Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Kathy Hill Headteacher Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School 41 Hydethorpe Avenue Edmonton London N9 9RS

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 July 2016 with Sean Flood, Ofsted Inspector, 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 November 2012.

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE 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 Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

The senior leadership team has undergone significant change since the previous inspection. You were appointed in September 2014, with your deputy joining the school in September 2015. Together with the three assistant headteachers, you have successfully established systems to ensure that the school runs smoothly and that the quality of teaching is closely monitored. You have together worked to involve parents in playing their part in their children’s education. There is no sense of complacency about your approach: you know there is more work to do to sustain your focus on ensuring that pupils’ progress is maximised.

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

The governing body has been reconstituted since the previous inspection. It now has a smaller membership but adopts a more professional approach to its work. Effective advice and guidance from the local authority and the London Diocesan Board for Schools has brought about significant improvement in the work of governors. There is a greater emphasis on challenging school leaders and holding them to account for pupils’ outcomes. Governors are now recruited more strategically, with more recent appointments contributing skills from the fields of finance and education, as well as those related to organisational change. This is providing the necessary challenge and support to your senior leadership team. You and your team have invested a significant amount of time in ensuring that parents are equipped well to support their children’s learning at home. Parents speak highly of the range of workshops available to help them understand how different subjects are

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

taught in school. These ensure that the support parents provide at home complements the approaches teachers use in school.

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

Safeguarding, rightly, has a high priority in the school. You have considered the school’s particular location in London and identified the predominant local issues. Training for staff about the ‘Prevent’ duty has ensured that they are well prepared to identify pupils susceptible to radicalisation or extremism. You have made sure that the right members of staff receive the right training. For example, the parent support adviser has completed training on the subject of female genital mutilation as she is best placed to liaise with families where necessary. The impact of the training provided for older pupils about gang membership is exemplary. They speak knowledgeably and reflectively about the complexities of distancing themselves from gangs. They understand the variety of serious consequences of knife crime. Theatre visits and workshops led by your learning mentors have raised pupils’ awareness of issues relating to domestic violence and of the

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Short inspection of Latymer All Saints CofE Primary School

actions they can take should they feel concerned. Pupils feel safe in school and they appreciate the way they are supervised at break and lunchtimes. Parents agree that pupils are safe and looked after well. Pupils feel able to speak to members of staff about their concerns and know that any issues will be dealt with promptly. You have made sure that pupils learn how to stay safe while online. They know that they should be cautious if they receive unsolicited emails or approaches on social media. They are aware that their school email accounts are monitored and that filtering arrangements are in place to deny access to some websites in school.

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Inspection findings

 You, together with your leadership team, have wasted no time in addressing the right issues. You understand the importance of ensuring that the quality of teaching is consistently high. You have reviewed the approach you take to checking on the effectiveness of teachers’ practice. You and your senior leaders now take into account a variety of factors when judging the effectiveness of teaching. These include the assessment information you record about each pupil’s progress, the quality of teaching you observe during lessons, the extent of pupils’ progress evident in their workbooks, teachers’ ability to manage pupils’ behaviour and the quality of teachers’ planning. This enables you to prioritise the right areas for teachers’ development. You identify tailored support and check that it has had the desired impact on teachers’ practice. This is proving to be a highly effective strategy in driving the continual improvement of the quality of

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Inspection findings

teaching.  The teaching of phonics has been overhauled with teachers taking a far more detailed approach to checking how well pupils are doing. Weekly reviews check on individuals’ progress with pupils being regrouped accordingly so that they receive teaching at the right level. This, combined with a review of the way the phonics programme is delivered, has ensured that pupils make progress more quickly than in recent years. The decline in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has been halted this year, with results improving to be broadly in line with the 2015 national average.  Outcomes in the early years have improved each year for the last four years. However, you realise there is more to be done in order to ensure that children at the end of Reception make the strongest possible start to their education. Children generally attain less well in their reading and writing than they do in the

