Days Lane Primary School

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

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Miss J Ramkissoon Headteacher Days Lane Primary School Days Lane Sidcup Kent DA15 8JU

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 September 2016 with Joanna Brinkley, 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in November 2011.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Along with the deputy headteacher, leaders and governors, you have ensured that above-average standards have been achieved and maintained since the school became an academy. As a result, pupils who left the school in July 2015 achieved standards which were above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Overall, pupils left Days Lane well prepared for secondary school. In July 2016, the outcomes, which are yet to be published, continued to be above average.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

In 2014 and 2015, the proportion of children reaching the expected standard by the end of the Reception Year was above the national average. In 2016, children in the early years continued to make good progress from their starting points.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Your plans for improvement have identified appropriate priorities to strengthen outcomes for pupils further. You recognise that the plans would benefit from focusing more sharply and specifically on the progress made by the disadvantaged pupils across the school.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Leaders have worked highly effectively as a team to implement the new planning, assessment and tracking system. This is being used consistently by all teachers, even those who are new to the school this year. You are carefully tracking the progress of all pupils to ensure that support and intervention are targeted appropriately to support pupils who are at risk of not making the progress expected of them.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Observations in lessons show that teachers are working effectively to ensure that pupils are set tasks which meet their needs. As a result, pupils settle quickly to work in lessons. Occasionally, the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are not challenged to achieve as well as they could. Teachers plan reading and writing activities which start at different levels of difficulty. Occasionally, they select starting points for activities which do not challenge the most able pupils.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Pupils enjoy coming to school. As one pupil put it, ‘I feel lucky to be in this school!’ Pupils’ attitudes to school are reflected in their attendance which has improved over the past year. Leaders have been successful in improving the attendance of disadvantaged pupils across the school. The majority of parents who spoke to inspectors, or who completed the online survey Parent View, are happy with the work of the school. Those who spoke to inspectors said that their children are happy and that the teachers ‘are the strength of the school’.

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Short inspection of Days Lane Primary School

Pupils feel safe and parents agree that their children are kept safe at school. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe both in and outside school. This is because the school gives them good guidance on areas such as internet safety and ‘stranger danger’. The organisation of safeguarding records is currently being reviewed and strengthened by leaders. This will ensure that reports of incidents are logged chronologically, so that they are more easily accessible to appropriate staff. Some members of the governing body have received up-to-date training on all aspects of safeguarding and recently appointed governors have committed to doing so. New governors have worked with existing governors to ensure that they are fully informed about the school’s work to keep pupils safe.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders, governors and staff have been successful in ensuring that pupils at Days Lane achieve well. They keep pupils’ happiness and well-being at the heart of everything they do. The curriculum promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and British values are evident in key aspects of the school’s work. Playground mediators promote tolerance and respect. The school ethos of having ‘marvellous manners’ permeates the school. Pupils are friendly and polite.  The leadership team is a dynamic force to be reckoned with. Leaders at all levels are absolutely clear about what they need to do to improve the school further. They are reflective leaders who accept challenge positively and make swift improvements based on the feedback they get. They have worked extremely effectively to ensure that planning, assessment and tracking of pupils’ progress is consistent across the school. They meet regularly to fine-tune their actions and

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Inspection findings

to evaluate the impact of their work. Despite the fact that some members of the leadership team are new to their roles, leadership, including governance, has good capacity to move the school to outstanding.  Leaders identify appropriate priorities for improvement and take suitable action to address these priorities. For example, improving the quality of group reading sessions was a focus of teachers’ professional development during the past year. This was in order to improve how reading is taught and strengthen outcomes for pupils. Inspection activities found teachers are planning effectively for a range of abilities. They teach children to apply phonics skills in reading and also ensure that questioning develops deep understanding of texts. As a result, pupils currently in the school are making good progress in their reading skills. Occasionally, the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are

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Inspection findings

not offered sufficiently challenging texts. This limits the progress that they make.  Leaders recognise that differences remain between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others across the school. Diminishing these differences is a high priority for leaders. This is not currently reflected sharply enough in their improvement plans. However, inspection activities showed that the differences between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils who are currently in the school are diminishing.  Teachers have worked hard to implement the new planning and assessment procedures effectively. They ensure that pupils of different abilities have different points of access to tasks during mathematics, reading and writing activities. Most pupils are engaging well with learning and making strong progress as a result of this. Occasionally, the most able learners are given mathematics and writing activities which do not challenge them. This means they do not consistently make

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Inspection findings

the speedy progress in their learning that they could.  Leaders have secured appropriate support from outside agencies to tackle the poor attendance of disadvantaged pupils. As a result, attendance has improved during the past year.  Governors provide good support and challenge to the school. They are highly committed and determined to improve the school further. Recently appointed governors have brought enthusiasm, commitment and rigour to the role. The new chair of the governing body has an in-depth knowledge of the school and its history. He is committed to ensuring that he and other governors continue to receive the training and support they need to add further capacity to the leadership of the school.

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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

 improvement plans focus sharply on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils across the school  teaching results in a higher proportion of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, making more than expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics in all year groups across the school  teaching continues to diminish the differences between the progress that disadvantaged and other pupils make across the school.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bexley. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, inspectors held meetings with you, the deputy headteacher, members of the governing body and all members of the leadership team. Inspectors visited all classrooms with you or with the deputy headteacher. We talked to pupils in the playground, in lessons and as they moved around the building. Inspectors also interviewed a group of pupils about their life at school. We evaluated recent information you provided about pupils’ achievement. We looked at your records for keeping pupils safe, your policies and other documents. Inspectors reviewed your improvement plans and your own evaluation of the school’s work. Information about attendance was also considered. We looked at a range of pupils’ work from the previous year, as well as work completed so far this term. We considered the views of parents we met during the inspection and the views stated in the 73 responses to Parent View (the online questionnaire).

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