East Wickham Primary Academy

East Wickham Primary Academy Wickham Street, Welling, Kent DA16 3BP

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher and leadership team have high expectations and are bringing about secure improvement.  The governing body and the Academy Trust both challenge and support the school effectively so that it continues to improve.  Teaching is now good. Teachers plan work which pupils enjoy and this helps them to learn well. As a result, pupils are now making good progress.  The progress of different groups of pupils, such as those with special educational needs or those entitled to support from the additional funding, is also improving. The gaps in progress between these groups and their peers are closing.  The specialist ‘Pathways’ provision for children with complex needs is outstanding.  Children in the Nursery and Reception classes get a good start to their education. They enjoy coming to school.  Leaders regularly check the quality of teaching very carefully and make sure that teachers have good training to help them improve their skills.

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This is a good school

 Pupils’ attendance has improved considerably and this supports both their learning and their personal development.  Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They are polite and show respect for each other and adults.  The curriculum gives pupils a wide range of experiences, which broadens their horizons and helps them to aim high. These help to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.  Pupils say that they feel safe and know how to stay safe. They and their parents do not think bullying is an issue.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The school assessment policy is not used consistently enough to ensure pupils write accurately and know what to do to improve their work.  Sometimes teaching assistants do not give pupils enough time to work things out for themselves.  The outdoor areas in the early years foundation stage are not used as effectively as the classrooms to support learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Building on the expertise within the school and the Academy Trust, raise the overall quality of teaching from good to outstanding by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

ensuring that expectations for the presentation and accuracy of work are consistent and the marking policy is used more consistently so that pupils know exactly what they need to do to improve and are able to make faster progress providing more training for support staff to help them question pupils more effectively and give them time to work out their own responses.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that the developments planned for the outdoor areas of the Nursery and Reception classes enable staff to make more effective use of these areas to support children’s learning, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The school has improved considerably since the previous inspection. The headteacher, heads of key stages and other senior staff have a very clear view of what they want to achieve and are strongly supported by staff and governors. They have focused particularly on ensuring that teaching is good. Consequently, pupils are making better progress and achieving better results.  Leaders and governors know where the school is doing well and where weaknesses still remain. They have worked hard to minimise the impact of staff changes. The team of year leaders provide good support for all staff but are particularly important in helping new staff to settle quickly and teach effectively.  Leaders use their knowledge of pupils’ achievement effectively. They have, for example, identified mathematics and, more recently, writing, as areas where improvement is needed and have focused support for teachers on these areas. This has had a positive impact on pupils’ rate of progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Checks on the quality of teaching and learning across the school are regular and very effective. Teachers know that they will be supported to improve their skills through well-targeted professional development.  Staff objectives and professional development are linked to the school’s action plan and to expectations for pupils’ progress. The school links decisions about teachers’ pay progression and promotion closely to successful performance.  The use of the pupil premium funding is well targeted so that disadvantaged pupils receive the extra support they need. The gaps between these pupils and others are starting to close. The provision for pupils who have special educational needs or disability is well managed overall and outstanding in relation to the specialist ‘Pathways’ provision in the Nursery and key stage 1. Children attending these groups make excellent progress.  The curriculum gives pupils lots of opportunities to practise their basic skills in different subjects. Their

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

written work showed good examples of writing for different purposes in a variety of subjects, such as the work on volcanoes. The curriculum is reviewed regularly to ensure that it continues to meet pupils’ needs, and the impact of this can be seen in the improvement in the rate of progress.  A range of visitors and visits such as the Year 5 visit to the Houses of Parliament help to extend pupils’ experience. Pupils are also encouraged to take part in extra-curricular clubs over the year, particularly in games and sport. The additional sports funding is used well to increase participation and ensure teachers have good skills in teaching and coaching.  The school’s promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils learn about different cultures and faiths and the school’s inclusive approach fosters mutual respect and very good relationships between pupils and adults. This helps to develop understanding of values such as

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

tolerance, democracy and the rule of law. Many pupils have an opportunity to play an active part in the life of the school. Pupils on the school council say that their views are taken seriously and they feel valued.  Relationships with parents are good. The response to ‘Parent View’, Ofsted’s online survey of parental opinion, was positive overall. Most parents felt that their children are happy at school, feel safe and make good progress. A few had concerns about specific issues affecting their children and some felt that homework and communication with parents could be improved.  The school has benefited from good support from the Kemnal Academy Trust, including access to good- quality training. Regular reviews and support have helped the leadership team focus strongly on how to improve the school.  The governance of the school The governing body responded very positively to the issues raised in the previous inspection report

