Gatten and Lake Primary School

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

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Mrs Rebecca Day Headteacher Gatten and Lake Primary School Oaklyn Gardens Shanklin Isle of Wight PO37 7DG

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 1 November 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 Gatten and Lake Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since taking charge of the school in September 2016, you have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of education provided to pupils. You have created and galvanised a strong leadership team to support you in your work. Staff are united in their ambition to improve the school for the benefit of the pupils they serve. As one teacher noted, ‘We put children at the centre of everything we do. I love it here.’

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Leaders are skilled and have secured significant improvements in the school. They have utilised the support offered by the local authority and visited other successful schools to inform their improvement plans. They use a wide range of activities to evaluate accurately the quality of education provided by staff. As a result, improvement plans are sharply focused on the right things and positive changes are enacted quickly. Governors visit the school regularly and provide the full governing body with detailed reports about their findings. For example, when leaders redesigned the mathematics curriculum governors checked their work and attended planning meetings to better understand the improvements that were being made. You rightly recognise that leaders’ evaluations of the school’s effectiveness need to be more sharply focused on the progress that pupils make.

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

The school is vibrant and lively. Pupils are respectful of each other and their teachers, stating that, ‘Everyone is welcome in our school.’ For example, pupils in Year 6 explained that they had been learning Arabic to improve their interaction and communication with new arrivals to the country. In class, pupils are attentive and self-disciplined. They listen carefully to the information and advice their teachers give them. They work well independently, and in pairs or small groups. For example, in a Year 1 mathematics lesson pupils took it in turns to be the ‘teacher’, to question and challenge their partners when solving word problems. Pupils enjoy the use of the brand new building and revel in the lively and exciting curriculum. Year 5 pupils studied famous Italians such as Michelangelo, the Benetton brothers and Julius Caesar, noting their achievements and key dates in their lives. At the start of the academic year, every class studied ‘The whale’ by Vita and Ethan

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Murrow. Pupils across the school discussed the book in detail, thought deeply about the moral and spiritual messages the authors convey, and then wrote their own versions. Teachers and teaching assistants work seamlessly to support and challenge pupils. They are highly skilled and well trained to support pupils to make the most of their time in school. Nevertheless, pupils do not consistently write at the same standard in foundation subjects and science as they do in English lessons.

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

At the time of the previous inspection, you were asked to improve the attendance of pupils. Leaders have taken robust action to ensure that attendance is a priority for the whole school community. Regular newsletters update parents on which classes have the highest attendance. Leaders scrutinise attendance records, to identify quickly pupils for whom attendance has dipped. Support from the family liaison officer, educational welfare officer and leaders is highly effective. Pupils are rarely absent from school and no group of pupils is disadvantaged by poor attendance.

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Safeguarding documents are detailed, accurate and of high quality. Staff are well trained and participate in useful weekly safeguarding discussions to keep emerging issues at the forefront of their minds. Staff, at all levels, know how to identify and report concerns. When these do arise, leaders work appropriately with the local authority to quickly and effectively protect pupils from harm.

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Governors are vigilant and check the work of the school carefully. They are well versed on child protection procedures and when improvements can be made, ensure that these actions are completed.

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Short inspection of Gatten and Lake Primary School

Pupils know how to report concerns. In class, ‘tell me’ boxes and ‘tell me’ teddies encourage pupils to share any concerns they may have. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe online and have a clear understanding of how to report abuse, bullying and unsolicited contact when using the internet.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look at: the effectiveness of safeguarding; the quality of support for disadvantaged pupils; the effectiveness of teaching, learning and assessment of mathematics; and how well leaders support teachers to develop and improve.  Disadvantaged pupils receive just the right amount of support and challenge to ensure that they make strong progress. For example, in Year 4 additional teaching assistants provide expert tuition in mathematics and helpfully explain challenging concepts and support pupils to solve problems that stretch and probe their understanding. In Year 6, pupils receive additional support with spelling to ensure that their writing includes sophisticated vocabulary. An increasing proportion of disadvantaged pupils are attaining at a the higher standard, particularly in reading and writing.  When leaders identified a decline in mathematics standards in July 2017, they

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Inspection findings

took decisive action to reverse this. They observed the teaching of mathematics in successful local schools and worked with the local authority’s officers to redesign the curriculum, train staff and purchase appropriate resources. Pupils of all abilities now routinely reason and solve complex problems in class. Across the school, pupils follow the requirement to ‘answer it, prove it, explain it’ when completing their work in mathematics. As a result, pupils have developed a deep and secure understanding of mathematical concepts and make rapid progress.  Leaders monitor the quality of teaching, learning and assessment carefully. Teachers receive valuable feedback on their performance and leaders offer useful mentoring which helps staff to improve further. For example, leaders run daily ‘workshops’, which staff can visit to discuss their planning or ask advice on how best to meet the needs of their pupils. Leaders have utilised high-quality support

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Inspection findings

from the local authority to build upon teachers’ existing skills and understanding, particularly for the teaching of writing. Consequently, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has improved since the previous inspection.

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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 progress of pupils is considered more carefully when evaluating the effectiveness of leaders’ actions  pupils’ writing across the curriculum matches the high standard of writing in English lessons.

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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 the Isle of Wight. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, three governors, including the chair of the governing body, and representatives of the local authority. I observed learning in six classes, all jointly with you. We looked at pupils’ work, including the early years learning journeys and pupils’ books. I analysed a range of the school’s documentation, including information about pupils’ achievement, the school improvement plan and safeguarding checks, policies and procedures. We discussed your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. I considered the 54 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including 38 free-text comments, and spoke to parents at the beginning of the day. I met with six pupils from Years 1 to 6 and gathered the views of other pupils throughout the day.

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