Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain, London Welsh School

Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain, The Welsh School London Hanwell Community Centre, Westcott Crescent, Hanwell, London W7 1PD

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Inspection dates 29 November–1 December 2016

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Satisfactory

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leadership over time has not ensured that pupils make consistently good progress in reading and writing.  The most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged on occasions to make the progress of which they are capable.  Leaders do not monitor the progress of pupils regularly to ensure that pupils who fall behind with their learning are given timely support.  Occasionally, teachers’ questioning is not challenging enough to deepen pupils’ understanding.  Governors do not receive the information on pupils’ progress often enough for them to perform their support and challenge role effectively.  Leaders do not have all the necessary risk assessments in place to ensure that pupils are always kept safe.  Leaders do not monitor closely enough the impact of additional support provided to pupils, especially pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils make good progress in the Welsh curriculum because teaching is good.  Pupils’ behaviour is consistently good and they have positive attitudes to their learning.  Teaching is good in early years and children make good progress.  Parents are very supportive of the school.  The morale in the school is high.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school must take action to meet the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report. 29 November–1 December 2016

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged and are moved on quickly to harder tasks once they have understood what they are learning – questioning is appropriately targeted to make pupils think more deeply about their learning.  Improve pupils’ progress in reading and writing by ensuring that: – pupils’ knowledge of phonics is strengthened to help them read unfamiliar or difficult words – pupils routinely write at length and across different subject areas to improve their writing skills further.  Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that: – pupils’ progress is tracked more frequently for timely support for those pupils who may be falling behind with their learning – governors hold leaders fully to account for the progress pupils make – any additional support for pupils is monitored closely to assess its impact on pupils’

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

progress, particularly those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities – risk assessments are always robust in order to continue keeping pupils safe.

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

 The proprietor must ensure that the welfare of pupils at the school is safeguarded and promoted by drawing up and effective implementation of a written risk assessment policy (paragraphs 16, 16(a)).  The proprietor must ensure that suitable accommodation is provided in order to cater for the medical and therapy needs of pupils, including accommodation for the short-term care of sick and injured pupils, which includes a washing facility and is near to a toilet facility (paragraphs 24(1), 24(1)(b).  The proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school: – demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently (paragraphs 34(1), 34(1)(a)) – fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently (paragraphs 34(1), 34(1)(b)). 29 November–1 December 2016

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leadership over time has not ensured that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good, other than in Welsh.  Leaders do not monitor often enough pupils’ progress from their starting points. This sometimes makes it difficult to quickly identify those pupils who fall behind and ensure timely support.  Leaders do not have all the necessary risk assessments in place to ensure that pupils are kept safe all the time, particularly when pupils are escorted to the toilet facilities in the adjacent corridor to the school.  The planned interventions for pupils in reading, writing and mathematics are not effectively monitored to assess their impact on pupils’ progress, particularly pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  The newly appointed headteacher holds most of the leadership and management responsibilities. She is effective in her role and her actions are already having a positive

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

impact on bringing about improvements, for example identifying the strengths and areas for improvement in teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ progress.  The headteacher carries out observations of teaching and provides good feedback to staff to bring about improvements. The key stage 2 leader also undertakes lesson observations and book scrutinies to check the quality of teaching and learning. The action taken as a result is improving the quality of teaching.  Leaders, governors and proprietors ensure that performance management for staff is effective, with targets for improvements reviewed regularly to improve teaching and outcomes for pupils.  The school’s marking policy is generally well applied by teachers and pupils are beginning to respond to the guidance provided by their teachers to improve their work.  Leaders have ensured that teaching in Welsh is good and pupils make good progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 A local authority representative has worked well with the early years leader to bring about improvements in the quality of early years teaching, learning and assessment.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. It ensures that pupils make good progress in Welsh and provides pupils with effective bilingual education. Schemes of work are based on the national framework for literacy and numeracy. Assessment is carried out in accordance with the Assessment Foundation, alongside end-of-year assessment (National Tests for Literacy and Numeracy, Wales). The schemes of work in early years and key stage 1 are linked to the Welsh Foundation Phase framework. The thematic approach to the curriculum covers learning in a range of subject areas, including history, geography and science. Pupils also enjoy opportunities to learn Spanish and French. The curriculum is enriched by extra-curricular activities, including cooking, singing and poetry classes.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