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

and undertook an external review of their work. As a result, they are much more effective in holding the school leaders to account and ensuring that the school is providing a good education. They ensure that the school meets statutory requirements, including those relating to special educational needs or disability and finance. Governors review very carefully the information they receive and visit regularly to follow up on specific issues as, for example, when they looked at how well writing is taught. They know the strengths and weaknesses in teaching and how effectively weaker teaching has been tackled. They ensure that performance management is used to set appropriate targets linked to pay and promotion. They understand the data relating to pupils’ achievement but are less secure in their knowledge of the impact of additional funding on the progress of disadvantaged pupils than of some other groups.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Governors have ensured that systems and procedures are robust and meet legal requirements.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching has improved since the previous inspection and is now good. Leaders say that they have raised expectations for what pupils can achieve and this is borne out by the work in books and in lessons.  Lessons are orderly and, from an early age, routines are well established. Relationships throughout the school are positive.  From the early years onwards, teachers know their pupils well and are clear about what they should be achieving at different stages. As a result of effective training, they have good subject knowledge and explain work carefully so that pupils understand what they are expected to achieve.  Teachers plan carefully to ensure that the activities will encourage pupils to work hard and achieve well. Work is usually well matched to different needs. Different subjects support the use of literacy and numeracy skills, for example history and geography. Pupils say that they enjoy writing in other subjects.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teachers check pupils’ progress through question and answer sessions during the lessons. Where this is most effective, pupils make good gains in knowledge and understanding. In a Year 2 class it had helped pupils to develop their understanding of space travel and formulate interesting questions of their own.  Teaching assistants work constructively with teachers to support learning. They know what they are expected to do in class and when working in small groups but sometimes, in their desire to be supportive, they do not give pupils enough time to work things out for themselves.  Assessment and marking have improved and teachers use the school’s marking policy to check pupils’ progress and guide them on their next steps. Where this is most effective, the work shows that it is helping to raise standards. This is not consistently effective enough to ensure that progress moves from good to outstanding. There is some variability between classes in what is accepted in terms of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

presentation of work and basic spelling, grammar and punctuation. Comments on how pupils could improve their work are not always clear enough to enable them to improve their knowledge, skills and understanding.  The systematic teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 gives pupils a good foundation for literacy. They learn to read well and apply their skills in other subjects, as well as in reading for pleasure. It also helps improve their writing skills.  Writing is currently an area for whole-school improvement. Pupils are being given more opportunities to write at greater length and for a wider variety of purposes. They are responding well to this and work hard on drafting and re-drafting work to improve the quality of their work.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare is good

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. The work of the learning mentors strongly supports this aspect of the school’s provision. Pupils are happy in school and this shows in their confidence and their enjoyment of learning.  Pupils’ attitudes towards learning are good from the Nursery classes onwards. One pupil commented: ‘You can learn from your mistakes’, and another said, ‘We make progress every day’.  Pupils from different backgrounds get on well with each other. They learn to work well together in groups and teams and support each other well both in lessons and at playtime.  The staff promote an atmosphere where pupils feel safe and learn how to stay safe. Pupils spoke highly of the support they receive.  Pupils were clear about different types of bullying and well informed about cyber bullying, and they were able to talk about how serious it could be. The talks from outside groups such as the police had

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare is good

clearly had an impact on the older pupils.  Pupils trust adults and are confident that staff will respond to any concerns that they may have. They said that bullying can happen but that it isn’t common and that staff will deal with it quickly.  From the youngest classes onwards, pupils enjoy taking responsibility. They have many opportunities to do so in classes and in the school as a whole; for example as e-safety champions as well as school councillors.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare is good

 The school’s arrangements for safeguarding are detailed, fully meet current requirements and are kept under review. All staff, governors and volunteers have undertaken relevant training to ensure that pupils are kept safe.  Parents are positive about the school’s provision for their children’s personal development as well as their academic achievement. A high proportion of those responding to the online survey would recommend the school to other parents.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are friendly, polite and behave well in lessons and around the school at breaks and lunchtime.  There is little low-level disruption in lessons, largely because pupils find lessons interesting and make good use of lesson time. They appreciate the opportunities provided for them. Occasionally, when the teaching is less effective, they can become restless.  Adults’ expectations for behaviour are consistent across the school. Pupils understand the system of rewards and sanctions and respond well. Parents and staff who replied to the online questionnaire showed no significant concerns about pupils’ behaviour.  Attendance has improved significantly since the previous inspection and is now around the national average. Persistent absence has declined. The improvement is due to a more rigorous approach to monitoring attendance and very effective work with parents and children to ensure that they know why

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Behaviour

it is important to come to school every day.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 In 2015, results in the Year 6 national tests were broadly in line with the national expectations, except in writing at the higher level where results were below expectations. Many pupils had not made enough progress in the early stages of key stage 2 and, though their progress improved in Years 5 and 6, they were not able to catch up completely.  Current pupils are making much better progress across key stages 1 and 2, with only slight variations from year to year or between classes. This is ensuring that younger pupils make consistently good progress and that older pupils are able to make up for previous underachievement. The evidence from discussion and the work in pupils’ books suggests that they are suitably prepared for the next stage in their learning.  Pupils mostly enjoy reading and are well motivated. In the Year 1 phonics screening checks most pupils achieve the expected standard, which gives them a good foundation for reading unfamiliar words.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 In the early years children make good progress from below average starting points. The progress in mathematics has been particularly good. For example, in Reception, the most-able children were accurately identifying 2D and 3D shapes in terms of the number of vertices and faces.  In mathematics, pupils learn to apply their knowledge successfully. In Year 6, pupils were able to explain their reasoning clearly when applying their knowledge to problems involving different types of fractions. The most-able pupils moved on quickly to solving more complicated problems.  The work in books indicates that the most-able pupils respond well to the challenges they are set, but occasionally the level of challenge is not high enough.  The whole-school focus on writing is resulting in all groups of pupils making better progress than previously. Pupils enjoy writing and their work in grammar, spelling and punctuation has improved the

