St Ann's CE Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mr Simon Knowles Executive Headteacher St Ann’s CE Primary School Avenue Road London N15 5JG

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 10 February 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since your predecessor school was judged to be good in September 2012.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

Since the previous inspection there have been some significant changes. In January 2013 the school converted to academy status as a member of the London Diocesan Board for Schools Academies Trust. In September 2015, following a year as the interim executive headteacher, your appointment as the substantive executive headteacher was confirmed.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

Four teachers were new to the school at the start of the year. In a very short time, you have created a united team and one which shares your ambition for high-quality education. You have a clear vision for ongoing school improvement and are supported by effective leaders of learning. Together you have improved whole- school systems and procedures, ensuring consistency of expectation in marking, through the school’s ‘marking menu’, the presentation of pupils’ work and classroom practice.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

Children in the early years continue to make good progress. The proportion of children who achieve a good level of development has risen for the last three years and is above the national average. Pupils’ attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is above national figures for reading and mathematics, but just below for writing. At Key Stage 2, teachers are ensuring that progress is improving steadily. Outcomes were just below national expectations, but rose for mathematics in 2015. Although pupils make good progress from their individual starting points, you are aware of the need to accelerate progress still further so that outcomes are in line with national expectations for writing at the end of Key Stage 1 and in all areas at the end of Key Stage 2.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

Areas identified since the previous inspection have been addressed. However, you are aware that teachers need to identify and provide greater challenge for the most- able pupils, reshaping activities to ensure that they have opportunities to extend their learning further.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

You and your leadership team have used the latest pupils’ assessments and the information from your monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning to generate a detailed evaluation of the school’s performance. As a result, you have a clear overview of the organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement. You have used these findings to work with your leaders of learning to ensure that planned actions are in place to raise both achievement and the quality of teaching still further. You have identified that there is still work to be done to close the attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others in the school and those nationally.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

At the previous inspection, inspectors commented favourably on pupils’ behaviour and that parents and carers take advantage of the school’s ‘open door’ policy to get involved in the life of the school. These continue to be areas of strength within the school. You and your staff have successfully maintained a happy and welcoming school environment. Parents very much appreciate the school’s ‘open door’ policy. A range of activities, subjects and trips ensure that pupils enjoy school and develop the physical, creative and academic skills they need for the next stage of their education. Pupils have enjoyed learning about different cultures and people through their many cross-curricular topics like ‘A-cross the world’, and during their study of famous musicians, past and present. They know the value of working together to explore ideas because teachers make sure that they have plenty of opportunities to

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

do so across all subjects. Pupils welcome and accept everyone.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

In the past, attendance at the school has been above average. However, in 2015 it dipped below national figures for the first time. Although the school tracks whole- school attendance and purchases advice from the local authority to support attendance, there is no analysis of the attendance of groups and the impact of the school’s actions has not yet been considered. You are aware that improving whole- school attendance this year must be a priority, as good attendance contributes strongly to improved outcomes for pupils.

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Short inspection of St Ann’s CE Primary School

All staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. Staff and governors have all attended update training, including the issues surrounding ‘Prevent’. They know precisely what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil’s well-being. The Chair of the Governing Body visits the school termly in her role as link governor for safeguarding, checking the robustness of practice. Actions have already been put in place following a recent audit, commissioned by the school in October. For example, screening has been put in place, in the early years outdoor play area, to prevent strangers from outside the site communicating with the youngest children. However, although staff and governors are aware of the Secretary of State’s latest guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, policies have not always been updated to take account of this guidance and reflect the practice seen at the school.

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Inspection findings

 You and the leadership team check the quality of the school’s work and pupils’ progress regularly. Leaders use information about pupils’ progress to identify where the school needs to get better. From this you have clearly identified where gaps exist between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in the school and their peers, and implemented a range of interventions tailored to the specific needs of each cohort. These interventions, like precision teaching of common words, talk groups, daily phonics (the link between letters and sounds) and one-to-one mathematics teaching, or small-group support focused on place value and the use of number, are having an impact. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are making accelerated progress. Gaps are no longer widening between disadvantaged pupils and their peers and in most cases the gap is narrowing. Inspection activity and book scrutiny confirm this.