Leaders are beginning to ensure that pupils have further opportunities to use information technology to support their learning. 29 November–1 December 2016  The school’s work on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is highly effective. The Welsh curriculum contributes strongly to pupils’ understanding of moral and ethical issues. Pupils know the difference between right and wrong and have a range of opportunities to understand and develop respect for the cultures and beliefs of others. They are taught about fairness, equalities and valuing diversity. They are prepared well for life in modern Britain.  The school promotes British values well. For example, pupils learn about democracy and the rule of law though electing members of the school council, a visit to Parliament and discussions on current affairs.  Leaders, including governors and proprietors, are highly ambitious for pupils and have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

been successful in creating a culture of respect and high expectations in the school. They ensure that staff morale is high.  The school works well with parents. Those the inspector met and those responding to the online survey, Parent View, are highly supportive of the school’s leadership. All parents said that they would recommend the school to another parent.  The school has updated its policy on safeguarding, taking into account the current government requirements. This is made available to parents on the school’s website.  At the progress monitoring inspection in June 2013, leaders, including governors and proprietors, were effective in meeting all of the unmet standards identified in the school’s full inspection in May 2012. However, leaders have not ensured that all of the standards continue to be met. The unmet standards do not have a negative impact on pupils’ welfare, health and safety, academic or personal development, including the promotion of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Leaders of the school made a request to the Department for Education (DfE) in June 2016 for a material change to increase the number of pupils at the school to 40. The inspector judged that there is likely to be a negative impact on pupils’ health and safety if the material change is implemented.

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Governance

 Governors and proprietors have not ensured that the school meets all the independent school standards.  Governors have not always considered the information on pupils’ progress closely enough to challenge senior leaders on the effectiveness of the work they do to raise achievement.  Governors and proprietors have not ensured that all the necessary risk assessments are in place so that there is no potential risk to pupils’ health and safety, especially when pupils are escorted to the toilet in the adjacent corridor.  Governors are very committed and want the very best for all pupils.  Governors are highly skilled, very knowledgeable and attend appropriate training, for example on safeguarding and safer recruitment.  Governors ensure that financial management is effective. They know that any decisions on pay awards for staff are closely linked to their quality of teaching.  Governors visit the school and undertake learning walks to find out for themselves what

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Governance

29 November–1 December 2016 learning is like for pupils.  Governors provide effective support to the new headteacher.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  All staff have had recent training on safeguarding, based on current government requirements. Should staff have any concerns about pupils’ safety, they know clearly what to do and the procedures to follow. Staff and governors have a secure understanding of the ‘Prevent’ duty. There have been no safeguarding concerns since the previous inspection.  All of the parents responding to the online survey, Parent View, stated that their children feel safe, happy and well looked after at school. This was also confirmed by the parents that the inspector met and all the staff that responded to the staff questionnaire.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment over time has not ensured that pupils make good progress, particularly in English reading and writing.  Occasionally, the most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged and they have to wait for staff to provide them with harder tasks to extend their learning. This slows their progress.  Sometimes teachers’ questioning is not probing enough to make pupils think hard about their learning and make the progress of which they are capable.  Some pupils lack strategies, particularly knowledge of phonics, to read difficult or unfamiliar words and to help them read more fluently. The school has identified further training for staff on enhancing their skills in teaching phonics. Pupils read at school and at home and record their reading in their reading records. They have access to a wide range of books to capture their interest. One avid reader said that reading books ‘makes me feel

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

I am there’.  Pupils do not have enough opportunities to write at length and across the different subjects to improve their writing skills. Occasionally, the over-reliance on worksheets gets in the way of extended writing because the questions generally require short responses.  Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly and provide both written and oral feedback to help them improve their work further, in line with the school’s marking policy. They use assessments to check on pupils’ progress through the requirements of the national curriculum. There are regular tests in Welsh and mathematics to inform teacher assessment.  The analysis of pupils’ progress in different subjects across key stages 1 and 2 is not carried out frequently enough to identify those pupils who fall behind with their learning and to provide them with timely support.  One of the strengths of teaching is the effective working relationships between pupils and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

staff and between pupils themselves. This contributes well to a positive classroom 29 November–1 December 2016 environment where pupils are engaged well in their learning.  Teaching in Welsh is good and teachers have good subject knowledge. Consequently, pupils make good progress in Welsh across the school. There is good emphasis on Welsh grammar, punctuation and oracy skills. For example, a group of children in Year 1 improved their comprehension skills through correcting a piece of writing in Welsh. Children were thoroughly engaged in their learning and enjoyed playing the role of the teacher as they came to the front of the class to share their work. There are good opportunities for pupils to enhance their speaking and listening skills. Their books show that they make good progress in written Welsh and are able to reflect on what they have done and what could be better.  Teachers have good subject knowledge in mathematics. Pupils apply their skills well in

