Henley-in-Arden Montessori Primary School

Henley-in-Arden Montessori Primary School The Memorial Hall, Station Road, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire B95 5JP

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement  Not enough has been done by leaders since the last inspection to maintain the quality of teaching and learning and outcomes for pupils.  Pupils do not make sufficient progress over time in writing and mathematics.  Work is not always challenging enough, resulting in pupils not making rapid enough progress and not achieving the standards of which they are capable.  Provision and outcomes for children in Reception require improvement.  The leadership of the school has not established robust enough systems for monitoring and improving the quality of teaching.  The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not consistently good.  Leaders recognise that their school improvement planning system is not robust enough to enable them to monitor the impact of the steps taken to improve provision.  Leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning does not focus sufficiently on the progress

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

made by pupils in the short term and over time.  Governance requires improvement. Currently, leaders are not held sufficiently to account for the academic outcomes of pupils or the quality of teaching and learning.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The school has the following strengths  Pupils’ reading skills are well developed from an early age. Pupils make strong progress in reading.  Leaders have ensured that pupils’ conduct in lessons and around the school is good. They show respect for others and talk confidently about their learning.  Pupils are self-assured and demonstrate independence from an early age.  The curriculum is broad, balanced and relevant to the needs of the pupils. It is enhanced by a wide range of experiences.  The school’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural provision is strong. Pupils demonstrate respect for people from different backgrounds to their own and are caring, thoughtful and compassionate towards others.  Pupils are developing their understanding of concepts such as democracy, fairness, rights, responsibilities and how and why laws are made. They are becoming well prepared for life in modern Britain.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

keep themselves safe and healthy. Compliance with regulatory requirements  The school must take action to meet the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management of the school by: – developing an effective system that enables leaders to be held to account for pupils’ outcomes and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment – developing a rigorous system of school evaluation and improvement planning which clearly identifies key priorities and links them to outcomes for pupils – ensuring that leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning focuses sufficiently on the progress made by pupils so that teachers’ professional development can be carefully focused on those areas which are key to improving pupils’ progress.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: – ensuring that all teachers who teach Reception have a secure understanding of the early years requirements so that children in Reception make strong progress – enabling pupils to demonstrate their learning in a range of ways to ensure that evidence for teachers’ assessments of pupil progress is robust and reliable

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– ensuring that activities and learning are sufficiently challenging so that pupils make accelerated progress in writing and mathematics and achieve the standards they are capable of.

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

 Paragraph 3 – The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school: – enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught (paragraph 3 (a)) – involves well-planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time (paragraph 3 (c)) – shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainment of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons (paragraph 3(d)) – demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress (paragraph 3 (g))  Paragraph 34 (1) – The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

the school: – demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently (paragraph 34 (1)(a)) – fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently (paragraph 34 (1)(b)).

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders have not ensured that all the independent school standards are met as they have not secured consistently good teaching or consistently strong outcomes for pupils.  Leaders have established a clear vision for the school which is shared by staff. Currently, though, this vision has not been fully realised in practice.  Leaders have not established an effective self-evaluation system that enables them to monitor how well the school is performing. Consequently, although improvement priorities have been identified, leaders are not able to evaluate the impact of actions taken on improving academic outcomes for pupils.  The current system of improvement planning does not enable leaders to be held robustly to account, or for teachers to be held to account for the progress pupils make.  The school’s system of improving the quality of teaching is not effective as it does not accurately identify the aspects of teaching that need to be improved in order for it to be

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

consistently good. Records of monitoring of teaching and learning carried out by leaders are weak and do not focus on the impact of teaching on learning and the progress made by pupils in the short term and over time.  Leaders have not established an effective system of appraisal or performance management. This has been identified by the school as an area for development. Currently training opportunities for teachers are identified through informal discussions with teachers. Teachers have received some valuable training, for example developing the role of the special educational needs coordinator, improving sports provision and regular Montessori pedagogy updates. However, not enough has been done to ensure that teaching enables pupils to make strong progress, particularly in writing and mathematics.  The school has devised a set of criteria pupils need to achieve by the end of each year in writing. While the school’s assessment system shows that most pupils are attaining these

