Setting

Mrs K Lodge Headteacher De Lucy Primary School Cookhill Road Abbey Wood London SE2 9PD

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 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 the school was judged to be good in July 2011.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since taking over as headteacher in 2014, you have created a positive, ambitious climate for improvement. You have established clear expectations for standards of teaching, and tackling the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection well. You have also made sure that teachers have the necessary resources, guidance and training to ensure that they can live up to these high expectations.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Your senior leaders add strength and depth to your plans for improvement. The recent departure of one of your assistant headteachers, and the current maternity leave of a deputy headteacher, have given the opportunity to provide other leaders with additional responsibilities. In turn, this is strengthening the capacity of your senior team.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Your priorities and your accurate evaluation of outcomes are based on firm, reliable evidence. As a result, the school is improving rapidly. Middle leaders benefit from the examples that your senior leaders set. They possess the necessary skills and knowledge to support and develop teachers in their respective areas of responsibility. However, you recognise that middle leaders need to develop their skills in driving forward improvements and holding others to account for their effect on pupils’ achievement. Ofsted

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted .gov.uk Senior leaders have established effective systems to check on the quality of teaching. You expect teachers to use assessment information skilfully when planning lessons so that pupils are given work that challenges them sufficiently. The panel meetings that your inclusion leader has introduced strongly encourage teachers to base their referrals for additional pupil support on firm evidence. They also help to ensure that you have the information necessary to secure external support for those pupils who need it. The systems you have introduced to manage the performance of teachers are rigorous and effective. Time-limited support is provided to challenge any teaching that does not meet your high expectations.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Calm, warm and respectful relationships are central to the distinctive culture that you have created. You insist on high standards of behaviour. Pupils live up to these because they are very well taught about their responsibilities, both towards themselves and towards one another. The positive attitudes to learning that you and other staff demonstrate enable pupils to express their views and articulate their feelings without inhibition. They feel safe and happy. As one pupil put it, ‘if you feel like going into your shell, teachers here help bring you out of it again’.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Your latest attendance information shows that more pupils come regularly to school in the current school year than have in the past. You also know that it must remain a priority to continue working with parents of some pupils whose attendance remains very low so that rates of persistent absence decline further.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Safeguarding is effective at De Lucy Primary School because there is a real team effort among staff to make it so. Policies and procedures have been developed collaboratively and reflect exemplary planning. The safeguarding team keeps extensive, meticulous records of any concerns and chases up the progress of any external referrals with tenacity. A system of tracking concerns allows you to remain alert to any worrying patterns and then to take appropriate action. All of your staff are expected to maintain strong, open working relations with parents. This helps retain their confidence and increases the likelihood of discovering early warning signs of potential risks to pupils.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

The assessment of risk from activities is well managed and very clear. This enables teachers to plan activities that provide real challenge and enjoyment for pupils, while taking reasonable steps to ensure their safety. An example of this is the tool-shed in the early years provision, where children can enjoy making things under close and skilled supervision from well-trained adults.

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Short inspection of De Lucy Primary School

Governors fulfil their safeguarding duties diligently, asking the right questions to challenge you to keep up with the latest guidance and respond to the specific needs of the community that your school serves.

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Inspection findings

 Since the last inspection, outcomes for pupils have continued to improve. The pace of improvement has increased further in the current school year as the impact of the effective leadership of improvements to teaching has borne fruit.  The early years leader has introduced significant improvements to the guidance that children receive in using the activities on offer to develop their own skills. A range of challenging tasks, carefully managed for risk, enable children to make good progress from low starting points. She has also developed the provision for early writing so that it is of more interest to boys.  Teachers are very skilled at ensuring that pupils make good progress in writing. As a result, the proportion who attain the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 2 is now significantly above the national average. Work in pupils’ books demonstrates the consistent way in which teachers set activities that challenge

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Inspection findings

pupils to improve, although some variations still exist in the quality of teachers’ feedback.  Curriculum work on display and in books shows that teachers provide pupils with effective feedback on their work, related to the subject being taught. Middle leaders have strong subject knowledge, which helps them ensure that the curriculum is taught well. For example, in the early years provision, children learn to choose colours for their artwork for particular purposes and develop skills in colour mixing. This makes them very well prepared for the next stage of their education. Senior leaders’ plans are rightly focused on complementing this strong subject knowledge by improving the skills of middle leaders in evaluating the impact of their actions.  The inclusion leader has insisted that teachers consider the needs of pupils very carefully and gather evidence before seeking additional support. This not

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Inspection findings

only enables teachers to reflect on the impact of their own work, but also secures valuable evidence to broker additional support from experts outside the school.  Safeguarding policies and procedures are well understood and all concerns are meticulously documented and followed up. Pupils say that they feel safe and parents express confidence in leaders’ ability to look after their children. The range of training provided for safeguarding enables all staff to gain a good understanding of current guidance and local issues. It also enables teachers to plan a wide range of exciting activities that require skilful management of risk.  Overall attendance has improved in the current year. The relentless work of leaders to persuade all parents to make the good attendance of their children a priority is continuing and needs to remain a priority. This is because rates of persistent absence remain higher than the national average.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 pupils’ attendance improves further and rates of persistent absence reduce by securing the commitment of all parents and pupils to make good attendance a priority  middle leaders continue to develop their skills so that they can support you fully in improving the quality of teaching even further.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for the Royal London Borough of Greenwich.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held discussions with you and senior leaders. I met with your inclusion and safeguarding teams and talked to some middle leaders. I met with three governors and a representative from the local authority. I conducted a tour of the school, looking at pupils’ work and observing their learning. I spoke to pupils in lessons and met with a small group of pupils to discuss their views about the school. I also scrutinised a range of documents related to safeguarding and school improvement. I spoke to some parents at the end of the school day.

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