Beormund Primary School

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

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Miss Lisa Butcher Beormund Primary School Crosby Row Long Lane London SE1 3PS

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 14 November 2017 with Shaun Dodds, 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 March 2013.

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Short inspection of Beormund 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 Beormund Primary School

Since taking up your position as headteacher in September 2017, you have formed a new leadership team. An acting deputy headteacher has been seconded from the local authority’s behaviour support service, and recruitment advertisements have been placed to secure a permanent appointment. Together, you have ensured that a strong and outward-looking vision for the school is in place. You are committed to making further improvements that benefit the pupils and staff team.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

There have recently been changes to the governing body with the appointment of a new chair of governors. There is a recruitment drive at present to secure new governors who will have the relevant experience and skills to move the school forward with its vision. The commitment from the established governors is evident. They understand the school’s strengths and fully support the areas identified for improvement.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

Across the school, pupils are typically polite and well behaved. They appear settled and content, and are appropriately supported by the staff team. When issues arise, they are well managed by staff in a calm and measured way. This helps pupils to learn useful strategies to manage their own behaviours and emotions. Staff effectively nurture pupils’ emotional well-being, and parents are very positive about the school and the support it offers to their children. One parent commented, ‘This school has changed my son’s life and the benefits to both him and our family are immeasurable.’

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

Your leadership team has made positive steps towards ensuring that the areas for development identified from the last inspection are being addressed. There has been a complete overhaul of the school curriculum and a review of how pupils are assessed in terms of their starting points, to include a more holistic overview of the child. You are training staff to use the new systems so that they are confident in accurately assessing pupils’ achievements.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

You have ensured that safeguarding practice remains effective and instilled a ‘collective sense of responsibility’ across the school. There are secure systems in place to ensure that all pupils are safe and protected. The school works to ensure that the complex emotional needs of the child are always considered alongside their safety needs.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

Staff understand well their statutory duty to keep pupils safe. There are secure systems in place for checking and reporting safeguarding concerns to the safeguarding team. This is overseen by the designated safeguarding lead. Your leadership team attends the required updates for members’ designated safeguarding responsibilities. All staff receive annual training and relevant updates of information and guidance throughout the year. This ensures that staff are alert and vigilant to any changes in the behaviour of your most vulnerable pupils, so that support can be swiftly given.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

The relationships between staff and pupils are very positive, and behaviour is well managed and monitored. Attendance concerns are addressed quickly through regular meetings with the safeguarding team. Where action is required, your team is quick to engage with pupils, their families and external agencies, so that they receive the help they need.

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Short inspection of Beormund Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and accurate.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look at the new curriculum that you and your leaders have introduced. We also agreed to look at the effectiveness of the school’s assessment systems to capture pupils’ progress. You told me that, when pupils arrive, staff make checks on their academic skills and their social and emotional needs. This information is then used effectively by staff to plan creative activities that ensure that pupils make the best progress possible.  The outcomes from the previous inspection were to ensure that progress tracking information is used more effectively and to develop targets that distinguish between good and outstanding progress in all learning, including personal development and academic learning. You have made steps towards addressing the recommendations from the previous inspection. However, there is more work to be done here to ensure that the impact of the curriculum clearly considers the

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Inspection findings

pupils’ starting points and next steps to better inform learning.  The leadership team and the newly appointed curriculum leaders are working effectively together to ensure that pupils’ skills and aptitudes are accurately identified, and that challenging individual targets are set. These measures are designed to support pupils moving to the next stage of their education. You identified that concerted efforts had been made to support pupils with their reading. This has seen positive results over time; however, this has meant that writing and mathematics have lagged behind. You have recognised this in the school’s improvement plan. You and senior leaders are putting in place effective systems and strategies to support the improvement of writing and mathematics so that progress in this subject eventually mirrors that in reading.  Teachers have established a culture of high expectations in classrooms. They use

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Inspection findings

their detailed knowledge of children’s learning and social and emotional needs to personalise learning. Teachers’ subject knowledge is secure. Behaviour for learning is a strength. During the inspection, pupils were attentive and engaged well in their learning. Pupils also showed empathy and caring towards each other, which highlights how well the school works to support positive relationships.  We also agreed to look at how the pupil premium funding is being used to diminish the gap between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils nationally. You explained that, in the past, pupil premium funding has been used effectively to purchase programmes to support reading progress for disadvantaged pupils, thereby diminishing the learning gap. There is currently a learning gap, for pupils who are disadvantaged, in writing and mathematics. You have identified that, in order to further diminish the gap for these pupils, this

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Inspection findings

progress will need to be mirrored in writing and mathematics.  A strength of the school is that the relationships between the staff and pupils are very strong. Your staff team is dedicated and committed to support the individual needs of the pupils and demonstrate a collective sense of responsibility across all areas of learning and safeguarding. The pupils are polite and were happy to share stories about how well supported they are.

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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

 pupils are taught the basic skills of writing and are given opportunities to write across all curriculum areas  they further develop the use of achievement information to allow timely and effective intervention for pupils who are at risk of falling behind  teachers use information about pupils’ starting points to more accurately inform next steps.

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with senior leaders, four governors, members of the school council and a representative from the local authority. Inspectors spoke with parents and pupils. Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including that relating to arrangements for safeguarding, the school’s self-improvement plan, curriculum information and information about pupils’ progress. Inspectors visited classrooms with senior leaders to gather evidence of teaching, learning and assessment. Inspectors also observed pupils as they arrived at school, during breaks and at lunchtime. Inspectors looked at assessment information, personalised learning plans and workbooks relating to pupil progress. Inspectors took account of the 22 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

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