Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

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

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Mr Owen O'Regan Headteacher Lansbury Lawrence Primary School Cordelia Street Poplar London E14 6DZ

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Short inspection of Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 May 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 July 2013.

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Short inspection of Lansbury Lawrence 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 Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

Since taking up post in April 2015, you have accurately identified the key areas for improvement and acted decisively, taking effective action to address them. You have created a new leadership structure within the school and appointed new leaders and teachers. Together you are implementing positive and effective change, which is having a demonstrable impact on pupils’ progress. This is particularly true in phonics, where progress for pupils currently at the school is improving rapidly. Although some groups of pupils still have ground to make up, the actions you have taken this year are having a significant impact on accelerating their progress further. Improving attendance is an area where further work is required. You have clear plans in place for how leaders will address this.

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Short inspection of Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

You are addressing the areas for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection. The inspection report recommended that leaders develop the links between mathematics and other subjects. Leaders have facilitated commendable developments in enriching the curriculum across the school. Meaningful mathematical links are made across subjects. Displays and pupils’ work showcase a rich and broad curriculum with cross-curricular learning at its heart. Many pupils deepen their subject knowledge and understanding as a result. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. There is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school. Leaders have ensured that all members of staff and governors are regularly trained in different aspects of safeguarding. Staff speak positively about how leaders ensure that they have the correct training to successfully carry out their duties. Leaders ensure that there is a consistent and clear message across the school that everybody is responsible for safeguarding. A number of leaders and staff members within the school form the safeguarding team. This supports the work of the designated safeguarding lead and adds additional capacity to the school’s ability to respond to concerns.

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Short inspection of Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

Pupils understand how to keep safe online. They can explain what they should do in order to minimise dangers to themselves in the digital world. For example, pupils are clear that they must tell an adult if they are concerned about what they see online and understand the importance of not sharing personal information. As one Year 1 child stated, ‘I would never tell someone online where I live. That’s very dangerous!’ As a result of the strong pastoral care offered by staff, pupils are consistently confident in reporting how safe they feel at school.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders correctly identified that standards in phonics needed to improve in Year 1, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. The approach to teaching phonics implemented by leaders has resulted in pupils from Reception through to Year 2 making rapid progress. School assessment information suggests that disadvantaged pupils in Year 2 who did not meet the expected standard for phonics in Year 1 are now on track to do so by the end of the year. Disadvantaged pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 who read to me demonstrate a secure ability to apply their phonics skills. They show focus and determination when reading challenging texts. Pupils display a genuine enthusiasm for reading, both for pleasure and for learning.  Nevertheless, leaders acknowledge that the current tracking of pupils’ progress in phonics could be developed further in order to provide a more detailed overview of how well different groups of pupils are achieving. They understand that this is

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Inspection findings

needed to maintain the current momentum and ensure that the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in phonics matches that of other pupils nationally. Suitable plans to address this are in place.  Leaders have successfully established an effective early years provision. A high proportion of children enter Nursery with knowledge and understanding significantly below that expected for their age. Observations and assessment information show how the rich learning environment ensures that children develop an enthusiasm for learning and make strong progress from their starting points. Leaders of the early years provision have a thorough working knowledge of the children. Ongoing assessment information is used effectively to inform the curriculum and to guide additional support. Leaders have established positive relationships with external agencies, including those provided by local health services. As a result, pupils who require additional support receive it at the

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Inspection findings

earliest possible point so that they do not fall behind with their learning. Transition arrangements from Reception to Year 1 are well managed and exemplify the strong pastoral care offered to children in the early years.  Leaders have worked collaboratively to address issues with pupils’ attendance. They have introduced systems to monitor attendance and have established productive relationships with a range of external agencies. Effective, targeted support to key families with attendance concerns is contributing successfully to leaders’ efforts to ensure that all pupils attend school as regularly as they should. This is appropriately balanced by leaders reinforcing the responsibilities parents and carers have when it comes to good attendance. The focus on regular attendance in the early years has brought about notable improvements and is conveying a strong message to parents from the outset.  However, procedures for monitoring persistent absence do not routinely analyse

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Inspection findings

attendance rates for all groups of pupils. As a result, governors do not always receive sufficiently detailed or timely information on absence rates for different groups. This means that they have not always challenged leaders incisively on whether their actions are reducing persistent absenteeism for all groups of pupils.

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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 strong momentum and pace of change in phonics is maintained so that disadvantaged pupils close the attainment gap with other pupils nationally  persistent absence is reduced further by embedding systems which enable governors to hold leaders to account for the attendance levels of different groups.

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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 Tower Hamlets. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

The inspector undertook visits to lessons and listened to pupils read. He spoke with groups of pupils and staff. He also reviewed school assessment information. A scrutiny of pupils’ books and observations in lessons were carried out alongside the senior leaders. Meetings were held with subject leaders, governors and a representative from the local authority. A range of documentation was scrutinised, including information about outcomes for groups of pupils, policy documentation and information about attendance and safeguarding. The 21 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire were also considered, as were the 20 responses to the staff survey.

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