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

age-related expectations, work in pupils’ books does not reflect the same quality.  The broad and engaging curriculum ensures that pupils are offered a wide range of experiences. For example, during the inspection all the pupils attended a local school where they took part in a charity ‘Bags for Buddies’ event. The inspector was also treated to a viewing of ‘Mr Blue Sky’ – the song and dance routine choreographed by the pupils for their end-of-term presentation to parents.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well promoted by the school. Pupils demonstrate respect towards people from different races, religions and cultural backgrounds to their own. They can talk confidently about different religions and diversity and recognise the importance of ensuring that everyone is treated equally. Pupils are becoming well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The school engages very well with parents who are extremely supportive of the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

They appreciate the ‘open-door’ policy and say they feel valued by the school.  The school engages well with a range of outside agencies and professionals to ensure that pupils’ development and welfare are fully supported.

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Governance

 Governance requires improvement.  The school does not have a governing body. The proprietor of the school, who is also the headteacher, is responsible for governance.  Governance does not enable leaders to be held accountable for the performance of the school, consequently improvements have not been timely enough to ensure strong outcomes for pupils.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The safeguarding policy is published on the website and is readily available. It meets the most recent government requirements.  There is a culture of safeguarding within the school. Staff undertake regular child protection training, are aware of the potential risks to pupils and are clear about the processes that need to be followed if they have any concerns.  Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe through the curriculum. For example, they are developing their understanding of different types of bullying and know how to keep themselves safe online. Bullying in school is exceptionally rare and the pupils are confident that if it did happen it would be quickly dealt with.  The school implements its policies effectively to ensure that pupils are safeguarded, for example policies relating to anti-bullying, behaviour management and safer recruitment.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teaching is not consistently strong across the school. Consequently, pupils do not make consistently good progress in writing and mathematics.  Teaching limits pupils’ learning because there are insufficient checks on how well pupils have learned during a lesson or through an activity. Teaching does not make effective use of lesson time by providing opportunities to enable pupils to demonstrate their learning.  The level of challenge in the activities provided for pupils is sometimes too low. This has resulted in pupils not making as much progress as they could in the short term and over time, particularly in writing and mathematics.  Pupils, particularly those in key stage 2, are not given sufficient opportunities to write independently for sustained periods. This has resulted in the quality of pupils’ writing not improving at a fast enough rate over time. For example, pupils are not using the range of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

vocabulary and punctuation that is expected for their age.  Work in pupils’ mathematics books shows that pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to solve problems for themselves or develop their mathematical reasoning skills. This is reflected in the outcomes for pupils in mathematics over time.  The school has implemented a system of assessment which allows teachers to make termly assessments on what pupils can do in English and mathematics. However, this information is not reliable as the evidence it is based on is not sufficiently robust. Leaders have recognised this as an area for development.  Pupils are active participants in their learning. From Reception they demonstrate independence and self-sufficiency. For example, one pupil in Reception was confidently using the class word bank to help support her writing while another pupil decided to use a sand timer to see how long it took him to complete his jigsaw.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers demonstrate how to use vocabulary well. They use effective questioning to successfully develop pupils’ oracy skills. This results in pupils developing a wide range of appropriate terminology and the ability to speak articulately and confidently from a young age.  Teachers demonstrate appropriate subject knowledge and a strong understanding of the Montessori curriculum. They use questioning effectively to find out what children already know and can do. This means they are able to plan for individual pupils’ next steps in learning.  Teachers know their pupils very well and have established good relationships with them.  Phonics is well taught. This has resulted in pupils being able to confidently use their knowledge of phonic strategies to read unfamiliar words. Pupils enjoy reading and demonstrate a good understanding of the books they have read.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident and self-assured. They demonstrate mostly positive attitudes towards their learning. However, when they are choosing the activities they would like to do they do not always challenge themselves sufficiently.  Pupils enjoy school and the wide range of experiences they are provided with. They discuss their ideas and opinions confidently.  Pupils recognise the value of education. They have clear aspirations for their futures and understand the role of education in helping them to achieve their ambitions.  Pupils show respect for themselves and for others. They have been taught how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations including road safety. They are taught about keeping healthy and could explain the benefits of eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  All staff have high expectations for behaviour. They role model courtesy and respect well and this is fully reciprocated by the pupils. Pupils are polite and courteous to visitors. They conduct themselves well throughout the school day.  Attendance is good with the majority of the children having 100% attendance. Pupils arrive at school punctually.  Parents have no concerns about behaviour. Behaviour logs support this. There are no recorded incidents of inappropriate behaviour.  Work in pupils’ books is not always presented neatly enough and this is not challenged by teachers. Leaders are aware of this and have identified it as an area for improvement.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Although leaders have high expectations for the academic attainment of pupils these expectations are not being fully met. Not enough pupils are working at the levels the school expects them to reach for their age in writing and mathematics.  Progress in writing and mathematics is too slow and pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do. While the majority of pupils are making adequate progress, this progress is not rapid enough to ensure that enough pupils achieve the standards they are capable of reaching quickly enough.  Pupils make strong progress in reading. They read well and several of them have reading ages well beyond their chronological ages. The inspector listened to pupils in Years 2 and 3 read. They are fluent confident readers. They are able to use phonic strategies appropriately to help them read unfamiliar words. The books the pupils were reading

