Monega Primary School

Monega Primary School Monega Road, Manor Park, London E12 6TT

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school has experienced a serious breakdown in leadership and management. Frequent changes in senior leaders over recent times have significantly diminished the effectiveness of leadership. Leaders and governors do not have the capacity to secure the necessary improvements in the school.  Checks to make sure that adults are suitable to work with pupils do not meet statutory requirements. This puts pupils’ safety and welfare at risk.  Leaders and governors have not provided up- to-date and regular safeguarding training for staff. As a result, leaders have not established a culture of safeguarding.  Governors have become too involved in the day-to-day running of the school and are not meeting their core statutory responsibilities. They have not worked effectively with leaders to communicate the strategic direction of the school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Under challenging circumstances, teachers in charge and classroom teachers have ensured that pupils’ learning is not affected by inadequate leadership.  The quality of teaching is good and pupils make good progress from their starting points. At times, however, the most able pupils’ skills and knowledge are not sufficiently stretched.  Disadvantaged pupils do better than other pupils nationally. The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is good.  Teaching in the early years is strong. Staff ensure that children enjoy their learning, and that they are well prepared for Year 1.  Pupils are confident and well behaved. They are keen to do well.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44 of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school has serious weaknesses because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, including governance, by ensuring that: – teachers in charge and governors urgently undertake relevant training so they are aware of and follow statutory guidance in relation to safeguarding – pre-employment checks meet statutory requirements – a culture of safeguarding is established and maintained so that all staff and pupils know what to do should any safeguarding concerns arise – permanent and effective leadership at a senior level is secured – governors have a clear understanding of their strategic role and work effectively with senior leaders – performance management drives professional development and school improvement – effective strategies are put in place to improve attendance rates so that they are in line with or above national averages – the curriculum is reviewed so that pupils develop a good understanding of modern British values.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that the most able pupils are routinely challenged in their learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to ascertain how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Since the previous headteacher left in December 2015, the school has not secured permanent leadership at this level. The school currently has no permanent headteacher and has lacked effective leadership for some time.  Teachers in charge acknowledge that they do not have the experience to lead the school effectively. Certain leadership responsibilities have not been carried out consistently, such as staff performance management and planning for whole-school development. As such, staff are not held to account consistently and there is no clear vision shared with staff about how they can play their part to drive improvement in the school.  The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum which supports pupils’ personal development. However, pupils do not know about modern British values, such as democracy. This is because these are not taught explicitly in the curriculum. The school promotes other aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

Pupils are encouraged to respect different faiths and heritages. Pupils in Year 6 talked enthusiastically about learning about refugees in their English lesson. Pupils go on some school outings, to local theatres and museums for example, but many pupils and parents and carers said that they felt the school could do more in this respect.  Leaders have allocated pupil premium funding to provide targeted interventions for disadvantaged pupils, including additional support in lessons, booster sessions and smaller class sizes. This has been effective in improving the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in all year groups. Unfortunately, leaders have had to withdraw some provision recently due to staff absence and changes in staff responsibilities following the breakdown of leadership and management.  Teachers in charge have worked admirably to keep the school going in this time of instability. They have poured all their efforts into maintaining the standard of teaching

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

and learning. This is what they know how to do and they do it well. Pupils’ learning has not been adversely affected by the instability in leadership. Teachers new to the profession and trainee teachers feel very well supported by teachers in charge.  Current teachers in charge have sharply evaluated the use of the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They have ensured that it improves pupils’ progress over time. Teaching assistants are deployed effectively to support pupils by helping them talk about their learning and approach tasks with confidence. Higher level teaching assistants work effectively to ensure that pupils who have complex needs are well catered for in lessons and receive the specialist support they need.  The physical education and sport premium funding has been used to good effect to give pupils opportunities to take part in extra-curricular clubs and inter-school sports

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

competitions. Pupils use the new playground equipment or choose to participate in a range of activities at lunchtime, including dance classes, and girls’ and boys’ football. Pupils and staff have all benefited from working with specialist sports coaches.  The majority of parents who spoke to inspectors or completed the online questionnaire have a positive view of the school. Understandably, the main concern for parents is the lack of communication from leaders and governors and confusion about who is leading the school.

