Lordship Lane Primary School

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

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Miss Michelle Bates Headteacher Lordship Lane Primary School Ellenborough Road Wood Green London N22 5PS

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 May 2017 with Nick Turvey, 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 the school was judged to be good in July 2013.

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane 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 Lordship Lane Primary School

You took up your post in September 2015, two years after the previous inspection. You have developed a deep understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses using both internal evaluation and by commissioning a local authority review. This has enabled you to devise and address a clear set of priorities to improve the school further. You lead a cohesive senior leadership team, pooling your expertise together to address the improvement needs of the school with urgency and efficiency. Together you have developed highly skilled middle leaders who, in a very short space of time, have demonstrated the ability to drive improvement in their respective areas of responsibility.

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

You are leading a team which has significantly raised expectations of pupils and the standards they can reach. This enables current pupils to achieve, and in some cases exceed, expected standards. You have forged partnerships with local schools to share good practice and leaders at all levels regard this as high-quality professional development. As a result of this, the quality of teaching and learning has improved. School leaders are quick to identify where teaching is weaker, and they promptly offer tailored support to remedy this. However, the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, can benefit from more challenging activities so they exceed expected standards. Also, pupils need to be more consistent in applying their grammar and punctuation skills when writing. Parents and carers speak highly of the school and its leaders. They feel that the school has improved further under your leadership. They feel well informed of the progress their

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

children are making in their education, and appreciate the school leadership being proactive, engaged and accessible. They talk about how the school celebrates diversity and how staff ‘make everyone feel welcome, no matter where you come from or if you speak English or not’. Parents say they feel that no child feels left out at Lordship Lane Primary School.

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

Governors also have a secure understanding of the school. They are proactive in their monitoring. They have benefited from the recommendations made by a recent review of governance, providing sharp and timely challenge, particularly around pupils’ outcomes, including those of disadvantaged pupils.

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

School leaders, including governors, ensure that statutory requirements for safeguarding arrangements are met. Records relating to safeguarding are detailed, fit for purpose, and of high quality. Leaders know their pupils well and they use this information effectively when making referrals to external agencies. They ensure that such referrals are resolved appropriately and satisfactorily. You follow the principles of, and best practice in, safer recruitment. Governors give utmost regard to their safeguarding responsibilities. The link governor regularly receives and scrutinises reports from school leaders to ensure the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements.

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Short inspection of Lordship Lane Primary School

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe at home, at school and online. They have a comprehensive understanding of e-safety, including proper and safe use of social media available to them. They display a clear understanding of which websites are safe to use for their age. Parent View responses indicate that a large proportion of parents feel that their children are safe at school and that they are well cared for by the staff.

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Inspection findings

 In our initial discussion, we identified reading as one of our key lines of enquiry. Following the disappointing Year 6 results in 2016, school leaders wasted no time in analysing the test outcomes and identifying areas which pupils found difficult. As a result, they have made major changes in their approach to the teaching of reading. From Year 1, pupils are explicitly taught reading skills, including those they need to make accurate inferences and deduction from a wide range of reading materials.  It is evident in pupils’ books that they regularly engage in activities which allow them to develop, practise and consolidate reading skills. These activities include retrieving information from texts, summarising information or events, or justifying characters’ actions and motives.  Middle leaders have ensured that this approach to the teaching of reading is used consistently throughout the school, and where it was not, monitoring records show that

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Inspection findings

they have put in direct support for teachers. As a result, pupils across the school, including disadvantaged pupils, make good progress in their reading. However, most- able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are not stretched or challenged enough to enable them to exceed expected standards.  We also identified mathematics as a key line of enquiry, particularly the progress of disadvantaged pupils in this subject. Disadvantaged pupils did not do as well as other pupils nationally in mathematics in 2016. School leaders addressed this by ensuring that pupils are given plenty of opportunities to practise and consolidate mathematical skills.  In lessons, pupils work confidently through mathematical problems. They use trial and error methods, recognising when mistakes have been made. Teachers skilfully use such mistakes to create opportunities for pupils to demonstrate mathematical reasoning

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Inspection findings

skills. Pupils routinely work through a variety of activities with increasing levels of difficulty, displaying resilience and fluency.  Samples of pupils’ work show activities and topics which are sequenced to ensure that pupils develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, thereby achieving mastery. In lessons, younger pupils benefit from the use of concrete and pictorial examples to reinforce their understanding of numbers. This is complemented by plenty of opportunities to apply calculation skills in books. As a result, disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, demonstrate strong and steady progress in mathematics over time.  We also pursued writing as a key line of enquiry during this inspection. Inspectors found that a consistent approach to the teaching of writing across the school was a direct result of the work of the middle leaders. Teachers responded positively to the

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Inspection findings

guidance they were given to improve provision in this area. Writing in books shows that pupils respond to their teachers’ challenge and high expectations. Pupils present their work with care and pride.  Central to the teaching of writing across the school are activities for pupils to develop their vocabulary. Teachers provide pupils with opportunities to rehearse orally, and to practise sentence structure prior to writing. As a result, pupils write effectively, demonstrating progress over time.  In some year groups, however, while pupils demonstrate the ability to apply their skills, they tend to lose precision in grammar and punctuation when producing longer pieces of writing. This improves in the older classes where there is a sustained stamina in writing and where these skills are applied more consistently. Pupils know the impact of their language choices on their readers when writing.  Finally, we looked at attendance. Whole-school attendance has improved and is now in

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Inspection findings

line with the national average. The school uses a range of targeted strategies to improve both attendance and punctuality, which is having a positive impact on the overall rates of attendance. Families respond positively to the various initiatives adopted by the school to reduce the rate of pupil absence. Governors talk about ‘the bell’, rung by a member of the support staff team around the vicinity of the school, which dramatically reduced incidents of lateness. School leaders are aware that the attendance of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities remains low. School leaders are clear how medical needs affect some of these pupils’ attendance. You have introduced tackling attendance as part of the annual education, health and care plan review process.

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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

 the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are stretched and challenged enough to exceed expected standards in reading  pupils’ outcomes in writing are improved further by ensuring that they consistently apply their grammar and punctuation skills when producing longer pieces of writing.

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

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Information about the inspection

During this short inspection, we discussed the work of the school with you, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteachers, and with middle leaders. Inspectors considered responses to Parent View and the staff survey. We met with a group of pupils to discuss their experiences in lessons, the extent to which they feel safe, and also their views on learning and behaviour in general. We held discussions with the local authority’s representative. We met with three governors, who were able to provide us with additional information. We also considered documentation provided by the school and information posted on the school’s website. We looked at recruitment files, the single central record, and the analysis of pupils’ attendance. Together with school leaders, we visited classes to observe learning and we looked at samples of pupils’ work in reading, writing, and mathematics. We listened to reading by pupils from across the ability range.

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