Avonmore Primary School

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

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Mrs Marion Standing Interim Headteacher Avonmore Primary School Avonmore Road London W14 8SH

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 19 October 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 September 2011.

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Short inspection of Avonmore 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 Avonmore Primary School

On your appointment in April 2016, you worked with fervour and determination to focus immediately on those aspects of the school that you found to be less than good.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

You identified accurately the priorities for improvement and restructured staffing and leadership responsibilities, recognising key strengths on which to build. You have worked highly effectively with the governing body and the interim deputy headteacher to refine and renew existing policies, and have raised expectations for teachers and pupils so that your high standards are met.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

You and the governors have organised valuable liaison with local schools to ensure that staff benefit from sharing good practice and to check that their assessments are accurate. Subject leaders have gained much from leadership development opportunities. While comparatively new in taking up their responsibilities, the training and support that subject leaders have given to teachers has clearly had a positive impact on improving the quality of teaching across the school.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

You have established efficient routines for the start of the day so that pupils’ attendance and punctuality have improved. Your actions have led to pupils being motivated to get to school on time and their parents do not want them to be late. Parents who spoke to me and those who completed Parent View, the online survey, note their appreciation of your regular communications so that they feel well informed about all aspects of their child’s experience at school.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

You use the house system and assemblies to promote pupils’ positive attitudes to learning and nurture their ambition. Pupils are familiar with the examples set by inspirational role models after whom houses, such as Mandela, Nightingale and Malala, are named. Pupils are motivated to do well in their studies and value their education. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare and the behaviour policy works well to help pupils improve. Pupils across all year groups are friendly and respectful towards each other. During their meeting with me, pupils engaged in a sensible discussion about the merits of having different zones in the playground for older and younger pupils, showing consideration for each other’s enjoyment and safety. Pupils appreciate the opportunity to take on responsibilities and for the school council to be involved in decision making, for example about the types of awards that are most effective in boosting punctuality and attendance.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

You rightly worked with urgency to ensure that the record-keeping for safeguarding procedures is stringent and effective. You make sure that staff receive up-to-date training and are clear on their responsibility to safeguard pupils, including the through the Prevent duty.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

Leaders, including governors, are highly aware of a range of risks to pupils within and beyond the local community. They liaise closely with outside agencies to provide pupils with valuable guidance on keeping safe, including to avoid risks of radicalisation, as well as to effectively follow up concerns. Governors are mindful of the need for constant vigilance with regard to site safety and continue to work with the local authority to maximise site security. Pupils are kept safe. They say that they feel safe in school and there are no areas in the school where they feel unsafe.

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Short inspection of Avonmore Primary School

The single central record indicates that all required checks are made on staff.

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Inspection findings

 The governing body responded rapidly to strengthen leadership when standards in the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils declined. They reviewed their own strengths and areas to improve, and recruited new governors wisely to boost their range of skills and knowledge. They have commissioned external independent reviews appropriately to inform their action plans. Their clear and ambitious vision for the school, while recognising the improvements needed, meant they were well placed to recruit and appoint you and the interim deputy headteacher. Governors have overseen effectively your implementation of improvement plans.  The governing body has appropriate procedures for performance management to ensure that teachers’ targets are aligned closely to key areas for improvement.  You have provided subject leaders with valuable leadership development opportunities. You judge the right levels of support, guidance and autonomy that

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Inspection findings

each leader needs to carry out their responsibilities effectively.  You and other leaders monitor closely the quality of teaching across the school and your evaluations are accurate. You ensure that teachers and teaching assistants receive the right training and support where they are needed so that improvements are made.  Leaders have made improvements in areas recommended in the last inspection report. Governors ensure that leaders present achievement information clearly and comprehensively. They use this information readily to recognise where further improvements are needed and to inform their planning.  You meet regularly with subject leaders, class teachers and the inclusion leader to thoroughly review pupils’ progress. This enables you to identify promptly those pupils who are underachieving and provide them with timely additional support to help them catch up. This enables most pupils to make good progress.

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Inspection findings

However, the level of challenge for some of the most able pupils is not sufficient for them to make progress as quickly as they are capable of doing.  Following a drop in outcomes in 2015, especially in mathematics, leaders put in place additional interventions and catch-up programmes to help pupils with areas of the curriculum they found most difficult, such as problem solving. The inclusion leader keeps detailed records of the different types of support given to pupils and is clear on the most effective support given to them. The school’s own achievement information indicates that improvements have been made in pupils’ progress in mathematics across the year groups. The differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others are diminishing. This trend of improvement for all pupils is indicated in unvalidated key stage 2 results for 2016.  The subject leaders for mathematics and English have delivered helpful training

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Inspection findings

to staff so that the quality of teaching in their subjects has improved. Teachers have grown in confidence in more complex aspects of the mathematics curriculum so that they are able to set challenging tasks for pupils. However, teachers do not ensure that tasks are sufficiently challenging for most-able pupils.  Subject leaders work well together so that, for example, teachers boost pupils’ literacy skills to enable them to be clear on the requirements of a word-based mathematics problem. Teachers use a wide range of resources effectively to support pupils who speak English as an additional language.  Pupils receive regular feedback from their teachers so they know how they can improve their reading. Teachers support most-able disadvantaged pupils well to help them develop their reading skills further. Pupils enjoy reading in lessons, frequently choosing books about topics that interest them.

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Next steps for the school

 Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that most-able pupils receive the support and challenge they need to make good progress, especially in mathematics.

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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 Hammersmith and Fulham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

The inspector agreed to prioritise the following areas with the school at the start of the inspection:

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Information about the inspection

 the development of leadership since the last inspection  actions taken by leaders to improve the quality of teaching  actions taken by leaders to improve outcomes for pupils in mathematics, especially with regard to disadvantaged pupils.

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Information about the inspection

The inspector carried out the following activities to explore these areas during the inspection:

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Information about the inspection

 The inspector held meetings with: the interim headteacher and the interim deputy headteacher; the subject leaders for English and mathematics; the inclusion leader; the office manager; and members of the governing body. She also met with pupils from all year groups and listened to two pupils read. She held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector considered a range of school documents, including: the school’s self-evaluation; achievement information; safeguarding records; and minutes of meetings of the governing body. She toured the school, visiting all classes accompanied by school leaders. She held informal conversations with staff and pupils during the day. She also spoke with some parents at the start of the school day and took into account 42 responses to Parent View, the online survey. There were no responses to the surveys circulated to staff and pupils for this

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