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

mental mathematics to a range of mathematical problems. Pupils know the different operations to use in their calculations. Pupils learn about applying their knowledge in everyday situations; for example, pupils in key stage 2 considered how they would apply their knowledge about halving when buying something from a shop and went on to solve word problems involving doubling and halving.  Teachers monitor pupils’ learning well in lessons to pick up any misconceptions and provide good feedback to pupils to move learning on.  In classrooms, teaching assistants work well with pupils, particularly the lower attainers, to help them make progress with their learning.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are very kind, courteous and friendly. They are confident learners and have consistently good attitudes to learning. They usually take pride in the way they present their work. They are respectful of each other and adults and are proud to talk with visitors about their achievements.  Pupils who met the inspector agreed that they ‘feel very safe’ in school. They said they would not hesitate to talk to an adult if they had any concerns or worries. Pupils are taught about keeping safe, for example, from fire and when crossing roads.  Pupils know about different types of bullying, including cyber bullying. They said that bullying, racism, sexism and homophobia are very rare and not an issue for the school. They are taught how to keep safe when using the internet and were keen to point to the ‘10 rules’ on a notice near the computers.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils have various responsibilities around the school, including, for example, being members of the school council and classroom monitors. Pupils in key stage 2 read with younger children and act as ‘reading buddies.’  Pupils learn about other religions and cultures and show respect for diversity. They said that they would welcome further opportunities to visit different places of worship.  Although leaders have risk assessment policies and procedures, some aspects are not 29 November–1 December 2016 covered to ensure that pupils are always kept safe.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  All pupils get on extremely well with each other. One pupil said to the inspector, ‘We all care for each other.’  Pupils know the school’s behaviour policy well, including the rewards and sanctions. They know their classroom rules and the traffic light system on behaviour; pupils were keen to point out that ‘being on the yellow system is not good’ and that ‘going on the red system is definitely a no.’  Pupils said that behaviour is good. However, they say that a few pupils sometimes get hurt when they fall on the hard ground, especially when boys play some games. They said that occasionally a few pupils chat in lessons. However, low-level disruption is rare.  Leaders say that there are very few incidents of poor behaviour. However, they do not routinely record incidents of poor or low-level unacceptable behaviour to identify any potential patterns of poor behaviour over time.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is improving. The headteacher has worked effectively with parents to ensure that attendance is above average and that punctuality is good. Persistent absence is very low and there have been no exclusions since the previous inspection.  All parents responding to Parent View stated that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress over time in English reading and writing is not consistently good.  At the end of key stage 2 national tests for literacy and numeracy (Wales), more than the expected proportion of pupils attained the expected standardised score in Welsh reading and numeracy. However, not enough pupils attained the expected standardised score in English reading.  At the end of key stage 1 national tests for literacy and numeracy (Wales), pupils attained the expected standardised score in Welsh reading and writing.  Overall, not enough pupils in key stages 1 and 2 attained greater than the expected standardised score in all subjects. Inspection evidence shows that most-able pupils are sometimes not challenged sufficiently to help them make the progress of which they are capable.  The school’s information shows that girls do much better than boys in Welsh and in English reading tests.  It is not possible to evaluate pupils’ progress over time from their different starting points

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

in a range of subjects because the school does not have this information. Leaders intend to collate pupils’ progress information for the autumn term.  Books show that pupils in key stages 1 and 2 make good progress in mathematics and in 29 November–1 December 2016 their writing in Welsh. Pupils make good progress in Welsh reading and in their oracy skills in Welsh. There are rich opportunities for speaking and listening in Welsh, together with good teachers’ secure subject knowledge, to ensure that pupils make good progress in Welsh.  Overall, pupils achieve standards that prepare them appropriately for their next stage of secondary education.

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Early years provision Good

 In 2015/16, children made good progress from their different starting points in all areas of learning.  Currently, there are seven children in the early years. There were five in the previous year. There are no children identified as disadvantaged or having special educational needs and or/disabilities.  Children in the Nursery Year have much stronger knowledge and basic skills compared to the previous year’s cohort. Their skills are generally above those typically expected for their age.  Teaching is good overall. Children learn in a rich bilingual environment and make good progress in Welsh and in the early learning goals (through the medium of English). Children benefit from the staff’s secure knowledge of Welsh and make good progress in learning their numbers and vocabulary in Welsh.  The early years leader knows the strengths in the provision and has identified priorities for development. She works closely with some other schools and the local authority to

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Early years provision Good

ensure that assessments are accurate to track children’s progress. She ensures that there is effective support and training for early years staff to improve the quality of teaching.  There are close links with parents to ensure that children settle and become familiar with routines quickly when they join the Nursery class. Parents are kept informed about the progress their children make.  Children demonstrate good levels of concentration and are keen to ask questions to find out information. For example, a boy in the Nursery was making cakes and was able to name all the ‘ingredients’ he was using to fill the cake cup, except for one. He was determined to find out what it was and went to a member of staff to ask (it was a broad bean).  Staff generally make good use of questioning to move learning on and there are ample opportunities to extend children’s speaking and listening skills. For example, a group of

