Queen Edith Primary School

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

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Mrs Caroline Peet Executive Headteacher Queen Edith Primary School Godwin Way Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB1 8QP

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 5 December 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 November 2012.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Pupils at Queen Edith continue to develop the strong academic and social skills identified at the previous inspection. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the high standards of teaching and learning at the school and are confident that their children are both safe and well cared for. This is evident in the many positive comments in Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. Parents wrote of the ‘fabulous school’, ‘the extremely dedicated teachers, management and staff’ and the ‘excellent pastoral support’.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Leaders, including governors, are both ambitious and relentless in their drive to ensure that all pupils receive strong academic and pastoral support. This is acknowledged by parents. For example, one parent’s view that the school is ‘incredibly well managed’ was echoed by many others. Your vision for success is shared by your leadership team and staff. You have accurately identified the areas for improvement in the school’s improvement plan. Inspection evidence demonstrated that you and your staff are already working hard to embed these improvements.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Governance at Queen Edith is highly effective. The governing body is led well and shares your vision for the success of the school. Through frequent visits to the school, governors have a breadth of information with which to challenge and commend your hard work. Governors are acutely aware of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They work hard to support the school in strengthening the provision for all pupils. Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They are kind, thoughtful and respectful of the needs of others. As a consequence, the school provides a harmonious learning environment. Pupils are enthusiastic learners and strive to rise to the expectations that staff set them. You have embedded a broad and well-balanced curriculum. Pupils develop critical skills in a range of subjects, such as science, French and physical education.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

You correctly judge the early years to be a strength of the school. Highly effective leadership in early years has ensured that children are well prepared for study in Year 1. The learning environment is bright and engaging. Children in both Nursery and Reception develop crucial early reading, writing and mathematics skills which enable them to access the curriculum successfully. Consequently, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of their Reception year has increased sharply and is now above the national average.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

You and your leaders work incisively and collaboratively to identify areas for improvement and take effective action. For example, as a result of your developments in the teaching of mathematics and reading, outcomes at key stage 2 rose sharply and were significantly above the national average. However, you are not complacent and recognise that there are still areas to work on. For example, you acknowledge that the teaching and learning of writing requires improvement. You have already established the support required to drive improvements. In addition, you know that disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as well as other pupils nationally and you have strengthened the pastoral and academic support for these pupils.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Pupils are articulate and appreciative of the ways in which leaders and staff ensure that Queen Edith is a safe and happy school. Pupils are very aware of the perils of the internet and can articulate the ways in which to keep safe. Parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire were overwhelmingly confident that the school works hard to ensure their children’s emotional and physical well-being. Parents wrote of the ‘excellent pastoral support’, that children were ‘taught good standards of behaviour’ and that staff ‘know their pupils and families well’.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Pupils understand what bullying is and the forms it can take. They explained that bullying was uncommon at the school but that staff resolved issues quickly when they did happen.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Leaders, including governors, ensure that safeguarding arrangements are securely maintained and reviewed frequently. Staff are highly vigilant about pupils’ safety, and leaders act swiftly and decisively to protect pupils. They are tenacious in ensuring that external agencies provide effective protection when needed.

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Short inspection of Queen Edith Primary School

Adults receive regular safeguarding training. Adults are well informed about how to make a referral if they have concerns about a child. Similarly, pupils told me that they knew where to go and who to talk to if they had a problem. They were confident that their concerns would be listened to and that effective support would be provided.

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Inspection findings

 To ascertain that the school remained good, one of my key lines of enquiry was about pupils’ achievements in writing at both key stages. In 2016 and 2017, pupil outcomes in writing at key stage 2 were below the national average. However, in 2016 and 2017, pupil outcomes in writing at key stage 1 were in line with the national average. You have acknowledged the issue and put in place improvements to the teaching, learning and assessment of writing at key stage 2.  You have reviewed the ways in which pupils acquire and improve their language skills for writing. As I visited classrooms and talked to your leadership team and pupils, the school’s focus on developing pupils’ understanding of how to use language in their writing was evident. As a result, pupils use vocabulary more ambitiously and innovatively in their writing. For example, I observed Year 6 pupils considering synonyms for their review of a recent theatre production. You have also identified the