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Inspection findings

 Your leaders of learning make a significant contribution to the improvements identified. For example, in the early years and Key Stage 1, focused phonics teaching, linked to reading, writing and spelling, is already leading to swift improvements. In a phonics lesson, the teacher was seen making careful checks on individuals in the lesson, providing help when needed. Young children were able to use their phonics knowledge to read new words and were reminded that some ‘tricky words’ just needed to be learned. Scrutiny of children’s learning journals and independent writing books show rapid progress in writing since the start of term and demonstrate good spelling knowledge. The leadership team checks the quality of the school’s work and pupils’ progress regularly, and current pupils’ assessments show that Year 1 phonics outcomes will be above the expected standard at the end of the year. Checks on the current Year 2

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Inspection findings

pupils for those who did not reach the required standard at the end of Year 1 show that they are on track to achieve the expected standard in phonics, as a result of the effective teaching now in place.

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Inspection findings

 Your leaders of learning have benefited from sharing good-quality consultant support in English, mathematics and computing with three other schools within the academy trust. They work closely with other leaders of learning within the academy, undertaking training to ensure that their skills and subject knowledge remain up to date. They have a clear vision for improvement in their particular areas of leadership. For example, the leadership in English and mathematics is already making a significant impact on teaching across the school. There is strong consistency among teachers in their use of the school’s marking policy for mathematics and literacy which is contributing to the good pupils’ progress seen in books. Due attention has been given to improving the quality and quantity of writing produced. As a result, pupils are able to write at great length, using sophisticated vocabulary in a range of genres. However, spelling strategies

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Inspection findings

across Key Stage 2 are less well embedded. This is because some of the basic skills in spelling have not been picked up and addressed early enough in the past. Your leader for learning is already addressing this. Training is in place to support the implementation of a whole-school approach to spelling that builds on the strengths developed in the revised early years and Key Stage 1 phonics and spelling programmes introduced in September 2015.

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Inspection findings

 Members of the governing body have recently attended training on understanding school performance information. As a result, they are now fully aware of the areas of focus required, and target funding accordingly. They visit the school regularly to carry out their own checks on the quality of provision. This gives them an accurate view of the school and enables them to provide both challenge and support. For example, a recent visit took place to meet leaders and monitor progress against the school’s identified improvement plan priorities for mathematics. The link governor focused on the school’s actions in accelerating rates of progress in mathematics and challenging the most-able through the mastery of mathematical concepts, reasoning and problem solving. The resulting report gives the governing body an overview of progress and valuable evidence that agreed funding for mathematical resources has been spent effectively.

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Inspection findings

 Teaching continues to be good. Relationships are good in all classes and pupils move purposefully around the school. Pupils understand and closely follow the school’s behaviour policy. They are courteous, well mannered and welcoming. Older pupils readily take on additional responsibilities, including helping out in the Nursery class during their lunch breaks.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils said they feel safe because they are taught well how to keep themselves safe. During the inspection, they knowledgeably discussed the importance of health and safety on site and were able to identify potential hazards. They have a very good awareness of e-safety because you and your team place high priority on this and provide detailed guidance for staff in school. Pupils say that incidents of bullying are rare, but that if they do have a problem they know whom to tell or talk to. Parents agree that their children are happy, safe and well looked after.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils and thereby close the gaps in attainment with other pupils in the school and those nationally

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Next steps for the school

 lessons are sufficiently challenging for the most-able pupils

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Next steps for the school

 actions to improve attendance include clear and measurable criteria so that leaders and governors can check the impact of these actions on both pupils’ attendance and their outcomes. I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Executive Board, the Director of Education for the Diocese of London, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Director of Children’s Services for the London Borough of Haringey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I met with you, the head of school, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from the academy trust. I also met with the school’s designated safeguarding lead, a group of leaders of learning and a member of the administration team. I considered the views of 14 parents as recorded on Parent View. You and I visited classrooms together to observe pupils in their lessons and look at their work. I spoke with a number of pupils in classrooms and met with a group of pupils who shared the work in their books with me. I evaluated school assessment information and other records, including those related to attendance and keeping children safe. The school improvement plan and leaders’ own evaluation of performance were also taken into account. On the day of the inspection, Year 5 pupils were on a trip to the National Portrait Gallery.

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