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Inspection findings

other areas of learning. The outside environment in the Nursery is highly stimulating, well maintained and used well. This is due to strong leadership and the clear direction of staff.  You have reviewed your approach to the teaching of reading. It now has a significantly higher profile. Each of the thematic topics studied has a central text which links the teaching of different subjects. This increases pupils’ exposure to high-quality reading material. You take a robust approach to promoting pupils’ regular reading at home. Their reading record books are updated daily. In response to the high proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language. you place an appropriate emphasis on ensuring that pupils understand the vocabulary they come across for the first time. The inclusion of regular comprehension and grammar activities is effective in ensuring that pupils’ speaking and writing improve. Pupils are developing a love of reading. Numerous

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Inspection findings

boys choose to read during lunchtime in an area set aside for quieter activity. Older pupils were keen to discuss the books they had read, including classic texts such as ‘The diary of Anne Frank’ and more modern novels such as ‘The London Eye mystery’.  The leadership of mathematics is strong. Detailed analysis of pupils’ performance data and the consideration of current research inform development planning in the subject. Teaching observed during the inspection included effective use of questioning and thorough subject knowledge. However, scrutiny of pupils’ books shows that there is a lack of consistency in the extent to which pupils, such as the most able, are challenged. Sometimes pupils complete too many calculations of a similar nature when it is evident that they understand a concept. Some teaching incorporates opportunities for deeper consideration of concepts while some offers pupils fewer opportunities to apply the skills they have learned.

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Inspection findings

 As part of your strategy to develop communication among the school community, you have invested in ensuring that the school’s website is used more effectively. In addition to containing the statutory information required, it provides easy access to valuable resources for parents. For example, it contains videos which demonstrate the correct pronunciation of the sounds that letters make.  Pupils behave well in the playground, in their classes and while moving around the school. You make sure that pupils, whose individual needs lead to their behaviour being more challenging, are well supported through a vigilant and caring approach. The inspection took place during the school’s ‘music week’. Inspectors observed pupils singing tunefully and enthusiastically to the accompaniment of an instrumental ensemble comprising pupils from the local secondary school. At lunchtime, a large number of pupils took part in

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Inspection findings

choreographed dance routines to music playing in the playground. Pupils’ attendance continues to be above the national average.  Parents are overwhelmingly in support of the school’s work. Your own survey of parental opinion illustrates the confidence that parents have in your work. This was supported wholeheartedly by those parents inspectors spoke with at the beginning of the day of the inspection.  Support from the local authority and the London Diocesan Board for Schools has been effective in improving the quality of governance. Governors are clear about their roles and play a valuable part in the leadership and management of the school. You, rightly, sought the views of local authority advisers to validate the impact of the changes you made to the teaching of phonics. It is indicative of your motivation to improve outcomes further that you responded quickly to the further improvements suggested. These included further reducing the size of

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Inspection findings

groups so that pupils received more precise and tailored teaching.

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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

 teachers use information from assessment consistently well so that pupils are continually challenged, particularly those who are most able  teachers take a consistently effective approach to deepening pupils’ understanding in mathematics  improving children’s reading and writing in the early years continues to be a focus so that the outcomes in these areas improve to match or better children’s attainment in other areas of learning.  I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of London, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Enfield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

This inspection took place on the day following a school closure due to industrial action. As a result, there were too few responses to Ofsted’s online survey to view the results. Inspectors took account of the school’s own survey of parental opinion and spoke with parents on the playground at the start of the school day. The inspection coincided with the beginning of Eid, as a result of which several staff were absent due to religious observance. Inspectors met with groups of pupils as well as speaking with them informally during the day. Inspectors made short visit to lessons to observe teaching and learning, and to scrutinise the work in pupils’ books. A range of documentation was reviewed including policies, the school’s own evaluation of its performance and information relating to safeguarding. Meetings were held with senior leaders, the leaders of English and mathematics, a group comprising teachers and teaching assistants, five

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Information about the inspection

governors including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body, and representatives of the local authority and the London Diocesan Board for Schools.

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