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Inspection findings

importance of developing pupils’ self-editing skills. Pupils reflect on the words and sentences they use in their writing. However, pupils do not give enough consideration to the audience, purpose and type of text when choosing vocabulary and sentence types. As a result, pupils’ writing is not consistently effective.  Through the Queens’ Federation, you have been able to share good practice and expertise between Queen Edith Primary School and Queen Emma Primary School. Staff receive regular training in how to improve pupils’ progress and attainment in writing. As a consequence, staff provide effective guidance to ensure that pupils make progress. However, staff do not provide the same level of expert guidance for writing in other areas of the curriculum, such as science.  My second line of enquiry was about how leaders are ensuring that disadvantaged pupils make at least the same level of progress and attain similar standards as other

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Inspection findings

pupils nationally across the curriculum. You acknowledge that disadvantaged pupils made less progress than other pupils nationally in writing in 2016 and 2017. You also acknowledge that these pupils attained less well than pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017. As a consequence, you have ensured that disadvantaged pupils’ progress and attainment is a very high priority in your school improvement plan.  You address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils where necessary. For example, you provide counselling and the services of a clinician at school to remove identified barriers to learning. You also focus on improving the attendance of these pupils to ensure that they access the curriculum as fully as possible. Through a range of strategies, including the support of a family worker, the attendance rates for this group of pupils have improved.  You and your leadership team continually monitor the progress and achievements of

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Inspection findings

disadvantaged pupils. You ensure that each pupil receives tailored provision to meet their needs. You ensure that this provision is reviewed frequently and adapted depending on each pupil’s level of progress. Current progress data across the curriculum shows that these pupils are making improved progress. However, you acknowledge that it is too early to evaluate the impact of these strategies and that it is important to continue supporting these pupils to achieve well.  I also sought to establish the breadth and richness of your curriculum. The pupils who I spoke to were very appreciative of the curriculum offer at the school. Pupils have ample opportunities to develop their sporting skills through a range of sports, such as tag rugby and football. In addition, pupils learn French and develop critical scientific skills through a rich science curriculum. To deepen pupils’ learning, you organise ‘learning days’ that focus on one specific subject, such as science, which parents and

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Inspection findings

pupils enjoy.  You have also ensured that pupils enjoy reading. Inspection evidence demonstrated that every pupil had a reading book which they read for pleasure and reviewed in their reading log. As a consequence, pupils’ achievements in reading at both key stages are strong.  My fourth line of enquiry focused on achievements in early years to establish the sustainability of improvements. Leadership of the early years is particularly strong. Since 2014, the proportion of children who make a good level of development has risen sharply, and in 2017 it was above the national average. This is testament to the dedicated leadership of the early years.  You and your leadership team have a forensic understanding of the areas that need improving. You recognised the critical importance of the development of children’s early language skills. Through language assessments, you have been able to identify the children who may require additional support, which has resulted in their rapid

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Inspection findings

progress. Additionally, you have ensured that the early years curriculum is rich in opportunities to develop speaking skills and in reading and writing.  Pupils have many opportunities to develop as citizens of twenty-first century Britain. Year 6 pupils, for example, take on roles of whole school responsibility, such as house captains and sports leaders. Pupils can also participate in elections for the school council, thereby engaging in democracy and free speech.

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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

 disadvantaged pupils make progress and attain well across the curriculum, in line with other pupils nationally  pupils improve their writing skills and consider the audience, purpose and text type when they are writing  teacher guidance for writing in other areas of the curriculum is as strong as guidance for writing in English.

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

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Information about the inspection

 During the course of this inspection I held meetings with you, other senior and middle leaders, a group of five governors and the school improvement partner from the local authority.  I spoke with pupils informally in classrooms and when walking around the school site. I also met formally with a group of 26 pupils.  I visited a range of classes across early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2.  I undertook a scrutiny of pupils’ work in their books and folders.  Policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils were examined along with the school’s record of checks carried out on staff working at the school.  A range of documents were analysed or discussed, including: the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans; documents relating to pupils’ achievement; attendance and behaviour; minutes of governor meetings and curriculum plans.  I considered the views of 101 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire,

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Information about the inspection

Parent View, as well as 22 views parents expressed via the freetext service.

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