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Governance of the school

 Governance is inadequate. Governors have not ensured that they meet their statutory duties in relation to safeguarding the pupils at the school. Although they have engaged in safer recruitment training, they have not followed the statutory guidance when appointing staff and have not ensured that adults are suitable to work with children.  The governing body has not offered effective support and challenge to the school’s leaders. The current fragility in school leadership is a consequence of the disputes and the subsequent breakdown in communication over time between senior leaders and governors.  Governors do not have a clear understanding of their role. They have undermined school leaders through becoming overly involved in the day-to-day decision making and running of the school. Governors do not have a strategic overview of issues such as the allocation of pupil premium and physical education and sport premium funding.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective across the school and the culture of safeguarding is weak. This is because leaders and governors have not met statutory requirements with regard to safeguarding.  School leaders and the governing body have not completed all the pre-employment checks that are required prior to staff, including senior leaders, starting to work at the school. Leaders and governors are not knowledgeable in the practice of safe recruitment of staff. Consequently, they cannot be sure that adults who are employed to work at the school are suitable to work with pupils.  Leaders and governors have not monitored the school’s safeguarding arrangements and ensured that these meet current statutory requirements. Policies and practices are out of date and do not hold enough information to ensure that staff and pupils know who has specific responsibility for dealing with any safeguarding concerns that may

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Safeguarding

arise. Leaders and governors have not ensured that staff receive up-to-date safeguarding training. Staff are not confident to identify possible warning signs that a pupil might be at risk from harm, including from extremist views about right and wrong or female genital mutilation. Staff do not understand safeguarding procedures. As a result, there is confusion among staff about basic safeguarding practice.  Day-to-day care of pupils is handled well and parents are confident that their children are looked after at school. Arrangements for first aid are highly effective and very well managed. Staff know pupils and their individual needs well. Referrals to external agencies are made swiftly.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The quality of teaching and learning is good. As a result, pupils across the school make good progress. Teachers work well together to plan lessons that generally ensure consistency between classes.  Teachers demonstrate secure subject knowledge and skilfully ask questions to check pupils’ understanding in lessons. This encourages and supports pupils in thinking more deeply about their learning.  Pupils can talk about their learning in detail using vocabulary modelled by teachers because teachers explain key concepts well. For example, in Year 4 mathematics, pupils could show confidently their use of denominators and numerators to work out equivalent fractions.  Teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and effort in class. Pupils respond well to this and they want to do well. Clearly established routines mean that pupils work sensibly together and support each other’s learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Engaging tasks spark pupils’ interests and motivate them to work hard. In Year 3, for example, pupils were excited to share their ideas about heroes in preparation for a writing task. The discussion and examples that pupils shared with each other prompted pupils to write complex and descriptive sentences.  The effective teaching of phonics leads to strong outcomes in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Teachers promote reading skills well. Pupils enjoy reading books from a wide range of types and say that reading helps them with their writing. The most able readers read confidently and with expression. The least able readers use their phonics skills to help them decode difficult words.  Teachers reassess and adjust pupils’ targets after reviewing assessment information. However, work is not always matched to the abilities of the pupils. At times, the less able pupils cannot access the work and are too reliant on the teacher to help them.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

Sometimes the ‘challenge’ task that teachers set the most able pupils is easier than the original task. This slows down pupils’ progress.  Teachers monitor the progress and attainment of all groups of pupils closely to identify pupils at risk of underachievement and to inform future planning. Pupils also have regular opportunities to check their own progress and to contribute to the assessments teachers make of their progress. New procedures for tracking pupils’ progress are used increasingly effectively by staff. However, teachers in charge have identified this as a training need.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare from the early years provision to Year 6 is inadequate. Staff work hard to ensure that pupils feel safe. However, leaders have not made sure that staff have the necessary training to ensure that pupils are safe.  Attendance rates are a concern for the school as they are currently below average. Attendance figures are monitored weekly and parents are contacted to discuss any attendance issues. The school works closely with the local authority and takes advice on how to tackle persistent absence. Attendance rates have improved among groups of pupils who persistently miss more school than they should, but this is a key area for development.  Following an e-safety week in school, pupils have a secure knowledge of how to stay safe online. However, apart from cyber bullying, pupils are unsure about the different forms bullying can take. Some parents expressed concerns that bullying is not always

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Personal development and welfare

dealt with effectively and pupils talked of unkind behaviour and name-calling from other pupils.  Pupils are confident when talking to adults and are happy to discuss their learning. They can explain how teachers help them to improve their work and use the stimulating displays in classrooms to help them.  Pupils at the school report that they feel safe and well cared for. The learning mentors monitor pupils’ welfare and work closely with middle leaders to address any concerns about pupils’ emotional well-being. Vulnerable pupils are identified, monitored and fully supported.  The learning mentors also help pupils in Year 6 to prepare to move to secondary school. They accompany some pupils to transition meetings. This reassures pupils who may be worried and ensures that valuable information about pupils’ individual needs is passed on to secondary schools.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are polite, friendly and welcoming. They enjoy learning and are happy at school.  Clearly established routines help pupils to behave in an orderly and calm manner around the school. They know and follow the ‘golden rules’ that are displayed around the school and reinforced in class and assemblies. Parents are pleased with the school’s work to promote high standards of behaviour.  Pupils behave very well in lessons generally. Pupils say that the ‘happy/sad’ behaviour boards in all classrooms encourage them in this respect. They follow teachers’ instructions and there are warm working relationships between pupils and staff. However, occasionally behaviour is disruptive when tasks are not challenging or engaging.  At playtimes, pupils take part in a variety of outside games and activities. Pupils play well together for the most part and behaviour logs show few incidents of poor