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Outcomes for pupils are good

quality of their writing – though there are still inconsistencies. The evidence from the older pupils’ books indicates that as pupils gain in confidence, they write at greater length and in more depth.  Disadvantaged pupils make good, and sometimes better, progress compared with their classmates and the gap between their achievement and that of other pupils is closing.  In the specialist ‘Pathways’ provision, children make good progress from their starting points in terms of the early stages of communication and mathematics. Other pupils who have special educational needs or disability and those who are at an early stage of learning English also make good and sometimes outstanding progress, relative to their starting points. In all the provision pupils are supported well and staff check carefully to make sure that the extra support is effective, making changes quickly if an approach is not working as expected.

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Early years provision is good

 Children are making good progress. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development for their age is rising and is above the national figures. This means that the children are prepared well for Year 1.  Children are well taught in both Nursery and Reception classes and some teaching is outstanding. Teachers observe and record carefully what children can do and plan accordingly. They have, for example, identified that children often find writing more challenging than reading. Teachers therefore give children many good opportunities to write for a purpose by linking it to other topics.  In Reception, the most-able children had written letters to the Three Bears which were properly set out, with appropriate punctuation and phonetically plausible spelling. In both Nursery and Reception, children were keen to show the cards they had written as part of their celebrations of the Queen’s 90th

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Early years provision is good

birthday.  Children quickly gain an understanding of the sounds that letters make through effective teaching of phonics. This is leading to good reading skills and is also helping to raise standards in writing.  Disadvantaged children receive effective support to help them to catch up with their peer group both in school and nationally. Similarly, the needs of children with special educational needs or disability, or those who speak English as an additional language, are met well because staff plan activities which meet their individual needs.  The specialist ‘Pathways’ provision for children with complex special educational needs is very well organised to meet these needs. The provision for personal development and well-being is outstanding and provides an excellent basis for children to make real progress and move successfully on to the next stage of their education.  Staff are working well to improve the quality of education provided. Each classroom is well equipped

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Early years provision is good

for creative play and is a stimulating place which supports children’s learning very effectively. Staff are keen to see that the outdoor areas are also used effectively to support learning, but the use of the outdoor area does not always match the quality of work in the classrooms.  Children’s personal and social development is supported well. From the Nursery onwards they learn to follow the routines and become independent. In both the Nursery and Reception classes, children learn to take turns and share and play together happily.  Staff know the children and families well and cater for their individual needs, liaising well with parents, other providers and external agencies as needed to help resolve any problems which might arise. Staff work hard to see that children are kept safe.

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School details

Unique reference number 136599 Local authority Bexley Inspection number 1009162 This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor led Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 663 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mike Jeffers Headteacher Susan Manzi Telephone number 020 8854 0698 Website Ewp-tkat.org Email address Admin-ks1@ewp-tkat.org Date of previous inspection 13–14 March 2014

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Information about this school

 The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  The school has more girls than boys in most year groups.  Around 40% of pupils are known to be eligible for additional support through the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children looked after, those eligible for free school meals and the children of service families. This figure is above the national average.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds. Other pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds.  Around a quarter of the pupils speak English as an additional language; this proportion is above the national average. The proportion who are at an early stage of learning English is relatively small but rising.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is similar to the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for

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Information about this school

pupils’ attainment and progress.  The early years foundation stage and Key Stage 1 have additional special educational needs provision known as Pathway 1 and Pathway 2 for children who have high levels of additional needs.  The senior leadership team has been expanded to include three assistant headteachers with responsibility for different phases in the school and for Inclusion. A middle leadership team of year heads has been created.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited all classes at least once, and many of them twice. Two of them were joint visits with the headteacher. The additional provision for early years and key stage 1 pupils with special educational needs was also observed.  Inspectors observed the breakfast club, morning and afternoon breaks and lunchtime.  A meeting was held with members of the school council and with groups of pupils from each year. Many other pupils were spoken to during lessons and breaktimes.  The inspection team met governors and a representative of the Kemnal Academy Trust (TKAT)  Inspectors held meetings with school staff, including senior and middle leaders.  The inspectors took account of 40 staff questionnaires.   The inspectors also took account of 62 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and the school’s own surveys of parents. Inspectors also spoke informally with a number of parents.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupil progress; school improvement planning; leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching; TKAT checks on the quality of education; records relating to behaviour and attendance; and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Grace Marriott, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Anna Bosher Ofsted Inspector Shelley Davies Ofsted Inspector Christina Cleugh Ofsted Inspector 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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 1231, 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 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

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

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