Deptford Park Primary School

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

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Mr Ken Johnson Headteacher Deptford Park Primary School Evelyn Street London SE8 5RJ

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Short inspection of Deptford Park Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 4 July 2017 with Clementina Aina, 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 Deptford Park 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 Deptford Park Primary School

You have accurately identified the key areas for improvement and acted decisively, taking effective measures to address them. The leadership structure within the school has facilitated a sharp focus on key areas for improvement. Leaders are implementing positive and effective change, which is having a demonstrable impact on pupils’ progress. This is particularly true in reading, where the progress of pupils currently at the school is improving rapidly. Disadvantaged pupils, especially boys, are making strong progress in reading from their starting points. However, some groups of pupils still have ground to make up in reading. Nevertheless, the actions you have taken this year are having a significant impact on accelerating their progress further.

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Short inspection of Deptford Park Primary School

You have taken effective action to address the areas for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection. The inspection report recommended that leadership is strengthened by ensuring that the pupil premium funding is targeted towards interventions more precisely and evaluated thoroughly. It also recommended that leaders ensure that the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged. Leaders make effective use of the pupil premium funding to strengthen progress for disadvantaged pupils, most recently in reading. Timely assessment of pupils allows leaders to evaluate the impact of extra support and inform future actions. Evidence from listening to pupils read and work in pupils’ books shows that the most able pupils are being appropriately challenged. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Deptford Park Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. There is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school. Many leaders and staff members within the school have completed higher-level child protection training. The safeguarding team effectively supports the work of the designated safeguarding lead. As a result, there is a strong school response to early intervention and to protecting vulnerable pupils. Leaders ensure that all members of staff and governors are regularly trained in different aspects of safeguarding. Robust procedures ensure that all statutory checks are completed for adults working in the school. Members of staff know exactly how to respond and report concerns at a school level and to external agencies. They articulate a clear message that everybody in the school is responsible for safeguarding. Leaders have taken appropriate measures to ensure the safety and

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Short inspection of Deptford Park Primary School

well-being of pupils attending alternative provision. Regular updates on attendance and progress are received.

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Short inspection of Deptford Park Primary School

Pupils articulate the behaviours they should adhere to in order to minimise risks to themselves in the digital world. As one Year 5 child stated: ‘I would never tell someone online what school I go to and where I live. That’s not safe.’ Pupils are clear that they must tell an adult if they are concerned about what they see online. As a result of the strong pastoral care offered at the school, pupils feel safe and identify a range of staff they could approach with concerns. They comment that personal concerns are listened to and appropriate actions are taken.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders correctly identified that standards in reading at key stage 2 needed to improve for disadvantaged boys and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You introduced new strategies for the teaching of reading across the school in September 2016. I found that this new approach has made a significant impact, including the creation of a genuine reading culture in the school. Pupils articulated the significant shift that has taken place in the profile of reading. The improved range of reading resources available to all pupils provide regular opportunities to read for pleasure. High-quality, challenging texts across different genres enthuse as well as motivate disadvantaged boys and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. When reading, pupils from these groups take on a challenging text using a variety of strategies at their disposal and have a strong desire to succeed. This is underpinned by a

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Inspection findings

fundamental enjoyment of reading.  Visits to classrooms demonstrated the consistently high-quality questioning from staff during small-group reading sessions. This enables pupils to improve their understanding of vocabulary and explore texts in greater depth. Engaging and well-resourced reading areas are evident in all classrooms. Pupils state their enjoyment of using them because of the rich and varied texts available. Many express having a favourite author and speak confidently about the reasons why. For example, one Year 4 pupil stated, ‘I like Roald Dahl because he inspires me to read more.’  The approach to teaching phonics implemented by leaders has resulted in pupils from Reception through to Year 2 making strong progress. 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. The majority of disadvantaged pupils in

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Inspection findings

Year 1 and Year 2 now demonstrate good phonics skills when reading. They show focus and determination when reading texts. However, visits to lessons showed that on some occasions pupils are not encouraged to apply their phonics skills in writing activities.  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 that parents and carers have when it comes to good attendance.  However, leaders’ procedures for monitoring persistent absence do not routinely analyse attendance rates for all groups of pupils. As a result, governors do not

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Inspection findings

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 reading is maintained so that pupils’ progress and attainment continues to improve  persistent absence is reduced further by embedding systems which enable governors to hold leaders to account for the attendance rates of different groups of pupils.

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

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Information about the inspection

The inspectors undertook visits to lessons and listened to pupils read. They spoke with groups of pupils and staff. They also reviewed school assessment information. A scrutiny of pupils’ books and visits to lessons were carried out together with you and your 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 11 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, were also considered.

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