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Behaviour

behaviour. ‘Behaviour buddies’ from Year 6 help younger pupils to make friends and sort out any disputes. If pupils are feeling sad, they say that they look in the playground ‘motivational mirror’ and feel better.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils’ progress and attainment are consistently good across the school and in a range of subjects.  Results in national assessments in 2016 showed a notable improvement from previous years. The progress that pupils made by the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics was significantly above the national average. Year 6 pupils’ attainment was above average. Disadvantaged pupils made more progress than that seen nationally by non-disadvantaged pupils. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities made above-average progress in all subjects compared with all pupils with similar starting points.  Overall, the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, fulfil their potential. This is particularly the case in reading and mathematics at the end of key stage 2. An above-average proportion of pupils attained the highest standards.  The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and

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Outcomes for pupils Good

mathematics by the end of key stage 1 in 2016 was above national figures. However, in all subjects, fewer pupils reached the highest standards compared with the proportion of pupils who attained the highest standards nationally. Teachers in charge are working with teaching staff to develop a better understanding of how pupils can reach the highest standard.  Current performance information shows that pupils are on track to maintain, if not improve on, the standards achieved last year. There is no significant difference between the progress that disadvantaged pupils and other pupils make.  Teachers have the same expectations of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities as they have for all pupils. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their various starting points.  Pupils’ work in books is of a good standard. This is consistent across the school and in

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Outcomes for pupils Good

all subjects.  As a result of good teaching, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check is above the national average. Given pupils’ starting points, this represents good progress.

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Early years provision Inadequate

 Despite good teaching and children’s good outcomes, the early years provision is inadequate because the school’s safeguarding arrangements are not effective, including in the early years provision.  Children enter the school with skills and knowledge below those typically found at their age. Staff assess each child, identify their particular needs accurately and put measures in place to ensure that they make progress. Staff work hard to develop children’s language skills in particular, as many children already speak several languages other than English.  Teaching in the early years is good. Established routines mean that children settle quickly to their tasks and are confident learners. Activities are well planned and purposeful, and foster independent learning. Children enjoy their time in the early years and are happy to talk to adults about their learning.  Careful monitoring, observations and rigorous assessment show that children make

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Early years provision Inadequate

good progress. Current performance information indicates that a high proportion of children, including disadvantaged children, are on track to achieve a good level of development at the end of Reception.  Outcomes in the early years have improved in recent years and the number of children achieving a good level of development is now above average. The early years leader knows that there is more work to do to ensure that this high standard is maintained and sustained for the future.  The early years leader has a secure knowledge and understanding of how children learn and what they need to do to improve. Staff work together to, as the leader says, ‘sow the seeds to help them grow’.  The early years team works closely with parents, encouraging them to be involved in their child’s learning as much as possible. They make regular and valuable contributions to the children’s ‘learning journey’ books and staff give parents daily

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Early years provision Inadequate

updates on their child’s progress.  Phonics teaching is strong. Staff use a range of strategies to practise and reinforce sounds, enabling children to make good progress in reading. Children enter Year 1 ready to learn and with the skills they need.  A significant number of children join the early years at various times in the year, some with no prior education. Staff are developing intervention strategies to help these children settle quickly and catch up in their learning.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28–29 November 2011

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Information about this school

 The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.  Monega is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The early years provision comprises a Nursery class and three Reception classes.  Since the previous inspection, the senior leadership team has undergone a number of changes. At the time of the inspection, the school had no headteacher.  The local authority issued a warning notice to the school in March 2017.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is above average.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all year groups and in a range of subjects. Some of these were jointly observed with school leaders.  Meetings were held with the teachers in charge, middle leaders and a range of teaching staff including newly qualified teachers. A meeting was held with the chair of the governing body and one governor. There was also a discussion with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors spoke to pupils in lessons, listened to them read and looked at samples of their work. Inspectors talked to pupils in the playground and around the school. An inspector met a group of pupils to hear their views on the school and two pupils gave a tour of the school.  Inspectors analysed a wide range of documents provided by the school, including leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance, information about pupils’ progress and attainment and minutes of meetings of the governing body. Inspectors also examined

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Information about this inspection

records related to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance. Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work in selected books from key stage 1 and key stage 2.  Inspectors took account of 43 responses to Parent View and held informal discussions with parents during the inspection. There were no responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Jude Wilson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Debbie Rogan Ofsted Inspector 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

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

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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