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Early years provision Good

girls were absorbed in making Christmas cards; one girl decided to ‘phone’ her mother to discuss her Christmas card.  Children’s learning journals effectively capture what children learn. However, sometimes the next steps for learning are not always clear and the activities to address any gaps in children’s knowledge and understanding are not routinely identified.  Children’s behaviour and attitudes are consistently good and sometimes better. Children interact, share and cooperate well with each other in the classroom and the outdoor area. However, the outdoor area lacks a good enough range of resources to support children’s 29 November–1 December 2016 learning across the different areas of learning. Leaders are aware of this and have plans to address this issue.  Staff ensure that children are prepared well for Year 1.  Children are safe and well cared for. Safeguarding is effective. 29 November–1 December 2016

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Website www.ysgolgymrraegllundain.co.uk/

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School details

Email address info@ysgolgymraegllundain.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 17–18 May 2012

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Information about this school

 Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain, The Welsh School London, was established in 1958. It moved to its present location at Hanwell Community Centre in Ealing in September 2015 from its previous location at Stonebridge Primary School in Brent. It is a non-selective, coeducational, independent day school for pupils between the ages of three and 11 years. The school is registered to admit a maximum of 30 pupils. There are currently 25 pupils on roll, of whom two are part-time in the Nursery. There are seven children in the early years – five in the Nursery class and two in the Reception class. The school consists of two mixed-aged classes. In class one, there are children from early years to the end of 29 November–1 December 2016 key stage 1, while class two caters for pupils in key stage 2. Pupils are taught in both Welsh and English. The school is run by a board of directors on behalf of The Welsh Schools Trust and aims to provide ‘bilingual Welsh education outside of Wales’.

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Information about this school

 The school has a very small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those identified as the most able pupils. Currently, there are no disadvantaged pupils or pupils with an education, health and care plan.  Early years consist of a Nursery class and a Reception class, both of which are full-time.  One pupil attends a part-time off-site provision.  The school meets the requirements to publish its safeguarding policy on the school’s website.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.  The outcomes for pupils are not reported by groups because of the very small number of pupils from different groups and there is a potential risk that individual pupils could be identified.  There have been some changes to staffing since the previous inspection. A new headteacher and a key stage 2 leader were appointed in September 2016. There have

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Information about this school

also been some changes to the composition of the governing body, with the appointment of a new chair of governors.  The school’s last full inspection was in May 2012, when it failed to meet several regulations. A published report can be found on the Ofsted website.  A progress monitoring inspection was undertaken in November 2012 at the request of the DfE to evaluate the progress made by the school in the implementation of its action plan following the previous inspection. The DfE also requested Ofsted to investigate whether pupils in key stage 1 were receiving teaching in both English and Welsh languages. That inspection found that the school had made good progress in relation to the action plan but that the school was not meeting the requirement to provide lessons in written and spoken English, as well as in Welsh, to pupils at this stage. The school drew up a second action plan that was evaluated and accepted in February 2013.

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Information about this school

 Following the monitoring inspection in November 2012, the DfE requested the school to provide an action plan to address the lack of provision of teaching of English to pupils in key stage 1. The school received another progress monitoring inspection in June 2013 at the request of the DfE to evaluate the progress made by the school in the implementation of the second action plan. The inspection concluded that the actions of the school were sufficient for the regulation to be met. 29 November–1 December 2016

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Information about this inspection

 This standard inspection was commissioned by the DfE. As part of this inspection, the DfE commissioned Ofsted to consider the school’s application in June 2016 for a material change to its registration, to increase the number of pupils on roll from 30 to 40.  The school was informed of this inspection on the day before the inspection started. One inspector carried out the inspection.  The inspector observed learning in lessons in early years and key stages 1 and 2. There were no joint observations with the headteacher because of her teaching commitments.  A meeting was held with key stage 2 pupils to discuss their learning and views about the school. The inspector listened to pupils from different abilities read in Years 2, 3, 5 and 6 and discussed their reading with them. The inspector also listened to some pupils read during their reading sessions.  The inspector scrutinised books, checked the single central register of employment checks

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Information about this inspection

on staff, looked at pupils’ attendance and behaviour records and the school improvement plan and examined documents and policies on the curriculum, safeguarding, welfare and health and safety. The inspector checked the school’s compliance with the independent school standards. A tour of the school was undertaken with the headteacher.  The inspector met with the headteacher, key stage 2 leaders, staff, parents and governors. The inspector also met with the site manager of Hanwell Community Centre to gather further information on safety checks. A phone call discussion was held with the local authority representative who has been working with leaders on improving the early years provision.  The inspector considered the 18 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as 13 written comments from parents and seven responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff.

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Inspection team

Avtar Sherri, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 29 November–1 December 2016 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

Parent View 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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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