Conway Primary School

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

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Mrs Yalini Carlsson-Ruban Headteacher Conway Primary School Gallosson Road Plumstead London SE18 1QY

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 4 July 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 June 2013.

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Short inspection of Conway 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 Conway Primary School

Since that time, you have increased the rigour of school systems to check how well pupils learn and achieve. This has resulted in significant improvements in the quality of teaching. Parents and carers are clear that the school is good, with comments such as, ‘Our child thrives in both the educational and social environment here,’ being typical of many.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

You have worked effectively with leaders and governors to ensure that there is a continuing focus on improving outcomes for all groups of pupils. You have worked on the right areas for development with energy and vision, helped by your careful review of the school’s performance. Governors are knowledgeable and involved in the work of the school and offer you strong strategic support. Working together, you have ensured that pupils gain a secure grasp of the basic skills expected for their age. Teaching is carefully planned for pupils and meets their needs effectively. As a result, pupils achieve well. A new assessment system is having a positive impact on enabling teachers to keep a close check on the progress of pupils in their class. Leadership capacity is strong due to the team approach across all tiers of leadership where everyone feels responsible for pupils’ achievement.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

You have developed the learning environment considerably since the last inspection, so that more space has been created. All classes have attractive and inviting reading areas which are helping to promote pupils’ enthusiasm for books in all year groups. The school culture that you have created is one which is welcoming and accepting of all pupils, irrespective of their backgrounds. Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes towards the school. Teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to supporting pupils’ progress. This enables all pupils to achieve well and keep trying, even when they find the work challenging.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

In recent years, the development of reading and writing and the teaching of mathematics have ensured that outcomes in these areas are good. You have made sure that teachers are now teaching key skills effectively so that these can be used in other areas of the curriculum. For example, work related to dentistry in Year 4 enabled pupils to write compelling letters to their friends about brushing their teeth.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

You have successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified during the last inspection. Your determination to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning has helped the school to continue to improve. Teachers are very committed to the school’s priorities for development and work hard to ensure that pupils do as well as they can. High-quality training and support for teachers has enabled them to understand and meet the needs of the pupils well. Consequently, pupils make consistently good progress.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

You, together with your senior leaders, rightly acknowledge that the attendance of the school’s disadvantaged pupils needs to improve still further.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

Leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are effective and records are complete. All checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are in place. Adults in the school know the designated safeguarding leaders and they understand and follow the agreed procedures consistently. Clear systems are in place for staff to make referrals when concerns arise and subsequent actions are followed up effectively. Leaders work well with families and external agencies, including the local authority’s early help team, to ensure that pupils receive well-targeted support as required. Staff training, including that related to the ‘Prevent’ duty, is up to date. Your staff have a good knowledge of potential concerns within the community the school serves. This increases their vigilance in spotting and reporting concerns about pupils’ well-being.

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Short inspection of Conway Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe in school and that behaviour is good, with bullying being a rare event. Pupils enjoy coming to school and have great confidence that all the staff are working hard to support their education and well-being.

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Inspection findings

 For the first line of enquiry, we agreed to look at key stage 2 pupils’ progress in reading. This is because, last year, pupils’ progress was weaker in reading than in writing and mathematics. You have already identified this as a priority.  Visits to classrooms, listening to the reading taking place and current assessment information provided us with compelling evidence that pupils’ progress is now good. Being exposed to a wide variety of texts and genres is inspiring pupils to become more avid readers, who enjoy developing the reading skills they are being taught. For example, Year 5 pupils confidently worked out the meanings of unfamiliar words in the demanding text they read.  As well as focusing on increasing how accurately pupils read, you have also concentrated on improving pupils’ comprehension skills. Well-considered training from the school’s ‘reading team’ has enabled staff to develop expertise and

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Inspection findings

strengthen their practice. Staff provide pupils with well-targeted individual support to help them understand the content of the passages they read. This was seen in the classrooms we visited, and in particular in small-group reading sessions.  For the second line of enquiry, I considered reading and writing outcomes for middle-attaining pupils and the most able in key stage 1. This is because, in the 2016 key stage 1 assessments, fewer pupils achieved the highest standards in these subjects when compared with other pupils nationally.  Again, you and your senior leaders have wasted no time in ensuring that these pupils are now making much better progress. In visits to classrooms, we saw unmistakable evidence of pupils’ reading skills improving. Close attention is given to pupils developing a deeper understanding of the texts they read. Similarly, pupils’ writing is improving well, with pupils writing with increased flair and

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Inspection findings

confidence in a range of genres. Nevertheless, the quality of pupils’ handwriting is variable and this hinders them from producing writing at the standard of which they are capable. You have already identified this and have been successfully working on this area.  We next agreed to consider the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum. Your plans for improvement show that this is currently an area of focus for leaders, particularly in respect of science and computing.  You and your team have developed a curriculum that reflects pupils’ needs and interests. Well-planned activities allow pupils to extend their literacy and numeracy skills across other subject areas. The school has developed whole- school ‘topic weeks’, where pupils are able to work in a way that brings their learning in different subjects together. This is helpful to pupils as it supports them make sense of their learning and make links between subjects.

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Inspection findings

 Your subject leaders are passionate and are clear about the action they need to take to strengthen teaching and pupils’ outcomes in their respective areas of responsibility.  Finally, we looked at pupils’ attendance. In 2016, disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities were persistently absent more than is typical when compared to the national average.  Pupils are rewarded for their good attendance. Staff identify any concerns promptly and follow these up through meetings with parents. Families are actively discouraged from taking extended breaks away from school during term time. You and your staff work effectively with the local authority attendance officers to support the parents of all pupils where attendance is a concern.  Although these strategies are improving attendance overall, you recognise that there is further work to do to ensure that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils

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Inspection findings

is as good as that of other pupils nationally. We agreed that it would be useful for the school to maintain its focus on this.

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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

 strategies to improve pupils’ attendance and attitudes to school are sustained so that disadvantaged pupils attend school as regularly as their peers  the quality of the school’s curriculum outside of reading, writing and mathematics is strengthened, so that pupils have access to inspirational and diverse experiences which deepen their learning.

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

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, I held several meetings with you and your two deputy headteachers. I met with two governors and a representative from the local authority. I also held a meeting with subject leaders. I held informal discussions with parents on the playground and considered written comments made to Ofsted. You and your deputy headteachers accompanied me on visits to classrooms. I talked to pupils about their learning. I looked at pupils’ books and listened to a range of pupils read as they were engaged in their learning. I also evaluated a range of school documentation, including school development plans, safeguarding records and information about current pupils’ achievement and attendance.

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