated on a regular basis.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement.  Robust risk assessments are in place for school activities, both within the building and further afield. Any use of the premises beyond that part which belongs to the school is considered in the same way as an external visit and risk assessments completed accordingly. However, during the inspection, unforeseen hazards occurred on site which were not acted upon swiftly enough by teachers and leaders.  The attendance of pupils is just below average. There are systems in place to follow up any absence. The school reports that changes made to the start of the school day have improved punctuality over the last academic year. The school keeps records of the destinations of pupils who leave the school. The details of any pupils who leave the country, or leave to be home schooled, are passed on to the relevant authorities.  Leaders have ensured that improvements have been made to address concerns raised at the previous

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Safety

inspection with regard to health and safety. These include improvements to the toilet facilities and medical room. The fire risk assessment is in place and identifies no significant risks.  Pupils know how to stay safe in school and in the local community. They know who they can go to if they are hurt or have any worries. Pupils are taught how to stay safe online, and the school has held workshops for parents to help them understand the potential dangers the internet poses to their children.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is variable, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This results in pupils making varied progress over time.  Where teaching is stronger, it is characterised by skilled questioning techniques, which draw out a pupils’ response and make pupils think. Where teaching is weaker, teachers ask closed questions which ascertain whether or not a pupil has retained a specific fact. Too often, adult responses to pupils reflect their learning back to them, rather than extend their learning further.  Teachers have high expectations of pupils and some provide challenging activities to stretch the more able in the group. For example, Year 2 pupils were plotting coordinates on a grid and identifying the shapes depicted by sets of coordinates. More able pupils were using all four quadrants of the grid, involving negative and positive integers. These pupils could use the related mathematical language

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

appropriately. Less able pupils had been provided with a simpler grid involving only one quadrant, and positive integers. These pupils struggled to complete the activity, plotting points on the grid incorrectly and unable to explain their thinking as they attempted the task.  During this academic year, leaders implemented a system for tracking the achievement of pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. The information this provides is not being used fully by teachers to inform their planning of activities and focus teaching precisely on the needs of the pupils in their care.  Teachers have recently implemented a system whereby pupils assess themselves against a set of skills which they are learning. Most pupils have completed check lists identifying skills they have learnt, but there is no evidence of teachers checking these, or marking the achievements with dates. Therefore, it is not possible for teachers to identify progress over time through this process.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Detailed scrutiny of pupils’ books showed marked improvements in the rate of progress and quality of feedback which align closely to the dates of recent training for teachers in these areas. This shows that the improvements made by leaders to improve the quality of teaching are starting to have a positive impact on outcomes for pupils. There has been more impact in reading and writing than in mathematics.  Following the introduction of a school policy on the marking of work, most teachers are providing written feedback to pupils on the quality of their work more regularly. Where teachers ask pupils to make corrections or add further to their work, pupils sometimes respond. Some comments do not promote further learning as they do not focus sharply on the next steps for pupils. This practice is not consistently good across all subjects and teachers. As a result, pupils do not always make as much progress as they

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils enter the school at different points in their education. Not all those who attend Tifly Daycare or the full-time Nursery class stay on for the rest of their primary education. Some pupils join the school later, and others leave the school at times other than the usual points.  The school does not use nationally standardised assessments to gauge the achievement of pupils. It has recently introduced a system of assessing the attainment and progress of pupils in relation to age-related expectations. The school have worked alongside local maintained primary schools to check that their judgements regarding the quality of pupils’ work are accurate.  The school’s information shows that the attainment of pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 is low. With the exception of reading in Year 4, no pupils in Key Stage 2 are exceeding age-related expectations in reading, writing or mathematics. Pupils attain better in reading than in writing. In some year groups,

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

fewer than half are working at or above age-related expectations in writing. At Key Stage 1, a small number is exceeding age-related expectations, but these proportions are still low compared to national figures.  The school’s information regarding progress since September 2014 shows an improving picture. All pupils in Years 1 to 6 have made expected, or more than expected, progress over the year. In some groups, the proportion making more than expected progress in reading, writing or mathematics is high. From their different starting points, all groups of pupils have made at least expected progress this academic year.  The school does not receive additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, and does not identify those that could be perceived as such. Leaders do, however, identify pupils who speak English as an additional language, and those who have special educational needs. There are no identified differences in the

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

achievement of these groups and the school meets their needs well. Likewise, boys achieve as well as girls. Those who are new to English are well supported and make good progress.  Leaders also consider the progress of pupils who have stayed on the school roll for the full period of their education. These pupils do better than those who join the school later.  The most able pupils are capable of more. Recent changes have raised the expectations of teachers and more challenging activities are being provided for these pupils in some year groups. Early evidence shows that these pupils are starting to make accelerated progress.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children enter the early years provision at different ages and stages of development. Achievement in the early years provision requires improvement because in the nursery classes children do not make good progress from their varied starting points. Scrutiny of children’s learning journals showed a lack of linkage between prior learning and the planned activities for the week. The assessment system in place is not strong enough to guide planning and ensure challenge for all children.  The provision for outdoor learning is attached to the Tifly Daycare provision, but is accessed by all children in the Early Years Foundation Stage in the course of each day. This area is relatively small and insufficiently adapted for children of differing ages and abilities. For example, during one session, mathematical activities available for the children in Tifly Daycare involved numbers from zero to 10. Once the older children, at the end of their Reception year, came downstairs to use the area, these activities

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The early years provision requires improvement

were not extended to involve larger numbers. This results in a lack of challenge for these older children.  The quality of teaching is variable. Too often, adults reflect the learning of children rather than providing an additional challenge through effective questioning. Where adults do attempt to extend learning they sometimes unnecessarily distract pupils from the activity they are doing. During the inspection, leaders and teachers responded to feedback from inspectors to ensure that each activity included a written ‘challenge’ to prompt adults to question children. However, this practice is not embedded in daily practice.  As at the time of the last inspection, the quality of teaching is strongest in the Reception class. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development is above average and children are well prepared for Year 1.  Leadership of the early years provision is good. The early years leader has ensured that all the

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The early years provision requires improvement

requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are met. She has taken advice from other professionals and secured improvements in the provision in both the main school and Tifly Daycare. She has reviewed planning systems and structures to ensure that each child’s progress is carefully tracked in each of the required areas of learning.  Relationships between members of staff and children are strong. There is a welcoming atmosphere and pupils are relaxed in the setting. They feel secure within familiar routines, and develop self-confidence and social skills through their time in the early years provision. As a result they behave well. There are appropriate systems in place to keep children safe. Leaders have improved the security arrangements for Tifly Daycare through the installation of a controlled access entry point.

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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 134084 Inspection number 464982 DfE registration number 309/6087 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 Muslim Primary School School status Independent school Age range of pupils 3−11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 127 Number of part time pupils 26 Proprietor Islamic Shakhsiyah Trust Director of Education Farah Ahmed Headteacher Foziya Reddy Date of previous school inspection 30 September – 2 October 2014 Annual fees (day pupils) £3,240 Telephone number 020 8802 8651 Email address mail@isfnet.org.uk 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

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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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