Sunnyfields Primary School

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

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Lisa Meyer Headteacher Sunnyfields Primary School Hatchcroft Off Greyhound Hill Hendon London NW4 4JH

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 17 January 2017, 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 March 2011.

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields 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 Sunnyfields Primary School

You, school leaders and governors have created a nurturing, supportive and harmonious school, where pupils can thrive academically and emotionally. Under your leadership, the school has achieved the accolade of the Unicef Level 2 Rights Respecting award and this work permeates throughout the culture of the school community. Pupils are very proud of their school and the support and respect they show to each other. They relish the opportunities to act as ‘Junior Travel Ambassadors’ (JTAs), ‘Mediators’ and ‘Playground Friends’. These roles help them to develop their leadership skills and provide guidance and care for others. Pupils mix well together in this diverse environment, are keen to learn and their behaviour is of a consistently high standard.

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields Primary School

You know your school well and work tirelessly to make continual improvements, so that all pupils have equal access to a good standard of education. You meticulously track pupils’ progress, and as a team have identified that some children and pupils do not make the same substantial progress as others. While collectively all pupils achieve much higher than the national average and make excellent progress, some groups of pupils could do better. These include boys in the early years and key stage 1, some disadvantaged pupils across the school, the most able and some girls in mathematics at key stage 2. Already, the specific actions you have introduced to combat this are having a positive impact on the progress these groups make. As a result, current pupils across the school are making at least good progress.

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields Primary School

You have successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified during the inspection in March 2011. By the end of key stage 2, your pupils now make much better progress and attain higher standards in mathematics than pupils nationally. You have developed the early years provision, enhancing the environment and investing in resources to support children’s learning. As a result, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development over time has increased and is now just above the national average. However, you are not complacent. You have identified that more needs to be done to strengthen the links between the nursery and reception class, so that children can make even faster progress.

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields Primary School

You, your leaders, and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. You have created a culture that prioritises the safeguarding of all children and pupils. You know the individual needs of each child and work closely with their families to ensure that, if needed, early and effective help is readily available. School leaders work collaboratively with external agencies to provide a range of family support and address emerging issues. You carefully check the suitability of staff to work at the school and keep detailed and timely records of any child protection referrals. Staff receive regular safeguarding training and are vigilant in identifying pupils who are potentially at risk. The majority of staff and some governors have undertaken ‘Prevent’ training.

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Short inspection of Sunnyfields Primary School

Pupils are given useful information about how they can keep themselves safe, both in school and in the wider community, including online and when travelling to and from school. School leaders have worked hard to create a climate of trust, where pupils readily share their concerns and are confident that they will receive support and help. Pupils were clear that bullying, including name-calling, is exceptionally rare. Pupils enjoy coming to school and are encouraged and rewarded for attending regularly. As a result, attendance has improved over the past few years.

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Inspection findings

 While only in post for 18 months, you have quickly gained the support of staff, leaders, parents and governors. You are committed to addressing the disparity between the progress made by different groups of children and pupils across the school. You have a clear vision for how this can be achieved and your actions to date have already had a significant impact.  The governing body are experienced, committed and passionate about the school. They too have an accurate understanding of the many strengths of the school and the significant improvements made over time. They are also clear that there is still some disparity between groups of pupils and are working closely with school leaders to eradicate this. They are clear about their statutory responsibilities and are robust in their challenge to school leaders.  Many children enter Reception with skills and knowledge typically average for their age. In 2016, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of

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Inspection findings

development remained just above average. However, there have been persistent gaps over time between disadvantaged children and their peers, and with girls outperforming boys, in all areas of learning and development. School leaders are working hard to reduce this.  Provision in the early years, both in Nursery and Reception, provides plentiful opportunities for child-initiated activities in a well-resourced and purposeful, indoor and outdoor environment. Children are confident, well behaved and articulate. Staff carefully record children’s progress and work closely with parents to encourage their continued support. Most children are well prepared to enter Year 1 at the end of Reception. However, very few children exceeded the early learning goals, leaving further scope to ensure that the most able children achieve even more.  The number of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonic reading

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Inspection findings

check has been consistently above the national average over the past three years. The school encourages a love of reading through imaginative classroom and corridor areas devoted to reading, an abundance of reading books and initiatives to promote reading. Pupils listened to during the inspection read with enthusiasm and confidence, using a range of strategies to manage unknown vocabulary.  Overall, pupils make very good progress across key stage 1, in reading, writing and mathematics, achieving higher than the national average. However, while all groups do better than pupils do nationally, girls continue to attain higher than boys, and disadvantaged pupils do not all do as well as their peers in the school.  In 2016, Year 6 pupils made much more progress than pupils did nationally. Boys achieved particularly well and outperformed girls in reading, writing and mathematics. Ensuring that girls achieve as highly as boys in key stage 2 is now

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Inspection findings

a high priority for school leaders. A newly introduced assessment tracking system means that leaders have accurate information about pupils’ progress. As a result, staff are able to intervene more quickly to ensure that all pupils make excellent progress from their starting points. The school’s information on pupils currently on roll shows that any differences are getting smaller.  Teachers plan engaging and stimulating activities that encourage pupils to be active participants in their own learning. Pupils are keen to do well and show genuine interest and pride in their work. They take note of the helpful advice and guidance teachers give them on how to improve.  The most able pupils enjoy the many opportunities presented by the school. They are highly articulate, keen to learn and aspire to do well. At times, however, activities in class lack challenge. For instance, in mathematics, there is sometimes

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Inspection findings

too much reliance on practising learned skills rather than stretching pupils’ mathematical understanding further by undertaking more reasoning or problem- solving activities.  Parents are encouraged to participate fully in the life of the school. For example, through volunteering and attending ‘stay and play’ sessions. Leaders provide informative workshops so that parents can learn helpful strategies to support their child’s learning and development. The majority of those who responded to the online survey Parent View were positive about the progress that their children were making and about the school as a whole. Children in the early years quickly settle into school routines and harder-to-reach families receive good support.

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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

 they continue to implement effective strategies so that all groups of pupils make significant and sustained progress from their starting points  the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are routinely challenged to achieve as well as they should  provision in the early years builds on children’s prior learning so that they make greater gains in their learning.

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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 Barnet. 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 quality of provision in the early years, particularly for boys and disadvantaged children.  The achievement and progress of key stage 1 boys and disadvantaged pupils.  The progress of girls in mathematics and reading at key stage 2.  The effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and the attendance of some groups of 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

 meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher, middle leaders, governors and a representative from the local authority  pupils in Years 3 and 4, were heard reading  joint visits to classrooms with the headteacher  scrutiny of pupils’ work and discussions with pupils  informal discussions with parents at the end of the school day  consideration of 52 responses to Ofsted’s online survey Parent View, 21 responses to the staff survey and 91 responses to the pupils’ survey  an evaluation of documents, including school development plans, reviews, safeguarding information and current pupils’ achievement.

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