Lingfield Primary School

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

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Mrs Julia Tappin Headteacher Lingfield Primary School Vicarage Road Lingfield Surrey RH7 6HA

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 March 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 September 2012.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as headteacher, you have worked very effectively to develop school leaders. They are successfully improving the quality of the curriculum and supporting colleagues which has enhanced the learning experiences of pupils. Leaders are ambitious to raise standards and improve progress rates for all pupils. You have identified aspects of teaching and learning which need to improve and have introduced new practices which help pupils of all backgrounds and abilities to learn well. Pupils recognise the ways in which they are challenged and supported. They feel confident that they are making good progress.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

You are developing the skills of staff effectively through coaching and mentoring. Leaders are knowledgeable and make appropriate use of wider networks and resources to inform the school’s improvement work. They advise staff on teaching methods and expectations following observations of teaching and the monitoring of work in pupils’ books. As a result, pupils have a wider range of opportunities to help them to learn well. Following recent changes to the curriculum, leaders are working to improve consistency and raise expectations of what pupils can achieve across all year groups. The impact of new strategies is not analysed as systematically as it could be to identify what is making the most difference so as to focus on the best approaches.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

The previous inspection report indicated that teaching should be closely matched to the needs of individual pupils and that middle leaders should be more effective in promoting best practice. You have responded to these action points so leaders now track the learning and progress of pupils well. Leaders both support and challenge their colleagues to improve the quality of teaching. The report also identified the need to improve pupils’ progress, particularly in writing. This has been a focus for development and has included improvements in how writing is taught for all year groups. Pupils respond positively to the clear advice they are given on how to improve their writing. They are given opportunities to take ownership of their learning and are able to move on independently when they are confident.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

Pupils appreciate the warm and friendly school environment. Parents recognise the high standards you set for pupils, including your expectations for good manners and behaviour. Together with school leaders, you have identified and responded to areas of underperformance through a range of strategies. These have included changes to the curriculum, developments in the early years and greater engagement with parents to improve progress and attendance. Together these are increasing the rate of pupils’ progress.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Governors and school leaders work together effectively to ensure that all policies and procedures are in place in order to keep pupils safe and support the strong safeguarding culture . Your staff work effectively with pupils, parents and families, and with external agencies to protect pupils. All pupils who need particular support receive it in a timely way.

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Short inspection of Lingfield Primary School

The school’s safeguarding culture is built on its work to promote pupils’ resilience, high-quality relationships and mutual respect. Staff are well trained and diligent in their duties. You work effectively with the local authority to meet the needs of vulnerable pupils. Parents are kept well informed of any issues which may arise that impact on the well-being of pupils, including information about e-safety. Pupils are kept safe and learn how to keep themselves safe.

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Inspection findings

 To explore whether the school remained good, I focused on the following areas: the effectiveness of the support given to disadvantaged pupils and the effectiveness of the action you have taken in response to last year’s differences in outcomes for boys and girls. I also looked at the early years provision to see how well pupils are prepared for key stage 1 and the opportunities for pupils to work at greater depth, particularly in key stage 1.  In 2016, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who did not attend school regularly was too high. Senior leaders have been active in improving the partnership between home and school to ensure that there is a rapid response to issues related to progress and attendance. You are diligent in your efforts to improve attendance. You keep pupils and their parents aware of the importance of coming to school every day. Although some pupils have responded well and now come to school more regularly, this remains a priority for school leaders.

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Inspection findings

 Test results last year also showed that disadvantaged pupils underperformed in reading, writing and mathematics. Vulnerable pupils are now provided with additional support and can attend classes before and after school to accelerate their progress. In lessons where support is seen to be most effective, pupils focus well on their learning. There is some variation in the quality of written work but pupils are now making better progress. In key stage 1, pupils are able to use phonics more confidently and are developing their writing skills. Key stage 2 pupils were able to describe the ways in which teaching has improved their reading and writing, although some were still reluctant to read independently.  At the end of key stage 2 in 2016, the proportion of girls reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was at or above national averages for pupils of most abilities, with some boys making slower progress. You have

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Inspection findings

identified the reasons for this and have taken action to improve boys’ progress. Teaching reflects the different interests of boys and girls and, as a result, pupils’ engagement in learning has increased. The proportion of boys and girls reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics has increased in all year groups.  The early years provision has a clear focus on developing children’s reading, writing, number and phonics skills. Adult-led sessions reflect the school’s priorities of attaining high standards in reading, writing and mathematics in preparation for Year 1. A range of activities provide opportunities for indoor and outdoor learning. For example, the younger children were using ‘The very hungry caterpillar’ story as a theme to develop their wider skills.  Although teaching in the early years is having a positive impact on progress, children do not always have enough opportunities to develop their skills through

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Inspection findings

planned and purposeful activity beyond the adult-led sessions. Children often need more time to become engrossed, work in depth and complete activities which they initiate, both indoors and outdoors.  Leaders for mathematics and English have focused on providing pupils with opportunities to master and apply their skills. As teachers are becoming more confident teaching this aspect of the national curriculum, more pupils are working at greater depth. Teachers make sure that pupils have a secure understanding and then provide challenging tasks to allow them to apply this knowledge in a variety of contexts. Where this is most effective, pupils are able to talk about their learning and accurately assess the progress they are making.  At times, key stage 1 pupils are distracted by other activities in the classroom and this makes it more difficult to learn well. However, pupils respond positively to challenge as observed in a Year 2 classroom where the whole class engaged in

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Inspection findings

the excitement of solving mathematical problems. In a Year 6 reading workshop, pupils enthusiastically engaged in a discussion requiring inference and justification of their opinions.

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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

 early years teachers make better use of the indoor and outdoor classroom environments to develop skills and extend children’s experiences across all seven areas of learning  continued engagement with parents and pupils leads to further improvements in attendance  they accurately measure the impact of new strategies, so that all teaching becomes as effective as the best.

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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 Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held discussions with you, school leaders, pupils and governors. I also spoke on the telephone with your local authority representative. Together, you and I visited classes, where we observed pupils’ learning, spoke to some and examined their written work. I visited other lessons and observed one-to- one and small-group teaching. I looked carefully at the 93 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys. I evaluated documents related to school improvement, pupils’ progress and attendance. I also examined the school’s website, a range of policies and your safeguarding procedures.

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