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

were well matched to their reading ability.  Pupils are able to talk confidently about different countries around the world and demonstrate a good range of general knowledge.  Pupils have increased their understanding of other faiths and cultures by visiting a range of places of worship. They learn about festivals such as Chinese New Year, Diwali, Easter and Eid and celebrate them with food from around the world.

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Early years provision Requires improvement

 Provision for children in Reception requires improvement. Not all of the staff who teach the Reception children demonstrate a clear understanding of the requirements of the early years curriculum.  Although Reception children have access to the nursery provision, including a very well established outdoor area, they are not always well enough supported by staff when accessing this to ensure that they gain as much as they can from these opportunities. Consequently, outcomes for children in Reception are not as strong as they should be.  Leadership and management of the early years is not yet good as leaders have not ensured that children in Reception make better than expected progress. There is no robust system of monitoring and improvement planning in place for Reception. As a result, leaders are unable to identify improvements they have made or any impact they have had on provision and outcomes for children. Currently, there are no improvements

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Early years provision Requires improvement

planned for Reception.  Safeguarding in early years is effective. There are no breaches in statutory requirements. Children’s personal development and welfare are good.  Behaviour is good. Children have a secure understanding of how they should behave and why this is important. They conduct themselves well and show respect for others.  Engagement with outside agencies, including specialist early years advisers, is effective and has contributed to support for learning and development of children in Reception.  The environment is stimulating, language rich and staff support the development of children’s speaking and listening skills well.  Staff carry out detailed assessments of children on entry to the setting and at the end of the Reception Year. These assessments cover the wider early years curriculum and are well supported by evidence in the children’s individual learning journals. Parents also

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £2,172 per term, 5% discount for second child Telephone number 01564 795722

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School details

Email address Helen.everley@henleymontessori.co.u k

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 March 2012

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Information about this school

 Henley Montessori Independent Primary School is on a single site in Henley in Arden, Warwickshire. It shares the site with the Montessori Nursery School. The nursery school is inspected separately.  The primary school is registered with the Department for Education (DfE) to provide full- time education for up to 20 boys and girls from ages 2 to 11.  This inspection was carried out by one inspector over three days. The school was previously inspected in March 2012.  The school has been operating since 2007 and follows the Montessori philosophy of education. Pupils are only admitted to the school if they have previously attended a Montessori nursery.  The school aims to be ‘a place where children build a desire and a love of learning who are happy, confident and resourceful when moving onto the many schools of their choice’.  All of the children in the primary school are taught in the same classroom. The majority of

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Information about this school

teaching is carried out one to one.  The school does not use any other site or provision.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning across all year groups and looked at a range of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and topic work. Most of the observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector looked at the school’s assessment information for individual pupils.  The headteacher has responsibility for nearly all of the leadership roles. Meetings were held with the headteacher to discuss governance, safeguarding, assessment, attendance and early years provision. The lead inspector also spoke with a group of pupils from Years 3, 5 and 6.  The inspector listened to pupils read from Years 2 and 3 and looked at how children are taught phonics.  Questionnaires submitted by seven members of staff were scrutinised.  A wide range of documents and policies were looked at including health and safety checks, records of observations of teaching, safeguarding documentation and records of

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Information about this inspection

attendance.  Inspectors gathered the views of parents by speaking to parents attending parents’ evening meetings and analysing the six responses to the Parent View questionnaire.  A check of the premises and the facilities provided for pupils was also carried out.

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Inspection team

Janet Satchwell, lead inspector 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

Parent View 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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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