All Souls CofE Primary School

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

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Alix Ascough Headteacher All Souls Church of England Primary School Foley Street London W1W 7JJ

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 March 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 June 2011.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England 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 All Souls Church of England Primary School

Over recent years, you have identified where improvements to the school’s work are needed. Together with leaders and governors, you have taken effective action to improve early years provision in particular. Outcomes for children at the end of the Reception Year have risen significantly. In 2015, considerably more children than the national average reached a good level of development.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

You have also made changes to the leadership of phonics (the link between letters and sounds) because the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was below average. Through training for staff and by tailoring phonics sessions to pupils’ needs, outcomes in phonics rose successfully last year and were well above the national average.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

Pupils’ presentation of their work and the quality of their handwriting are consistent strengths. Leaders make sure pupils develop fluent handwriting steadily as they move up through the classes. Pupils aspire to secure a ‘pen licence’ that commends the neatness of their handwriting. They are keen readers and speak positively about the books they enjoy. Leaders have made effective changes to the teaching of mathematics, including increased opportunities this term for pupils to practise mathematics at home. Pupils told me how much they enjoy completing mathematics activities online. In writing, new approaches focus on the features of high-quality written work. Occasionally, teachers do not always pick up misconceptions quickly and make sure that pupils use these structures of high-quality writing consistently.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

You are working hard to make sure the whole school community understands that regular attendance at school is important. Persistent absence rates have been higher than the national average in the recent past. As a result, attendance rates were below national averages. Pupils know that they need to attend school every day in order to not miss valuable learning. They told me that they are eager to receive awards for the best attendance. Attendance rates this year suggest improvement compared with the previous year.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, inspectors found that developments were needed to teaching, particularly to support the learning of the most-able pupils. Improvements to teaching and increased challenge were effective in raising outcomes for the most-able pupils last year. As a result, in 2015 the proportions of pupils reaching above-average standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 rose compared with previous years.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

Leaders and governors use the pupil premium carefully to support disadvantaged pupils. They check the effect of the funding on pupils’ achievement. Some variability remains in pupils’ achievement between classes in Key Stage 2. This includes some differences in the achievement of the most-able disadvantaged pupils and other most-able pupils at the school. This year, leaders are rightly focused on closing these gaps, for example using additional teachers to support selected pupils.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

Pupils confirm that teachers’ feedback on their work explains how to improve. The previous inspection found that pupils were not always clear about what aspects of their work needed improving. Since then, the leadership team has introduced a consistent approach to teachers’ feedback. Pupils typically respond to teachers’ guidance and use the information effectively to improve their work.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Record-keeping is detailed and of high quality. It shows that leaders take swift action to support pupils should any safeguarding issues occur.

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Short inspection of All Souls Church of England Primary School

You have made sure that all staff know the school’s systems and procedures well. They are in no doubt about what action the school expects them to take should they have any concerns. Regular training for staff and members of the governing body keeps them up to date with current policy issues, such as the government’s Prevent strategy.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders, managers and governors work closely together to secure improvements to the school. Changes in the way the early years provision is organised help make sure that children develop key skills quickly. Tasks are tailored carefully, in the inside and outdoor areas, and make sure that children are challenged and increase their understanding. Through discussions, adults extend children’s learning effectively. Information about children’s skills and ability is used to plan the next steps in their learning. Children are happy and settled. They work and play sociably together, sharing resources and taking turns.  Pupils throughout the school have positive attitudes to reading. Training for staff and careful organisation of phonics teaching have driven up outcomes in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Pupils talked about their pleasure in reading and told me how much they like the books they can choose to read from the class and main school library collections. Visiting

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Inspection findings

authors provide inspiration. You also harness the support of volunteers who spend time in school each week supporting less fluent readers. Competitions encourage pupils to learn number facts, such as multiplication tables. Pupils’ writing in Key Stage 2 is a focus for development this year. Through new approaches to writing, teachers help pupils to practise high-quality writing. All these strengths make sure that pupils achieve well overall. However, teaching in Key Stage 2 does not always ensure that pupils make consistently accelerated gains in reading, writing and mathematics.  Relationships throughout the school are warm and friendly. Leaders and governors make sure that spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is actively fostered. Pupils are keen to demonstrate the school’s key values of kindness, truthfulness, ambition, respect and safety. Pupils learn about a wide variety of faiths and cultures. They know that everyone must be

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Inspection findings

treated with respect and tolerance.  Fundamental British values are promoted successfully through learning about democratic processes. For example, pupils vote to elect members of the school council and the junior leadership team. Pupils are enthusiastic to contribute to the school, for instance designing artwork to enhance the appearance of one of the staircases. Junior sports leaders readily take responsibility for organising sporting competitions.  The curriculum provides pupils with a variety of engaging activities. From Nursery to Year 6, pupils learn Spanish. Speaking, listening, reading and writing in Spanish are fostered strongly. Musical skills are also encouraged. In the collective worship assembly during my visit, pupils from the Spanish club performed a short play confidently in Spanish. The whole school enjoyed singing ‘Bajo el mar’ together in Spanish. Pupils in the violin group were proud to play for pupils and parents. Lunchtime keep-fit sessions

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Inspection findings

with a specialist trainer support pupils’ positive attitudes to keeping fit and healthy.  During my discussions with pupils, they confirmed that they enjoy school. They appreciate the interesting activities that teaching staff organise, such as recent science-themed events and a competition to read books in unusual places. Outings to local places of interest are popular. You make sure that these visits are selected with great care to contribute to pupils’ learning. Older pupils are particularly motivated by residential visits to an activity centre and to a working farm in Wales. Extra-curricular clubs are popular.  You use the extra funding to improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils. Leaders and governors are rightly ambitious this year to close gaps between the performance of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils. The achievement of disadvantaged pupils is similar to that of other pupils but sometimes the most-able do not achieve equally high standards.

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Inspection findings

 Provision of cycling workshops, clear guidance to pupils when using computers and road-safety advice all help to make sure pupils have a secure knowledge of how to keep themselves safe from harm. Older pupils benefit from sessions with specialists that raise their awareness of issues such as drug abuse.  Leaders make sure pupils have a precise understanding of bullying and its effect on others through discussions, for example during anti-bullying week. Pupils are very confident that adults will help them should any problems arise. They say, for example, that occasional falling out over football games at breaktime is sorted out efficiently by the adults. In the online survey, Parent View, almost all the parents who responded were confident that their children are happy and feel safe.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teaching in Key Stage 2 ensures that learning in reading, writing and mathematics is consistently rapid, especially for the most-able, disadvantaged pupils.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Education for the Diocese of London and the Director of Children’s Services for the London Borough of Westminster. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you and the deputy headteacher and I met with a group of subject and phase leaders. I also met four governors including the Chair of the Governing Body, a representative of the local authority and a representative of the London Diocesan Board for Schools. With you, I visited classes from Nursery and Reception to Year 6 to observe teaching and look at pupils’ work. I spoke to pupils informally at breaktime, met a group of pupils more formally and attended collective worship assembly. I considered information about pupils’ achievement and examined records about keeping pupils safe. I considered the views of 29 parents from Parent View, the online Ofsted survey, and the school’s own recent survey of parents’ views.

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